You know what I love? That pretty much any constellation of Greed Lives AUs is going to be absolutely hilarious. A fucking riot. A blast. Shenanigans central.

1. Greed lives, remains hitched to Ling's body.

They now both have to deal with the fact that they quite like each other, actually, and also that Greed tried to die for Ling. Ling is mad. Greed is having an identity crisis. They have to sort their shit out while sharing a braincell AND get their asses back to Xing AND not get assassinated on the way there. Priceless.

Also, once they sort each other out, the absolute comedic chaos of having an Emperor of Xing who is quite literally being possessed by a demon? Amazing. Everybody hates it, except Greed and Ling who are having the time of their life. Greed and Ling work together quite beautifully when it comes to politics, kind of a good cop/bad cop vibe going. They also bicker like an old married couple. The palace staff is terrified of getting eaten until they eventually figure out that the demon is the nicer one of the two, actually. Sometimes Greed gets bored of politics and kidnaps the Emperor. Everyone can always tell which of them is in control until they can't, bc hitchhiking inside a body for long enough gives you a very good grip of your buddy's mannerism. Lan Fan starts going grey at like, nineteen.

2. Greed lives, gets his original body back.

A lot of yelling at first, Ling is mad and now he can actually give Greed the silent treatment. Both of them cope very poorly with not having someone on the backburner at all times. Greed is having an identity crisis (bis). They eventually work it out, possibly with some help from Lan Fan who is already Done with their shit after the first hour.

And then, you know. They make up, make out, go to Xing, shenanigans ensue. Again, the Xingese court has no idea how to deal with this random foreigner the new Emperor brought with him. They have absolutely no concept of physical boundaries between the two of them bc they were literally sharing a body for a good long while, and are all over each other all the time and don't fucking seem to realize. Like, the Emperor (whom no one else is allowed to approach unless they want Lan Fan's knife in their guts) just holds court with this Amestrian monster draped halfway across his lap, making disparaging comments about his ministers. Greed loudly declares that he owns the Emperor and thus the entire Empire and does not get executed for it. Everyone assumes they are boning, which is funny if they are and even funnier if they aren't. Sometimes Greed gets bored and kidnaps the Emperor. Lan Fan goes grey even earlier.

3. Greed lives, gets a duplicate of Ling's body.

Same as above but with added ridiculousness, and bonus everyone can tell which is which until they can't, because again, sharing a body for long enough gives you an uncanny grip on your better worse half's body language and mannerism. Ling grows like 5cm taller than Greed bc he wasn't done growing when they got merged and he's catching up. Greed is extremely pissed about it. Greed does all of Ling's accounting work because it turns out he really loves numbers and Ling hates it. Ling does all the diplomatic shit unless subtlety won't cut it anymore in which case Greed takes over. The rumor mill outside the palace cannot decide whether the Emperor is possessed, has a secret twin, a demonic double, or some really strange mood swings. This is not helped by the fact that Greed sometimes kidnaps the Emperor to go get piss-drunk in the city. They still have no boundaries between the two of them and it weirds everyone out. Lan Fan is So Done.

Do you consider yourself a lore breaking, lore bending or lore adhering roleplayer? Does this adherence to lore depend on the kind of lore you're exploring with your characters; i.e. you play fast and loose with ideas xiv has yet to develop, but you tend to pay close attention to the fleshed out ideals? Is there lore you have modified that you're proud of and would share here?

I view lore as a starting point for me to jump off from and make my own. Always have.

I find strict adherence to game canon for its own sake creatively suffocating and always have, in every setting I've ever written in. It’s pretty much entirely because I grew up on DMing and writing in Forgotten Realms, which took a very DIY approach back in the day that was heavily encouraged by its creator. Everyone's Realms were equally valid, according to Word of God, and there were often intentional "blanks" left in sourcebooks for the DM to fill. These books emphasized over and over again that the DM was the ultimate authority on canon, not TPTB or the novels or anything else. That philosophy has informed my approach to worldbuilding in the transformative fandom sense for the last 30 years. That and being a queer Black femme of color who is very rarely satisfied by canon narratives rife w racially problematic tropes. I change things to make a space for myself and my characters and the stories I want to tell, by necessity. FFXIV is no different in that respect.

That said, I don't smash SE canon just to smash it either. Despite how bonkershits a lot of Gisèle's canon appears on the surface (eg. post-war Ishgard's constitutional monarchy with King Aymeric), everything I change has been carefully considered and engineered for as much internal consistency as possible. As much as I operate on Rule of Cool, I need things to make sense for me to have fun.

But I am distinctly not a roleplayer, for this and many other reasons. I'm strictly a fic writer, and I don't ever collab with people. The world Gisèle operates in is constructed entirely for her, and my own enjoyment, by design. So no one is forced to deal with my stuff if they don't like it.

That said, King Aymeric is probably the lore I’m most proud of. I wrote a ficlet for ffxivwrite last year on it here, but the cliffs notes: Aymeric invoked the ancient covenant between man and dragon when begging Hraesvelgr’s aid against Nidhogg and vowed he would restore it, but Hraes said that because that covenant was broken by an Elezen king, only an Elezen king could restore it. Hraes was wily though, it wasn’t just upholding weird draconic custom in saying that. His ulterior motive was to make Aymeric guarantee his people would be united enough not to turn on the Dravanians once Nid was handled. the end result is that Aymeric restored the Ishgardian throne (“The Azure Throne”, as a nod to Haldrath), but as a largely unifying figurehead/ceremonial position with Parliament strictly defining the role of the king. Artoirel is Lord Speaker of the House of Lords. Aymeric’s still LC of the temple knights in addition to his royal duties. He wasn’t giving that up lol.

making a constitutional monarchy plausible in the context of the story was challenging and I think I’ve done a solid job of it tbh. I wanted to lean into the Arthurian romance vibes of HW but also solve the fundamental problem I had w how it ended, which is that I don’t think it’s a terribly realistic scenario for ppl who were under a theocracy for 1000 years. Aymeric essentially having his hand forced by Hraesvelgr solves the issue of why he would restore the throne and tbh I don’t flinch from the complications of squaring that with the revelations about Ishgard’s founding, I think it only plays more into Aymeric’s ambivalence about the role he’s been thrust into.

