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mobiuslab · 6 months

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Reverse: 1999 seems unreal; too good to be true.

The reason I even took notice of it in the first place was its soundtrack. I hate jazz, but they made a jazz song that I actually like, and then there's ReReReRegulus!, what a banger. And then I watched the trailer, to get a feel of what the game is even about. First of all, the accents! Hello? I normally always play games in JP, but this game seems to be set not in some fictional world, but in our real world, in the real London, so the British English dub would be so much more immersive (but of course there are a lot of familiar JP seiyuu, I'm very conflicted.) If this game, unlike Genshin, has a good voice director, who actually does their work and tells the VA's how the character is supposed to sound, I might play in English tbh. As a former FGO player, traveling to the past isn't an entirely novel concept to me, however, we are going to the 20th century, which is quite interesting. I mean, think about it, the 20th century of our real world, there are so many fascinating historical events. And it seems that they are putting in much more effort in portraying the zeitgeist of the era than FGO ever did. The artistic direction seems to be on point for this game. Apparently there is a main character, with a canon personality and fully voiced dialogue. Hoyo making Honkai Impact 2.0's new MC a self-insert was the stupidest move, and I'm so glad that this game understands how much better a canon protagonist is. It really convinces me that they care about storytelling and characterization. The general artistic direction is so impressive, but the game itself also surprises me. The base rate of 6-stars is 1.5% (compared to Genshin and Star Rail's 0.6%) AND the soft pity starts at 60, with hard pity being at 70. There doesn't seem to be a weapon gacha and the dupes only increase skill multipliers instead of completely changing how a character can be played. At first, I thought it was unfortunate that pick-up rate was only 50%, but every character joins the standard pool, so losing the 50/50 won't be nearly as bad. Unless the gacha currency economy is completely fucked, this seems extremely generous. The combat is thankfully not one of those god-awful auto-fights like Blue Archive or PriConne, but it's turn-based, which is much more engaging, allowing for challenging battles that actually pick your brain and require some skill.

However, there is an auto-mode for the mundane stuff, and get this, you can record your actions, rather than having an AI do everything wrong. And thankfully, there is no PvP, so you don't need to compete with whales. Knowing all this, I really have to wonder, where is the catch? There must be some huge flaw, right? It is as if the devs of Reverse: 1999 looked at all the complaints and criticism of all other gacha games, and just decided to address all of them. As long as the game doesn't have a huge reliance on meta characters to clear endgame content and event-limited content and the writing doesn't absolutely suck, then this game might be the perfect gacha game. I'm so excited to give it a try!

#Reverse: 1999 #the only complaint I have is that there are some really whack character names #reverse1999 #re1999

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suchawrathfullamb · 2 months

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do you think an actor's opinion is 100% canon? if they say it then it's true? I ask this because Hugh took a long time to say that there was romance between Hannibal and Will but Mads didn't

I think we often forget that actors are real people. These people are flawed. They're not gods because they portrait characters brilliantly. With that being said, actors have biases. Sometimes, no matter how canon something is, if the actor, for whatever reason, doesn't like it, they might play it off or completely deny it when asked about it. Sometimes out of spite, because again, actors are just people, prone to normal human behavior.

I don't wanna say why I think Hugh played it off at first or why he thought Will had relevant feelings for Alana cause I have zero patience for the backlash I might receive. I'll say one of the reasons, the other I won't: I think, just like Will, because he internalized Will, he was in denial. But whatever because he came through after season three.

Sometimes, an actor likes another fellow actor, sometimes they hate or dislike them, and because they're human and their work ethics are much looser and less demanding, they can get away with a silent bias, meaning, their opinions are not based in canon but in their feelings about other actors they work with, and nobody will actually know it because the true reason is inside their head and the only thing we hear is an actor having an opinion that no one seems to understand why, as in "how are you not seeing this?", or when they try to force a ship that no one else likes and everyone is "why??".

We need to take actors out of the pedestal. Yes, they are living those characters and understand them a lot, but they're still actual people, and people (actually, most) cannot see themselves properly, they lack self awareness. So of course they can have an opinion that is completely wrong because although they're playing the character, they simply lack the ability to actually take a step back and analyze their behavior and actions.

I believe that like Will would 100% deny any romantic feelings towards H, because of what it represented about him, so would Hugh. Just because Hugh plays Will doesn't mean he sees Will in the same way we see Will, in fact, he 100% doesn't, just like you cannot perceive yourself in the same way others perceive you. Our perception of Will is actually manipulated by two lenses: Hannibal's and Alana's/Jack's. That's why the fandom is divided between people who love deranged Will and want to see him in his becoming and fully accepting of his darkness, and the ones who have the copagenda thing and see him as a wounded puppy.

Now, Mads is the exact same, actually. His perception of Hannibal is flawed sometimes. For example, he says Hannibal is happy, a lot of times. Of course H isn't happy, we all know this, but Hannibal himself lives in denial. He crafted a mask of refinery and charisma, to keep that deep rooted depression in check. So it makes sense that Mads would think H is happy, in fact, he needs to in order to play the character in the best possible way, because in this manner, he's not pretending or lying, he's truly in Hannibal's shoes, deluding himself as a happy, satisfied, person.

The actors who think too much or rationalize their characters too much are often the ones we forget about. Actors who engage less in overanalysis often provide responses that appear less intricate compared to fan-generated meta, as they authentically embody their characters rather than engaging in extensive rationalization. This is because the actor is just being, instead of trying to be. They're not rationalizing their own behavior because people, although they think they do, they don't, at most, we judge our own behavior, but that's different than actual rationalization or complex analysis (some people do, of course, me included, but it's not the norm, not the default).

I believe this answers your question.

#lamb tries #ask the lamb #difficult topics #hugh has a thing i think LOL but I digress #hannigram #nbc hannibal #hannibal #will graham #murder husbands #hugh dancy #hannibal lecter #mads mikkelsen

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anon-maly · 2 months

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Why Nagito Komaeda and Izuru Kamukura could be a canon pair in a no-despair AU

Sure, we only have two official scenes where we see them properly interact. But we also have a lot of official non-canon material that has them interact with each other. This leads me to believe that Kamukoma could have been a real, canon ship if the despair tragedy in Danganronpa didn't exist (this is a theory thing I have posted and pinned on all my social media lmao)

Firstly, let’s keep in mind that Nagito has a canon ‘crush’ on Izuru (crushes can mean anything that’s an infatuation, romantic or not). His song, Zettai Kibō Birthday, is literally about him wanting to “do it” with the “absolute hope” he met on campus.

There is also another song he has, Poison (Gekiyaku), where he talks about wanting to meet and love "the biggest hope". Izuru Kamukura is the Ultimate Hope, the absolute hope. It's undeniable that Nagito has a crush on Izuru and likes him romantically and/or sexually.

Moving on: There are two scenes in the anime where we see Nagito and Izuru interact.

First scene, aka THE scene. Nagito’s crush on Izuru began here. He didn’t know Izuru was the Ultimate Hope, he just fell for him. Kazutaka Kodaka even describes this scene as similar to a beautiful, elegant dance. (also, why did Izuru have to grab Nagito by his waist in that scene?? He could've grabbed his back for support instead, which I assume is far more convenient??)

The other anime scene we see them interact may not be with the real Izuru Kamukura, but instead, it's with the AI Alter Ego version of him: The World Destroyer. There are no official sources of Izuru Kamukura smiling (to my knowledge as of so far), except in here. For context: After World Destroyer (AI Izuru) brings up the emotion of "hope" to Nagito in the Danganronpa 2.5 OVA, Nagito starts recalling this emotion. While he reflects on this concept out loud, we see a frame of World Destroyer smiling at him.

Now considering all this, why was THIS the scene that Izuru was smiling?

Did he enjoy hearing Nagito talk about hope?

Or was he happy that Nagito was returning back to his normal self?

