#and either they are all full bio siblings
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What would the Wayne Family and the Bat Family post tiktok
Bruce: videos of him buying new outfits with the material girl sound over it because, according to one post, 'his kids said it was funny and he liked seeing them smile'. on his official account though (the wayne enterprises one) his 'social media manager' posts clips from interviews and soundbites.
Batman: does not have a tiktok.
Dick: posts videos of him either doing gymnastics or of him hanging out with his siblings. Most of the time he is throwing up a peace sign and then Tim and Damian are wrestling in the background and he captions it something along the lines of 'brothers drawing blood in Blud!'
Nightwing: posts videos of short self defense tips/poses, regularly collabs with Red Hood. (not that Jason knows this, Dick just sets up a camera and then goes and bothers his brother until he tries to punch him so he can teach people to block)
Barbara: Posts videos talking about accessibility (both whats available and what should be put in place). if one of the wayne's annoy her, she also will post a compilation of them doing something silly like tripping over thin air or being caught using a hairbrush as a microphone)
Oracle: posts clips of people doing non violent crimes (faces blurred out ofc) with the caption "the eye in the sky sees you, dumbass." because why would you try ack a car on a street with three non-hidden cameras
Jason: doesn't post. anymore. does have an account from when he was a teenager where it's just him doing sped up acting videos to sounds. he has tried to log in to take it down but Bruce changed the password. Brucie regularly comments on different videos like "my baby was such a star... rip sweetie 🕊️🕊️🕊️" and its Jason lip-syncing to fucking Justin Bieber or something
Red Hood: posts videos shitting on Batman. the comments were full of people saying "daddy issues" or "i wanna be a dealer just so you can shoot me babygirl" so he turned them off. sometimes someone (tim) turns them back on and Jason gets bombarded with "BRO IS SERVING CUNT"
Cassandra: posts videos of her doing ballet, or of her showing off her strength. Not on purpose though, she thinks its fun to post videos of her teasing her brothers and the comments are like "WHY DID SHE JUST PICK UP DICK GRAYSON WITHOUT EVEN BREAKING A SWEAT WHAT"
Orphan: has a shared account with Batgirl, but she doesn't post on it, just sort of stands in the background as Steph makes funny videos.
Stephanie: enjoys posting videos pretending to be dating both Tim and Cass because she thinks its funny when the internet call her a gold digger and cheater. Bernard (after going public with Tim) occasionally fuels the fire by commenting "lmao get ur bag girl" under a video of her dragging Tim to a resturant
Batgirl: posts videos of her making fun of rogues, and on her shared account with Cass, just joins in on trends but obviously mixing it to fit her (aka: "when Batman lectures you for breaking a criminals leg but your literally just a teenage girl")
Timothy: like Bruce, he has two accounts. One is professional, with him promoting Wayne Enterprises products or whatever. Second one is full of him doing wild shit like skateboarding down the manor stairs or him trying to confuse Bruce with cringey slang. his most popular video though, is of him using the Nepo Baby sound by Fox SZN
Red Robin: posts slideshows of pictures of Gotham. All very aesthetic ones, of good architecture and people laughing together and shit. His bio is "showing you guy why I do what I do." His account is very artsy fartsy but he also was the first batfamily member to get verified
Duke: doesn't post, just likes videos.
Signal: posts videos of him trying to scare the other vigilantes, cuz, yknow, he can go invisible. tell me you wouldn't do that either if you could be invisible. exactly, you can't. He also makes videos about how hard it is to be a teen vigilante.
Damian: videos of his pets doing tricks. also regularly stitches Tim's videos and just deadass insults him. Tim always comments on his stitches with just a singular emoji because he found out it pisses Damian off more when he doesn't have a big reaction
Robin: posts about resources for gothamites. also has a shared account with Superboy (Jon) where they try and sneak up on both Superman and Batman. They have yet to succeed on either one.
#dc comics#dc universe#batman comics#batfamily#batfam#bruce wayne#batman#dick grayson#nightwing#barbara gordon#oracle#cassandra cain#orphan#jason todd#red hood#stephanie brown#batgirl#tim drake#red robin#duke thomas#signal#damian wayne#robin#tiktok
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I've always really liked DC's in-house choice of referring to their various superhero groupings as "families," but it has gotten a little frustrating recently with people both in canon and in fandom seeming to forget that families aren't just a parental-unit-and-kids formation. They're complicated, and a lot of the DC families are too messy to fit into that neat little nuclear family mode.
Which is to say... here's some scattered thoughts/summaries about how these families are actually structured in canon, because I think it's interesting:
Supers -- The smaller, more traditional Superfamily (Clark, Lois, Kara, Kon, etc.) is a pretty traditional Midwestern nuclear family, with Jimmy Olsen filling the role of close family friend/goofy neighbor sidekick (in the Silver Age, he was Kara's would-be suitor) and Steel feeling more like part of Clark's personal circle of friends. The recent line up, though, with Jon, the twins, Kong and Nat? Starts to feel more like some old dynasty or noble house, complete with fostered foundlings and the Steels acting almost like knights under a noble's banner, possibly reflective of what the House of El would have been on Krypton.
Arrows -- Might currently be the closet to a traditional nuclear family structure. You've got Ollie and Dinah, their younger sisters, Ollie's adopted and biological children, and Ollie's granddaughter through Roy, plus by some counts Roy's co-parent and her sister as "in-laws." Bonnie and Cissie King-Jones are adjacent to but not technically "part" of the family, though I believe it's implied at one point that Ollie might also be Cissie's bio-dad. Pretty straightforward, these guys are actually family and they act like it, for good and ill.
Shazam Family -- Also a literal, actual family. Not originally, the original golden age "Marvel Family" was considerably more complicated and only Billy and Mary were full siblings, but nowadays the whole point of the modern Shazam family is that they're foster siblings united by familial love and that's fantastic. Meanwhile your average Black Adam story is 75% angsty family drama, 25% Egyptian mythology references.
Flashes -- Technically closer to three nuclear families (the Allens, the Wests and the Garricks; four if you include the Quicks), two of whom are united by marriage and all of whom are bound by the Speedforce, which, given its semi-spiritual connections to things like Speedster afterlives, can act almost like a religious force that connects them to the additional members like Avery, Circuit Breaker and Max as Bart's foster-dad. They're a big, sprawling tree with more cousins than siblings, the kind of family that functionally has a reunion every Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Lanterns -- Now these guys are the exception that proves my point about the whole 'family' thing not being straightforward. The lanterns aren't a family, they're a corps. Soldiers. Space cops. Comrades-in-arms. They respect each other, have each other's backs, might even like or care about each other, but those last two are optional, and they don't have the same kind of assumed obligations towards each other that a family would have. They're friends and co-workers, not family, but that doesn't mean their relationships are less significant, they're just different.
Wonders -- Roughly half of them are either one of Hippolyta's daughters (Diana, Donna, Nubia pre-Crisis) or related to them through the gods (Cassie), and the other half (Artemis, Yara, modern-age Nubia) use sister as a term of endearment more in a utopian lesbian commune kind of way. I think they brought Steve Trevor back recently? He's basically the Ken in this equation and perfectly fine with that role. None of which should be surprising if you've seen Professor Marston and the Wonder Women.
Bats -- This is the one that people get really wrong when they try to force it into a traditional family structure. Don't let WFA fool you, the Bats are and have always been way more a snarled mess of tangled interpersonal relationships than they've ever been a cohesive family. Whether Dick is Bruce's son or his brother depends on what era you're talking about, and the former reading is much more recent than you think -- as in "started cropping up in the early 2000s" recent. Barbara is both Cassandra's sister and her mother. Duke and Steph both have living parents and neither of them want or would ever dream of treating Bruce like their dad; Tim was the same way until his dad died. None of the Robins ever lived in the mansion together, nor did Cass. Babs considered Jean-Paul Valley her brother and Huntress is so close to Tim she once hallucinated him calling her Big Sister. They're a beautiful mess of people finding places where their broken edges fit together into something that works for them and trying to reduce it down to a cozy nuclear family is just so goddamn reductive and lazy.
Blue Beetles -- Are only tangentially related to each other. Seriously, they never even get direct mentoring, each one just takes over when the previous one dies and works on completely different rules from the other two. They're complete strangers bound by a legacy and that's honestly pretty fun.
Zataras -- There's only three of them and they're literally a father, daughter and cousin.
Martians -- Not really a family because there's only the two of them, but an interesting case where the two survivors of what was functionally a war of mutually assured destruction came together in an attempt to find some peace in the aftermath of what they'd lost.
Titans -- The JLA and JSA aren't really in the "family" category, but the Titans lean into it hard, mostly because they're a textbook found family. They don't mirror a nuclear family structure, they're simply a group of people who came together to form a mutual support network. They're the idealized college friends you grew into your own with, some of them childhood companions and others you only met once you leave home for the first time, but all of them friends that you manage to maintain contact with for life, with everyone coming back together even as you scatter and do your own things.
Young Justice -- Meanwhile, this team is the chaotic group of misfits you hung out with when you were a teenager, especially when you were just starting to be allowed to act without adult supervision. You drive each other crazy, none of you know you're all queer as fuck, and you'd fight a bear for any of them even if they asked you not to. They'd probably be insulted if you tried to call them a family. They come out here to get away from their families, thank you very much.
#dc comics#meta#batfamily#super family#arrow family#flash family#wonder women#shazam family#batman#superman#wonder woman#green lantern#teen titans#young justice#kinda rambling#just kinda throwing some ideas together#families of choice#non-traditional families
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AITA for refusing to file for disability in order to pay bills?
I quit my job right when COVID started surging in 2020 because my boss refused to mask and I'm immunocompromised; I also didn't wanna bring that home to my partners (I'll call them Fox and Rabbit), one of whom is also immunocompromised, or our then-toddler kid either. (Plus, my boss wasn't paying me consistently on-time or the full amounts I was owed, but that's another can of worms)
However, I wasn't able to find anything work-from-home (I have auditory processing issues that make phone jobs impossible, plus we didn't have internet so I was just hotspotting off my phone to get online), and because of lockdown, safety concerns, and lack of a vehicle, I couldn't really get an in-person job either, so I did as much as I could taking care of household budgeting, conflict resolution, and looking after our 3-4yo kid along with Fox (who did most of the actual housework, as I wasn't able to be outside my room much because I was severely allergic to the pets there at the time).
Rabbit (kid's bio-parent) became work-from-home after a brief stint on unemployment due to their employer fucking around, staying over with their coworker/other partner (I'll call Rose) for the internet, and our other roommate contributed to rent until he moved out, so we were able to stay afloat and safely isolated for a while at least, and I started teaching our kid to read and write as my main share of the household contribution, which everyone at least claimed to be fine with.
Fast forward a bit, and both me and Rabbit got extra people in the household mix; a partner who I'd been involved with online for some time (Chomps) moved in with us, and Rabbit married Rose and moved in with her officially, with the kid staying on non-workdays with them and otherwise being looked after mostly by Fox and I. Eventually, with leases on both our places running out but with all of us outspokenly committed to working together, we all moved into Rose's parents' house (while they were overseas on vacation; they wanted caretakers there to look after Rose's younger sibling, who is disabled). Rose's parents--who are also polyam and very well-off--offered to bankroll a new home for all of us so we didn't have rent to pay for a while and could just catch up on things. Chomps even secured a decent-paying job. Things were going very well!
Then, a significant wrinkle came when Chomps needed to quit due to COVID concerns (anti-vaxxers in a high-risk environment, no vaccines available for small kids yet so we were mostly worried about the kid as we'd all been vaxxed at that point otherwise). At the time, everyone agreed that was a good idea! So, everyone braced for financial belt-tightening, and Chomps quit.
At this point, I was barely eating one meal a day out of guilt for my inability to contribute much, but I was also homeschooling our then-pre-k-into-kindergarten-age kid, and helping cook food and handle chores. Due to both Rabbit and Rose working from home and complaining of connection issues whenever anyone else used internet, me and Chomps could barely job-hunt (our phones didn't really get signal out there either), and without the ability to drive or a consistently-available vehicle, we worried constantly about providing for the household. Still, Rose and Rabbit reassured us that it was fine and getting handled.