I always lean more towards actual romantic feelings in my diamonds, which is why i find dave/rose pale (and other humans that are related in paleships) to be so fuckin weird. People act like Moirails are interchangeable for siblings or bffs but in my mind thats a cop out

yeah i tend to agree. i understand the idea of having trolls mistake dave and rose for moirails because they literally have no cultural concept of siblings but like. tbh it feels like usually ppl r doing that for the hiiiiilarious Implications which is like to me stupid at best

i also feel like its kind of a copout to present moiraillegiance as something that we have a 1:1 cultural equivalent for when the whole point is supposed to be the alienness of it. personally i like when its presented as something that is specifically romantic but not sexual purely because i am very interested in trying to tease out a meaningful difference between matesprits and moirails and i think if you acknowledge them both to be fundamentally romantic then its more interesting to get into how they are defined in alternian culture. not saying that i always feel like the fic i read makes a convincing argument for that lol but its interesting to see different takes!

in my experience i've found that the people who tend to be really into doing interesting stuff w the concept of moirails tend to be the same ppl who are very into playing up the more alien/animalistic aspects of troll society. im cool w that, i like xenobiology as much as the next guy but!!! i hate when fics get way too into the like "highbloods are fundamentally physically and psychologically different than lowbloods" maybe just because ive read a lot of gamkar which Really harps on this particular topic but i just feel like it gets so eugenics-y so fast in a way that i really do not care for. but that being said i think moirallegiance frequently presents an interesting opportunity to explore dominance and submission in fic, especially in the context of a society that is frequently imagined to have much stricter consequences for letting your guard down around the wrong person and i like to see that explored as well

If I am guessing your cryptic question right, stonathan or steddie? Which one do I prefer? See more chemistry in? Is that it?

I saw more chemistry between Steddie honestly. Maybe because Eddie was openly flirty and Steve was flustered most of the time around him.

Stonathan - I don't see the chemistry that much because Jon did beat him up for insulting his family and him. Even though Steve came to apologise, it was more like a formality rather than a stepping stone to friendship. They could have been friends, but they didn't. For Jon, Steve is an immature idiot that he fought one time.

I have read one Stonathan fic and I couldn't see the chemistry there. It was a nice fic, but the chemistry was missing, I felt. But the Steddie fics have chemistry.

Jon honestly has more chemistry with Argyle than Steve.

I would love to hear your thoughts, Denise.

mmmmmm my lawyer told me to tell you tht i can neither confirm nor deny these assumptions but tht i Can reply to u otherwise <3 so hiii, anon 👋

that's fair. s1 jonathan and steve are works in progress for sure and then they drift apart again as their connections to nancy change. i do think that jancy's talk at the end can be interpreted as a hint that they'll interact again though, allowing jonathan to see firsthand what nancy meant, so maaaaaybe smth of some sort will happen there? who knows lol.

but! i do think that the apology was more than a formality. steve was really intent on going over there and making things right, he really felt like he'd fucked up and he wasn't expecting nancy to be there. he went for jonathan and really wanted to make things right with him. there was a desperate kind of sincerity there i felt in joe's portrayal. and then he seemed really pleased when jonathan received his gift later on! so, like. yk. i think jonathan's the one holding more resentment / preconceived notions than steve rn, which is understandable considering he doesn't know him like that, and why i think they planted tht seed i mentioned at the end there. there could still be more to them and i think there likely is!

tbh though i feel like i'd need more scenes with them to be able to say anything abt their chemistry on-screen. i get more ✨⚡️ from steve for those reasons tht i mentioned than i do jonathan rn. jonathan has had his defenses up too high n been too cold thus far, n charlie really sells tht n jon's trust issues lol. maybe it'll change in s5, maybe it won't.

as for steddie... i feel like you can say some of the same things? they became kind of friends towards the end there because eddie went to go save him and they had that little bonding moment where eddie opened up to him and got in his good graces. also... i feel like eddie's actions can be taken that way, but he's also a touchy-feely invades-your-personal-space kind of dude with other characters too. and i didn't really feel any electricity or interest there from steve's side, kind of the opposite of the stonathan situation. like joe wasn't leaning into what people believe joseph was.

it felt like interactions between a heroic jock who aggravatingly really is more than what people say and a freak who's had to puff his chest up n act tougher than he really is to survive, and how they navigate that as young men. like actually tough vs pretends to be. and there's a a kind of sheepishness on eddie's side where the freak who talks abt how others are so quick to judge n be hostile is now being saved n helped n treated well by someone tht he did all of tht to, this kind of ... ingratiating n dare i say submissive mannerisms tht i think ppl read as just flirting.

and then steve's mostly just there, taking this in and occupying the same space as him, more focused on the others, but still wanting to be nice n give his thanks bc he's just that guy n does it with everyone. he's chuffed tht eddie's blowing smoke up his ass, but i don't view him as being bewitched. when did you find steve to be flustered? i'd like to go back and watch, maybe i'll see it this time :)

jargyle my beloved 💚 i think it helps tht argyle is jonathan's friend, so there's naturally going to be this easygoing flow between them tht wouldn't be present in his scenes with steve. i think they play off each other wonderfully, but.. hm. idk. there's chemistry yes bc they definitely sell that safe harbor you're my only friend ride or die kind of relationship, but it's not like ... tht Charged kind of chemistry, if tht makes sense?

thank u for answering :)

for the ship thing dabihawks kaeluc and zhongven :3

HELLO HI HELLO LOVE 💜💜💜

[send me a bnha or genshin ship and i’ll answer some questions based on whether i ship it!]

dabihawks !!!!! did u mean my bnha otp??? my overwhelming majority of fic content for bnha????

