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felassan · 4 years

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Hii MJ. I was wondering what you think of the possibilities of Zevran being in DA4? Ik bioware has brought back a character from the dead (Leliana), so Idk if I’m delusional for ignoring that zev can die. But considering he (used to?) be associated with the crows and they seem to be a big part of the next game, do you think it might be possible that he could have a conditional advisor like role? Or since he isn’t a crow, he definitely won’t be?

Hi Nonnie! Some thoughts on this. This became long so it’s under a cut. TN spoilers under cut.

Initially on seeing the BtS vid I wondered if one of the Crow figures could be Zevran (gut response). I don’t think it is anymore. That figure’s outfit resembles Zevran’s “Black Shadow” attire from WoT, but lots of characters in the concept art are wearing various types of Crow uniform: the other character in that picture is also wearing Crow clothes, and so are figures here, here (Matt Rhodes’ Art Station upload of this one says that “Crow” is the title of that piece) and here. Assassin-y figures are also present in the lineup shot. I think what it means given the ‘concept art is mood-setting’ stuff is that the Crows as a faction will have a significant role to play in the upcoming game. This makes sense given the prominence of Crows in TN - no less than 3 stories, one of which introduces in-depth a new significant-feeling Crow character (Lucanis, who is currently active in Tevinter, who pinged ‘companion flags’ to me [this is subjective tho], and whose short story ends with in unresolved “unfinished business” Tevinter-heavy hook) and one of which expands at length on known Crow lore as well as being like “here’s what’s been happening with Crow leadership and here’s some setup for what’s going on with the Crows soon due to the Antaam invasion”.

They did bring back Leliana if she was killed in DAO (demon pope!). I might be misremembering, but I seem to remember some tweets or other dev comment somewhere where they said that they’d try to avoid bringing back player-killed characters like this in the future (could def be remembering this wrong though). I also think I remember PW saying that when writing Trespasser, the Bull dying if you sided with the Qun in his DAI mission thing was something they struggled with a lot over whether to have happen or not - because having that happen would mean that in those universes, Bull is dead-dead and that could potentially have knock-on impacts if the writers ever wanted to use him again in the future. There are other cases where dead characters resurface, like Anders in DA2 (but his potential death in the expansion was an epilogue slide, and the epilogues are framed more as rumors and many chunks of them have been retconned in subsequent games) or in the extended media (e.g. Wynne popping up in Asunder if she died in DAO, but we know that the stories in the books and novels aren’t canon-canon, that being a limitation of the media-type where it’s not like you can enter or make choices, but that they are events that fit in BW’s ‘default’ canon, and that the events described therein unfolded in a different way in different universes like in ones where Alistair isn’t King).

The explanation for Leliana’s survival was a highly specific, rare set of circumstances - the devout Andrastian woman who died in a magic mountain full of lyrium which does kooky things, who believes maybe the Maker brought her back. How many lyrium ghost spirit-imitations of dead chars are walking around Thedas, or should be implied to be? The writers can always handwave, retcon, or explain around anything that they choose to, and if they want to bring him back in all universes they will, but I lean towards preferring “player-killed characters stay dead” because of choice and consequence and enjoying that choices have weight and impact. I also think “surprise, they lived” can become overdone as a gimmick if writers aren’t careful (generally speaking, not a DA-specific comment). For me - what would be the explanation for his survival? He can also die at more than one point in DAO. I know he’s beloved and can also be still alive, but possible deaths aside, when it comes to characters returning in this franchise, especially former companions, I also always lean towards “less old, more new” and towards “a few cameos only, not lots, and such cameos should be plot-relevant, not random”. There are a couple reasons for that which I won’t really get into here as that’s a separate topic, but it’s partially due to feelings like - Thedas is a big big place with heaps of people in it, I prefer it when the world doesn’t feel small, DA is the story of the setting rather than any one PC or group, I’d rather meet and encounter mostly-new people, etc.