Either way, he is only smiling because of Nagito; It's safe to say he does not find Nagito boring since he smiled

Anime aside, we see 1 more canon interaction between Izuru and Nagito. And that's from the second game, chapter 0.

Yes, in this scene Izuru is very openly annoyed by Nagito. But keep in mind, this isn't regular Nagito Komaeda, this is a Remnant of Despair. He is brainwashed by Junko's despair influence, therefore he isn't himself. Would you consider Sonia to still be herself during her time as a Remnant of Despair who convinced her whole country to die?

Unlike Nagito’s world from the 2.5 OVA, Nagito has been forcefully altered to be induced with despair. This is not the real him.

In the OVA scene, Izuru smiles because Nagito was returning to his true self. In this scene, Izuru finds Nagito boring because he is a Remnant of Despair

Therefore, it’s logical to think that Izuru is slightly interested in the REAL Nagito.

Also adding on the Izuru-finds-Nagito's-real-personality-to-be-interesting theory:

World Destroyer in the OVA openly admits to finding Nagito to act unpredictably for him. And all Izuru ever does is complain about things being boring since everything is predictable for him. If he finds Nagito to be someone he could not predict, doesn't that mean there's a chance Izuru finds Nagito interesting rather than boring?

Now, time for non-canon stuff:

Still sticking to the Izuru finds Nagito unpredictable—therefore interesting—argument: This scene in Danganronpa S shows Nagito offering Izuru himself to be someone who listened to his "worries". As expected, Izuru found that thought to be useless. However, he still spends a WHILE conversing with Nagito, meaning that he actually found a conversation with Nagito to be more engaging than he expected. He basically said that he found Nagito more interesting than he anticipated.

More unofficial media analysis:

Izuru Kamukura has been characterized as loyal and altruistic. We see him get out of his way to help someone in need for no huge reason. He literally shoots Nagito in canon because Junko Enoshima got to Izuru first, therefore his loyalty was to Junko.

And if Junko Enoshima never got to him first, we could have seen this altruistic side of Izuru more. If Izuru can find Nagito worth his time, being loyal to him wouldn't be something he would find agonizing.

TL;DR: Izuru Kamukura is loyal to anyone. If he finds Nagito Komaeda unpredictable (interesting), his loyalty to Nagito wouldn't feel too boring. Since Nagito actually has a crush on Izuru, Nagito wouldn't just "use him" like Junko Enoshima. Therefore, Izuru isn't likely to dislike Nagito in the future. Nagito feels attracted to Izuru + Izuru finds someone not boring = Mutual-pining slow-burn Kamukoma is real... as long as it's set in another 'happier' universe.

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vermillioncrown · 1 year

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so, what's up with korvin's parents?

they're just normal people. they just have their circumstances and korvin doesn't want people putting their ignorant opinions on them.

but what's really up with korvin's parents? (+ a deeper discussion on my other fics, why the SI MCs are the way they are)

Getting Real™️ warning: reading this might provide context that turns you off my fics.

if you want to keep enjoying light-hearted snark as it is, don't read. if you read this, i request you do not come to me to argue a contrary interpretation of my writing. i know where my brain worms come from, please and thank you.

===

They are stated to be undocumented persons in chapter 1. They intentionally abandoned Korvin in the US. Korvin's reaction is he does not want anyone's judgment on the situation, because chances are it will be 'well-intentioned' but without context, kinda racist and classist, and he's an adult in a kid's body. He gets the kind of pressure that he, as a 'weird kid', as who should be his parents' first-born son to make it in America, would put on his parents. There are no other relatives here to help. They are too poor to be careful parents and do more than financially support their child, just barely. Mental health and superstition are greatly tied in Chinese culture, so he also squicks them with his 'unnaturalness'.

Their choice to leave him in the US is a far-shot hope that while they can't support their kid properly, he'd at least be to stay as a Dreamer and somehow make it.

And how do you begin to explain all that to someone? And better yet, how do you control the gut clenching reaction to someone's judgment of your situation when there was no good choice? What if someone accuses you and your parents of taking advantage of the US legal system, as if you're cockroaches that don't 'deserve' where you are right now?

It's better to never leave an opening for someone to judge. Or if someone has to say something, you just smile and nod, because you usually can't afford to say anything back to them.

I don't make this blatant in the fic because that's 1) insensitive 2) I don't want to deal with people's ACTUAL ignorant opinions 3) it's kinda meta and ingrained for me to be circumspect about this stuff, even if it makes up an essential part of Korvin.

===

It's cosmic comedy, I think, that I'm doing an application that needs me to submit a statement on my academic interests and diversity within my professional career. What is my past experience with that? What is my future intent? How has this impacted my goal to join academia?

I'm almost 30. And growing up somewhere metropolitan, moving all over the country, interacting with people of many walks of life and knowing there are many more I don't interact with...I've been through a roller coaster of perspectives what makes a person distinct. Their distinctness isn't just personality, even if personality isn't so flimsy that a different day will change someone so completely. Yet, we're all shaped by where we come from. Our background, culture, class, sex, environment, etc.

This might be rather obvious, but over the years I've read fic I find that it's a quality and philosophy that doesn't come across often. I'll focus just on SI and OC-insert fics since that's the most relevant. Perhaps it's the type of fics I read, perhaps it's the fandoms, perhaps it's the demographic, perhaps we have too much practice in accepting some Everybody who is Everybody as a baseline regardless of how well that Everyone resonates with us personally.

Of course, not every fic is written for every audience. And different people will always have different perspectives. But I want you to ponder these metrics: I've read fanfic since 2003. Non-stop. I would average 20-50k words a week as a preteen, and ramped up from there. SI and OC make a big portion of what I engage with because I find it a fascinating examination of canon material using an external force, or something like that. They also have the potential to be deeply developed super quickly because we, as amateur authors, really can't help putting a lot of ourselves without filter into our creations. It can lead to polarizing feelings over them because of that.

It's been twenty years, and I can count on one hand the number of SI and OC fics where I legitimately felt that I understood where this character came from and they make sense to me. The rest...some I understood where they came from in the same way I need to empathize with the people around me so that I don't offend them. As a kid and teen, that meant ostracization and bullying. As a professional, it means missing opportunities, also getting bullied, being sabotaged, being used and tossed away. I have to show sympathy, bend my brain to see what makes them 'them' and see how sensible it is for them so that I can survive and thrive.

Some I had to accept that we either lived in vastly different realities in which such a character is sensible, and that's just the world we live in; or they're just bonkers. We move on.

I am compelled to write because I want to explore something that I find has not been explored. If it was already done to my satisfaction? I have literally felt my interest dip like a video game health bar in that situation.

My MCs as SIs cannot be divorced from my background. Ostensibly, that's the square-shaped brain with the math and engineering, the ADHD, and the internal snark. But those traits don't exist in a vacuum. Luckily my interests aligned with my parents' hopes and dreams for me as poor immigrants to the US and I am the first to have an advanced degree since my family has been wiped through the Cultural Revolution; though they were lucky enough to be sponsored by an aunt that married a missionary.

The ADHD was undiagnosed because god forbid I had Problems, "What do you mean Vermillion has problems? She's so bright! She never has to study! She has so much potential!" I have a brother who has problems, and both culturally American and Chinese I have been trained to Not Have Problems because I'm supposed to keep the household together. Plus, we're poor. We can't afford that! We're poor, we have family problems, AND our child has mental issues? They already say enough shit about Chinese people, jeeze.

The internal snark--it does hurt a bit inside whenever I see the reaction to my brand of humor in my fics as if it's meant to be expressed to tell people off, mic drop, actions having no consequences. You know what that is? It's coping. It's also developing the social wherewithal to be circumspect because your livelihood depends on it. And beyond just me, the internal pressure of carrying my family's expectations and wanting to not make their sacrifices in vain--that doubles the risk.