What made you ship it?

u know what’s really funny i don’t know if i can find it again but i think i saw some joke in the bnha tag on tumblr at some point abt how ppl shipped it as a crack ship even tho they’d never met in canon and then they met in canon AFTER that person made the post and i think that’s half of what got me shipping it, and i actually went out of my way to get and read the manga JUST so i could put dabihawks into the (un)lost (x)

What are your favorite things about the ship?

hopefully this makes sense but like...it’s just so raw? like. it has all these deep elements to it - sure, you have the enemies to lovers, maybe childhood friends to enemies to lovers tropes, but like. there’s this really intriguing way they’re juxtaposed even in canon with each other that makes them so remarkably similar and still so different? and as characters they are SO much fun to play with and get them to interact and learn and grow from those interactions. they run the gamut of possibilities in fic, too - like sure any ship can be portrayed in whatever way, but they have so much canon-compliant possibilities for their characterizations? like you can make them toxic as hell, you can make them lean on each other or begrudgingly become allies or literally whatever and you can still tie that back to their characters in a really believable way? which i think is such a unique and really intriguing type of character. not to even get started on their backstories and how those can come into play to give them this really intense depth to both their own characters but especially in relation to each other. gods i could go on and on lmaooooo there’s a reason i have them in so many of my bnha fics

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

are there unpopular dabihawks opinions? idk lmaoooo. i feel like it’s probably bigger now, but when i first started writing in dabihawks it felt pretty small (for a bnha ship), and i think everyone was p chill? i think this question is always a little funny for me bc there are rarely any opinions i have that are so strong that they vehemently come into conflict with other ppl’s opinions like i’m not deadset on ‘one of them tops always’ or whatever lmao

kaeluc kaeluc kaeluc i love them i ship them otp content right there

What made you ship it?

how cliche is it of me to say the VERY first scene we even saw diluc where he came and rescued kaeya from the abyss mage??? (x) it is extremely cliche but that’s the one. i hadn’t even started playing genshin yet i was watching over @revyourriley​‘s shoulder while he was playing and we deadass looked at each other after we saw that and both went YEP WE SHIP IT

What are your favorite things about the ship?

gods what’s not to like abt kaeluc???? the childhood friends to enemies to lovers??? *chef’s kiss* the fire and ice / red and blue / quiet polite loner and outgoing mysterious smooth-talker like man i could go on and on. not to mention kaeya as a character in general is just supremely sexc not just bc u kno he’s sexc but because he’s got this whole wealth of possibility as a character that’s as yet unaddressed. some AMAZING potential for angst and regained trust and reconciliation and rediscovering buried feelings or seeing the other in a totally new light or like gods i can’t get enough of these two tbh

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

LMAO i mean. the fact that i ship it at all is unpopular. although hot spicy take at least for me, i view p much everything through a writing lens. this is just how my brain works. so when it comes to ‘oh are kaeluc adopted brothers or sworn brothers or what’ and all that discourse, i have two thoughts: first, that i will listen to chinese fans’ explanation of the meaning of sworn brothers when it comes to understanding their canon relationship. and in some ways, their canon relationship doesn’t matter to me all that much unless the game decides to address it in more detail. and second, that when i am writing fic, they’re whatever the hell i want them to be for the sake of my plot. sometimes they view each other as brothers and that hasn’t changed, sometimes it’s changed over time/they’ve grown apart. sometimes they really only view each other as childhood friends/allies. sometimes they’ve never met in my fics. it just depends on what kind of story i’m trying to tell. is that unpopular? i really don’t know lmao

zhongven!!! okay i do ship it but it’s not all that high on my list of ships lmao like i usually ship zhongli and venti with other ppl first

What made you ship it?

honestly the art? the connection they have as immortals and archons and the only two remaining of the original seven? very inch resting potential right there

What are your favorite things about the ship?

immortals with a long and intertwined history as the only two remaining original archons? very spicy food for thought. the most polar of opposites in personality and appearance and methodology of interacting with their people??? there is so much depth to their history and each of their respective pasts to delve into which could be so intriguing to write

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

hmhmhm given that this isn’t something i ship like actively, probably not? I Just Think They’re Neat lmaoooo

[send me a bnha or genshin ship and i’ll answer some questions based on whether i ship it!]

oo yeah, the stark differences in eng fics on ao3 and those that i’ve read in websites like pixiv/ weibo/ lofter/ typesetters is a high-context asian subtle/implicit intimacy vs low-context western loud/explicit intimacy (1)

tho ,, i think the setting (character + environment + time) and the prompt (au? canon? romance? slice of life? epic?) play into it. i think the differences that exist between portrayals of intimacy by east asian authors and by western authors largely stem from cultural philosophy, which could make some things jarring to those unfamiliar with either

tbh i'm the type of person who, when reading lit abt supposedly asian characters, would appreciate the story more if it was also true to the characters' culture, and so i'd also like to see them experience and understand love the same way asians experience and understand love. but that's just me (i know there are diaspora who like to see other things), and that's also for a concept that's more for peaceful romance/character-centric settings. it’d be a different case if the story is plot-driven, or historical, or apocalyptic

i personally prefer the nuance of intimacy in pieces by east asians bc that's what i like to see and what i'm familiar with. but either way, i don't mind the differences exist. it just means that there's a variety to all of our experiences. as long as it's written into the narrative in an organic manner, it will still feel like a love i can appreciate, whether romantic or platonic or anything in between.

the whiplash was intense when i opened a fic bc i was curious or bored (or both rly) and then boom, untagged daddy kink. SHSHS it makes me giggle sumtimes, since he’s a jpnese character, when it comes to gojou, bc personally i just can't imagine him calling anyone any kind of petname unless it means to fuck with them,,, like, for eg, in stsg fic i just can't vibe with gojou calling suguru anything but his name, but that's just me and largely the way i interpret their characters, and it's just nice to know that all the authors of jp/cn/kr fic i've read before feel the same way more or less ,, but that's it HSJJSJS if someone else decides they want gojou calling suguru this or that, then that's like, alright. that's what they want to write and see, yk, and there's nothing wrong with that, i'll just swerve respectfully lmao

also for pdas,, i think it definitely depends on the age of the couple and the setting

like, if they're a campus couple, pda is pretty common. handholding, picking each other up from class, study dates in the library/courtyard/cafe, going to drinking parties together, that sort of thing.