Until one day it apparently wasn't, and Rose started getting onto me specifically (having been jobless for a couple years at this point, only getting two interviews despite putting in literally hundreds of applications) about filing for disability. Her opinion was that I could "just be on it until [I] got a job". That is not how disability works, and I told her as much, and refused to even start that process instead of continuing to look for work that I could feasibly do (which, frankly, was already taking as much time and effort as a full-time job, just with no financial benefit).
Granted, I could probably qualify for disability benefits, since I have physical and mental issues that make my range of possible employment pretty limited (though, as I'd been able to put in hundreds of applications to things I was sure I could do, it's far from impossible for me to work). However, the type of disabilities I would most easily and likely qualify with are the kind that would also very probably have my autonomy removed (this has been confirmed by two doctors and a therapist independently of one another). Plus, I'd be unable to marry Fox (as we'd agreed to do years and years ago) or get a job again without risking the loss of any benefits I could manage to secure, and also making it incredibly hard to recover those benefits if/when I further deteriorated down the line due to age, injury, or other factors and actually couldn't physically work.
So, while continuing my (unexpectedly unsuccessful) hunt for employment beyond a once-monthly gig that paid ~$75 (which is how I bought my own essential toiletries and groceries), I homeschooled the kid (which was a success, to the point that they later rolled into 1st grade with reading, writing, and math proficiency well above their peers!!), did most of the house troubleshooting and repair, and used as few resources as possible to minimize my impact on household finances, to the point that I averaged eating only one meal each day for years. Still, AITA for not just biting the bullet and giving up on the job hunt to prioritize securing disability payments?
(It's been about two years since that point and our current situation is stable despite partial dissolution of the polycule, with Fox and Chomps both working and paying the entirety of my portion of "rent" on the place Rose's parents bought her, while I continue to job-hunt with help from the state's vocational rehab dept. Fox and Chomps reassure me every time that they can see I'm doing my best and they're happy to take care of me as needed; I still feel fucked up about not being able to contribute financially and take care of them and everyone else in the same way, and wonder all the time if I made/am making the right call by refusing to pursue disability benefits unless I absolutely physically cannot work.)
What are these acronyms?
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I don't think Batkid Percy or Batkid Miles are interesting concepts at all tbh and neither of them would let themselves be adopted by Bruce since Percy has so much trauma from older men in power(Poseidon,Gabe,Luke and the gods)and Miles has two perfectly good parents,plus an additional mentor figure he's found family with in Peter B(and full offense to Bruce,Miles has too high of standards after them and Uncle Aaron to put up with him).It would be way more fitting if Percy was a kryptonian-human hybrid to go with her being half god in canon and how kryptonians are deity level strong and Miles should be a Blue Lantern since Atsv is all about him giving hope to other Spiderpeople that they're not doomed by the narrative,plus Percy is canonically a Superman fan and can be the Super to Jason's Bat instead of it getting repetetive by both being Batfam since they're so alike and Miles can be Young Justice's power ring holder and his personality fits right with the canon members.And y'know......Maybe him and Tim can date,i mean he's a lot like Gwen personality wise and alt edgy like Hobie so he's canonically his type and who WOULDN'T have a crush on Miles Morales?
On that note,i really love the idea of Miles ending on Prime Earth right after Utrh and meeting Jason before any other DC characters and that leads to a lot of spending time together both bonding and doing hero work and them ending up becoming found brothers with Miles redeeming Jason while not really trying to,Jason just fixed himself so he could be good enough to be Miles' best friend.And obviously Percy's got her own younger siblings in the other Superkids and she rivals Dick in the 'best eldest sister' award and adds competition to it by adopting Tim and Duke as pseudo-ones and her and Stephanie are only slightly less close than her and Cass purely because Stephcass romantic soulmates by choice in every universe and they do girl things together(doing eachother's hair and nails and makeup,playing video games,cooking fancy foods,talking about their experiences with transfemininity,fighting fascists,coping with their childhood trauma through things meant for younger girls)and her and Jason are the biggest frenemies to ride or die's case ever
Also,just some mix and match thoughts:Son of Helios and Jupiter legacy Miles,son of Poseidon Jason who's a dark parallel to daughter of Poseidon Stephanie like he is in canon(NOT a Luke but an Ethan),Jason Morales(bio kid because he is always afrolatino to me like Percy is)and Percy as either a Spiderpunk variant who's older than Hobie and Nico and Hazel as his Spiderman and Spiderwoman who're all from the same dimension or her own original Spider identity as Seaspider and they meet through dimensional animal spider crossing because they're the Dea Sea Siblings in every universe.Or a three way that stars Miles,Percy and Jason instead and they do things like going to Batburger and getting into fun greek mythos shenanigans and making art together and bonding over being afro-caribbeans.I have so much brainrot for Pjo x Atsv x DC and it's all thanks to them
#the anomalies#percy jackson#persephone jackson#transfem percy jackson#miles morales#batfanon slander#jason todd#tim drake#stephanie brown#timiles#black percy#latino percy#afrolatino jason supremacy#autistic percy jackson#autistic miles#autistic jason todd#pastel punk percy jackson#team mom percy jackson#nico di angelo#hazel levesque#black nico di angelo#nico percy and hazel#blasian stephanie brown#pjo#atsv#spiderman#batfam#superfamilia#world's finest#summerposting
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I'm captivated by you, baby, like a fireworks show
For Bio Dad! Bruce Wayne Month, Prompt: Dating
ao3
@maribat-bdbwm
Marinette paces across her room, glaring at her phone. Tikki had given up on her a while ago and was probably raiding the kitchen now. She types out a message, ‘would you be free on saturday?’ before backtracking and deleting it again. Why is this so hard? It’s just Jon. Too busy trying to figure out how to ask him out, she doesn’t notice when Dick pokes his head through the door and asks, “Something wrong?”
She jumps a bit in shock and he laughs. Glaring at him, she says, “No, not at all. Get out.”
Unsurprisingly, her brother doesn’t listen to her and walks right in, sitting down on her bed. She stuffs her phone into her pocket before he sees too much. But because her siblings are both extremely annoying and ridiculously skilled, he catches sight of something and puts it together almost immediately. Marinette groans internally as his eyes light up and he grins. “It’s about your crush on Jon then?”
Hoping her face isn’t as red as a tomato, she shoots back, “What crush? I don’t have a crush on Jon Kent.”
Dick (truly an appropriate name for him, she thinks) laughs again, “And Tim has a regular sleep schedule.”
She doesn’t give in, “Really? Good that he fixed that then.”
Undeterred, he continues, “Just ask him out. I’m fairly certain he’ll say yes.”
Marinette sighs and walks over to her brother, sitting down next to him. “It’s not like I’m not trying. I just don’t know what to say. It’s not like I can just ask him to a movie or to play video games or anything. We do all that all the time. How will he know it’s a date?”
“Tell him it’s a date.”
She scoffs, “Right. Because that’s not terrifying at all.”
He offers her a smile, “Even if he says no, what’s the worst that could happen.”
She replies immediately, “He doesn’t want to be friends anymore and everything becomes so awkward that I have to move to Antarctica.”
He gives her a look, “The most realistic worst case scenario.”
“I don’t know how to do those.”
He sighs, “Even if he says no, which by the way is extremely unlikely, you’re not going to stop being friends. You’ve been friends forever.”
“But-”
“Just think it over.” And he pushes himself off her bed and walks out her room. Marinette lets herself fall back. It’s fine, she tells herself, it’ll probably go away soon enough.
.oOo.
It does not go away but it doesn’t really affect her interactions with Jon either. Things are normal and normal is sitting in the living room and beating Jon at video games. She turns to look at him, ready to rub her victory in his face but she’s met with a look so full of affection that she falters. Somewhat vaguely, she considers the possibility of Dick being right in his belief that Jon would want to go out with her.
Jon frowns, eyebrows scrunching adorably in confusion and it strikes Marinette that she’s acting weird. But before she can say anything, the door opens and Damian walks in. “Kent, we have to leave now.”
Beside her Jon looks surprised, “Already?”
“Unexpected developments. Father wants us downstairs immediately.”
He frowns but gets up nonetheless, shooting her an apologetic smile. Marinette waves him off, “It’s fine, not like I don’t bail on you all the time.”
“You also apologise profusely every single time,” he points out.
She grins at him, “You can make your apologies next time.”
“I will,” he promises, getting up and leaving the room. Damian looks at her questioningly once Jon has left the room. “What?” she snaps.
“Get together and end this misery.”
She splutters, “Damian, if-”
“If he hears me, maybe he’ll finally believe me when I tell him you like him too.” And then he walks out of the room before Marinette can grab him and thoroughly interrogate him.
She’s in desperate need for better siblings. Except Cass, Cass is the best.
.oOo.
Marinette takes it back, Cass is the worst. Her older sister grins mischievously and repeats, “You want to know if Jon likes you?”
The part of Marinette that thought this was a good idea has shrivelled up and died. Yes, Cass will know for sure but also Cass is definitely going to tease her about this for the next while. Regardless she nods, “Please?”
“Do you think he likes you?”
She groans, “Maybe. I don’t know. Why do you want to know?”
The older girl’s grin widens, “It’s funny.”
Marinette glares, getting up to leave. She’s at the door when Cass calls out, “He does.”
She turns, “huh?”
“He does like you, it’s very obvious. Steph thinks he has heart eyes. I agree.”
Marinette’s heart is racing and she can’t stop smiling. “Thank you,” she breathes out before running out the room.
As soon as she’s back in her room, she pulls out her phone to text Jon. Tikki looks at her, confused. “I’ll explain in a minute.”
Marinette: are you free on saturday?
Jon: yup
Jon: movie night?
Marinette: yes
Marinette: it’s a date
Her phone starts ringing instantly. Taking a deep breath, she picks up. “Hi.”
He skips the greeting, “You meant it when you said it was a date? Like an actual romantic date?”
She bites her lip, her siblings like messing with her but they wouldn’t lie about this. “Yes.”
“I’d love to go on a date with you,” is the breathless reply that comes and Marinette can hear the smile she knows so well. An identical one spreading across her face. “See you Saturday then? The usual time?”
Tikki gasps.
“Ok.”
“Ok,” she repeats, still smiling. The conversation turns from there, switching to their usual topics. Admittedly there’s so much more giggling than normal. Tikki squeals when the call ends. “Oh Marinette, I’m so proud of you.”
Marinette blinks, letting everything settle in before squealing, “Holy shit! I actually did that!!”
Tikki giggles and hugs her holder’s cheek.
.oOo.
It’s at family dinner, two days later that Jason asks, “Could you not have waited one more week, Pixie?”
She tilts her head in confusion, “For what?”
“Dating the tiny Superboy.”
She stares at him for a second, processing his words before screeching, “You bet on this??????”
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Arya doodles!!!
Aww my poor, poor girl. It’s her time to be given love and lots of hugs.
This is my OC, Arya K. Landegre! She is Regis and Rael’s daughter, and the former’s heir.
I haven’t gone in depth with her backstory yet, so I’m going to do that here. She’s one of my 15 “main” characters of my Millennium AU and her full bio is up in my pinned post.
I’ll be mentioning some other names in here too so to quickly recap, Arya is the younger one of the two Regis/Rael kids and her full-sibling and elder brother is Raegyn Kertia. (Arya has three half-siblings, with her elder half-brother Kaelestis Blerster on Rael’s side, and younger half-brother Garyth J. Loyard and younger half-sister Alethea J. Loyard on Regis’ side.) Arya has a pretty good relationship with her loving family, but it is a hard-earned one with a rocky beginning and a long, arduous journey. I’ll be explaining exactly why in a bit. Yay!!!
I love Arya for how dynamic she is and I’ve barely mentioned the more detailed stuff so here we are! My sweet Ari’s (almost) full backstory.