No fucking way do I mouth off without thinking (not since I was actually eight, and learning ever since), and that's why my characters are the way they are. We see a spectrum of them: Zhu Yunxun that needs to put up a front to maintain societal privilege and also is lucky to be born with money and lineage; SI!Taiga with money, physical + mental advantages, gender on his side, and talent; Lan Wenhui born into lineage, physical advantages, privilege, and talent, but still a woman; and now...Korvin Kwan with only the advantage of youth and male privilege. I am a point of departure for each of these and despite whatever gains that have been made with these new lives, I know myself well enough and have been burned before that it's instinctual to not grow into that privilege as if you've always had it.

Zhu Yunxun needs to walk a delicate tightrope of politics and intrigue and is wildly windmilling in the air, even if they're staying on.

SI!Taiga is so baffling to the Clown Gang because he doesn't act like a typical cocksure talented sports boy.

Lan Wenhui...she has her convolutions to be revealed.

Korvin is perpetually at the end of his fucking rope (like, what's Bat-WIng-Guy gonna do? Kill him for swearing? It'd at least cut out the middlemen for child trafficking), and just managed to trust Dick and Babs. Now that he has some sort of solid ground beneath him, that's where we get the chapter 4 code switching and masking.

Actions, and speaking is an action, have consequences and my SIs are me. They live with that philosophy.

We see ten million and one characters that like to loudly and boldly declare themselves, with the implication that they truly believe everything they say matters and will make a difference. They will be heard!

There's no catharsis for those who need to keep it in, where catharsis isn't actually worth it.

You might think: well, that's just on you. You choose to internalize this, you choose to make your family your pressure, you choose to not speak up--

And then I would point out, again, that culture and background makes people. Being diaspora, it influences what I find socially important. And it's even more important because I grew up poor. There's a realm of difference between the professional and well-off Chinese diaspora vs the ones that had to cram in the slums of Chinatown. My family was luckily not at the tail end, but we were nothing like the well-off (I'm lucky that we've essentially achieved the vaunted American Dream, now). To us growing up like that, family was your support network. Regardless of how shitty they are, what they do, the cost of cutting them out was rarely worth it.

And now that I've gone into my professional life--I'm lucky enough that I've either made others think they can't talk shit to my face, or my poker face was strong enough to survive the utter bullshit I've heard told to me like it was the weather. I thank them for their time, and I do what I need to do to navigate the situation. Usually, I don't have the power to do much but survive, so I did. And now, I've reached a point where 1) times are changing 2) I'm niche and competent enough that people are too busy listening to what I have to say than condescend me 3) I can shut them down if they do 4) the field I'm working in values circumspection as a whole.

===

Anyways, this is probably a big bubble burst for my fics. I know a lot of people enjoy them for the funnies, but the funnies come from somewhere. I think I build compelling characters and interpersonal relationships because I work to ground them in reality and what I know and have learned through my own experiences and needing to empathize with others.

My writing is my catharsis. Every time I'm able to resonate with someone out there, I'm happy if someone completely different from me can understand, and I'm even happier if I make another person like me feel seen.

Anyways, that's my kinda intense and sad TED talk, I need to go back to writing my application statement.

#opinionated verm #redglyphs #on tpac #on dbd #on bil #on larb

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simorys · 7 months

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Hey love ur art! Btw I noticed you talk a lot about Simon and Jack’s queerness, but you never rlly talk about Ralph’s, and I personally think he’s the most queer coded one in the book. Got any thoughts to share on him? Idk if ur rly a believer in the whole “Ralph and Jack/Simon were in love and engaged actually” theory so it can be pre-canon stuff I like ur hcs on those it has so much room for imagination (oc-ification)

Hi!!! TYSM!!

I definitely think that Ralph is queer coded, especially with him and Jack's relationship in the beginning. I think that Ralph did like Jack a lot and never truly got over him no matter how much he wished he did. I believe that he lays awake at night a lot thinking about what he did wrong/what he could've done to not have Jack hate him. I don't think he knows exactly what he did to Jack though, but he still blames himself a lot. However for Simon, I don't think he liked him back or really cared too much for him at all, until he died :(

i think that Jack also liked Ralph back but because of envy, jealousy, power hungriness, and internalized homophobia (and some others things probably), he started to despise Ralph. I believe that Jack still loved Ralph in the end, but unfortunately wasn't able to accept that part of himself. I do think that Jack felt guilty about what he did though but tried so hard to convince himself that he was not in the wrong. Maybe eventually he'll come around to it and accept it, who knows.

For some Pre-Island things about Ralph :^)

He never really knew exactly what homosexuality was and thought that his feeling towards boys was what everyone else felt. He did eventually learn that what he was feeling was different than some of his other peers when he brought his feeling up to a friend. I think Ralph goes to a public school, rather than a private Christian school like Jack and the choir, so luckily for him his friend didn't completely connect that Ralph was gay because it wasn't something thing that was taught at their school.

I hc that Ralph has a little sister (as seen in the hc art) who really looks up to him. I think she secretly knows about him being gay, but since she cares a lot for him, she hasn't told anyone (including Ralph).

I don't think Ralph is very homophobic, I think he's able to accept himself somewhat and knows that he isn't able to change his attraction. However, I think he does pray/wish a lot that he would be "normal".

He's very popular at his school and is very well liked, so not a lot of people would suspect "vice" in him. But he still worries a lot about people finding out and when he found out what he was experiencing was being gay, he became pretty closed off.

I also like to joke sometimes that his dad is gay (or just likes men at least) because of the stereotype of being in the navy. So if it is true I feel like his dad wouldn't bring up hatred towards gay people, making Ralph be a little more accepting of himself, of course with it being illegal, he still had issues with it.

Also another thing for his dad, but I remember learning in history class that during WW2 people in the army would put on drag shows to entertain each other and lighten the mood, so I feel like if Ralph's dad was to find out about Ralph being gay or even wearing make up, he wouldn't be too hard on him for it. Although I do think he would make Ralph cover that part about himself up for his and their family's reputation.

#lord of the flies #lotf #lotf fandom #lord of the flies headcanons #lotf headcanons

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mania-sama · 2 months

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Random ask, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in any media, like anime/manga, tv series, books, etc (can be canon or non-canon)? Feel free if you want to write the reasons or not of why you love them....

Thank you so much for sending in an ask! I would love to answer this question! I didn't go through every fandom I've been in, though I went through quite a few!!! Usually, there is only one ship I really love in a fandom that ends up being my favorite, but I like/love plenty of ships and don't limit myself to just one ship. I will say that when it comes to engaging with fandom and fanfiction, I tend to actually prefer platonic relationships, centered on found family and blood-related family than anything else.

Bungou Stray Dogs -> Shin Soukoku (Akutagawa Ryuunosuke/Nakajima Atsushi). I think most of this comes from the way they are quite literally yin and yang (my favorite symbol of all time) in almost every aspect. I firmly believe Asagiri is beating us over the head with a mallet saying "Look! Look what I did! Please look!" I'm under no impression that they will be canon, but BEAST gives me the hope that they can at least become friends, and that's testament enough to the development they go through. There is just so much there. I'm not an enemies to lovers person, but for them, I make the exception. There are so many parallels to draw between them, so much to look at and really dig into. I'm not delusional enough to say they wouldn't be toxic (all of the BSD ships except for, like, RanPoe, are toxic let's be real), but I am lenient enough to say that they can be good to each other in fanfics and decent friends in canon. Also, this applies to their BEAST counterparts, too. BEAST makes them better.

Jujutsu Kaisen -> ItaFushi (Fushiguro Megumi/Itadori Yuuji). There is a sort of trend I have with shipping, I think. I tend to like the second most popular ship, usually the younger generation of the most popular ship, which is arguably a form of torture in and of itself. JJK is not as bad as the BSD fandom is about the popularity difference, but it's still painful. Anyway, I think my love for this ship stems from the fact that Megumi has a big fat crush on Itadori and I will accept, under no circumstances, any other interpretations of his relationship with Itadori. Everything from the SatoSugu parallels (who are one handhold away from being canon let's be real), to their whole shtick being to save each other (physically and mentally), to Megumi literally describing Itadori as his type of person. Gender neutral. Even though it is so incredibly easy to use gendered terms in Japanese as it is in English. I feel like Gege is doing this on purpose because there is just no way he sees this as normal friend stuff. Recent chapters got me in a chokehold. I am SCARED. Besides all this, I think they just work very well together. They are also horribly tragic. Perfect combination.