Aside from that stuff, aside from Antiva, he hasn’t been positioned recently as being in the north or having ongoing plot-stuff there (this isn’t a requirement for him to come back, and it happening for a character doesn’t mean they’re a shoe-in, but compare that with Fenris in Blue Wraith, who is now in Tevinter and working with Inquisition agents). He’s appeared in 2 games already and been referenced in all 4. I really enjoy what I’ll call his ‘romanced epilogue’ as an ending to his story too - unlike the other 3 DAO LIs, he accompanied his love on their quest to the west in search of a cure for the Calling. I love that, it’s so faithful and romantic. He’s still at their side and they’re still together after all this time. He journeyed far into the dangerous unknown with them looking for a needle in a haystack so that his partner doesn’t have to die a horrible early death, as faithful in his actions as his sentiments that he’d storm the Black City at the Hero’s side if he had to implied. The last time we heard from the Hero and romanced Zevran, they were together, and they were well. Y’know? I also tend to assume, due to Lelimancing Wardens returning in the Trespasser epilogues, that all Heroes who survived DAO return from their quest. I don’t want that to be jeopardized, and those references are enough for me.

And as much as I love Zevran (and I really do), I don’t personally feel a need for him to return either, neither in terms of his arc, ‘exploredness’ as a character, or in the overarching plot. As you say, in some universes he’s not a Crow anymore. There was a cool post I saw on this recently which I’m struggling to find the link to, but the jist of it was that the Crows are a pretty shit organization in terms of their ‘recruitment’ and training practises, how they operate and everything. They abused him during his life and he has now freed himself through his experiences during the Fifth Blight with the Warden, and in this new life he’s been on a years-long endeavor to kill Crows. For Zevran’s future, I think I’d like it if it didn’t always have to involve Crow involvement or a Crow focus? Like, that he’s more than a Crow, than a former Crow, than a Crow-hunter/opposer. Separate to that, there are also other, active Antivan Crows operating in the north that we’ve not yet spent time with in a game or ever gotten to know as a PC. It’s a big if, but if a character like Lucanis or Teia etc is prominent in the game, as a companion or advisor or contact etc, it might be a bit redundant to have another. This example is flipped around, but like, we had Cullen as an advisor, and he was “the templar/former templar guy”. We didn’t then also have a templar companion. So if we had Lucanis or whoever as a companion, I’m not sure that we’d then have a Crow/former Crow in an advisor-type role too?

It’s not delusional to want to see a fav or loved character again though. :) I’m not one of the people that wants to see my favs in every new entry, I’m largely happy for them to be let be off-screen, see a reference to them here and there (like the War Table, an allusion to or a dialogue line about them), but I understand the wish and get the feeling behind it. And it’s especially not delusional given the context which is that the writers have brought back player-killed characters before!

I doubt they’d have an advisor or advisor-like person be conditional (imagine playing DAI without Leliana and Cullen if they died or had unretconned bad endings prior to the game, it wouldn’t work without Padok Wiks-style stand-ins or a lot of logistical work on the devs’ part to structure the writing around their absences in those instances). A conditional cameo of some description though I could see (something comparable to his DA2 cameo or Nate’s conditional appearance in DA2 for example). Can’t say how likely this is though, especially given that Crow business-stuff could be repped by other newer chars. Maybe if there’s an option to dismantle, sabotage or oppose the Crows he could crop up. I’d imagine any appearance in relation to the Crows would be anti-Crow or “informer on the Crows due to past experience”, not pro-Crow or “the Crow perspective guy”, in universes where he didn’t go back to them anyway. And I’m not saying Zevran was a Talon or that he’s still a Crow or that it’s him, but just while I’m on this subject it brought a semi-related thought to mind, which is that post-TN and the surviving Talons having contacting the heirs to the other houses’ Talon roles, I do wonder who the new head of House Arainai is.

(I include the info on the ‘where I lean’ stuff because I’m sure it colors or biases my responses sometimes).

#dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #dragon age #bioware #mj replies #anonymous #video games #tevinter nights spoilers #tevinter nights spoiler #tevinter nights #spoilers #spoiler #fenris #the Fenaissance #mass effect #abuse mention #cw abuse #abuse cw #abuse for ts

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dreadnought-dear-captain · 4 years

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You Asked, I Told

(Note, if this post shows up twice or massively delayed or just looks weird, it’s because it was flagged for adult content [??!] because I had a picture of Willem Dafoe’s face in a gif. I am not even kidding. Do with that information what you will. I’ve removed it and I still don’t know if/when this can be publicly viewed, I’m kind of lolling. So if you see a blocked out photo that looks like porn in your post, I swear it’s just a gif from The Lighthouse!)