the most common petname i've heard cn campus couples use is "baobao/baobei" (寶寶/寶貝), which means precious/baby/darling. for jp couples, tbrh i've never heard anything ,, my friends and cousins don't use petnames either

honestly,,, if u're cn/jp and u're dating someone ur age or younger, u'd probs call them by their given name or a nickname with an affectionate prefix/suffix (小，阿，兒 etc or the norm ちゃん, くん, さん, 先輩/ 輩先 suffix) and ig u could call that a petname. if u're dating someone older than u, then u'd call them (insert name)-san or senpai/jie/ge if u and they want, and that would show how close u are. some ppl date and call each other by their full names, too, and even with honourifics. and some ppl use just their partner's given names.

for kr,, idk much but i think it’s usually 이,야,아 etc and noona/oppa/unni/hyung ????

for older couples, like married couples or people who are working, pda tends to lean towards petnames. "sweetheart", "honey", "wife/husband", that sort of thing. if they're parents, they'd probably call each other "dad", "mum" (I NEVER HEARD MY OWN PARENTS NAME LEAVING THEIR LIPS WHEN THEY ADDRESS THE OTHER)

but if its pda like,, making out in public, i don't think it's very common. i've never seen it shhsjsjs (arm holding can be rewarded with a stink eye from the conservatives elderly (mostly), from where i came from)

in fic, it's abt the same, which means it would depend on the age/setting/couple's preference with the addition of the author's preference which just,,, uh shows , ig

but then again,, pls cmiiw if anyone else knows more

altho i’m a “respect is earned” type of person ,, when it comes to (conservative) elders, it will just fly out of the window,,, the repercussions....just no 🥰 some of them are so fucking petty and are hellbent to teach u a lesson, its actually embarassing

back when the yo mama jokes were still popular and 24/7 circulating in the internet,, me and some friends were 😃😃 like yall can say this and get away with it? when daylight arrive after i crack this kind of joke in front of my relatives, my mom is done scheduling for my cremation date

even if i dont intend it to mean disrespect in some convos,, the damage is done and my parents would straight up be like : “wtf did u just say? try repeating it once more and lets see if u can still sleep under a roof today.” either that or they’ll smack me before saying it ,, whichever could come first depending on their mood 🥴

my relatives wont ever missed if i ever forgot to address them when we meet or during a phonecall by a simple “uncle/ aunt/ grandfather/ grandmother” (usually my grandfather is the one so uptight abt it 💀) and it will end up into a short lecture abt “young kids these days..../ u havent forgot to eat yet u forgot what respect is?/ ur parents are fine ppl but what happen to u”

cue my mother glaring at me or giving the stink eye like @/&/&2@22 most of the times i’m distracted by sth and just spaced out while organising it in my head b4 it could get out of hand ,,, that and the titles i’ve used for each relative is different and i’m afraid to mixed it up bc again...stink eye ,,, like my father’s younger/ older brother and younger/ older sister and cousins + its another different handful of titles when it comes to my mother’s family 😔 - 🐱 (2)

yes!!!! there’s a lot of reasons why i enjoy stsg fics and it’s because gojo and geto are always treated like people in stsg fics.....i’ve found that in a lot of reader insert fics you could replace gojo and geto with the male lead of those mafia boss stories on wattpad and it wouldn’t make a difference LMAO gojo and geto are often caricatures of themselves and it’s just something i’m personally not interested in.

also....i feel like there’s so much intimacy in how someone calls/says your name that just using pet names 24/7 gives it this superficial sense that i’m not really a fan of but then again, in fwb stories i totally understand.

another thing, I really feel like culture DOES play into it. obviously as asian people ourselves who come from a collectivist culture, our idea of love is different from the western concept of love. i feel like this especially comes into play when we see reader insert stories where the MC is super op and strong just so they can “match” gojo and gojo doesn’t need to worry about them even though it’s not even needed!! in asian cultures it’s not a burden to take care of people. it’s love. and i feel like western people don’t quite grasp that bc it’s such an individualist culture (this is a not nuanced at all / a generalization but u get the point)

yeah full on pda in fics always gets me because in japan???? lmao no honey!!! although gojo would definitely do it, not every character would LOL

gojo would pet names as a joke aka ironically, but i just don’t see him doing it seriously unless it's dear or smt

my mom is so big on respect. she always gets into fights abt with my brother and it’s a generational difference tbh but i digress, it’s not like it’s bad to be polite to your elders, but I do think koreans can take it too far to the point where it’s detrimental!!

random thought of mine, which clone do you think would have the best singing voice? Ik they’re clones so they all sound the same fmdndn but still. i think jesse or echo maybe?

jesse would be such a beautiful singer, not a doubt in my mind. his voice is velvety, a bit husky with a hard punch of power. i’ve entertained this thought on multiple occasions and will one day write smth with singing jesse.

echo though? akhdkshkakdj i never thought abt him singing before now but i can totally see it, his voice being a bit less gritty than jesse’s but with a smidge more range and a clearness that rivals the scarif oceans.

gonna send thank-you’s to @obiorbenkenobi and @hxldmxdxwn for letting me ramble abt this post on discord at ungodly hours.

i made a playlist for this almost-au as well!!! find it here, and i’ll soon add it to my spotify shenanigans.

now enjoy me going into more detail abt these two boys than anyone asked for:

genre-wise i think jesse would be a bit more cocky and playful with his go-to songs, and he will dominate the stage with his godlike dancing every time he’s given the chance;

radar love by the golden earring - this is the song he first gets the confidence to dance to. once the crowd goes wild for it and he realizes how much he enjoys moving around, he keeps on doing it. there’s this one thing he does that’s like, um, jolting/bouncing (not sure how else to describe it) but the crowd thinks it’s great when he does it.