Genshin Impact -> Xiaother (Aether/Xiao). I debated pretty heavily with myself here on what my true favorite is. I came to this conclusion mainly for one reason: Xiao. I love Aether, but I love Xiao. He is my favorite character, right next to Razor, so obviously he carries this ship. I also think that, of all of the implied relationships Genshin has supplied in plenty, Xiaother has had the most development. Every scene with them is better than the last, and the way that they make each other better is something I adore. And as for the ship being specifically Aether and not Lumine or nonspecific, it's because I chose Aether, so I'm more accustomed to using him as the traveler vessel rather than Lumine, but I'm honestly fine with either.

Identity V -> Elisop (Aesop Carl | Embalmer/Eli Clark | Seer). I haven't played this game in a hot minute for storage and laptop reasons, and I'm also not updated with the lore (nor was I entirely familiar with it from the beginning, outside of the MAIN main lore). But this ship and game were a huge part of my personal development, I think, and I do want to return to playing it in an honest effort eventually (I WANT MY ROBBIE RANK BACK). I think I perceive it differently than other people do, mainly because people oscillate between two sides of the Aesop Carl characterization spectrum. But there is something really fun in the idea that Eli, with his ability to see the future, thinks that he can somehow "fix" Aesop, under the impression that his and Getrude's relationship will never mend. And Aesop, who sees Eli and feels real love for the first time, finds that he doesn't know if he wants to kill and embalm Eli, or if he wants to indulge in this feeling called love. Toxic, probably. Their color schemes also match very well together (which is actually what led me to ship them in the first place, before fandom influence), and they are extremely compatible gameplay-wise.

Haikyuu -> IwaOi (Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru). If you told me two or so years ago that this was my favorite Haikyuu ship, I would have LAUGHED IN YOUR FACE. I hated Oikawa and didn't care much about Seijou. But then. But then. I went through a like. Month-long Haikyuu revival not too long ago and only read IwaOi fics because I came to this revelation. Oikawa is really goddamn relatable. I think we are all, in a sense, Oikawa, at one point or another. He is THE teenager. He is someone you can project every single one of your problems onto because his struggles with being untalented and unworthy are interchangeable with pretty much any self-worth conflict: internalized homophobia, eating disorders, socializing, etc. Iwaizumi can also provide these internal debates, but in a context with Oikawa makes it even better. Does Oikawa carry this ship for me? Yes. I don't care what you think I'm not here to defend myself.

Voltron: Legendary Defenders -> Klance (Keith Kogane/Lance McClain). Do NOT talk to me. They have ruined my life in pretty much every aspect. Also an exception to the not shipping thing because they are kinda the whole reason I even watched this show past season... three probably. I don't even wanna talk about them anymore because it'll just upset me. Just know that as far as the Sheith vs Klance debate goes, Sheithers are wrong for that after Keith called Shiro his brother. There. I added my fuel to the ever-burning garbage fire that is Voltron shipping. I may talk about Klance again in the future but for now I wanna leave my thoughts off here.

Merlin BBC -> Merthur (Arthur Pendragon/Merlin). Thank you Merthur fandom for teaching me what a good fic is supposed to taste like. They are kind of the epitome of the ships I tend to gravitate to: TRAGIC. The ending of Merlin is traumatizing and the fact that all of the cast pretty shipped it (as well as you can see the faint mouthing of the words "I love you" in the final death scene) is like. The first true healthy immersion into a ship I've ever had. I never obsessed over them too hard, I think, but Merlin is still my favorite live-action show, and Merthur is always well and true to my heart. They also got me introduced to the master/servant trope in terms of medieval times, and I had a very long affinity for it in fanfiction. I don't like it as much anymore, but I look upon that time with happiness rather than the usual slight embarrassment.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power -> Catradora (Adora/Catra). I also make an exception for enemies to lovers for them because they even added that extra-friendly step of friends to enemies to lovers. Genuinely, no show surprised me as much as She-Ra did. Shout out She-Ra for giving me the worst envy I've ever felt in my life. I want to rock a suit as well as Catra did in that one scene. Anyway, I loved their development. I know some people criticize it for being rushed towards the end, but I like the way they were able to forgive Catra so easily. They understood what it meant to be used and manipulated, what it meant to be unable to fight against oppressive forces. People are mad at compassion, even though that's the literal whole point of She-Ra. Whatever. They could never make me hate you Catradora.

Percy Jackson (all book series) -> Percabeth (Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson). The blueprint. That's it. That's all you gotta know. I don't read fics about them because there is nothing to improve upon. One of the best written series and best written romances of all time. It was basically everything Avatar: The Last Airbender failed to do with Kataang (sorry for ragging on them for a second but that's the only thing I didn't like about ATLA; the romances) failed to accomplish, with all the same in-depth and wonderful characters. Like, they are everything I aspire to have in a relationship. The way they are simply meant for each other and aren't rushed, but are always implied to have that cutesy young crushes until they finally got together. I love them. Ugh. Uncle Rick you win again.

Anyway, these were some of my favorite ships of all time!! Sorry, I blabbered a lot. Probably listed more ships than you meant to but I take whatever opportunity I can to talk about things I enjoy IN DEPTH. There were also a lot of M/M romances, which, I swear to God, just happened out that way. I love plenty of F/F and F/M relationships, they just rarely end up as my top favorite. DO NOT accuse me of anything because I WILL NOT hear it.

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jakowskis · 6 months

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@buffetpallascat doing a good ol' days reply because i had enough thoughts on this to warrant some meta, in my typical rambling fashion. hope you don't regret engaging by the time im done dfhkdsf

for starters, you're very welcome, i'm glad you enjoy the post :D

as for your question - i meant moreso that it was typical of the fandom, although it was also very much influenced by societal trends of the time, too. fandom's always had a rocky history with women, especially women who supposedly 'get in the way of "slash" couples', but the way fandom misogyny is performed has changed; i see more willful erasure of female characters these days than flat out blatant misogyny. in tw fan content from the 00s, i've seen gwen hatefully AND casually called some pretty horrible things that i rarely see fictional or real women called nowadays, simply because standards have changed. hell, one of the comms i linked, the twgenre finders one, there was several entries requesting fic where gwen experiences, like, bodily harm? not in a whump-y way, they actually wanted to recreationally read fic about her getting physically injured and suffering, out of some bizarre sense of malice towards her. simply because she 'gets in the way of janto'. and i can't even fathom that existing nowadays. pretty much everyone outside of weird little 12 year olds knows that's not acceptable. not to mention it's just weird.

interestingly i've also noticed a lottttt of change in how the fandom... reacted to and treated janto as a couple back in the day, versus now. people in 2006 were not normal about gay people. we know fandom's history with fetishizing gay men, and it was even worse in 2006 with an exceptionally rare canon gay couple being received by a jarringly hetero-but-'slash'-obsessed fanbase.

i mean, i don't wanna generalize. i saw a poll recently about how fandom is not mainly composed of straight women, contrary to popular belief, at least anymore, and i guess the question is, was it ever? i have seen a lot of the people involved in fandom in the 00s identify themselves as straight, but was that partially because of the culture of that era? have any of those people since come out as some type of queer? maybe, for some of them, that was them exploring their queerness in a safe environment, when the culture around being gay in real life was a lot different.... the same way modern fandom culture continues to be for those of us who aren't in accepting homes. if they were 20smth year olds in the 2010s/2020s, rather than the 2000s, would they still identify as straight?

not sure. but i've made a habit of going on the profiles of old lj accounts, and i'll sometimes wind up going through the journals and the personal posts of authors i respect, etc etc. a significant amount of mid 00s fic writers were straight women in their 30s - 40s, many married, some with kids. very different demographic to modern fandom. very different climate they lived in vs the one we're in.