Hello, amazing people. This weekend, I’m putting the final touches on my last draft of Baghdad Waltz Chapter 39, which will then go to the beta for one more round of edits. I imagine I will have the chapter posted in 1-3 weeks, which is close to record speed for me, especially since it’s around 30k words. I’m going to be talking about my writing process (at unfortunate length) for one of the asks, for those who are interested.

Please forgive me. I’m feeling quite verbose and a little squirrely. I blame living alone during lockdown.

It’s also Memorial Day weekend in the States, which is when we are meant to honor those who gave their lives in military service to this country. This is often confused with Veterans Day (November 11), which is honoring anyone who has served in the military and is no longer serving. This gets further confused with Armed Forces Day (rotating date, May) which is to honor those currently serving in the military. I know, super confusing.

There’s a wide range of opinions on how Memorial Day should be commemorated, which often involves gathering with friends and family for a barbecue or some other social activity. It’s the first major holiday after a huge holiday drought throughout the late winter and spring, which often makes people look forward to it immensely. Some people feel it’s inappropriate to celebrate Memorial Day with barbecues and fond social gatherings because it’s dishonoring the memories of those who can’t be here, people don’t take time to remember those who have died, people have no idea what the day is actually for, etc. Others, even some very vocal veterans, maintain that people died so that we could be here to celebrate in freedom, so why not relish this life we have? Many offer the caveat that it’s appropriate to at least acknowledge the purpose of the day, even if it’s just in a few minutes of quiet reflection.

Anyway, I offer this as a little food for thought for this upcoming long weekend.

(And in case you missed it, I posted a BW Timeline for your reference.)

Contains spoilers through Chapter 38.

[Takes deep breath]

I’m so glad that you are enjoying the read and that you’re finding it inspiring for your own work. I think my dedication to research for BW is threefold. 1) As this story evolved, I decided that I wanted to create the most realistic depictions of military, civilian, emotional, and physical life that I reasonably could. I will fully admit to lapses in this, deliberate and unintentional, because sometimes the plot just needs to go and I can’t wait around for a year-long medical discharge process for my character. 2) I’m in an academically stringent occupation, and because research is such a prominent part of my work life, it’s bled to my hobby. (IS THIS EVEN A HOBBY ANYMORE?) And 3) I get very easily and passionately obsessed with things and delight in getting “into the weeds” with a subject. Almost every research divergence usually takes me off track for at least an hour. And you will never catch me without an MTA subway map open in at least one tab.

But that wasn’t even your question! Sorry. Are you beginning to get a sense of why BW takes me so long to write?? I cannot keep my shit on track. As for the bibliography, YES! I plan to include that in my author’s note at the end. I wish I had kept better track of all of my works consulted over the past three years, but I will definitely discuss the importance of some of the main ones. I’m so thrilled that you are interested, and I’m excited to share them!

Thank you. This is such a kind thing to say, and I’m humbled and delighted to hear it, especially because our fandom is so blessed with some AMAZING fics. And asks certainly don’t have to be questions! I appreciate them all (except the flaming bag of dog shit ones, which I haven’t had in a while, hooray).

(Re: Chapter 37) Good question! I imagine Claire would want to keep the 1:1 conversation somewhat limited, as she is treating the couple as a patient rather than them as individuals. If anything, she might have somewhat superficially checked in to see if he was okay rather than dive into anything regarding the relationship with Bucky not around. That could be seen as a betrayal of trust to Bucky and could be interpreted as favoritism, which Steve craves and which Bucky is probably terrified about.

I am always pleased when people re-read and enjoy it or get new things out of it, even if it’s sometimes a re-read is a function of my slow-ass writing. I really want a story with good re-read value.