sexbomb by tom jones - his dancing here is utterly erotic and he knows how attractive it is, holy kriff. it’ll bring the entire bar staff to a standstill bc damn look at his hips go, sex god much??? most definitely grinds against the mic stand and gfgalkdfjghlkf it never fails to fluster quite a few patrons (this will soon be a full-fledged fic so keep your eyes open)

no mr. nice guy by alice cooper - he jokes sometimes that he was actually quite peaceful as a cadet before joining the five-oh-first. it isn’t a joke tho and you can blame fives and hardcase for making him go wild. but this song makes him think of when he stopped caring abt trying to impress the longnecks and he enjoys hitting the higher notes.

rock the casbah by the clash - this is where he learns to snap his hips to every “rock” with a bit extra force. the crowd has a blast clapping along, some of the more drunk people screeching “the shareef don’t like it!” at the top of their lungs. it’s upbeat 

rock this town by the stray cats - he’s having a damn good time with this song, a lot of elvis presley vibes. if he had enough hair he’d flip it. he does a bit of air guitar and will sway his mic stand around and bounce his knee to the beat.

strutter by kiss - he loves this one, it’s a personal favorite. he;ll be running his hands down his body when he’s still, but the times he’s walking around the stage he’s got a hand on his swinging hips, literally strutting. it’s so fun to watch him embrace the music

bad to the bone by george thorogood & the destroyers - a joking request from fives that turned into a crowd favorite. fives didn’t think his vod could do it but jesse rose to the occasion as he charmed his way through the song with his fun swagger and playful air sax. he drank quite a bit of water after this one bc he was unused to using as much gravel in his voice as this song took, but he enjoys it nonetheless.

echo would be softer with his choices, leaning more towards soulful and sweet in comparison to jesse’s wild side. he also plays both guitar and piano, i take no criticism on these points;

the night they drove old dixie down by the band - he plays this one after a rough mission and it’s deeply resonating with everyone there, everyone either putting down their drinks to let the song flow thru them, or grab something stronger to let it lull them into inebriation.

no plan by hozier - he sounds so beautiful with literally any hozier song tbh, but this one is his favorite. this was the closest he got to smth soulful before the times he duetted with jesse and he really enjoyed it. it was smooth yet passionate and is one he sang for the first time when dejected and unsure abt his future.

piano man by billy joel - he plays the piano for this song & kriff did it take him a while to both master it and find someone that played the harmonica well enough to join him. this is rex’s favorite song to hear echo play and will hum it quite often. echo enjoys throwing himself into playing this one in a way he doesn’t often do & he’s called “the piano arc” the first time he plays it. the nickname sticks but he likes it, so no harm done.

amie by pure prarie league - this was a fun song for echo to learn and he really enjoys how gentle it is. he’ll tap his foot with the music and just let himself go. sometimes he’ll catch himself moving his shoulders slightly as he plays but he doesn’t stop. when he plays this one, he prepares to hear his brothers hum it for at least a week afterward, it’s just that good.

house of the rising sun by the animals - this one isn’t heard until some time after he and jesse duet & echo exhibits his capacity to have a bit of gravel, which is absolutely heavenly when heard. there’s a lot of held-out notes here and a special kind of twang he’s able to finesse, it’s stunning.

skinny love by bon iver - he learned to play guitar to this song right here, it’s one of his faves and loves how tender & raw it can be. he’s heard covers of it that added too much to it & detracted from the intensity of the emotions, so he sticks with the original. it’s an extremely vulnerable song and it’s somber, but he enjoys baring himself without the risk of being shamed for it. several people cry the first time they hear him sing this song. (this one will turn into a fic as well, time tbd)

bad moon rising by creedence clearwater revival - echo sang this one for the first time tne night before the five-oh-first got their orders, which ended up being to felucia. there are always strange occurences when this song is sung & a few ppl will do anything to keep echo from singing it bc they think it’s an omen. everyone enjoys hearing the song, no doubt, but the moment it ends, some battalion or another is doomed to a bad assignment.

now if these two were to ever team up???? no one would be able to talk about anything else for weeks afterwards

you don’t mess around with jim by jim croce - they’re sitting on barstools in front of their mics, echo strumming on his guitar while jesse pats his thigh as a substitution to the drums. v playful vibes with this song and they can’t stop grinning as they sing. it’s fun and they’ll sometimes lightly tap each other with their feet throughout the performance to tease. lighthearted and always enjoyed.

all this and heaven too by florence + the machine - it’s got enough power for jesse but is also delicate enough for echo, achieving a great balance of their strengths as well as a tambourine. you’d probably think that jesse and a tambourine can cause as much trouble as hardcase with explosives, but he’s insanely focused on getting the hits right. no one expects to hear echo belt out such strong notes in contrast to his normal choices but damn they love it. and jesse?? softly breathing the verses with a delicateness no one thought he possessed?? they’re weak for them both.

soul shop by prophets and outlaws - they harmonize SO!!! DAMN!!! GOOD!!! echo playing the piano and jesse sitting on top of it just straight up VIBING. the entire bar is swaying with the music and letting themselves melt into the floor. none of them were prepared for echo to harness a little bit of gravel in his voice or for jesse to capture the melodic tone that echo doesn’t have to put effort into. this song, having a lot of soul and grit to it but is smoother than corellian whiskey, is a performance for the record books.

if y’all wanna hear more about these two darlings singing, or if you have any other headcanons you want to share/ask me abt, please don’t hesitate to pop into my asks!! i would love to hear from you!!

writing tag ✏️

tagged by @tbtssstuff thanks!!💖

this got a little long so ill put the ten questions under the keep reading!

1. What is your ideal setting for focusing on your writing?

zero distractions from my family/pets. these days either my mom or brother are always popping into my room at random times, so it’s v hard to focus without worrying about switching tabs when they enter :/ i typically write without music playing in the background, but sometimes i like to jam out while writing if it fits the mood of the fic!

2. What’s your favorite genre to write?

FLUFF. it’s def the most natural for me to write, but id love if i were better at writing angst too. in terms of AUs, i really like fwb or f2l. idk tbh ive always valued solid friendships over flaky relationships but thats just me 🤪

3. Do you prefer to write on paper or digitally?

it’s faster and more convenient to type lmfao. tho im curious to know how writers do it by hand. im the type who constantly deletes/moves things around, and thats extremely hard to do by hand...... otherwise itd be fun to handwrite it.