(although, bonus note, i also once found a thread of bisexuals in 2006 praising torchwood's depiction of bisexuality, and that made me exceptionally happy. but also maybe a little sad, because torchwood's my personal fav bi rep, too, in 2023, and the fact that we've had nothing better in seventeen years is a bit of a bummer. but i digress.)

anyway, this is all to say, i've seen some insanely fetishy shit about jack and ianto that rubbed me exceptionally wrong. that gross dehumanizing, severely homophobic place where it's like... ahh, ok, so you don't see them as people, you see them as sexy dolls you can mash together. but, ofc, that's how i view it as a bisexual person in 2023 who's been on tumblr far too long. they didn't see any problem with it. they might've even seen it as progressive. how can you be homophobic when you're obsessed with the little gay people on ur screen? but it's the opposite end of the 'homophobes reducing gay ppl down to what they do in their beds' trope, and it comes across as dated and icky now.

i mean, i consume a lot of older media, i know how to turn off my 21st century sensibilities and remind myself things used to be different, but it's honestly an impressive difference. there's some fantastic fics from that era of the fandom, in fact most of my favorite fics are from that era, but i often get quite a bit of culture shock reading things. particularly, i'm always impressed by people in the 2000s, an extremely biphobic era, applying their impressive period-typical 'bisexuals aren't real' beliefs to The Bisexual Show. torchwood's rep's not perfect (again, a product of its era), but i've seen a fantastic amount of gay!ianto and straight!owen, because bisexual men don't exist, obviously, and jack's not bisexual, he's the amazing slutty space man, except he's mostly gay because all that matters is janto. and i don't even really see explorations of gwen or tosh's bisexuality at all, because, again, women who?

i found a comm a while back, i didn't include it on my list because it wasn't torchwood-exclusive and didn't have much content in the tw tag, but it was a lgbtfest, and contained fics about the team and their relationships with their bisexuality, and it was really intriguing to me to see queerness as understood by regular people in 2007/2008, y'know, not by gay writers or activists or films. i have no way of knowing if any of them were speaking from any personal place, but it was just interesting, because none of the fics i read in that comm had that same brand of tone-deaf sex-focused homophobia to them, they were progressive for the time, but it was still apparent to me that they were written by people with a mid to late 00s understanding of being gay, and i do think it's interesting, that substantial difference.

got a bit off topic, but now that i mentioned the initial fandom being overwhelmingly composed of women, i can also add that i think internalized misogyny factored hugely into the fandom's disdain for gwen. the 'strong female' trope doesn't just annoy straight men, it also annoys a lot of women (though not consciously) - not because they're opposed to well-written women, but because society tells us certain things that'd be admirable and complex and sympathetic out of a male hero are unacceptable out of a female one. it's the double standard. jack does some awful shit, but i rarely see him criticized. i've straight up seen fans go "jack's kind of a bastard, but it's ok because he's hot", which is fine in jest, i've joked about shit like that with characters, but it's not so cute when those same people turn around and condemn gwen for her actions. hell, or owen. i've literally seen someone say they'd like owen more if he was more conventionally attractive. like, ok, you're clearly just here for the janto eye candy. you haven't brought any substantial critical thinking skills. pls take ur shallow ass and leave. but back to gwen - she was held to a standard none of the other characters are held to. they picked on her for the stupidest shit. and her worse sin, the infidelity, it's bad, sure, but i've seen countless male characters who cheat on their partners who are beloved by their fandoms. it's just fucking gross. i fucking hate hypocrites.

dude, yknow what?? i've even seen fucking tosh bashing. WHO THE FUCK HATES TOSH????

ok im done. sorry for my babbling. but yeah, i think it's a fascinating thing. i love how humans change and develop with the times and how we can map the changes and how they affect media, and it's fun to observe in fandom because it's there, too, but no one's looking so i get to feel like a little scientist fdskjfds. ok i will cease with the excessive babbling now

#mine #txt #torchwood posting #i love writing essays where i say nothing at all

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audioaujom · 9 months

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Demetrius v. Robin

Stardew Hub, < prev, next >

Proud member of the Demetrius hate club!! Lmao jk, he has just always kinda rubbed me the wrong way and I don't like the way he interacts with Sebastian in canon. Guess it just makes me wonder, and when I wonder bad things usually happen lmao

Word Count: 1464

Chapter TWs: Abusive language/behavior

“Hey Maru, what do you think of my snow goons?” Stepping back from the carefully shaped lumps of snow and jagged sticks, Sebastian grinned as he called out for his half-sister across the yard.

“Don't mean you snowmen—” Maru started to correct, cutting herself off as she turned and saw the monstrous creations in front of him. “Oh. No, yeah, those are snow goons.”

“Do you like them?”

“No, they're ugly.” She laughed, rolling her eyes and going back to carefully arranging the stones to make a smile on her much more traditional-looking snowman.

“C’mon, they're not that bad!” Sebastian whined, approaching her to stand and watch over one of her shoulders. “It’s all a part of their charm.”

“I bet they have very nice personalities.” Maru commented carefully, watching as Sebastian’s jaw dropped in feigned angry shock from the insult.

“This is beginning to border on slander, which I did not ask for.”

Maru turned around to look at him, head cocked to the side with a small smirk. “But you did ask for it.”

Sebastian frowned, brows furrowed. “That’s it.”

Maru opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a face full of snow, looking to see Sebastian bent down and packing together another snowball to throw at her with a grin. She smiled as well, immediately reaching for the nearest patch of snow to return fire.

Robin was kneeling on the floor in the main room when Demetrius came in, holding a fire poker in one hand and a freshly cut log of firewood in the other. The fire in the fireplace was no more than a few flickering flames, her sighing in frustration as it didn't seem to be catching.

“Hey, I'm gonna head outside and check on the kids.” Demetrius informed with a smile, leaning down to give Robin a light peck on the cheek as she worked. “To see when they want dinner.”

“Thanks.” Robin smiled gratefully, stoking at the slowly dying fire. “You’re the best.”

Grabbing his puffy jacket from where it was hanging on the coat rack by the door, Demetrius stepped outside into the winter chill to see where his daughter and step-son had run off to since they ran outside to… play? He wasn't sure what they were doing, actually.

He never really knew what Sebastian was up to at any time, anyway.

The scene outside to a normal observer would have been rather domestic and cute, the half-siblings engaged in a wild snowball fight—snow sticking to their faces and hair as they laughed and ran around the yard like children.

But for Demetrius—

“What's going on out here?” His yell interrupted the two siblings, them both turning to look at him with matching startled expressions.

“Not much, I'm just absolutely owning Maru in this snowball fight.” Sebastian shrugged lightly, turning his attention back to the snowball in his hand that he then launched at Maru without any warning.

“No way! You're so cheating!” Maru complained, barely ducking out of the way before throwing her own held snowball back at him—which he dodged easily.

Demetrius sighed at their childish behavior, placing his hands on his hips as he tiredly asked, “Why are you two fighting, anyway?”

“She said my snow goons were ugly.” Sebastian crossed his arms, huffing as Maru puffed up in annoyance.

“Because they are ugly!”

“I agree, and I think you should take those down before your mother sees.” Demetrius shook his head disapprovingly, gesturing at the set of snow goons as he said, “We wouldn't want anyone coming by the house and seeing… that.”

Maru’s expression dropped, the playful mood killed in an instant. “Wait, what?”

“I'm not taking them down.” Sebastian frowned, levelly holding Demetrius’ gaze. “I made them for fun; what's the big deal?”

“The big deal is your attitude.” Demetrius’ gaze hardened into a glare, him stepping over to the nearest mound of snow with a confident, “If you won’t take them down, I’ll do it myself.”

“What— Hey!” Sebastian ran over as Demetrius kicked one of the creations over, his work boots splattering the carefully molded snow back into the yard.