We already know that Arya is the odd one out in her generation. Among her fellow future Clan Leaders, Arya stands out as the one that is the least noble-like. She’s cringy, loud, fidgety, and most of all you just can’t get her to behave herself like a proper noble. If Lukedonia had yearbooks, she’d be nominated as the class clown. Hey, being so stiff all the time isn’t fun, right? I mean, just look at that freakishly long lifespan nobles have. You’re saying you’re gonna be around for at least a few more millennia, yet being uptight is the only way you know how, huh? Pfft, not in Arya’s watch. She’s gonna show you what real fun is, by ditching all formalities in favor of “you know, just winging it!”. After all, life is boring without a little improvisation every now and then. And if that means leaving your comfort zone, then Arya will be the one to hold your hand and guide you through your newfound fun. In a sense, Arya is the opposite of her big brother Raegyn Kertia. Raegyn loves to plan every little detail of his life, making sure to never go off track for even the tiniest of things, while Arya likes to live spontaneously. The past won’t hold her back, and the future does not concern her either. Any problems or consequences that arise, she will leave it to her “future self”. Duh. On many occasions, Raegyn had attempted to teach Arya the importance of planning things and the concept of delayed gratification, to no avail. Whatever he tells her seems to go in one ear and out the other. It’s Arya, what else did you expect from her? She’s just going to giggle and shrug it off. They are not too worried about her though, because she seems to be able to find a good balance in life despite her carefree nature, so they let her be. I mean, she is pretty wild, but it’s not like she’s going to burn down the forest or steal artifacts from the treasury for fun, right? Yeah, no way that’s going to happen. Mhm. Huh. Wait… hold up. Actually, forget it. She might. It’s unlikely though. Well, she doesn’t do that anymore. Anymore? What exactly does that mean? That’s where it gets interesting, so sit back and enjoy.
Remember in my last post about Raegyn where I said that Regis and Rael were super relieved that their Arya was a normal child with normal development, and not a “special” child like their difficult son? They were right about their daughter… at least partially. Regis and Rael waited for almost two centuries before having their second child. Their first child Raegyn gave them a hard time because he was too much of an outlier with his unmatched super intelligence. After Arya was born, and for some time in her early childhood, Regis and Rael had their eyes on her all the time, vigilantly watching for any signs that would show that she’s not an average child, and in turn they would give her the extra support she needs. And they waited. And waited. Thankfully, those signs never showed up. Whew. They could finally relax, as they only needed to deal to with Raegyn, and it seemed like they could raise Arya like they would with a normal child. Arya was average, in a good way. She was a bit too lively and feisty at times, but that’s not a big deal. She’s a kid, after all. Who doesn’t like an energetic kid? Regis and Rael had to discipline her occasionally, but other than that, they didn’t need to do much. They had a good time together as a family, and everyone was certain that Arya had a bright future ahead of her. Or, that’s what they thought. Uh oh.
Turns out her parents overlooked her feistiness, and there was a deeper underlying issue. This became more apparent as Arya grew a bit older, when she reached the human equivalent of a ten year old. At this point it wasn’t as simple as kiddie tantrums anymore. Regis and Rael found it increasingly difficult to discipline their daughter and calm her down when she got all worked up. Arya had a short fuse. A very short one. She was joyful and radiant, just as much as she had a big temper. She cried when she didn’t get what she wanted, she screamed when her parents gave Raegyn a millisecond more of attention than they did to her, and kicked and shoved and knocked things off tables when something simply wasn’t to her liking. And when she felt uneasy, she couldn’t stay still and was always pacing around, fidgeting, or both. And that’s when Regis and Rael finally understood what’s going on, when they realized that Arya may be even more difficult than their already difficult son.
If we’re being nice, then we can say that Arya has a… very strong personality. If we’re being honest, then Arya is a major pain in the ass. It’s as simple as that. She is only fun for as long as she doesn’t spiral into one of her tantrums, before her parents, Raegyn, or someone else needs to step in to physically restrain her until she calms down. And it’s worth noting that Regis and Rael were not neglectful or anything. They were attentive and loving parents who did their best to ensure that their daughter had everything she needed. It’s just that Arya happened to inherit several of her parents’ less desirable personality traits. Mix and match, boom. A recipe for disaster. Arya inherited Regis’ stubbornness, and Rael’s tendency to be possessive, jealous, and impulsive. Regis is more flexible now, and even Rael has shown massive improvement and growth, and doesn’t act like he did in his youth anymore. But Arya was only a child. She was still young, and she has yet to go through centuries of practice. Regis and Rael were really trying their hardest, but their daughter just didn’t seem to show any signs of improvement. For now, they’ll just keep trying in hopes that their little Ari would get better eventually. Maybe they were even in denial, as they didn’t like the possibility of Arya not being able to grow out of her “phase”, so to speak.
Despite the less positive aspects of her personality, kiddie Arya loved her parents very much, and she made sure to let them know. Raegyn’s situation was an entirely different case, as Regis and Rael parented him in a very unconventional way that didn’t quite resemble the dynamics of a typical parent-child relationship. On the other hand, Arya’s bond with her parents strongly resembled that of a typical parent-child relationship. She absolutely adored both her fathers, and loved being their baby. To little Arya, they were her everything. And they still are now. Regis and Rael are delighted with how their daughter loves them so much and how she never hesitates to express her love. The two of them didn’t really feel the same sentiment coming from their first child Raegyn during his childhood, and Raegyn still is kind of aloof as an adult. (They know that Raegyn loves them too, but Raegyn just never really bothered with the excessively sentimental stuff) To be honest, Raegyn is relieved that his sister is here to divert his parents’ attention so they don’t “loiter” around him all the time, and he can finally get some of that long desired freedom. And his sister being difficult doesn’t bother him because she is their parents’ kid, not his, so she’s not his problem. At most he’ll just step in when he needs to pretend to be a good big brother, or when his parents ask him to.
And Arya? She loves her brother dearly, and knows that he loves her too. Brother Rayray is nice. He reads books to Ari and gives Ari candies. He teaches Ari how to play games. He’s all good …until the very moment he gets more attention from their parents. Then she’s not so enthusiastic about him anymore. Do you see where I am getting at. As much as Arya adores Raegyn, she doesn’t actually mind how Raegyn is often absent during “family bonding time” because guess what? She can have her fathers alllll to herself. Maybe it’s even a good thing, even if it is one she can’t say out loud.
Arya is totally a daddy’s girl for both of her fathers. The two of them have different roles. Rael is the “fun” parent. Yes, Arya is his sweet little girl and he’s forever grateful for her very existence, but above all else, he sees himself in her. As difficult as Arya can be sometimes, she bears extreme resemblance to Rael and he loves her for that. Rael doesn’t mind Arya being a little feisty because he was like that in his youth too, and he turned out alright, didn’t he? Maybe he’s even proud of her for being so “lively”. That’s right, she’s his little girl! Arya is nearly identical to Rael in both looks and personality. If only she had the Kertia blonde as well, her parents joke. In addition, since the beginning, Rael had desperately wanted a child to pour all his love into, but Raegyn wasn’t quite what he had expected, so he didn’t get to experience the typical joy of parenting. Then Arya came along. Arya adored him, admired him, and stuck to him like a piece of gum. She practically glued herself onto her Kertia daddy.
Rael is of course absolutely overjoyed, and responded by showering her with every ounce of affection in his system. He often lets Arya indulge herself in things, and gives in to her begging. He spoils Arya by sneaking her out of class early, letting her stay past bedtime, slipping an extra cookie when Regis isn’t looking... etc. Anything to see his little girl put on a big, big smile and hear her say “thank you Daddy” with enthusiasm. Perhaps he went a little too overboard, and the spoiling became a bit excessive. But hey, Rael just can’t help it. In a way, whatever he wished he could’ve done but didn’t get to do with Raegyn, he fulfilled through Arya. Arya basically gets double of everything. And she’s just too cute. I mean, she’s a chip off the old block! Rael continues the spoiling well into Arya’s teen years. This does eventually snowball into a bigger problem, which will be addressed later.
On the other hand, Regis is the “strict” parent. For most of the time, he lets Rael have fun with Arya because he knows how deeply Rael cherishes that affectionate bond with their daughter. At the same time Regis never misses the chance to discipline Arya when she needs it. Kiddie Raegyn was very self-sufficient and preferred independence over being “parented”; Arya was not, and needed plenty of parental support and behavioral correction. Sorry kiddo, no more skipping classes for you, and whining won’t make demands come true. Jokes aside, other than being the rule enforcing parent, Regis is very, very affectionate with Arya and they have an extremely close father-daughter relationship. Lovely. Regis can be proud of himself. He used to get flustered at something as simple as getting his head patted by (his basically adopted sister) Seira, and now he is actually pretty comfortable with giving and receiving both physical and emotional affection. One of Arya’s favorite things to do as a kid was running her little fingers through Regis’ hair and playing with his black streaks, and then happily pointing at her own streaks while exclaiming “I’m a Landegre!” To which Regis would smile and respond, “yes, my little Ari”. Aww, how precious. Arya takes great pride in being Regis’ daughter and heir. She is her daddy’s successor, the great Regis K. Landegre!
While it’s true that Arya tends to go to her Kertia daddy when she wants to get the okays to break rules or have some relatively reckless fun, it is Regis who is her favorite. Sorry Rael. He doesn’t have to know Regis is Arya’s number one. Period. Has always been, and will always be. As soon as Arya could recognize her surroundings, Regis became the center of her world. If she admired Rael, then she idolized Regis. She loved him, she worshipped him, she put him on a pedestal. Yeah. That person over there. You see him? He’s Ari’s Landegre daddy! How sweet. It doesn’t matter if Regis didn’t let her overindulge in things, or that he’s less lenient with her misbehaving at times. Everything Regis believes in and does, is right. No arguments. Maybe she’d even get offended on his behalf if anyone tried to question him. Regis is her idol, and she’d follow in his footsteps even if she honestly doesn’t feel too much enthusiasm towards clan duties and whatnots. Young Arya actually had her parents taken by surprise when she showed that, after all, she was capable of sitting through an entire afternoon of Regis walking her through Landegre CL duties without fidgeting or complaining much. For a restless child like her, it’s an unusual and incredible feat, because she doesn’t display this extent of patience when it comes to other matters. Responsibilities and expectations, future Clan Leader, blah blah blah… even if these things didn’t really interest Arya, she’d do it for daddy dearest. Anything for Regis. She’s totally obsessed with him. Many even too obsessed. And this obsession is the catalyst for many unfortunate events to come. Remember how I said she inherited Rael’s tendency to be possessive, jealous, and impulsive? Yep, exactly that.
Fast forward to Arya’s teen years. When Arya was around the human equivalent of 13-14 year old, she “learned” about Regis’ drastically shortened lifespan. This was around the time her younger half-siblings Garyth and Alethea were born. Initially, Regis had intended to donate only one soul fragment to Seira for the birth of her heir, but their combined soul fragments unexpectedly split into two separate, unstable pieces and Regis didn’t have the heart to let the smaller piece perish. So in an attempt to save it, as it was dying, he extracted another soul fragment from himself and gave it to the smaller piece that would later become Alethea. He succeeded. They succeeded. But the unexpected extra soul fragment extraction shortened his lifespan even more. Three soul fragment extractions is already pushing the limits for noble standards. Four? That’s unheard of. Regis didn’t have much longer to live. Uh oh. Arya is definitely not going to take this well.
And this is not due to Arya previously being oblivious to the mechanism behind noble birth or anything. All nobles know that having children would shorten one’s lifespan. They understood how it worked, and that a noble’s lifespan would roughly halve for each child etc. Arya knew this as well. However, she only started to really think about it once her half-siblings were born, because she never really saw Regis that way. All this time she had been busy obsessing over him and putting him on a pedestal. She had been way too in love with the concept of him being her father to the point where she basically almost completely forgot about the fact that no, he indeed won’t be around forever. Regis is not immortal. To make matters worse, not only was Regis not immortal, he also doesn’t have much left. Time is ticking. Regis is dying. Her daddy, her idol, her world — he’s dying. The shock comes from the realization, perhaps one that is a little too late. It’s also important to note that Regis did not consult with either of his children regarding his decision to contribute what is essentially his lifespan to Seira’s heir. Regis had only spoken with his husband Rael regarding this matter and both of them agreed that his contribution to Seira would be a good idea. After all, Seira is family to Regis. Of course he would help her with her heir. By both Lukedonian law and common practice, neither juvenile nor adult children are entitled to any input when it comes to one or both of their parents’ decision to donate more soul fragments or just having more children in general. Parents don’t need to say anything to their existing children. No one owes anyone explanations. That’s just how things are.
Though, on a personal level, that’s where things get complicated. The Regis/Rael kids only learned about their half-siblings after their birth. Raegyn’s reaction upon hearing the news was just… nothing. He simply raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and gave a fake smile. Neat. Sure, more siblings, though they aren’t his problem, they’re Seira’s, so he doesn’t care. And while Raegyn loves Regis, he respects Regis’ decision (and his parents’ collective agreement) about what Regis wants to do with his lifespan. If he wanted to shave off more years for the sake of his family aka Seira, then go for it. To be honest, Raegyn probably isn’t even attached enough to Regis for him to care. Arya on the other hand… oh boy.