4. It’s in the middle of the night and you suddenly wake up with an idea. What do you do?

type it into the notes on my phone as much as possible. then go back to sleep. 

5. Who is your favorite person to write about?

does this mean like a person person, or like a kind of person? if it���s a person person, i like writing about a boy named min yoongi. if it’s a kind of person, i prefer to write about ppl with layers and secrets,,, people who need time to open up.

6. Do you like making your own characters, or do you usually write about real people?

both i guess? fanfic is a mix where you use the names of pop culture icons but make them into your own characters,,,,,, so both lol. also i just love making a strong y/n character.

7. Have you ever written a book/story with more than 15 chapters (100k words)

my old jimin fanfic, lie, was 18 short chapters but nowhere near 100k words LOL my series tend to be more on the shorter side. like signed in black was around 21k for 7 chapters. witch hazel is still ongoing with 20k and it most likely wont exceed 50k.

8. How often do you get ideas?

i when i was in high school / college, i used to get ideas all the time! these days i feel like i need to be inspired by something like a song, other media, or incidents that happen to me irl. id say recently, new ideas come to me maybe once a week or less.

9. Do you ever get an idea that you really like, but can’t seem to finish?

LMFAO story of my life. i have a very long list of story ideas stored on this comp but yall will never be able to read most of them bc i dont have time to write ALL of them :/ maybe one day ill spill some of ideas that ill never write!

10. What’s your least favorite plot?

highkey not calling out anyones fave tropes but personally i avoid certain AUs like ones involving stalkers, killers, diseases, or yandere if it’s meant to be a romance fic. i feel like there are more but you guys get the idea. i also dont like when the reader character is just ditzy or too naive or whatever (and i know im guilty of writing some fics like this in the past). it’s something thats super common in shojo manga, which i used to love reading,,,,, but now im just over it. bc imo a heroine should have her flaws but not outright tripping over her face and constantly being saved by the love interest. OH THAT TOO. i *greatly* dislike when the heroine has to be saved by the love interest. i get that a lot of ppl are suckers for that kind of stuff, but i lean more toward a heroine who can hold her own!

tagging any fellow writer who listened to my rant at the end LOL

Well soooo...my bravtana (brooke x xavier x montana) fic:

(if you are anti-xantana, Montana, dark Xavier, or if ot3/threesome fics aren’t your thing...i am warning you here that i will be talking about them! so please scroll past if this isn’t up your alley. i am being respectful by warning you...please do the same) 

But anyway for those who want to know more:

I’m not gonna spoil too much because what’s the fun in that haha!

But I can tell you that I’ve been wanting to write an ot3 fic for Brooke, Montana, and Xavier for a long while now...it’s just my inspiration to pursue one that fit into the realm of what I lean towards writing wise was lacking for me. I tend to find pure fluff or PWP really hard to write for (why?! i will never know...since they should be the easiest, right?!)...and tbh, as much as I love these characters, especially these three...they have become super hard to get into the right mindset of for me to write them as in character as I can! 

But alas, two great things happened for me, and to them I give all the credit in the world to my renewed muse...one was this post I liked and reblogged a while back and the other was this beautifully edited fanvid that popped up on my YT rec feed...since to Billie Eilish is my second go-to artist for inspiration with the first being Lana Del Rey! 

Anway, while the video was a fictional character/relationship study about a rl serial killer and his wife...and the editor themselves posed a really interesting moral question that has not left me...

How do we reconcile the person we thought we knew and loved...with who they really are...and the revolting things they’ve done or caused? 

And after that and the tumblr post, I was off to the races so to speak lol! It wouldn’t leave me alone...

How would Xavier if he’d survived Camp Redwood, have dealt with the things he’s had to do..or the stuff that’s been done indirectly or other ways to him...how if he’d been able to hear Brooke’s side of the story as well (and Ryan hadn’t yeeted his character arc)... been able to mold together the two versions of Montana...and still accept that he loved her...and I had a lot of the same questions for Brooke too. 

Because while Brotana, friendship or other wise, might have been a lie to Montana...it wasn’t for Brooke. I feel like all the things that Montana blamed Brooke for taking from her, she lowkey did the same to Brooke in some ways! 

Montana was the first person Brooke ever felt listened and believed her...she trusted her. Brooke has only ever felt safe to break down in front of Montana in canon events...she’s always tried to power on with the others, but she told Montana how she really felt...and imagine for Brooke, whose already been through and lost so much, have to realize that it was never real...to lose that bit of safety net she had in someone/something real and tangible...which is what she’s wanted from day one! 

Must of been devastating for her to come to terms with on top of being framed for something she didn’t do...and well, if you know my writing,you know that emotionally painful subjects are what I tend to be able to do best...so finally a fic idea was born for these three!

And I am running with it! So be on the look out if you want...or don’t haha! I just felt like sharing and giving credit to where those two wonderful things lead me here! it’s really exciting to me to write for another ot3 again (maybe it might be more of a xavier x brooke character study/relationship thing...but Montana is important to it and I reserve the right to make it as romantic as i want lol)   

But anyway, that’s all i wanted to say...so good night everyone! Wish me luck lol

P.S.  you can watch this video fanedit too...it kind of portrays what I believe the things that were said and what Brooke’s trail must have been like...just less deserving if you know the rl killer! but i just what ppl to know that while neither fanvid glorifies or romanticizes the subject matter, they do have content that i know bothers some...so beware of that :)  

how about akira for the soft headcanons meme? c:

Thank you for asking me one of these anon! I'd love to do Akira! 💛💖💛

What they smell like: The coffee smell is the most noticeable, it permeates everything (to the point of being a bit suffocating if you're sensitive). He's pretty much noseblind to it by halfway through the game. It can be comforting/attractive if you like the smell of coffee tho, warm and homely. He also tends to smell a lot like the attic and it seeps into his clothes, that kind of dusty smell.

Sometimes he tries to offset them both by picking up the hint of flowers from all the hours he works in the floral shop. They do make him smell nicer, but can't cover it completely.