“Don’t try and stop me, young man.” Demetrius warned as Sebastian got between him and the other snow goons, pissed.

“You’re being unreasonable!”

“Who’s really the unreasonable one here?” Demetrius asked with a sigh, punching the bridge of his nose exasperatedly. “The one concerned about our family or the one mouthing off?”

“You’re such an asshole!” Any further complaint from Sebastian was cut off as Demetrius swung a backhanded slap at his face, sending him crashing to the ground of the front yard with a startled yelp.

“Dad!” Mary chastised, worry for her brother sending her running inside to find her mom. The other two didn't pay her any mind, too focused on each other to notice she left.

“You don’t get to talk to me that way!” Livid, Demetrius wound back for another hit only to be cut off by the front door opening and two figures running out to interrupt.

“Demetrius? What’s— Sebastian!” Robin immediately focused in on the fact her son was holding his face from where he was crumpled on the snow-covered lawn, running over and dropping to her knees to get a better look. “What happened, Sebby? Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Sebastian answered sourly, letting go of his face so his mom could see the bright red impact on his cheek. “Your shithead husband hit me for making snowmen.”

“Excuse me?” Torn between her bubbling worry and wanting to scold him for his language, she finally turned to Demetrius to ask, “Demetrius, is that true?”

“It was his fault for talking back!” Demetrius defended hotly. “I was simply concerned about our family's image—”

“Bullshit.” Sebastian growled from the ground, carefully standing back up to his feet to accuse, “You've always had it out for me!”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have had to ‘have it out for you’ if you didn't deserve it!” Demetrius fired back, Sebastian ready to continue the argument until he saw his mom stand up beside him and dust the snow off her jeans.

“How dare you speak to my son like that!” She yelled, stepping between the two men without missing a beat. “This type of behavior is not welcome in my house!”

“Don't be unreasonable, honey.” Demetrius’ anger instantly disappeared from his face as he stared at Robin, hands out as he tried to placate, “If he apologizes and offers to change his attitude, I'll—”

“There will be no such thing!” Robin didn't even let him finish, the two half-siblings sharing a glance of surprise as they'd never heard their mom this angry before. “You can find somewhere else to stay until I'm willing to talk to you about this!” She glared, before whirling around and hugging Sebastian over the shoulders worriedly. “Let's get you inside, Sebby. You too, Maru.”

Reeling from the shock of being kicked out so easily, all Demetrius could do was dumbly stutter out, “Why wouldn't she come with me?”

“Cause I don't want to.” Maru answered immediately, gluing herself to Sebastian's other side as Robin guided them back into the house. “You’re acting crazy, dad. I'd rather stay with mom and Sebastian.”

Demetrius reached for his retreating family with one hand, the back of it tingling as none of them turned to look and disappeared inside.

“Maru, can you go grab your brother some ice?” Robin asked as she helped Sebastian out of his wet jacket and set him by the fire she’d barely managed to get roaring.

“I'm fine, mom.” Sebastian tried to protest, but the tame glare she sent his way had him swallowing the words back. “Nevermind.”

“Sorry, I'm not mad.” She apologized, sitting down next to him to put her head into her hands. “Well, I'm not mad at you.”

Sebastian chewed awkwardly on his bottom lip for a moment. “I'm sorry. It's my fault all of this started, if I'd just—”

“Nope. I won't hear it.” Robin cut him off with a firm shake of the head, gently reaching out to cup his uninjured cheek with one hand and giving him a soft smile. “We’ll figure this out, okay? But he is not allowed to treat you like that.”

At that moment Maru popped her head into the main room, one hand holding an ice pack from the freezer as the other gestured back over her shoulder towards the kitchen. “I brought some ice. I also put a pot of coffee on, it should be done soon.”

“Thanks.” Sebastian smiled up at her, taking the ice pack as Maru took a seat on his other side and the three slowly let themselves be warmed up by the steadily growing fire—and each other’s company.

#stardew #stardew fanfic #stardew valley #fanfiction #fanfic #cross posted on ao3 #writing #whump #sdv sebastian #sdv robin #sdv demetrius #sdv maru #hurt/comfort

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ziskandra · 10 months

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*cackles* 7, 10, 11, 13, and 24

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? hate is probably too strong a word but i've developed a knee-jerk reaction to fellow anders fans over the years because of the subset that truly seem to think he can do no wrong and that all of his actions were entirely justified and had no negative consequences for anybody in kirkwall other than the templars. on one hand, i kinda get it, because i know anders fans have also gotten a lot of flack because... this fandom is incapable of being normal. on the other, i have a knee-jerk reaction towards anyone who assumes everyone plays these sort of games the exact same way as them (or indeed, the same way each time). i totally respect people doing whatever they want in their games and in their fanworks, but it's when it comes out in harassment of others or making bad faith assumptions about the character of actual living human beings that i'm like. no thank you. obviously there are fans of other characters who also engage in this behaviour, anders is just the one where my negative fandom experiences outweigh the positive ones, personally.

oh also, while i'm being salty (the name of the game i SUPPOSE), i fucking love f!handers but m!handers leaves me cold (especially in canon-verse fic, i don't mind it as much in like, modern AUs and the like?) idk i feel like them being the same gender changes their dynamic in a way i can't articulate--probably that hawke being female shifts the power dynamics a bit and. yeah. 10. worst part of fanon

again, 'worst' is probably a harsh word, but when it comes to pervasive fanon that i personally just don't like, it has to be visibly mixed-race alistair. i don't mind it as much when his ears have like, a subtle point to them or whatever, but speaking personally as someone who is visibly mixed, to the point that i have fielded complete strangers asking "what are you" on regular occasions, alistair's narrative would be. quite different if he wasn't human-passing. and while i get that some mixed-race people find solace in making their blorbos more representative of who they are and their identities not causing any issues, it leaves me cold. and again, i don't care what other people do, but it's when some people act like fellow fans who dare depict alistair as he appears in canon are being racist or what have you that i get annoyed. like, yeah, dragon age fandom does have problems with race, but like... this is imo not one of them, and it detracts from like. bringing awareness to actual issues. yeah yeah people can care about multiple things at once, but by the same token, people can only care about so many things at once, yknow? also this fandom in particular has a real problem with treating poc like we're all a monolith, and that includes both white people and poc. i find it especially frustrating that the dominant discourse centers north american race politics the most, but god forbid anyone try to address that directly .... but that's a rant for another time lmao. 11. number of fandom-related words you've filtered i have about 16 fandoms i'm not in filtered mostly bc they just turn up on my dash a lot, and a handful of characters/ships filtered for fandoms i am in! the one that has been consistently filtered the longest is reyes vidal. 13. worst blorbofication

oooh, this one i think is a toss up between alistair and varric. as someone who loves both these characters more for their flaws rather than their virtues, fandom can be. a difficult time! alistair often gets reduced to this...perfect prince charming, which i think is kind of disappointing considering there is so many different ways for his story to develop depending on the the outcomes of origins? varric, otoh, gets reduced to hawke's bestie a lot. and look. i get it. he is hawke's bestie. he is. very uncritical of hawke, which is not as much of a problem if hawke's a good person but. what if they're not? what if they're not, varric. god, what i would give for like. a fucking complicated characterisation-rich fic which explored like. hawke and varric's friendship and how they're like. codependent messes. (and i say this as someone who loves codependent messes lol). and i guess like.... everyone treats varric being viscount as a meme. and yeah, i get it, the dude is everything everywhere all at once. but i'd really love to see more content focused on like... his relationship with kirkwall, and his feelings regarding his friends and becoming viscount and yeah. anyway!! being a blorbo of mine is the worst because i enjoy pain and suffering. anyway, 24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

mage rights and also the chantry boom. i don't think i even have to elaborate on this do it 😭 🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

#thank you for the asks!!#this was more invigorating than i anticipated tbh #turns out i do have opinions even tho i don't voice them that often in the grand scheme of things oops #asha answers #poetikat #long post #fandom critical

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akatsuki-shin · 4 months

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"So for Geto it's mostly that I don't like villains with a bigoted ideology and he's too incompetent to even fall in the "love to hate" category. Really, the worst thing a villain can be is incompetent and Geto in Vol 0 is barely better than your average disney villain. Doesn't help that he never gets pushback on his ideals. Gojo tells him in Premature Death that killing people is bad, but that's it. He spouts his bullshit about how genocide is totally necessary and Yuuta stands there like "idk you might be right, but you want to kill people I care about and that's the real crime here". Nobody really engages with his ideology except Yuki I guess, but that was before he became an antagonist. I could forgive that to a degree if he was at least a real threat, but he isn't.....You don't get any of that with Geto, he's not even fun to hate because he barely provides any pushback. He's a bad villain and I dislike him as a person as well. His descent into embracing the superiority of sorcerers and resolving to kill all non-sorcerers was well written, but I don't feel for him at all. Good riddance to the guy, I'm glad he's now dead both in body and mind."