You make an excellent point about Bucky’s relationships. His friendship with Jack also had no real closure. Sometimes this is a factor of circumstance and sometimes it’s because of his avoidance, like a self-fulfilling prophesy almost. He’s learned that people betray you, either by hurting you or dying, so he creates conditions sometimes (often unwittingly) for things to go sour and end poorly, or he will simply make himself disappear so that he’s not hurt and doesn’t have to wait to see if he will be abandoned or betrayed. He’s not a guy who is good with goodbyes.

As for Thor, I totally see how it would read that way. I think Thor started out fishing for longer-term possibilities in a romantic relationship but then realized Bucky is really not a guy who is comfortable settling (which, as we can see, is true). As for why it seems more serious, one thing is that Thor still wanted Bucky in his life as a friend, possibly one with benefits. They have a lot in common, and it’s hard for veterans - and, more specifically, special operators - to find people in their lives they can relate to with these very intense life experiences. I wanted this to be a real relationship, but maybe not necessarily one that was bound to become a RELATIONSHIP. I think Bucky was very intriguing and attractive to him, and he very well may have struggled with his own vacillation between whether to take it seriously or whether to remain friends+. This can lead to mixed messages.

And we also have to remember Bucky’s notoriously unreliable narration, where he will see what he wants to see. Our perspective comes from him. We see the details he zooms in on, miss the one he ignores, view the relationship through the lens of his own contentious desire for a real relationship, even as he consistently demonstrates the lack of capacity and his fear about getting serious. I imagine Bucky has having an extremely poor ability to distinguish friendship from romance, and why wouldn’t he, given the most recent bit of history we have learned about him with Jack? He’s had a series of friendships become sexualized, and I think this affects his capacity to be discerning. Bucky’s radar for relating, whether friendships, romance, or potentially dangerous sexual situations, is terribly mis-calibrated. How confusing for him and for the people in his life. Of course, everyone is free to interpret the dynamics of any relationship however they choose. These are just some of my thoughts.

I really appreciate observations from the re-read! Thank you!

I watched the video and you are right! This is definitely a Bucky song. Bucky’s sense of self is by turns profoundly distorted and lacking in grounding, especially now that he’s not in the military. He’s been in a low key existential crisis since he was a kid and has turned to drinking and sex and war to fill this horrible void, and although I can’t speak for what the artists here intended, I certainly sensed those elements here for sure. (Also, what an interesting choice for a music video…)

Thank you for sharing! I’ll add it to the unofficial BW playlist in the author’s note, which consists of various songs people have associated with BW and shared with me.

Good question! I started off this story picturing the actors who represent the characters in the MCU, because I figured we’d be picturing that when we read the fic anyway (though my beta told me she doesn’t see them as the actors, more like artists’ renderings of the characters, which I find interesting). So when describing their physicality, I tend to refer back to the MCU, since this is technically an MCU AU. But the longer I go with the story, the murkier the resemblance feels to me, especially when I think about Bucky, IDK why. I have also been considering doing something more with BW after I finish it (i.e., converting it into a proper not-bajillion-word novel, sunk cost and whatnot), in which case I would definitely change the characters’ appearance, names, cut MCU Easter eggs, etc. So when I try to think of who these people might be in future iterations of the story, things get even more blurred in my mind when I imagine them.

I wonder how other people see them??

So, with regards to PTSD clinical teams, there is some variation across VAs in the system. Some focus more on military-related trauma, whether it’s war, military sexual trauma, accidents, etc. as a way of concentrating their services and managing supply and demand. From talking with providers in these kinds of systems, sometimes you just NEED a military-related trauma, but you can be treated for, say, a childhood trauma if it’s more pressing. Other VAs are very open in their criteria, and you can see them for pretty much any kind of trauma that qualifies diagnostically for PTSD (or sub-threshold PTSD) without question. That’s why I love the expression “If you’ve been to one VA, you’ve been to one VA.” That said, it kind of doesn’t matter what kind of PTSD clinical team is at the VA in Manhattan, because Bucky has so much military trauma that he would very likely qualify to receive services in any PTSD clinical team. They just might focus on childhood stuff (if Bucky actually let them, which is another matter entirely).

This is a great question! Thanks for asking.