Favourite smells in the world: Different Soaps since he rarely gets to bathe properly lol but this isn't for mildly depressing hcs SO: A lot of foods are since they involve important memories of all the friends/loved ones he's met and gives him a big rush of soft emotion whenever he smells them. Fresh Ramen, Curry, Crepes, Chocolate. He also loves the light scent of Mona's fur, and the natural smells of forests and parks. These giant cities are suffocating and he really misses the fresh air and greenery back in his country home. Also, the ocean spray from Hawaii was unforgettable.

Pajamas/Sleepwear: Probably just an old t-shirt or sweatshirt and some sweatpants. Which is just fine tbh

Favourite Ship & Cute HC: Y'all already know it's him x Makoto for life 💖 As for hcs, I have so many ahhh but one I really like is for their first kiss, she actually ends up making the first move because even tho he's been suave af for catching her interest and then their first few 'dates', he gets nervous and totally chickens out.

Favourite Friendship & Cute HC: Hhhh I love him with all his friends I can't pick a favourite! 😢 But I'll go with him and Mona I guess 😻 I like the idea that once he really gets used to having him around, Akira ends up spoiling Morgana absolutely rotten without even realizing it. Every bit of food or dessert treat he buys, kitty gets a few bites. Every tv show or video game is a shared experience, he doesn't watch/play parts if Mona isn't around. Morgana claims he isn't a pet, but as soon as the toys and laser pointers arrive he gives in and embraces his adoring new master c': They're completely inseparable. The PTs love to poke fun at how he's become the Crazy Cat Man, there's no saving him.

Song that Reminds me of them (neither of these are Soft songs sorry, I don't really listen to anything that is atm)

'Lump Your Head' by Hollywood Undead. Good for the entire PT crew really and I wish I could animate a vid for it

'Thief' by Ansel Elgort is also a REAL GOOD ONE for a more asshole-ish/Playa' run Akira

What Animal They Would Be: Obvious answer is Cat and I stand by it. He would be the best cat, the purrfect cat. 😻 Give me all of the fuzzy feel good cat AUs p l e a s e

However, for an animal that isn't already the designers' intention: I could easily see him as a dog (a mutt, black and kind of wolfish or doberman-esque. 'Mean' and predatory looking, lean and muscular.) Or a Crow. Smart, resourceful, stylish, and Knows What You Did. Grudges will be held.

Sleeping position: As seen in the game, on his back with Morgana sprawled across his chest/stomach for Maximum Snuggling (tm). If he's super tired tho I can see him falling asleep anywhere in any position. He's the king of impromptu catnaps and sprawling out on strange surfaces/uncomfortable chairs.

He also gets super snuggly if asleep next to ppl he's really comfortable/affectionate with. Not just spooning, full arm wrap around/half-on-top-of/'You will need a crowbar to pry yourself free' snuggly. He does not realize this and it's really cute since he's usually not very open and vulnerable, but also his victim will be dying plz give them room to breathe Akira

I personally crave PT sleepover! Fics for that exact reason.

Favourite Drink: My heart and his sleep deprivation says soda, but ngl I took him to buy a lot of those fancy fruit teas during my playthrough so I HC that. Let him have 1 thing that isn't junk food or coffee/curry in his diet plz

Gift I Would Give Them: Coupons for a full free spa day. He needs a break and some pampering, let him relax without a thousand responsibilities for once.

OK so what's ur feel abt how right after Leon said tht Elliot should get laid the next scene was shirtless tyr3ll bc like I'm frankly pissed bc it makes tyr3lliot shippers think its endgame n like I don't give to shits abt tyr3ll nehow

tbh I the episode was so like centered around what I feel like is tyrell's one-sided unrequited (and tbh cultish, tho robot seems to have encouraged that a little bit) focus on/love for elliot-as-robot that I didn't read much into it— and in retrospect, tyrell having his Moment™ acting like he was going to have this romantic reunion with elliot & then things going the way they did instead at the end of se2 even in that regard imo does more to set up where tyrell is at psychologically and emotionally than I think implies that they're an endgame ship at all.

(cut for length)

particularly since in the "red wheelbarrow" book elliot comes off as being EXTREMELY enamored with leon… though I will concede that elliot's psychoses in the show as a whole do seem to lean heavy on either like total isolation or too-quick codependence/becoming enmeshed (with like borderline serial monogamy vibes), vs. robot being more blunt, crude, and sexual; so like I can see where people could take elliot's social issues & boundary issues + the scenes we've seen of robot's interactions and come up with ship material that way.

now what IS funny to me about tyrell x elliot shippers is that martin wallström said back in season 1 he just wanted to kiss rami malek lol (though like… this does not mean a canon ship at all ofc, I think he's just having a lot of fun with his role, it seems fun to play, and I would wanna kiss him too lbr)…

…and that shippers haven't gotten anywhere as WEIRD with this as they should be. like I know between the robot and darlene reveals that KILLED a lot of the "legit" crackshipping I used to see more of (vs. shitpost shipping, like qwerty x flipper, yk?), bc unlike the star wars fandom, which is used to this by now, incest is a dealbreaker for a lot of people, and so a lot of more off the wall shit has gone "underground."

but like really, tyrell has a totally different dynamic with elliot as elliot than with elliot "working with" mr. robot in se1 before he realized robot was an alter, and different than his dynamic with elliot AS robot. and tyrell seems to prefer the latter two to the former. so like there should be LOADS more fanart, fic, etc. of tyrell either with elliot as robot or tyrell with like slater-robot than there is…

and I think it's bc a loooot of tyrelliot shippers like the idea of like ~softboy~ elliot w. tyrell for aesthetics & a certain kind of ship dynamic— which ofc has racial implications there wrt ppl NOT shipping elliot and/or robot x leon or elliot/robot x krista in the same kind of numbers or as vocally or whatever, when he's interacted with both of them more than with tyrell; and I think is just bc like he's the Resident Eligible White Boy on top of him being smitten even when like!! I do still think the whole thing being one-sided is obvious— but it doesn't even have enough canon support imo for that scene to have registered to me at all as ship bait/queerbaiting in the moment.

so like I wouldn't be surprised either way if elliot or robot ends up getting into a more complex dynamic with tyrell as the show continues, but I think it's a reach if ppl think it's an endgame ship clue OR tbh that esmail would be that straightforward with this show even if it was. and I think a lot of that would be very different if rami malek was darker-skinned or even just had brown eyes tbh… or if the white boy flavor of the moment wasn't leaning towards wallström, skarsgård, the "vikings" whiteboys, etc. atm.