I just found this post (kinda sad when read it), can I ask your thoughts, please?

Thanks so much for your JJK posts (especially about Getou and Gojo), love to read them....

When it came to Geto (and SatoSugu), I think the biggest difference between me and most other JJK fans is that I start from doujin, headcanons, and fan analysis about them before I started consuming the canon materials.

I have friends who are avid shippers of those two and regularly shared their contents. Plus, I got commissioned to write their fic, which required me to research their dynamics and canon details.

So you can say I went into JJK after already knowing full well what to expect, why this is like this, why that is like that. Perhaps this is the reason why I can feel so much about Geto because I already read everything there is to know about him, from his "golden days" with Gojo to his descend into villainy and his death.

Despite all my screaming and fangirling about JJK (and SatoSugu in particular), I actually have a lot of personal complaints about Jujutsu Kaisen itself as a whole, particularly from the story-telling aspect — which is why despite not agreeing with that post you saw, I can kind of understand where they are coming from.

To be honest, when I read the manga, I feel like the story-telling is rather all over the place. You have all of these flashbacks featuring this and that character, but as the story progresses, not all of these characters get the spotlight you think they will get after all of those focus they're getting in the flashback. And you end up not understanding "so wtf were those for?"

Even Gojo's high school flashbacks come abruptly out of the blue. You press that "next chapter" button and suddenly the flashback started out of nowhere.

So you can imagine my feeling when actually reading the manga. I was like "...huh? that's it? the doujin I read was more intense than that."

(in which case, I'm super thankful to the anime staff for including more contents and crumbs about SatoSugu's relationship)

Speaking from personal experience, there have been many times when I fall in love with a character not because of what I see in canon, but because the many interpretations and contents in the fandom through fanart, fan comic, headcanon, analysis, and fics.

Like with Choso, for example. I like him a normal amount but after seeing so many cute and funny fanarts of him being a bro-con to Yuji, he becomes one of the characters I love the most now because of how precious he is in those fanarts and comics.

When you're reading or watching something by yourself, there may be things you miss, things that you only start to pay attention to after you saw other people talking about it. Likewise, there may be things that you realize but other people don't.

For example, the foreshadowing in the anime where they always put Gojo and Shoko in the light and Geto in the shadows, hinting at his eventual descent into the dark path and separating him from his friends.

I think my experience with Geto and SatoSugu is exactly like this.

I already saw fanarts and doujins about his tragic fate. I already saw both his happy and sad days up until the moment of his death. I came into the canon material with a certain level of understanding and expectations about the character, so when he did something in canon, I was like "yeah, no wonder he did that, because previously he went through this and that."

And because of that, I am willing to look deeper into him, to analyze details about him. Because he is already that dear to me from the beginning, I don't have it in me to turn and hate him for what he did.

But of course, we are all different from one another, including when it comes to interpreting a story.

Maybe the person who posted that only consumed canon material, and maybe Geto as a character is simply not to their liking, who knows? I'm not going to say their opinion is wrong because mine isn't guaranteed to be right either. When expressing out review/opinion about a story or character, we can never discard our personal preference and bias, no matter how objective we try to be, and that's okay.

Each to their own. ^^

#Jujutsu Kaisen #JJK #呪術廻戦 #Geto Suguru

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voiceofsword · 1 year

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sry to bitch in your inbox abt this but im so glad you pointed out how so many modern enstarries Dont read the stories and base everything off fandom perception.. i saw these users joking about which character would say slurs and someone was ADAMANT rinne would and tho i knew it before it Really struck me then

a) none of them have ever engaged with this text in any meaningful way, ESPECIALLY not the first games' stories, because surprise! characters in es! did Canonically use slurs! and back then Nobody Liked It. we didnt joke about it. most people i know completely stopped paying attention to the characters who did until they apologized. (tho ofc its more a problem w the writing than the characters, but still. we were young. we had the spirit.)

b) people really like using rinne as a punching bag because they dont read the stories and know literally nothing about him except funny drunk drugs gamble man "fuckboy" who harasses niki and the other bees and its. infuriating.

i dont understand how anyone can claim to like a media without ever properly engaging with it, i dont understand how people have fun misunderstanding characters so drastically, and i also think joking about slurs has gotten wayyy too normalized where people feel comfortable saying these things about these characters they allegedly like. and characters like rinne (with a constructed mask of obnoxiousness and such) are the perfect target for these people. which SUCKS. all of it sucks.

NEVER BE SORRY!!!! i hope this is alright to post i thought your ask was good and insightful and i'll add onto it a little bit with my own thoughts (heart emoji)

yeah um ! was definitely a ride. i wouldnt recommend it to everyone but at least we have hindsight and things like slurs and general offensive terms/behaviors can be warned for, so that much is nice. i remember being really upset about a few of these, and then getting back into enstars earlier this year and reading a few of the more current stories + !! stories i was happy to see that the writing has developed CONSIDERABLY in terms of this especially after beasts. something ive noticed a lot of newer fans do (referencing my previous post irt the feeling morally superior) is that if you like a specific character for whatever reason youre actually a horrible person because that character said something awful once. of course youre allowed to dislike characters for whatever reason but dont tell other people they should perish because they like them (as if liking them means you implicitly agree with said views, more often than not One line in a miriad of stories that you might not even have read). but like you said, characters making ignorant comments (an unfortunate occurrence, although rare, it still happens) is not a reflection of 2d pixels on a screen but rather a team of writers..... idk. its a complicated situation. i see both sides and i think people are justified in liking or disliking but this is a game about idol boys (and girl) got dam

yeah i hate how people treat rinne a lot. like because characters like him and eichi are villains that means everything that they do or say is, at worst, a straight, physical threat to everyone around them, or at best, an annoyance that can make the fandom feel justified in making them the butt of reoccurring jokes. idk what else to say about him that i havent said already but its also 3 am now and i SAID i was gonna go to sleep an hour ago but i think i might just be a filthy liar

ALSO its probably because enstars is long, there's a lot to read and although tl's arent necessarily hard to come by you actively have to seek them out. again i understand how this might be a nuisance but instead of sitting down and listening to summaries or analysis ive noticed that a lot of short form consumption content lends itself to people just. posting the most reactive interpretations, and people playing a game of telephone with said information until a lot of the fandom has come to accept this misinformation as true. LIKE SOMEONE ON TIKTOK SAYING HAJIME AND WATARU WERE RELATED? IDEK IF THAT WAS A JOKE OR NOT? and yeah the use of slurs is like ridiculously normalized now im not one to say whether people can or cannot reclaim slurs and people are free to do as they like if they can. i see this one thing specifically with tatsumi a lot where people jokingly bring up how said character is homophobic or make homophobic comments towards characters even if theyre being like. excited or happy. and idk. personally it makes me sad. like maybe its fandom culture now maybe im old (is 23)

WHY WOULD RINNE SAY SLURS HES LITERALLY GAY AND IN LOVE....COME AWN NOW

#i prommy i will stop putting walls of text on everyones dashboards soon and ill get to actually posting drawings and reblogs...maybe #im not posting this one under a readmore bc i dont think. its That long in comparison to my other posts?#but if it is i might add it retroactively? can i even do that #we'll see i guess LMAO #mimthinks

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case-of-traxits · 6 months

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Sephiroth 1-26

[From this prompt!] [Still accepting!]