Unlike Raegyn, who was calm and supportive, Arya did not take it well. In fact, she took it quite personally. Very personally. Extremely personally. Upon the initial news delivery of her half-siblings’ birth, she was shocked. Arya went numb, and didn’t seem to have any reaction at all. It took her a whole day to process the information and then it hit her. She excused herself and locked herself in her room. Witnesses recalled how the horrific, explosive screams that seemed to have come from the Landegre manor did not stop for an entire week. There was some sobbing, some hysterical laughing, but mostly screams. Screams much, much worse than what you’d imagine would come from tortured souls from the depths of hell. Bystanders could feel the sheer force of anger and despair in the very core of those screams just by listening. And not once did Arya think of using her noble powers for noise canceling. It may have even been deliberate, as she wanted the whole world to know that she’s upset, even if she won’t actually say why. Even her own parents can’t seem to get her to talk. The screams only stopped when Arya grew too tired and passed out in exhaustion for another week. People eventually forgot that this had happened, and simply shrugged it off as one of her “usual tantrums”. It was only oddly timed, because it happened right after her half-siblings were born, but other than that, no big deal, right? Then they’re wrong. Very, very wrong. Raegyn knows why because he is more than smart enough to tell. He doesn’t care, though.
Arya felt betrayed. Regis betrayed her. He betrayed her by giving his lifespan away without even telling her. He never once asked for her opinion, and he didn’t even bother to notify her of the decision, as if it was never a big deal to start with. Rael betrayed her as well. He betrayed her by not stopping Regis, because he clearly had a part in the final decision, right? Arya knows she has no claim over how Regis plans to use his lifespan, but still… she is his daughter, their daughter, and she had every reason to be upset with Regis literally handing away his life, the very life which he was supposed to spend with her. Both Regis and Rael betrayed her. Her fathers, her daddies, the two of them — both of them — turned their backs on her just like that. Yet Arya could not bring this up to either of them. She just can’t. She can’t tell them she’s upset. She did not know how to approach this subject, neither did she have any clue on how to sort out her rampaging questions and feelings. The mere thought of this clutter of a mess makes her feel sick. Her stomach sinks, and her chest aches. A deep, pulsating ache that seems to spread to every corner of her body. When she thinks she has worked up the courage to say it out loud, the clutter lodges in her throat and she loses the ability to speak. She physically can’t say those words. Her muscles tense up, and she starts sweating. She tries to speak those words but nothing comes out despite her moving her mouth. Only an inaudible, croaky cry. And then she’ll tear up. It’s impossible. She just can’t. Arya can’t ask any questions, her one thousand why’s. Why, why, why, why, just… why. Ari knows that Seira is daddy’s family too, and daddy wants to help her and show her his support… but isn’t Ari also daddy’s family? She is his daughter and heir, and she should’ve been his top priority. Was she, in his eyes, not important enough for him to not give away a portion of his lifespan just like that? Did he even think of her when he extracted the soul fragments from himself?? Can he really bear the thought of leaving her behind, before she is ready to face this world by herself??? Does he even care…? These thoughts and questions would continue to torment her for the longest of times. You’d probably ask, why can’t Regis and Rael just read her mind? Well, they certainly tried. They failed. They couldn’t see anything when they attempted to read their distressed daughter’s mind. It probably had something to do with Arya’s defensive mechanism, where she had unconsciously formed some sort of intangible barrier that prevented people from reading her mind.
Regis and Rael did not know how to comfort their daughter, as she just wouldn’t tell them why she’s upset, and they see nothing when they read her mind. All they can do is give her hugs when she asks for them. Especially Regis. Arya would bury her face into his chest and cry for hours. He can only softly stroke her head and give her gentles pats on her back, hoping that it would ease whatever pain his daughter is experiencing. Not a word spoken from either one of them, with Arya’s occasional inaudible mumbles breaking the silence. And Raegyn? He’s completely out of the picture. He hates anything emotional, which includes dealing with the feelings of others, even when it comes to his sister. Raegyn nopes the hell out of their home as soon as Arya gets worked up, so he doesn’t have to pretend to be nice and comfort her. Every single time. Poof and he’s gone, and you can guarantee that you won’t be able to find him until Arya is finished with her business. Though Regis, Rael, and Arya herself are probably too busy to notice Raegyn is missing.
Arya’s impeding grief shouldn’t be taken lightly. All bottled up along with her grief is her anger, sadness and confusion. It will accumulate, and might as well kill her one day. All that energy has to be released somewhere right? Telling her family isn’t an option because she simply can’t. Her friends and acquaintances… they might react negatively. She can’t say for sure, but she is hesitant about opening up to them about this sensitive subject. And great-grandfather Gejutel is too busy, who knows if he’ll even care. And all the other adults aren’t trustworthy enough in Arya’s eyes. There was no one she could go to. Arya was alone. Arya was desperate. She once was the happiest girl on the planet. She had loving parents, and a nice big brother. There was nothing else she wished for. She only wanted life to stay as it is, with Regis as the center of her world. Regis, Regis, Regis. Her number one. And now he’s dying, by his own choice, albeit indirectly. He had about less than two thousand years left. Even then two thousand years by itself is a long time. Not for Arya. She could spend all eternity with Regis if she could. If Regis didn’t extract two more fragments from himself, he would have had around eight thousand years left. There’s nothing Regis can do, there’s nothing anyone can do. There’s nothing Arya can do. She’d give up part of her own lifespan and transfer it to her father if she could, if that means getting to spent more time with him, but that is impossible. Even if she could, she just knows Regis would never let one of his own children cut their lifespan short just so he could live for longer. It should be the other way, if any. Ugh. Regis is too kind and too generous for his own good. There was nothing left for Arya to do, except to accept the truth and deal with it. But Arya didn’t want to. There has to be another way. She felt cornered. And then she snapped.
The first obvious change was Arya’s newfound apathy regarding her clan. Arya completely lost interest in the Landegres. She stopped caring about her status as future Clan Leader. Clan duties, managing her future clan members, paperwork, leadership training… none of that mattered to her anymore. At first she only had occasional absences. Those grew into frequent absences, and in the end she skipped her lessons altogether. She just stopped showing up. She was never genuinely interested in these things to start with. She made herself sit through all that boring, repetitive nonsense for Regis’ sake, and if her daddy isn’t going to be around for much longer, then she doesn’t want to partake in this anymore. Arya is determined to just ditch it all. And she isn’t even bad at being future Clan Leader. She is pretty average at most things, but she is a hard worker. Without talent, she makes it up with effort. Now that Regis will be gone soon, none of this means anything to her anymore. We’re talking about almost two centuries of hard work that Arya is ready to abandon. If Regis can choose to leave her behind, then she can choose to leave all of this behind too. Her parents and Lukedonia’s general population are very worried about her sudden change in attitude, but all they could do is to hold their breath and hope that the passionate Arya would come back one day.
The second, and perhaps even worse than the first, is Arya turning towards causing trouble for the sake of trouble. Arya is already naturally prone to recklessness and impulsivity thanks to getting those personality traits from Rael. All these years she’s been trying her best to control herself, albeit with limited degrees of success. The point is at least she tried. Now take that, and actually give Arya a reason to not work hard to behave herself anymore. From her perspective, she is justified to do as she pleases because Regis betrayed her trust. The world betrayed her trust. Her acting out and being a menace made sense. She’s just responding accordingly. Yeah. Exactly that. Lukedonia can’t complain, no one can complain, because they gave her no choice. They forced her into this, and now they have to deal with her whether they like it or not. If they can’t handle her, it’s not her problem.
And I would like to mention a key difference between Raegyn and Arya. It is one that defines them and sets them apart, and that is the gap between their maximum capacity and potential when it comes their character. Raegyn is the outlier. His intelligence, flexibility, and social skills are all top tier. He is basically built for success. That’s just what he was born with. You can say he was blessed with everything he needs in this life. Not only is Raegyn academically gifted, he is also extremely smart with people. Raegyn knows how to order around, and his friends targets don’t even know that they’re being manipulated by him. He is also more than smart enough to get away with committing crime and being a real danger, if that is what he wishes to entertain himself with. Except he isn’t interested in that stuff. He has the potential to be dangerous, but he isn’t.
This is where Arya comes in. Arya is average. She is average compared to Raegyn, and she is average by herself. Her intelligence? Average. Her social skills? Average. Her fighting prowess? Better than most of Lukedonia, but when compared to her fellow future Clan Leaders, average. Arya is simply… average. She wasn’t spectacular at anything, nor was she severely lacking. She simply was. And depending on how you look at things, this could be both good and bad. In Arya’s case, it’s definitely bad. Why? Because now Arya wants to wreak havoc just because. Except she isn’t nearly as smart as she needs to be to execute it in the way that would keep herself out of trouble. Combine that with her impulsivity, and what you get is an unpredictable, unstable person who is reckless enough to get herself into trouble but isn’t smart enough to get herself out of it. Arya is also bossy like Rael. She likes to control people, except unlike Raegyn, she isn’t smart enough to know how to order around. If Raegyn uses brains, then Arya uses force. Raegyn gains control over people by being smart. Arya isn’t capable of mimicking even just a fraction of that. That is why Raegyn is popular while Arya has a debatable reputation among her people. And just like Rael, Arya isn’t the best at dealing with being told “no” by others. Yiiiiikes.
And here’s the deal. Arya is average. We know that. Is Arya aware? Perhaps. She isn’t dumb enough to not know that she is in fact average. She knows what her limits are. Does knowing that stop her from being a menace? No. Arya doesn’t care. Who cares if she isn’t smart enough. If she wants to cause trouble, then she will cause trouble. Consequences are for later. They do not concern her. Nothing is going to stop her, and nothing can stop her. The stubbornness she got from Regis is certainly running its gears here, for the worst.
What exactly does Arya do? The list could go on forever. A few of her more “notable” and favorite crimes to commit include arson, blackmail, bribery, forgery, theft, and vandalism. Out of those, arson, theft, and vandalism stand out the most.
Arson. Arya needed to let out all that bottled up anger, and she turned to setting things on fire. It didn’t involved anyone else, and she could do it without other people noticing. If she’s going to turn to crime, then she can start with something “simple” and ease her way into bigger, more satisfying ordeals. That’s why the very first spell Arya masters is an ignition spell. The Landegres aren’t a magic aligned clan, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t learn a few spells. It first started with smaller things that didn’t matter as much. Pages from her notebook, a childhood toy, old clothes, things that are going to the trash anyway, etc. Items she wouldn’t miss, that no one would miss. How cathartic. It didn’t numb her pain of Regis’ impeding passing, but it was better than nothing. She could imagine that she is watching the world burn. And when she got comfortable with burning smaller items, she moved onto bigger items. Burning less important items no longer gave her the satisfaction she needed. So she looked for more. A couch. A closet. A statue. An abandoned cabin. A small patch of forest in the Loyard territory. It goes exactly where you think. Things spiraled out of control. And the thing is Arya only bothered to learn an ignition spell, and not a counter-spell for it. Arya had to cry for help because she realized that the entire forest will burn down soon if no one intervened. The nobles who responded were able to put out the fire just in time before it reached the Loyard manor. And Arya? She was punished for it. Her Clan Leader issued the punishment himself. But she was still a juvenile, so she didn’t get what she arguably deserved, which is a punishment befitting of her crime if she were an adult. Will this stop Arya from committing more arson? No.
Theft. Arya also began to steal. At first it started with sneaking less valuable items out of people’s pockets. Things people wouldn’t immediately realize have disappeared, and by the time they wanted to looked for them, they were long gone. All in Arya’s possession. And, you guessed it, stealing smaller items was no longer enough for Arya. Then Arya moved onto stealing bigger things. She targeted items that potentially had high sentimental value. We’re talking diaries, jewelry, lockets, portraits, even old cooking pans. The mere thought of people breaking down and panicking over lost items was amusing to her. Sweet sweet. Of course the pain they would feel is not nearly enough to compare to what she has to go through when it comes to her dying daddy, but it’s better than nothing. They better cry. Be in pain, just like her. If she couldn’t be happy, then none of them should. Just like with Arya’s arson crimes, her stealing things got out of hand real quick and soon Arya was breaking into various clans’ treasuries and smuggling important statues and sculptures out of there and into her home. Except Arya isn’t exactly smart, like I mentioned earlier. She’s not at all an expert it comes to covering her tracks, and on her second break-in attempt in the Blerster territory, she got caught in the act by none other than Karias Blerster himself. Karias handed Arya to Regis and he had to punish her again. When he searched her room, they found many, many other stolen items and Regis made sure to make her return them to their respective owners before he grounded her. Again, like before, is this going to stop Arya from committing theft again? Haha, no.