I love a snarky asshole Bucky so much, and I’ve tried to temper this version of him with enough hard-earned genuineness to offset it a little bit. It’s such a tender balance with him, because if you back him too far into a corner, he’s going to let you have it. But if you give him too much space, it’s hard to pin him down and wring something honest from him. He’s definitely learned to use humor and sarcasm to deflect from painful or uncomfortable situations, and it’s a very adaptive short-term strategy that makes him both endearing and infuriating to others.

But ugh, yeah, shit gets so rough around Chapter 28/29. I don’t know how to feel when people have really strong emotional reactions to this story, because one part of me doesn’t want to contribute to the crappy feelings people may already be struggling with — especially in the times of COVID — but I don’t want to be afraid to dive into the hurt these characters are experiencing. That’s why I recommend checking in with oneself before reading to get a sense of how much emotional bandwidth is available to manage the immense problems of two people struggling so much. I also think that for some people it can be cathartic or otherwise not-bad maybe (?), based on the feedback I’ve received. I also really try hard to balance out the painful stuff with growth, even though it can be terribly difficult to locate sometimes.

In comments to folks, and here, I often talk about adjusting the ticks on your measuring stick for progress, where instead of leaps of progress over feet/meters, we may be observing things on an inch/mm scale. This story is my most sincere effort at a “recovery is not linear” narrative, which I think is so much more reflective of real life for a lot of folks than a straight upward trajectory. Humans are such creatures of habit, and the lessons these characters have learned through their lives about themselves, trust, relationships, and how to manage emotions are very deeply ingrained — often through traumatic means. These are the lessons learned the hardest, with the greatest perceived consequences for change, and it takes real courage for us to be able to try new things even once, let alone to establish a reliable pattern of behavior. This can lead to a lot of frustration for us as readers/writer, and I come from a place of this being okay, because we are encountering a parallel process with the characters, who are frustrated with each other and themselves about the same things. I do hope the pain/progress/joy ratios are not horribly out of whack most of the time. That’s another reason I like long chapters, because if this was just blips of sometimes terrible episodes in shorter form, I think it would be very challenging to not lose hope entirely.

But I’m so glad you’re finding the read meaningful, even if it’s sometimes painful and difficult.

(YES.)

And FINALLY -- (this is all soooo long, I’m so sorry.)

Oh, thank you for this question! My spreadsheet ended up getting too difficult to manage, and I actually had a small crisis six months ago about how the fic was going to end, because it just didn’t feel right. I had to scrap it and go back to the drawing board and really ask myself - what would these characters really do? Naturally, as a factor of their psychologies and circumstances, how will they bring this story to an end? Some advice I once heard about a “satisfying” ending is that it’s the place where there’s simply nothing more to say about the characters. There’s no more story to tell. I had to abandon all of my desires and ideas for a particular ending or concerns about making people sad or happy or excited or disappointed. I know that the only ending that will be satisfying is one that makes sense for these people. Anything contrived or backward-engineer-y wouldn’t feel right to anyone. I do have a couple of specific character arc things I want to happen, so I set those down as touchstones and said, okay, what would happen next? What would Steve do with this? And what would Bucky do with this? And what would they do with the thing the other person did? I take a very psychology and prior-behavior-based approach to plotting, almost all character driven. The rest is just figuring out what is supposed to go where and how to organize it.

I’ve converted everything to a Google Doc and have a very basic outline where I write plotty-plot stuff. I also have a “garbage dump” doc where I write certain lines I want to use or certain details I want to include somewhere. When I get into a new chapter, I’ll check the dump doc as I outline and write to see if I want to pluck anything from there. I have my outline open regularly to add to it. Sometimes I write scenes out of order, dialogue first, but that’s only if I really am excited about a particular scene and cannot contain myself. Otherwise, I write completely chronologically and have no buffer. I post things as soon as I write them.

As for your specific questions, I do have a “process” for getting into my characters’ heads. It helps to know them so very well and to have a firm sense of their idiosyncrasies and patterns of behavior. As you may have noticed, they repeat their patterns all. the. time, as humans do, but I also want to have them change their behaviors a little as things go and they progress. So I may wonder what they could do a little differently, why they would WANT to behave differently, and imagine what they would need to do to change their behavior. Do they need to take breaths? Do they remember the last time some shit went down? I really try to think of the “how” and “why” of every single action - from big blowouts to eye rolls.