Do the first 12 ask things

tell me about your crush!!!!!!!ahh well my crush is a beautiful elegant person whomst I do not deserve but whom accepts this about me and is understanding and wonderful anyway (and draws rly rly fucking well and [I’m lead to believe] is a mean lean vegan chef chopping greens)tell me about your exidk which one to talk abt so I’ll go with list recent. she was pretty cool, she followed me on Twitter and I recognised her from HS then a week or two later she had a mutual friend invite me to a basement party where me n tittles (aka The Good Jordan) got demolished and I think I smoked my first tiny bit of weed, then I made out with her on her basement floor or mattress or smthn (her pajamas were very soft). I sort of talked tittles n nevin into talking me into hitting her up afterwards, got together (while they were still around lmao) and watched a like bo Burnham special and made out or something. She was coming off a breakup, we hung out/talked on n off for a while with her being super inconsistent, dated for a few months (I drove her around a lot), and then it got #messy I guess yikestell me about your dayI woke up, finished my book and had a coffee (which I’m becoming increasingly convinced I should stop), grabbed rob, picked up Reid from work, got food, went home, grabbed Nevin, went to Anthony’s for melee n too watch evo. Jordan (aka The Bad Jordan) and Richard showed up too, it’s aiiiight, we break apart when Anthony has to pick up his gf, we drop Reid off, the crew we came with plus alek whom we get from McDonald’s go to my house to watch the rest n play melee, n then we’re done :D Rob and I go to try to catch a togetic but mine flees :’( now I’m heretell me about your dreamsLiterally my dreams or my aspirations? I think yesterday i dreamed I made day two of evo or some other big tournament and then missed my bracket and got disqualified (believable tbh), and probably also some random sex dream and maybe some other stuff. I’m off my vyvanse rn so i think my dreams r more vivid. As for aspirations… Probably like power honestly. Not like sinisterly, just the concept of decision making power. Like I think I’m smart and could do well and save lives if given the reins of whatever. tell me about your dramaLord… Aight. uhhh the messiest I’ve ever been was the end of the relationship with my last ex and I don’t want to just literally say everything on Tumblr but idk. basically she cheated on me at a house party I wasn’t at and I didn’t find out until after we were on a break/maybe half broken up for something completely random and petty, and after she interrogated me about cheating on her, from one of our close mutual friends. i was miffed, don’t even remember most of it, mostly just got near-black out drunk at a Canada day party, vomited on alek I think, loudly forgave the dude she cheated on me w. also there was some suggestion she cheated on me more than that but also some suggestion she may have lied about that to seem cool???? Idk it was all messy and I didn’t comport myself particularly well either (although I forgive myself I guess given the circumstances)tell me about yourself :-)I’m a 21 year old white guy, a little above average weight, average ish height, pretty stocky and broad shouldered, my head is huge. I’ve dropped out of uni twice. I’m supposedly smart but have trouble putting that to good use. I’m very good at some of the most technical elements of super smash bros melee and am working on the rest. I enjoy history and fantasy and my major if I ever finish it is in international relations. geopolitics is the core of what I find interesting above. Politically I’m probably a democratic socialist. I listen to a lot of mainstream hip hop and not much else tbh (I have a nujabes Spotify mix to relax n study to). I’m on an Effexor XR (for anxiety and depression), an SNRI, and Vyvanse (for ADHD), a stimulant. I have two lovely dogs. I think I’m really self aware but I’m not sure. I have too much arrogance and also too little self esteem. I’m often quite loud, and my brand of humour is like mostly either the like false arrogance/bravado, running jokes into the ground, or wordplay I guess? Or just sarcasm. Idk I make ppl laugh most of the time but I’m not sure I’m actually funny. I think this is enough without getting too much righttell me about something awkward/embarrassingUhhh idk what would be awkward and embarrassing. I had a huge crush on one of my long time friends in early high school. We admitted to each other we were like each others first choice to marry when we were adults. But we started hanging out for a day or two like we were dating and I like literally suffocated her into just immediately pulling the plug because she realised how wack I wastell me about a funny story or somethingUhhhhhhhhhhhh this might be where it really breaks down. I’m not sure I have a funny story. Which is odd, given I just said I thought I was funny. But I couldn’t rly pluck one out of thin air that wasn’t mostly just bullying someone the story was about lmaotell me your favourite band/artist/album/songKendrick Lamar is probably my fav artist rn, Yeah Right by Vince Staples is my fav song probably. The Kendrick feature is insane. (I don’t love Kendrick as much as this response make it sound I just have that album on CD along with damn so it’s been in my head of late)tell me about your favourite memeSearch Toyota previa on my blog to find the post. That is my favourite post. I love that post fuck I have no idea why but fuck. tell me about your favourite ficI don’t rly read fic but I guess my fav was the one I read almost all the way thru, Harry Potter and the methods of Rationality. It was kinda dumb rationalist wank but I’m a rationalist wanker so sue metell me a secret ;)Ohoho there’s a winky face so it better be sexual I guess… Idk what kind of secret there is here. I don’t rly keep those tbh, except for other ppl. Uhh I’ll just choose something rly private? What is there even then hmmmMMMM wait of course I have a good one duh. I was part of an internet secret society :o still am I guess. If u wanted a sexual secret uhhh the secret is in my junk? Women love that shit. Mostly. I was gonna say I’ve made all but one of my partner’s cum but that’s not rly true anymore given I’ve had a few one off hookups under various extenuating circumstances and never got to correct my failures :’( such is life Thank u so much for this and I’m so sorry for all this FUCKING text I’m gonna edit in a read more but I’m sorry mobile users if it doesn’t work I’m so so sorry