Vandalism. At this point Arya didn’t even bother to be discreet anymore. If she’s not smart enough to get away with anything she does, then she might as well stop all attempt to cover her tracks. Committing crime was her outlet, and she needed it. No one was going to take that away from her. Hell, if she can’t give up committing crime as her primary coping mechanism, then she’s just going to accept that that’s her new life. She might even be petty enough to announce that she is behind whatever chaotic shit is going on. Smashed a window? She would smear “Arya was here” on the walls with her blood. Sabotaged a garden full of herbs and other important plants? She would rearrange the uprooted and trampled plants to spell “Haha losers” for garden’s owner to witness. Destroyed part of a building? She would stand on the roof and laugh and laugh and laugh, and scream “come catch me you suckers!”as she waves her arms around. Again, Regis would be the one to punish her. He doesn’t understand why Arya suddenly turned to delinquency. Does she really enjoy being a criminal? Is this Arya’s true nature…? Neither Regis nor Rael know that Arya is simply doing this to cope with Regis’ shortened lifespan. They are not aware of the fact that this is her coping mechanism. It isn’t a justified one, for sure, but still. They do not know her true motives, and she seems to be reluctant when questioned.
In no time, Arya became notorious for being criminal. Moods were ruined and atmospheres were spoiled as soon as her name was brought up. A rumor began to circulate, one that said that if you said Arya’s name, your home would light up in flames. There was a collective sentiment among the nobles where they all agreed that they couldn’t wait for Arya to come of age so she can be tried as an adult.
Raegyn is rather unhappy with his younger sister’s… newfound hobbies. She is indirectly affecting his social life because now people just want to ask about his “delinquent sister”. That’s all they want to talk about. Dammit, it’s not his fault his sister has a “underdeveloped prefrontal cortex”, as he puts it. Thankfully he is rational enough to not say that out loud. Arya doesn’t need to know.
And Regis? Regis tries everything he can to correct and put Arya’s behavior to a permanent stop. And he fails spectacularly. He tried being nice with the gentle approach. He also tried the stern and authoritarian approach. Him questioning Arya would usually result in two endings, with Arya either pretending she can’t hear him and covering her ears and singing lalala, or she’ll burst into tears and sob uncontrollably. Regis could tell that those tears were genuine, but he just couldn’t get Arya to talk. Her confessing to the motives behind her crimes wouldn’t lighten her punishments, but at least Regis could have an answer as to why she is acting like this. In the end, nothing works. Regis seems to begin to lose hope in his daughter. His patience and faith in Arya started to wane. As much as Regis still loves her, he couldn’t recognize his little girl anymore. Regis is heartbroken.
Things aren’t any better for Rael. Remember when I said that Rael is the parent who spoils Arya? Well, things took an even worse turn. Arya started to bring up Rael during verbal interrogations. She ran out of excuses to bullshit, and then… she recalls stories about Rael being a former criminal, like him blowing up a portion of the castle when Seira rejected his proposal. Aha. The perfect excuse. She can just say she’s just like Rael. Can’t help it, it’s in her blood. What can she do, she’s her Kertia daddy’s daughter. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Something like that. He can soften the blow for her. And then Rael inevitably gets roped into dealing with Arya’s destructive behaviors. Of course Arya is the perpetrator, and Rael is not part of it. But still, he does have some things from his old days on his criminal record, so… to say that people have zero suspicions, would be a lie. Surely he knows better than to prompt his daughter to indulge in crime for funsies. But who knows? Rael had to clear the common suspicions by punishing his little girl himself. Usually, he is not the one to issue her punishments as Arya is a Landegre and he is a Kertia, which leaves Regis as the ultimate decision maker. And Lord Raskreia too, but only if Arya’s crimes escalates to that level, which Rael hopes will never come true. In addition, Rael has a soft spot for Arya and her words aren’t complete nonsense. After all, he did blow things up because Seira rejected him, but he has learned from his mistakes and he’s a better person now, right…? Nevertheless, Rael is hurt by Arya doing this to him. At the same time, he also felt sorry for her, because it is true that she inherited certain traits from him, and it is partially his fault for spoiling her too much in her early days.
Arya wasn’t only a criminal. She was also a bully. And the targets of her actions? Her Loyard half-siblings. That’s right. Garyth and Alethea. Yup. The ones who stole Regis’ time from her, the time she is rightfully entitled to, and the very causes of his shortened lifespan. If Arya couldn’t blame Regis, she figured she could blame them instead. Just think about it. They’re younger than her, they’re weaker than her, and she is their older sister by blood. By that logic, they had to listen to her, right? Arya probably thinks she’s so smart for figuring that out.
To Arya, Garyth and Alethea are indebted her. They belong to her. Everything they’ve ever been, and everything they’ll ever be, they owed to her. If it weren’t for her father, her Regis, they wouldn’t even exist here. Even if they didn’t ask to exist, they are still indebted to her. Thanks to them, Arya doesn’t have much time left with her daddy dearest. First and foremost, he’s her father, they share the same surname, she should be his top priority! Except in Arya’s eyes, she wasn’t that to Regis. And to her, the Loyard siblings are living proof of that sentiment. They are just as guilty as him. Arya’s total obsession with Regis, and her wanting to have him all to herself, is driving her insane. She loves him as much as she is obsessed with him. And the truth is Arya doesn’t really have a reason to be mean to her Loyard siblings. They’re nice, well-behaved kids. They’re polite, and try to be patient around their elder half-sister.
But it didn’t matter. If Regis isn’t going to be around for much longer, then these two will love her in Regis’ place. If they don’t love her, then she will make them love her, even if that means doing so by using force. Arya bossed them around, and made them listen to her every request. They were her little workers basically. This led to a very unhappy Garyth. The Kertia bloodline is just terrible. His elder half-sister’s father Rael harassed his mother Seira, and now Arya herself is here harassing him! It runs in the family. It has to be. This just further cements little Garyth’s already boiling hatred for Rael’s guts. (Will explain this a bit more in Garyth’s own post) Meanwhile little Alethea is fine with being bossed around. She doesn’t really know what to do with her life anyway, so rather than coming up with her ideas, she could just listen to Arya. (Also explaining more in Alethea’s own post) Due to Alethea’s nature of not really having her own opinion on things, she often gets lugged around by Arya. Yes, this includes Arya’s criminal activities. Arya doesn’t fully explain things to Alethea and purposely leaves out details so Alethea would join in on her… adventures. Which is why poor Alethea is often seen following Arya as the latter’s unwitting accomplice.
Fortunately, the adults know better than to accuse Alethea along with Arya because they just know that Arya is the mastermind and Alethea simply got tricked into being a part of her shenanigans. At one point Arya got the equivalent of a restraining order and she wasn’t allowed to be within a five hundred meter radius of Alethea, until she made a written promise that she wouldn’t trick Alethea into doing illegal things again.
Ultimately, Arya’s destructive behavior is unsustainable. When she got out of being grounded, she would just commit crime again. Soon, her 200th birthday approached, and she could not do as she pleased anymore. If she were to commit the same crimes she had before, she would be tried as an adult and punishments would be much more severe, and she would have to deal with real consequences.
One faithful day, Arya was snooping around Regis’ office and she overheard a conversation between him and Rael. Regis was stressed. There was plenty of silence. And then she heard crying. It came from Regis. For all her life, she had never seen her father cry. And then it hit her. Regis weeped, and talked about how scared he is for Arya. He wasn’t angry; he wasn’t disappointed. He was scared. He didn’t know what Arya was capable of, and now that her birthday is nearing, she would get into serious trouble and he would no longer be able to save her. Her approaching coming-of-age was not one of joy nor celebration; it was one of fear. Pure fear. And then Regis started to sob. His biggest fear is having to watch Arya get executed if she really goes beyond the point of no return. Finally. The long needed moment of awakening for Arya. Her acts of rebellion wasn’t helping anyone, and it hurt her loved ones more than anyone else. Most of all, it hurt Regis. Her Regis. She needs to stop, for her own sake, and for everyone else’s sake.
Arya didn’t say anything, and quietly left before she could listen to the rest of her parents’ conversation. She stayed silent for the longest duration of time. And… she came clean to her parents. This took her parents by surprise, as they initially thought that was some prank. But she was serious. Arya walked into the center of the room, kneeled, and apologized to her parents. No tantrums, no whining, no bargaining. It was a deep, sincere apology. A heartfelt apology for everything she had done, and the worries she had caused. Arya also promised to never do those things again, and that she will make up to everyone she has wronged. Regis and Rael were moved. They could feel her sincerity, and Regis simply walked over slowly and kneeled down to Arya’s level and hugged her while rocking her gently. Just the two of them on the floor, both on their knees, in a deep embrace. One that they haven’t shared since Arya’s early teen years. Then Rael joined in, and the three of them couldn’t hold back their tears anymore, and they all sobbed together. It was messy. A good mess. Repentance leads to reconciliation, which leads to the start of a new beginning.
Arya first started by apologizing to everyone she has wronged in both writing and in person. She wrote to them first, because she wasn’t sure if they would even want to see her. After she got permission, she then went to them in person and knelt and apologized for her wrongdoings. And this went on for a long time just because of the sheer number of people she had offended. It was a long list. Arya is not going to come up with excuses this time. She is going to go through all of them, as she should. Or, the ones who are willing to accept an apology from her. Some did not want to see her, even for an apology. Many of them did not respond to her letters. Some of them even replied and basically told her to screw off and to never show her face in front of them again. This made sense. Reconciliation required the effort of both perpetrator and victim to happen, and some of her victims just weren’t having it. That is the hard truth Arya has to accept and live with. For those who did accept Arya’s apologies, they genuinely forgave her. With time, wounds healed, and Arya was ready to be back as a functional member of society. It took her a while to be able to lift her head around people again, but they accepted her back, and what position is she in to reject their kindness?
Garyth and Alethea forgave Arya too. Well, Alethea never held a grudge against Arya in the first place, Garyth just told her that she should be mad at their half-sister for manipulating them. It took a much longer time for Garyth to forgive Arya, but eventually he was able to find peace with her and move on from the past. Though, sometimes he still has a hard time looking at her face. She was a bully, even if she tries her hardest to make up to them now.
What about Arya’s duties? Well, Arya picked up her responsibilities as future Clan Leader once more. She had been neglecting them for the entire duration of her delinquency, and now she’s back at it, as she should. In fact, she’s working harder than ever before. And she’s also intensely training herself in spars. Her aim is to succeed Regis as Clan Leader as soon as possible, so he can be free to enjoy the rest of his remaining lifespan without being so busy with work and duties.
Arya’s stepping back into the light doesn’t mean that her issues have disappeared completely. In fact, they’re very much still there. The grief was real. The sadness was real. It’s a wound that will never heal in Arya’s heart, and it stings every time she thinks about her daddy dying. It’s just that her conscience has won for once and all, and she isn’t going to let the bad side of her personality to take over her anymore. She can keep it in. She has to. So what’s her new coping mechanism for her grief? Three… two… one… yep, ya guessed it. Acting like she’s happy. Too happy. Her fake cheerful personality that she puts on to trick Regis into thinking she is having a good time. The overly enthusiastic Arya who is cringy and spontaneous, but fun. She doesn’t want Regis to worry about her anymore, and wants him to be able to eventually pass knowing that she is happy and fulfilled. Yeahhhh, it’s coming together in a full circle! Woo! Is this a better alternative to her previous coping mechanism of being a delinquent? It’s debatable. Maybe this is just as unhealthy. Maybe even unhealthier. But for now… this’ll do. She has no other choice. She’ll keep up this fake cheerful persona for as long as she can. Until she breaks down again.
(Note that Arya still hasn’t told her parents that she is troubled with Regis’ impeding death. Nobody knows. They know she will never fall into crime again, but still don’t have any clue about why she was like that in first place.)