So once I’ve figured out what they are going to do, I try to pinpoint the associated emotions I want to highlight. This is a whole separate process, because I have to think also about their internal versus their external emotional states. Steve, for example, will often have a discrepant inside and outside, because one of the truths about his character is that he is a chronic suppressor. There is also the issue of unreliable narration and interpretation of behavior. Steve might do something in a scene, but that doesn’t mean Bucky is going to interpret it the way it was intended. I have to think about their individual filters, which often reflect their internal beliefs about themselves. Bucky is more likely to read Steve’s actions as reflections of how BUCKY feels about HIMSELF (e.g., he’s disgusted by me because I’m disgusting) rather than imagine what Steve is really thinking based on his own experiences and beliefs about Bucky. I also attempt to convey some of the more second and third layer emotions that people have in situations, rather than only highlighting the primary emotion. Sad things don’t always just make people sad. Powerful emotions, for example, might make Steve feel out of control of himself, which could generate secondary emotions for him like frustration because he’s losing control. Part of the process in the construction of the narrative is also scrubbing what I’ve written for POV, because Bucky’s word choices aren’t the same as Steve’s, and in order to try to preserve the “voice” of each character, I often have to change the words I’ve opted to use, as well as the syntax.

So, as you can see, there’s a lot of layering that is happening all the time. As for the dialogue, I have no compunction about saying the lines aloud, “acting” them to see how they sound, to get a sense of what tone I want them to say things in. Now that I think of it, I do a bit of movement-based stuff, thinking about how people sit and stand, figuring how many steps it takes to get from A-Z, what it would look like to lean against something, how it would feel on the body, etc. I try to get the most felt sense of things as I can. If I’m imagining a scene, I try to put myself in the shoes of the characters to the point where I feel the emotions, just so I can know how it reflects in my body and my mind and behavior. I have more than once gotten drunk and drunk-written drunk Bucky then gone to clean it up later, as drunk writing can generate some great content I never would have been able to come up with sober, but the form, grammar, spelling, etc. is often rubbish. I also talk a LOT to my beta about all of this stuff, and I have certain friends and acquaintances in the fandom who are my consultants for various things.

So, I’m somewhat method I guess?? Is that a thing?? I dunno. It’s not hard to do when you live and breathe a story. It’s required a deep level of interest in - quite possibly an obsession with - the characters and their lives. I adore my characters, not in a self-congratulatory way, but because they feel so real to me. So it’s a joy to plan and write -- though I do hate first drafts with a passion.

OH - I also sometimes fast-draft chapters, which I did for 39. That is, write as FAST AS YOU CAN with no regard for how shitty the writing is. I wrote 10k words in a week, which was a finished fast-draft for me, and thus I had a very good felt sense of what was going to happen in the chapter, which felt amazing. It requires intensive outlining before, and nearly every word had to be rewritten, but one of the greatest frustrations of a story for me is having blank space ahead. Re-writing is way more fun than first draft writing. I have fluffed it up twofold with higher quality content, which I did all in less than two months…!!

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Well, this is surely my most unnecessarily yammering YAIT in history. But I hope it at least conveys my enthusiasm for these wonderful asks! It’s so lovely to hear from all of you, even if I take an eon to get back to you. Hang in there, everyone!

@grimshady @hutchhitched @b0n3l3ssm1lk

(And thank you to @bae-buckyaboveeverything for the shout out. You made my day<3)

#you asked #baghdad waltz #asks

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some-flyleaves · 6 years

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not sure if I’ll ever be confident enough in my knowledge of cIasspect to make a formal analysis but here’s another entirely spitballed post, now with role speculation for assorted characters of varying obscurity

Lil Slugger is definitely Void, I wanna say Bard as in destroying through obfuscation? (vague spoiler) there is the whole thing where the city is literally consumed by an indiscriminate black mass at the end (/vague spoiler) - overall he exists so people can avoid reality (the truth), and he only grows more powerful as people don’t know what’s going on. passive class because this ultimately “benefits” other people, with Slugger having no discernible motive of his own.

despite the duality, Maromi is proooobably not on the Light/Void dichotomy because his thing is all about (supposedly) helping people. the “take a rest!” mantra and their general behavior towards Tsukiko has me tentatively saying Life? he encourages people to escape their problems and exist in a fantasy world that’s obviously so much better for them (and them alone!) than facing reality.

it’s been ages since I watched/revisited Monster but for your consideration: Tenma as a hero of Breath. “but doctor says Life” sure but! throughout the series he absolutely inspires change in other people, often for the better; see: everyone coming together to bail him out on that one thing.

man I wish I remembered enough about that series to guess other characters’ aspects but. No. 8,V

uhh let’s see who else can I throw aspects at

Tsukiko interests me a lot but admittedly a majority of my understanding of her character is projection-based because A) Reasons and B) she’s not exactly an open book.

two characters of mine I don’t really talk about (because they're not relevant to any particular story) are maybe on the Life-Doom dichotomy; haven’t taken The Quiz for either but one just screams Life player from the site description and Doom seems increasingly relevant to the other as I keep slamming the “develop characters in plotline limbo” button.

oh also I know everyone and their dancestor compared Ten (y’know the green text satellite from the future football saga) to Rose Lalonde but all that infodumping? would have to give it a reread but Light seems legit. maybe Blood for “oh hey go check out this game it seems fun” Juice? no clue about Nine though seeing as they kinda don’t.. Do Much from what I remember, acting as something of a clueless audience stand-in.

Lusamine? Hope. gone very, very wrong. definitely an active class since she apparently would’a been perfectly happy sitting in that interdimensional jellyfish room for eternity at least in SM. maybe same aspect for Lysandre but idk about “to create a better world it is time for Nukes,” probably on the same dichotomy. your cardboard neghbor in XY has a Heart crisis but also fuck that flat excuse for an arc, Cheren did it better.

actually I don’t remember enough about Cheren to suggest he’s actually a Heairt player (although the nerd archetype gives me Mind Vibes for obvious reasons). same goes for the rest of the Unova crew really but I thiiiiink the protags in general, especially the BW one on account of N, are Breath-y? as much as voiceless people whose worlds are literally programmed around them can be, at least.

I really wanna say Blood for Guzma or Plumeria (wasn’t the latter something like “team mom?”) but also uhh. what the fuck was Team Skull’s end goal again. were they banded together for a particular Reason or did they kinda just exist and cause problems sometimes and get funding from Aether oh god this is sad it wasn’t that long ago the game came out @/self why this

new motivation to actually read/watch/play shit more than once in a blue moon: fun with sorting systems \o/

next day edit: wheeee more ideas from last night

Yuichi is absolutely a Heart player, what with “egocentricism” pretty much being his defining character trait. Ushiyama I’m less sure about but his run for student council and overall ability to rally students give me Blood vibes?

the officer whose name I forget has his whole motive about chasing down criminals although the “you have to face reality” thing has me considering Mind?

Maniwa meanwhile strikes me as Light/Void, especially in that episode where he plays along with the kid’s fantasy to get information. maybe Rogue of Void, “stealing” uncertainty and leaving the truth/knowledge (Light) in its wake? (the same episode also gives me Mind vibes for the officer.) no clue what to make of his hero schtick at the end though.

prophetic old dude is maybe passive Light but seeing as his entire character is “be weird and prophetic” idk if this has any real weight

speaking of heroes, that creepy dad guy whose name I also forget is maybe another shining example of Hope gone very, very wrong. yes, of course you can pay off your debt and be a hero like one of your mangas! and totally not be an absolute douchecanoe in the process!!!

Taeko’s amnesia is definitely a Void thing but alas she doesn’t really do much as far as potential strengths/weaknesses are concerned :,T

I still have no fucking idea about Tsukiko but Time/Space seems relevant, especially with Space having all these creative-type associations. while her behavior is very passive it’s ultimately self-serving so. yeah heck if I know. neutral evil

#sometimes I hesitate to throw random thoughts to the void but sometimes I’m just like ‘why else am I here then’#this is one of the latter times #.rf #chatter #e: yes. because That Happened.#classpect

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