Well, the good news is, eventually Arya is able to communicate with her parents about her true thoughts a feelings. It does take a long time, and that is for a separate post. Yeeee saving that for later hehe. I will explain Arya’s relationship with her girlfriend Susanna in a separate post too!
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next long character post!
See you again!
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Okay I have this weird AU idea where Leo was adopted by Douglas and raised as Marcus’ brother. Like Leo isn’t full out evil or anything, but he goes to school with Marcus as his brother. I have like the whole mapped out in my brain but never wrote the story out. I don’t know if I’ll ever turn it into a story either. So, enjoy the outline of the idea..
Adam, Bree, and Chase are still bionic and Douglas is still their bio-dad. Tasha still marries Donald, but she the one who finds the bionic trio and makes Donald put them in school and have a normal life.
Leo and Marcus attempt to befriend Adam, Bree, and Chase to capture them for Douglas and they do. The big thing in my mind would be how Leo and Marcus see the capturing of the trio. Marcus is full on capture them and bring them to dad. Leo is like “cool, I going to have three more siblings once I bring them to dad.” Leo is full on the kidnapping them until Leo finds out what Douglas really has planed for the trio.
After finding out, Leo decides to tell Donald Davenport everything. Donald doesn’t believe him until Leo shows Donald he knows where the lab is.
Donald doesn’t trust Leo for a little bit after this and tells Adam, Bree, and Chase to stay away from Leo and Marcus. Donald doesn’t tell them why though, so the trio disobeys.
Eventually Donald trust Leo after something big happens like Leo saves his life or something. Leo is allowed free access to the lab. Adam, Bree, and Chase find out Leo knows they are bionic and Leo becomes “unofficial” part of the team. He basically acts like a mission specialist like he does in the show.
Marcus and Douglas don’t know Leo is turncoat and think this all part of the act to get to the trio. Eventually, Douglas and Marcus make their move like in bionic showdown. Leo explains everything to the trio and Leo helps the trio save Donald. Marcus and Douglas find out Leo is helping the “enemy”. Douglas is mad and Marcus is confused. The whole mess ends with Leo moving in, Douglas getting away, and Marcus being destroyed. Leo is repairing Marcus in secret since he still sees Marcus as his brother. He is just worried Donald won’t approve.
I don’t know where’d I go from there and I don’t know if I’d actual turn this into a fic. I’m just putting this out there since I like the idea of Leo being Marcus sibling instead of Adam, Bree, and Chase’s and the idea of Leo being Douglas’ son instead of Donald. They are both just a fun ideas to me.
Anyways… do what they will with all of this.
#lab rats#leo dooley#donald davenport#chase davenport#bree davenport#adam davenport#douglas davenport#leo#leodooley#labrats#my thoughts#random thoughts#thoughts#random au idea
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Please yap, I want to hear about the non-bio thing about Len
Okay!!! Im not gonna articulate it well so it's gonna be all over the place.
Ive said (too many times) that my hcs of len (and any other vocasynth) is theyre either physical robots or they exist in your 'puter.
At first I almost said "non-human" to mean like its a character thats not born and so doesnt live a human life like go through developmental stages, have parents that theyre born from, have a childhood especially, ET CETERA right, but non-human makes it sound like its furries or monsters so that doesnt make any sense.
Non-biological feels accurate bc there is no BIRTH and no developmental stages, no lived experiences/past experiences, and basically, i want the character to exist in a void!! No ties, no meaningful connections.
A little bit off tangent... I've had my old fursona (oldest oc) in my head for the longest time and theyre supposed to be one of these characters that Do Not Exist like theyre not a "person" who goes through life and experiences, theyre an entity that... exists in...SOME way, and I was never able to convey that idea UNTIL like last year, after experimenting for a long time with len hcs where hes a digital being, it kinda clicked. This non-existing character type that I've been wanting to convey can be well translated as a digital being or like a computer program. I think i want to say this character type is entirely intangible, like computer programs, so they "dont exist"...but you wouldn't say a computer program is "not real" right, like um WHERE AM I GOING.
Anyways HAVE YOU EVER seen that tumblr post (i think) about hatsune miku, gorillaz, and the muppets being not real but also... real... bc they exist in the real world and we talk about them *Vsauce music* or SOMETHING like that...
Where am i going now ah. The kagami-ne mirror images thing is so good because to me there is no way this makes sense if i think of them as flesh and blood people like DA HELL you mean theyre mirror images, the concept simply does not work. Like look i assume people who hc rin and len as twins hc them as 'people' because---
((context i made a tweet a while ago, i said : "I lean more on the mirror images interpretation than twins like siblings." "In my hc theyre not people so theyre not ""siblings"" bc you'd have to be born for that?? Theyre probably more like clones but also not BIOLOGICALLY bc theyre either robots/digital beings like i always say." ---
because twins suggest biology. Like they were fetuses in a womb together, man where am i going again.
The mirror images thing is really cool when theyre thought of as just ENTITIES. Just person-like beings that are just copy pasted like no further or deeper explanations. Theyre simply not real!!!!
- - -
After yapping I realized it all comes down full circle to my escapist ass not wanting anything connected to the real world. Like the way i draw len or my human ocs, theyre only supposed to resemble humans, they should not look "real" as in look like they could be someone who you could spot when you leave your house or something.
#ask#i wrote this while very eepy so its gonna make even less sense#thanks for letting me ramble but yeah the thoughts are not coming out in a neat string!!!!#NAH its funny bc its not like i hate realistic biology bc unfortunately one of my#biggest pastimes is thinking about how my ocs bodies work rather than thinking like oh what is their#personality or backstory - you know like a NORMAL PERSON#like how exactly does this furry's paw-hand function like anatomically is what im usually thinking of instead of idk oh what#role does this character play in this world#i sound insane#(or just extremely neurodivergent)#if you cared to know. my obsession with thinking of the biology of my ocs comes from my strong interest in#learning about animals when i was younger#i shouldnt be yapping further
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Do you have any headcanons and thoughts for Attoye babies (either bio and/or adopted)?
Hmmmm.
I always thought they adopt one Wakandan kid and one Talokanil kid to make it fair, a boy and a girl. But as they're going through the process of adoption, they find out Okoye is pregnant. Attuma LOSES HIS MIND in the best of ways and is super protective of Okoye. She's pretty much like "I'm pregnant, not dead, CHILL," lol.
They have a girl and Attuma is totally a girl dad. Okoye is a little overprotective because she's been out and about in the world. The adopted kids fall in love with their baby sister of course and they are all equal siblings.
Their daughter can live on both land and sea. But she does have to stay more hydrated on land and can't go super deep all the way down to Talokan on her own because she can't hold her breath indefinitely and take the full water pressure.
However, Shuri develops a suit for their daughter and their fully Wakandan child so that the whole family can visit Talokan together (it's based on the same design Shuri did for Okoye as a wedding gift so Okoye can spend time in Talokan too).
#okoye x attuma#attuma x okoye#general okoye#okoye#attuma#attuma of talokan#my asks#wakanda forever#black panther wakanda forever
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hi there!! i'm bear (he/him) and i'm so excited to finally be able to introduce you all to my boy here, lee woosol! he's a 24 yr old personal assistant to the ceo of a tech company (definitely not his dream job), and a lover of stories and sweet things. here are links to his profile, and bio, and under the cut i'll leave some tldr info about him. please like this post if you'd like to plot, though i'll be messaging everyone with welcomes anyway!
woosol was born in seoul on aug. 31st 1999, he's the second son, but when he was 13 his parents accidentally had a twin boy and girl (that they most definitely could not afford to have)
he was class president multiple times throughout school until he was 15 when he had to get a part time job to help support his family who were struggling a lot with the addition of the twins
despite previously having been smart enough to get into a sky uni, and wanting to pursue writing and literature, woosol had to settle for a mid-level uni due to his grades taking a hit from having to work, and decided to do a business management degree in hopes that he'd get a better paying job to help out his parents with money
he struggled through military service (he's not the athletic type at all) and finished his degree and now works a boring office job doing coffee runs and filing
he hopes to 'work his way up the corporate ladder' and hopefully land a better job in a publishing house later in life
he's got a massive sweet tooth, and eats way too much ice cream and pastries
he has yet to be dragged kicking and screaming into the gym by his boyfriend but he's really close to cracking because he gets winded going up the stairs at work when the elevators full or taking too long
he still lives with his parents purely because he feels obligated to stick around and support them and his siblings, even though his older brother's moved out and doesn't seem to feel the same filial responsibility that woosol does
he's growing increasingly more stressed, and its taking a toll on his health, from living with his parents and siblings, and really wants to move out but feels really guilty about that
of the seven deadly sins he's either sloth or gluttony. this man loves to not move and eat sweets. if he could he would sit in a chair reading and eating rice cakes, pain au chocolat, cream bread and ice cream for all eternity
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[LFRP] Naivah Forest
[LFRP] Naivah Forest
Mateus || Crystal - Datacenter
THE BASICS ––– –
Age: 28
Birthday: 32nd sun of the 6th astral moon
Race: Midlander
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Marital Status: married to books, and also probably the woods
Server: Mateus
Carrd: https://naivah.carrd.co/
Short Bio:
As a ward of the forest, Naivah assists travelers or injured people that may be stranded. Helping the wailers stop poachers and other various tasks that the shroud locals have. When she isn't getting herself lost, or being distracted; she is reading up on the twelve or doing research. She has visible scars and wounds, she will either ignore anyone who asks about them or avoids the subject.
Where you may find her:
Anywhere in the shroud: She will avoid major cities, with the exception of Gridania. Spending most of her time within the shroud looking for locals that need help, especially if they need something from the deep shroud/sylphlands.
Coerthas: It appears that she avoids going within Ishgard, however, she will help out the locals in the cold coerthas regions.
Mor Dhona: It is common for her to help Derek and do her own traveling and research about the Twelve.
Where you may have seen her:
Adventure guild in any city: Where she looks for jobs or quests in her downtime. The only time she spends more time is to eat or have a drink.
Kugane: Some research has brought her to the city from time to time. She will stay if her research keeps her in the city or region late.
Ishgard: very rarely she will step foot in the city. When she does it is to stay at the inn, she keeps her stays restricted to the Forgotten Knight and she tries not to stay for long periods of time.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE ––– –
Hair: Shoulder length chestnut brown, longer on the sides but she usually has it braided or tied up.
Eyes: bright lavender
Height: 5'3'
Build: stocky/tone build from all the traveling.
Distinguishing Marks:
A scar that wraps around her neck and stops at her collarbone
A fresh burn covers the top of her right hand and reaches her elbow, sometimes she has it wrapped.
Common Accessories:
An aether compass. Belonging to her deceased sister.
A worn sealed letter, with many creases, shows it's been with her for a while, though she has never delivered it to its intended party, nor re-opened it.
A tattered piece of fabric, torn, ripped covered in stains yet she keeps it neatly folded in her bag and sometimes used to wrap the Aether Compass in.
An over-stuffed satchel - she lugs her bag around full of things she may need on her travels. Her precious items she keeps stored separately in their own smaller bag that almost never leaves her side. She may even sleep with it.
PERSONAL ––– –
Profession: Wanderer, Adventurer
Hobbies: Exploring, Researching, getting lost in places she probably doesn't belong.
Languages: Eorzean
Residence: Gridania (she has an apartment there)
Birthplace: Bentbranch
Religion: None.
Patron Deity: None.
Fears: those she cares for being dead, rejection, death
RELATIONSHIPS ––– -
Spouse: None
Children: None
Parents: Lily Forest (mother) Matheus Forest (father)
Siblings: Serene Forest (deceased)
Other Relatives: None
Pets: A moogle that comes and goes as it pleases.
TRAITS ––– -
Bold your character’s answer.
Extroverted / In Between / Introverted
Disorganized / In Between / Organized
Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded
Calm / In Between / Anxious
Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable
Cautious / In Between / Reckless
Patient / In Between / Impatient
Outspoken / In Between / Reserved
Leader / In Between / Follower
Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic
Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic
Traditional / In Between / Modern
Hard-working / In Between / Lazy
Cultured / In Between / Uncultured
Loyal / In Between / Disloyal
Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ––– –
Smoking Habit: Never
Drugs: Never
Alcohol: Occasionally
RP HOOKS ––– –
Forest Ward - As well as she knows the Shroud and as much as she lingers around areas where travelers or merchants can get lost (or ambushed) Naivah always keeps an eye out to help anyone that may need it. She will check the adventure guild for any postings of those needing a guide through the shroud to any other region.
Healing services - Whether it may be an emergency or something on the quest board, Naivah will offer her healing services whenever they may be needed. She has skill in both healing magicks and more traditional methods. She is always excited to use her healing salve.
Explorer - Her research tends to take her out of the city-states and far out into the world. Despite her past, she still enjoys exploring, no matter how dangerous a place may look. In fact, that may just encourage her to want to take a look more.
"I'm so sorry to bother you.. but I am lost.." rubbing her hand over her arm she lets out an awkward chuckle - a side effect of her visible injuries (mainly the one on her neck) is that her short-term memory is almost non-existent. It is very common for her to travel somewhere and not remember why she had gone to that place or quite often get lost and forget where she is.
Whispers
A conjurer guild member that had healed Naivah on a recent occasion has expressed concern to the wood wailers about her comings and goings from the Sylphlands. "With burns like that, there cannot be anything good coming from there, Someone needs to stop her from going!"
"I have not seen her in the city since that incident." An Ishgardian Knight who found Naivah unconscious in coerthas sets down his warm ale. "I do not know what could have caused the injury to her neck but, with all that blood, I was sure she was dead."
CONTACT INFORMATION ––– –
In game - Naivah Forest (Mateus)
Discord - will give out on request after the interest/rp is established
Here on Tumblr!
Hours: Eastern Time
In-game
Weekdays: 10PM - 2-3AM
Weekends: 11am - 3-4 AM - I am online way more on the weekends.
I may be in-game more but AFK or Tabbed because of work. Just /tell me and when I get the chance I'll respond.
Discord/Tumblr
I am on Discord and Tumblr most of the day to the extent that I can respond periodically. There may be times when I am in a work meeting where it may take me a while to respond.
Twitter: forestnfae
What I'm looking for:
Really I just want to write silly stories and get up to shenanigans. Can be serious and story-driven with character development, or it can be casual with no expectations. I do not do ERP. Anything romantic that may go further I prefer to fade to black. I will say I do have Naivah loyal to a pairing, so any romantic situations will be incredibly slow-burn since Naivah is still very committed to that particular pairing.
Respect my boundaries, that is all I ask.
@mooglemeet
#ffxiv rp#crystal rp#mateus rp#ffxiv lfrp#lfrp#final fantasy xiv rp#final fantasy 14#final fantasy xiv#naivah#ffxiv oc
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Adding a Black Woman to a Small Human Cast With Many Aliens
@blazednarancia69 asked:
Half Alien Black Princess
I’m working on the early stages of a comic idea and I was wondering if you had any tips for people struggling to be as inclusive as they want when they have a small cast to work with- it’s a SciFi piece, and my story involves a lot of alien/human interaction, and there are really only 4-5 ‘main characters’ that are fully human. While they’re all POC, I’ve realised that my main human cast lacks any Black women.
There is a Black man in the main cast, and there are some secondary/tertiary Black women characters who show up throughout the story. One of the other main characters is a half-human, half-alien princess who is a dark skinned Black woman, but I don’t want to contribute to the existing trend of a ton of SciFi casting WOC and Black women in particular in exclusively alien roles but not including them in the human cast.
My proposed solution: Black lesbian and Black Mexican women characters, Black character works for the Black-coded Alien princess
A lot of my human characters are from the American southwest (California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, etc), and several of my main human cast have Mexican-American heritage. Two of them are adult siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, with a white dad and a Mexican-American mom. I decided a while ago that I wanted their mom to end up with a girlfriend/wife (in either a healthy polyamory way or a divorce way, NOT a cheating way, to be clear), and I’ve always pictured the girlfriend as a Black lesbian in STEM with a caffeine addiction and a cool shoulder tattoo- I’m thinking, now, that it would make sense to have her be the younger sister’s other bio mom. That way, I have a mixed Black & Mexican woman in the main human cast, plus I get to include a blended family that has half/stepsiblings with a healthy, positive dynamic, which is super important to me as someone who grew up never seeing families like mine except in ‘evil stepfamily’ situations.
Light skin and dark skin power dynamics
That ‘solution’ does make me worried about running into issues with the half-alien princess being darker skinned than the human woman; even though there are other aliens of her species with varying skin tones, I’m worried it might come off as exotifying dark skin. Then again, if I make the Black human woman darker and the half-alien princess lighter, I end up with a darker skinned Black woman working for a lighter skinned Black princess, and there’s some pretty obvious and colorist issues there, especially since the princess is meant to be, like, ethereally beautiful and graceful, as princesses tend to be, and the human woman is (and I mean this endearingly) a walking disaster. It’s probably relevant to mention that the Black man in the main cast is already dark skinned, so it’s not like there wouldn’t be ANY dark skinned Black humans in the main cast if I go with making the human woman lighter, but even that can have problematic connotations- I know a lot of media will feature dark skinned Black men but only light skinned Black women.
[ask redacted and headers added for readability]
First of all, your efforts to include dark-skinned Black women are appreciated! One can’t be expected to represent every race, ethnicity or underrepresented group in one story, as it’s generally just not feasible. Of course, making the full and conscious effort to be inclusive of under and misrepresented races and backgrounds in your current and future works is nice and very welcome in terms of representation - and it’s what we’re all about here!
Now, there are situations where I personally believe that it’s important to make that extra effort, and your story presents such situations.
Men of X race are there; the Women of Color are not
I take special note when there’s a man of a certain race that is included but not Women of Color of that race as well. It’s a trend for Black men / Black women especially or, as you noted, if she’s included and in a romantic way she often needs to be light. Or, if a dark-skinned Black woman makes an appearance, she’s the best friend or comedic relief and not seen as particularly desirable or someone to care about beyond being entertainment or even a punching bag.
Non-humans of X race exist, but humans of X race do not
It’s eyebrow-raising to me when stories include Black-coded aliens and non-humans but no humans in a story where indeed other humans exist. It’s insightful for you to take note of that as well.
A story is set in a region where the population is mostly X race - but they’re not in the story
Now, this situation actually doesn’t seem to be implied in your story, but it’s worth mentioning for others. A story that is featured in, for example, Nigeria or even Fantasy Nigeria that has no Nigerian, Black or African-diaspora people in general in the cast (or are just minor background characters)…..oh no.
So! It’s great that you took notice of the matter and decided to do something about it in your story.
Black mom and Black / Mexican daughter
Your solution to add a Black mom to the story sounds fine. Keep in mind the mammy and your typical tropes that can come from Black mothers in stories.
I may be getting some details cloudy, but it appears there’s a dark-skinned Black Mexican daughter from the relationship? And this Mexican + Black daughter serves a Black-coded alien princess that you’re not sure should be dark or lighter skinned? I hope I got that right!
There’s indeed power dynamics there if you go to the Black-coded princess with light skin. If you’re not wanting to create that dynamic or explore it in the narrative, you could always make them both darker skinned. There are many shades of brown and very brown skin. They don’t need to be the same shade or tone of brown.
Also, I think it’s okay for the alien princess to be graceful and the Black character to be a “walking disaster” as you say, as 1) Black characters need not be perfect 2) There are more Black women characters. And this is, again, made better if the princess doesn’t have to be light skinned.
Also, disclaimer as I’m not Mexican: but having a prominent Mexican character that is not in a servitude role would most likely be welcome! I’ll let Mexican followers comment on that.
Thanks for your thoughtful question.
~Mod Colette
#Black#Black Mexican women#Black women#mixed race#aliens#supernatural beings#Black aliens#power dynamics#asks
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Character Bio - Benedict
Race: Ulitharid-Neothelid (Ulithelid? Neotharid??)
Gender: Baby
Age: Baby
Alignment: Very nice and polite
There comes a time (sometimes two, rarely three) in every illithid's life when they lay their eggs. For most, this is not a time of excitement, or joy, but a matter of duty that must be taken care of to propagate the species. The mind flayer will lay their eggs, and the tadpoles will be raised in brine along with the Elder Brain, where the lucky few will mature and undergo ceremorphosis inside a host.
For Lawrence, this time came a couple years after he met Carylin and fell in love. Like for most illithids, it wasn't a time of happiness. But it was a terrifying moment for Lawrence in particular, as he knew he couldn't possibly force any of his offspring on an unwilling host. He couldn't simply let them loose either, as that would result in a horde of illithocytes or a neothelid, both outcomes just as deadly for the city.
He would have to kill someone, or something, for the first time since his own ceremorphosis. Either a humanoid, with the thoughts and complex emotions he had come to appreciate from his own girlfriend, or a clutch of mindless aberrations who felt nothing but hunger. The answer was obvious.
And yet, he still couldn't bring himself to end a life, not even the life of a tadpole. He failed to even crush the eggs, a simple task that would've dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently. Instead he waited, supposing that by the time they hatched, he would finally have the courage to do what needed to be done. He told Carylin about his plan and left the eggs to sit in a bathtub full of brine. Perhaps, he hoped, the hatchlings would cannibalize each other as soon as they emerged, and the weight of his duty would be made a little lighter.
Months passed, and the eggs hatched, even beginning to devour one another after mere days without food. They started as nearly a hundred, then dozens, then just more than ten. And as they consumed the flesh of their siblings, it was as if all the latent malevolence of the illithid race had condensed along with them. Only the strong survived - the strong and the cruel. Sensing this evil within each tadpole, Lawrence finally had the strength to do what was needed. He mixed in a pair of potions to the bathwater brine, the first to sedate, and the second to kill. When the feeble mind of the last tadpole ceased activity, he knew he had done the right thing. But he was not without some sense of sorrow, and sought out Carylin for comfort.
What she gave him was the exact opposite, however. She told him, with a nervous laugh and averted eyes, that he hadn't quite killed them all.
Immediately, his thoughts ran wild, and he began to interrogate her. Did a tadpole escape? Gods forbid, did one get inside her skull? But she quickly shook her head, and guided him outside, to a shady spot by the temple where the weeds grew thick. In the middle of the greenery, there was a bucket.
And inside the bucket, there was a tadpole. A remarkably fat tadpole. She explained to him that she had taken one of the 'babies' - a term she used with far too much of a smile - when it was just hatched, and hid it outside. Nearly every other day since then, she went to a butcher, searching for animal brains that she could feed to the thing. She apologized, and told Lawrence that he could do whatever he felt was right. It wasn't her child, after all. But the look on her face was far from indifference.
Lawrence looked at the thing - it, he reminded himself, not him, as Carylin kept calling the tadpole - and reached into its mind. Unsurprisingly, he felt nothing. No malevolence, like the others, but little of anything else either. Given that the thing was stuffed with animal brains, it wasn't likely to develop much of an intellect at all. But that same diet had also made it unlikely to ever fit into any cranial orifices.
He told her that he wouldn't kill it right away, and the way her eyes lit up made him quickly regret that decision. She bombarded him with question after question, of where they would keep him, and what they should feed him, and other little worries. Most of these she answered after a second or two of talking excitedly to herself. But one was left: what should his name be?
Lawrence pushed aside his growing fears to bring forth the first name that came to mind - and thus the tadpole became Benedict.
Benedict was dumped back into the bathtub, bucket and all (after his deceased siblings were removed, of course). Lawrence resolved to start feeding him a proper diet as soon as the next burial was needed, though giving a tadpole humanoid brain matter this late into development was unlikely to suddenly put his intellect back on track. Benedict's mind would forever be stunted, even for a lowly tadpole. Though that mattered little to Lawrence, as he would surely meet his end soon enough. Giving him a human brain to eat was more a matter of courtesy.
Carylin didn't seem to recognize the inevitable fate of the tadpole, however, instead treating the thing as if he were a human child. As if he were her child. She would sit by the bathtub day in and day out, neglecting her meager duties in favor of talking to a mindless aberration. She'd read books to him, and sing songs to him, and for Lawrence, seeing her sit next to Benedict made his heart ache, as he knew she'd have to say goodbye someday soon.
He would bring that day sooner, if he could. He tried to talk sense into her, but she'd always insist that he was just a baby, that he was still growing.
And one day, when Lawrence was about to begin yet another futile argument by the bath, his girlfriend turned to him with a smile and pointed at him.
"Look! Who's that?" she asked, in an excited tone.
And to Lawrence's astonishment, he heard an answer.
"Papa!"
It was impossible. No tadpole, and certainly not a stunted thing like this one, was capable of telepathy. And yet, the little voice that he heard in his head was just that. Benedict, the little tadpole saved from the maws of his clutch, the runt of them that had been stuffed with animal brains, was speaking to him.
It had called him Papa.
There was no question after that; Benedict couldn't be killed. Lawrence came up with any justification he could find to prove that he wasn't a legitimate danger, not really. Even if he became a neothelid, surely the guards would deal with him before he hurt anyone. If not them, some band of adventurers. The land was crawling with them.
Benedict grew over time, both in size and in intellect. From a chubby tadpole to a slightly longer chubby tadpole, and from saying 'Papa' to 'Mama' and 'hello' and nearly a dozen other little words. He was growing well, and behaving well, and Lawrence let his worries quiet down for the first time in months.
Until another cause for worry struck him. Benedict had learned, as his mother explained it, to 'stick out his tongue'. Being a tadpole, this was not his tongue, of course. It was a bundle of tentacles, long and pale, sticking out of his mouth. And to Lawrence's continued shock, there were six of them.
Tadpoles only have four tentacles. Illithids only have four tentacles. The only sort of mind flayer with six of these appendages was the ulitharid, a variant of illithid that was as far beyond a regular mind flayer as a human was beyond a beast. A creature so powerful that even the great illithids viewed them as godlike.
Normally, identifying a tadpole that would become an ulitharid was impossible. But what if it was allowed to grow outside of the usual illithid methods? What if it was near to becoming something other than a tadpole?
It could shatter everything Lawrence knew about the biology of his kind, making the impossible possible - a tadpole with six tentacles, that could also use telepathy. It answered questions, certainly, but what occupied Lawrence more was the question it raised.
How dangerous could this new creature be? He imagined the future of this ulitharid-neothelid, a massive leviathan with all the psionic power of an Elder Brain. It could destroy the city with ease - no, not just his city, but anything remotely near. This thing was a potential threat to the entire world.
And, at the same time, he was a chubby little tadpole in a bathtub. A child who called Lawrence 'Papa', and said hello to him every time he entered the room.
Lawrence would try to keep his worries quiet, and his fears pushed down. He knew what the safest thing to do would be, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. Just like his namesake, Benedict's life wouldn't be ended prematurely. They would simply have to hope for a miracle.
Random Facts:
Benedict keeps the bucket he was kept in as a baby for his entire life. When he's small, he gets carried around in it. When he's too big for that, he sticks his head in it. And even when he's eventually over 100 feet long, he still wears it as a hat.
Benedict does grow significantly in size, but his vocabulary plateaus at about a two-year-old level. His personality also remains fairly childlike, but he's always very kind and polite.
He knows exactly one song, and that's the alphabet song (or whatever the Common equivalent would be). He will start singing at random and plead for his parents to sing along with him.
He's not seen as a human by citizens in the same way his father is; instead Lawrence just tries to mind control people around him into thinking a baby neothelid is totally normal. Eventually Benedict develops his own psionic power enough to do the same, and the town adopts the resident hundred foot long worm as a sort of mascot.
Benedict later gets a job delivering mail in the city. He's actually pretty good at it, since he can just scan the minds within his telepathic range to find the recipient of each delivery. His range becomes much greater than his father's by the time he's fully grown, encompassing the entire city.
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There are SO many types of zines, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of! Here is a list of common zine categories with links to either free to read zines, descriptions, or artist shops and zine distros to buy from!
art zine - Zines that are filled with art, photo, collage, etc. This could be a sketchbook zine, drawings under a singular theme, or a general compilation of art. This is the most common type of zine produced by artists!
Subject of Devotion, Sabrina Mellado (For Shortbox Comics Fair). This was a digital collection of sketchbook scans available for free, compiled on her website
comic zine - Writing and drawing a self produced and printed comic! Another popular category of zines for artists. Also: Diary comic zines, Auto-bio Comic Zines.
How to Survive a Haunting, Jade Zhang
Duende, Elle Shivers
fanzine - Fan-drawings, comics, writing, meta, fiction, etc. compiled into a self-published work!
I know the internet has taken over what many people, especially in fandom, understand a zine to be, but anyone can make a zine and anyone can make a fanzine. At the zine library I used to help maintain, there was an 8 page mini that was just a bunch of Idris Elba pics with cute kaomoji’s saying “i love uwu idris elba <3”. The first media fanzine was published in 1967, for Star Trek called, “Spockanalia.” Seriously, all you need to do is be impassioned by a subject to write, collage, or draw something about it!
Stitching Together, Annie Mok (Available to read for free, but I encourage you to send her a tip as she has recently been in recovery from surgery and is also on food stamps https://ko-fi.com/heyanniemok/shop)
Good Chicken, Natalie Mark (Me! Is self promo okay?)
info zine - A zine that shares information. This can be informational, or it can be an instructional zine such as a “DIY Zine” or a “Recipe Zine.”
Trans/Disabled Bibliography, Saul Freedman. I don’t have a link to this one, but it was a really wonderful and short zine of both citations and a love letter to the works cited. Instead, I have linked you to Saul’s zine page on his website 🤠
Patchwork Primer: how do we find what we’re not looking for?, kaythi and seiji. This info zine was created for an event I organized for people creating zines on the margins. I invited the two of them to co-program an activist book club for the event!
litzine - A “literary zine” can be a collection of fiction, poetry, prose, etc. that is self published and distributed as a zine. Also called “lit zine”, or “literary zine”. Some people prefer “chapbook”, or “poetry zine” for poetry.
My favourite litzines are not available anywhere online, so I will describe one of them for you?
Todo Parecia de Cristal / “Everything Looked Like Crystal”, Laura Rojas is a collection of photos of the artist’s mom and her siblings growing up paired with journaling between 2015-18. They couldn’t bring photo albums with them when the moved to Canada from Colombia, and the photos had been mailed to her years prior to the making of the zine.
perzine - A “personal zine” focuses on the artist’s life, opinion, or thoughts in some capacity. A zine about yourself, your experiences, your life, a particular memory, your feelings, etc. This is my favourite type of zine!
Sonali Menzes/glittermagpie has some really awesome perzine and info zines about anxiety and mental illness. I have her zines, So you’re anxious as fuck, and You’re so Exotic.
Keet Geniza/Make! Shift! Love! is another favourite zinester! I love Keet’s perzine series, Picking Bones, which are full of reflective auto-bio comics and prose.
Your Whiteness is Boring: A Gender Perzine, Cleo Peterson.
political zine - Dealing with political topics, anarchy, communism, social justice, historical movements, and present day issues.
An Illustrated Struggle for Housing from Canada to the Philippines, Julie Guevara
Autonomous Resistance To slavery and Colonialism, Russell Maroon Shoatz. (Note, the prices on Brown Recluse Distro are for BIPOC only, white people and institutions are asked to donate an extra $5 USD)
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☆ﾟ.*・ ◞ zendaya coleman / demi-woman / biracial / she/they ——— is that beatrice 'tris' bennett on bourbon street ? the twenty-one/ twenty-two year old vampire who stay in the marigny/bywater ? i heard their biological parents are bonnie bennett & enzo st. john. they are notoriously known for being erudite & intuitive but also aggrieved & demoralized . which is probably why they are considered the despondant around town. i wonder if they had their tarot cards reading, yet? either way, the cards on the table will reveal their fate soon enough //
stats !
full name: beatrice bennett. nicknames: tris. gender: demi woman. pronouns: she/they. sexuality: pansexual. parents: bonnie bennett & enzo st. john. siblings: tbd. species: vampire. neighborhood: marigny/bywater occupation: currently unemployed. label: the despondent
lil bio ! ( death tw )
magic had always been one of the most important things in tris' life. her powers manifested when she was very young, their mother quickly becoming her teacher and saving grace. not much else really kept tris' attention as a young child aside from magic. learning about it, learning to control it, just absorbing everything. there was another part of her, not something they were ashamed about or anything, just something beatrice wished they could change. their vampire gene.
it wasn't that she had any ill will towards vampires, in fact one of her favorite people ever was a vampire, enzo. it was what would happen to them post transition. being ripped away from the magic she held so incredibly dear. the magic that was woven into their very being. so from maybe too young an age, tris had decided she would never complete her transition when the moment came. it wasn't something she had shared with her parents, or their siblings really. just something beatrice had declared to herself.
as she grew not only in age, but skill, beatrice was thankful to have bonnie to learn from. to have an incredibly powerful and skilled mentor and mother. tris had gone searching for other supernatural beings, wanting to connect on that level with a person other than her family. it wasn't too long until she'd fallen in love with a vampire. for a while they tried to deny their feelings, the vampire would live for an eternity while tris had absolutely no interest in living beyond losing their magic.
it didn't take long before she was unable to avoid the attraction between the pair and fell into a whirlwind romance. that was until one evening, one that they cannot quite remember. one that turned fatal. tris isn't exactly sure how she died, all they remember is waking up with blood flowing into their mouth, instincts and thirst kicking in before they realized what had happened. it was their partner's wrist, the partner who had been the only person tris had actually confided in about their wishes to die than become a vampire.
rage, sadness, grief, pain, completely devoured them. snapping partners neck and fleeing was tris' only option, they could no longer stand to be around someone who had utterly betrayed them. calling her parents in an absolute fit of panic, they had all decided it would be best for beatrice to spend time with enzo to get accustomed to their new life.
their attendance here in new orleans is to visit with their mother. to try and step back into the magical world without losing her mind completely. while as a child tris had been an eager, curious, bright, and happy young kid, their transition has all but changed them completely. a grumpy, disheartened demeanor and attitude left in it's place.
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SUMMARY
not quite a has-been but not quite one who had ever reached his full potential, either. as early as his teenage years, deacon realized he was out of place in a family of educators. still, he fought tooth and nail to make his own space in it, landing somewhere within the niche field of biostatistics and epidemiology. his research interests sound good, if only in title, having checked out of the ivory towers of academia so long ago and now dedicates himself into being the laxest professors at the university and failing to partake in the whole publish or perish of it all (man never made it past asst prof!). just ask the students in his gen ed classes: the man is very generous at handing out A's. he's a freer man outside of the university. deacon knows how to have a good time and loves turning his brain off, perhaps all too liberally. only his partygoing days are behind him, not when being the oldest person in a nightclub has just become—well, sad. ( full bio )
VITALS
NAME: deacon grant
NICKNAME: deacon. just deacon. or grant :)
GENDER & PRONOUNS: cis man / he/him
AGE: 45 / february 3, 1979
OCCUPATION: assistant professor at uncw
NEIGHBORHOOD: masonboro
SEXUALITY: well, who knows. (bisexual / masc-leaning)
CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS: david acosta (evil), chidi anagonye (the good place), gregory eddie (abbott elementary), colin zabel (mare of easttown), michael (imagine me gone), theo decker (the goldfinch), tbd.
PERSONALITY AND HEADCANONS
tl;dr sad dad galore except he doesn't have any real kids of his own save for his nephews and nieces and 12938 students who still come to him for real life advice.
admittedly, he's got the physique to match his wit but only because when he was fourteen years old, his brother said that doing push-ups could curb his anxious fits and he simply never stopped (a la chidi anagonye). these days, he's very much of a bundle of nerves short-circuiting all at once, a fact that he hides quite well because of his impressive stature and unflappable demeanor.
his mind feels relentlessly like it is on overdrive, and while he is keen to take life not too seriously, this mindset has left him on the fringes of existential dread. substance abuse tw / in the past he'd found a way out to quiet his mind through drugs, but anyone who spends more than a few fleeting encounters with him may figure out he needs a different kind of medication. anti-anxiety? anti-depression? despite being in the health sciences, he's never much cared for the answer.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
FAMILIAL: two younger siblings — their last name is grant unless changed for reasons — or cousins.
PLATONIC: acquaintances. neighbors on masonboro. students he may have taught in undergrad, through general ed or statistics classes. faculty/researchers/staff who are academe-adjacent. people he might have encountered on his usual haunts: uncw, lincoln park, fit & toned, the cozy cup.
ROMANTIC (deacon is bisexual!): exes/flings. flirtationships. ex-partner might be fun :)
PLOT-SPECIFIC (might entail further plotting/oc creation): family friends. people that might know during his time as a chronic gambler. people in narcotics anonymous. people he's failed to keep in touch with over the years + anything and everything you see them fitting with your char!
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