Omg, 1 through 26? That's a lot. Okay. Here we go. This got really long. I hope you enjoy!

Character Ask Game!!! 💫

Character Questions: Sephiroth

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Right off the bat, my favorite thing about Sephiroth is definitely how surprisingly soft his character actually is. Like, I've been eating well with the release of Ever Crisis, since it confirms a lot of how I've always written Sephiroth. As for dislikes... Let's see. I dislike how inherently tragic his character actually is? Like, that sounds odd, coming from me, an angst queen, but I mean it more... He really never stood a chance. I usually love angst for my characters, but often because they've done it to themselves? Sephiroth is heartbreaking because of what's been done to him rather than because of anything he's specifically done. And no, I'm not discounting Nibelheim or anything. I don't want anyone to read this and walk away thinking I think that I... I don't know. Don't think Sephiroth was responsible for anything. Of course he is. He's a villainous character, and he goes completely mad and falls. That's the entire point. But his madness and his fall itself is inevitable within the canon of the game. His character is a relatively innocent one who lacks almost all agency, and when he finds out why, he completely loses himself in being the monster that they've created. Like, to be perfectly honest, is it a surprise that so many fangirls glommed onto him, hotness aside?

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I love how his canon materia set up is as follows: Masamune Materia Slots: Revive Restore Earth = All Fire = [empty spot] Gold Armlet Materia Slots: Ice = All Lightning = All Like. I love that he has a restore and a revive? And an open slot? I don't know. It's just fun to think about.

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

His fixation on Cloud. Like, don't get me wrong, I do completely understand it. I just don't like it. I can recognize that canon has made a decision that I personally disagree with.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Ooh, any other media... Honestly? This is going to sound weird, but I'd put him in FF8. I think he'd fit right in with the SeeDs, and almost none of them have parents either, so it would just be... normal.

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

So fuck you, fuck you, fuck you And all we've been through I said leave it, leave it, leave it It's nothing to you And if you hate me, hate me, hate me Then hate me so good that you can let me out, let me out Let me out of this hell when you're around -- Rootless Tree, by Damien Rice

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

We both suck at making friends. We both got like, two of them and were like, "well, here we go. Our entire sense of self-worth hinges on these two people. Hope nothing happens to them. (:" In all seriousness though, I am extremely bad at making friends. And Sephiroth clearly is too. So. SOLIDARITY BBY.

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

I love when fandom puts him in just... normal situations. I love seeing Sephiroth cook or run in the morning or go to the gym or really anything besides being effortlessly perfect. I like seeing his humanity under there. Probably because he rejects it so thoroughly after Nibelheim.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Well. I don't click on these fics anymore because it's just easier to not engage than it is to deal with my feelings about it, but I hate when fandom just reduces Sephiroth to purely his post-Nibelheim state? Like, I'm aware that part of it is because that's the timeline most people are writing in. And in that case, go right ahead! Do your thing! But if you're writing pre-Nibelheim, you need to contend with who he was before that event.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

I suspect I am not a tidy enough individual to be roommates with Sephiroth. I think he would be extremely particular.

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

I mean, as much as he can be best friends with anyone? His biggest problem is letting people in, and not because he doesn't want to, but because he has no idea how.

11. Would you date this character?

Hah! Look. I have a wonderful husband already. XD

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

Sephiroth has a blue pick-up that he drives on the few times he leaves the Tower. He dislikes taking the train, and technically, the car belongs to the company, but no one would ever stop him. He has a string of those fake materia beads that are so popular in Midgar hanging from the rearview mirror, and he likes to periodically just leave Midgar and drive on the dirt roads that go nowhere. He finds it soothing, particularly with loud music blaring in the truck. -- Pulled from my headcanon blog. I mean, I could give you new ones, but I love this one.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

I really cannot imagine Sephiroth using any emoji except the thumbs up and thumbs down ones, to be perfectly frank. Except, possibly, for texts with Genesis and Angeal, if they use emoji? If they do, I think he would slowly assimilate their styles of use, and do his best to mimic them.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Cottagecore. No, no! Don't go! Hear me out. Sephiroth in giant, oversized, cozy sweaters and his hair in a loose braid. It'd be great, and he'd be so happy.

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Tseng and Sephiroth. I just. Tseng is so good for him, all quiet acceptance of anything odd about him, and gentle instruction when Sephiroth looks uncertain and just... I love them dearly. I have a ficlet series! I should add more to it, but here, look. ENJOY. I Fell (heavy) into Your Arms (like a stone) For the record though, I am also 100% on board for Genesis/Sephiroth. Super excited for Sephesis Week in January. I'm going to get so much new fic to read.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Ooh, spicy question there. Uh. I don't want to start anything, but I am not a huge fan of Sephiroth/Cloud. I mean. It's fine. It's just not my thing.

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

Mm... As a general rule, I am flexible on ships. Even my least favorite ship for Sephiroth is someone's ship, and I wish them the best in their shipyard.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I love his relationship with Genesis. Huge, huge feels when I started Ever Crisis and he was calling Gen and just... T_T Babies.

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

That would require him to have actual relationships. That said, his only other real relationship is with Cloud, and as I said in the ship questions, that's... fine. It's just not my thing.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Honestly, I do really like Sephiroth with Genesis and/or Angeal, and I think Tseng would be a good friend for him, even disregarding my shipping tendency. That said, Reeve would be good for him too. Not the least of which because Reeve would probably be able to help him get some answers about his mother if Sephiroth would ask him. Or maybe that's just my Reeve, who has been with Shinra since he was five.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Something I like: I like seeing him interact with people outside of missions. I like watching him be normal and having to deal with everything that comes with that. Something I don't: I hate fight scenes. Have me write 7k of introspection any day, but please, as few fight scenes as possible. XD

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

Something I like: I love when other characters are super warm to Sephiroth and he's just like, "Do you like me? Do I want you to like me? Is that okay?" I just... it melts my heart every time. Something I don't: I find it difficult to believe people when they write Sephiroth as a sex god. Weirdly specific, right? But true. He's such an awkward teenager in Ever Crisis, and while he's very calm in Crisis Core, 90% of his "perfection" comes from just... not talking. I cannot imagine that he picks people up or hooks up very often. XD

23. Favorite picture of this character?

Currently? This one. Seph/Gen, kissing. But if you mean "ever," that's impossible. There's been so many fantastic pieces of fanart over the years.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Mm. So little baby Trax, all those years ago (seriously, I watched FF7 being played when I was about 9, when the game was released), was basically like: Traxits: "Wait, why don't we like Sephiroth?" Cousin: "He murdered the President." Traxits: "The guy who dropped the sector? The one we were going to kill?" Cousin: "Yeah." Traxits: "And that's... bad?" Cousin: "Murder is bad." Traxits: "... but we were going to kill him first, right?" And then my cousin (age 13) made me go play in a different room.

Now, of course, I understand more about what was going on and everything, but the fact is, he's one of my favorites just because of how ... Mm. Doomed he is, maybe? I just. I love writing moments of happiness for him. He deserves them, despite everything. Because of everything. Because in the end, he's going to completely surrender himself to the alien cells in his body and he's going to lose himself. And there isn't, as far as we can tell, any way to save him.

26. Freebie question; Per discord discussion: Most obscure headcanon?

Oh, that's a fun one. Mine is probably that Sephiroth is a vegetarian. Actually, I'm not sure how widespread this is, but it used to be popular (I sound like a lady discussing what was "fashionable" in her time) to have Sephiroth be wildly sensitive to all kinds of foods, but from what I've seen in the current meta/jokes/etc., most people seem to headcanon that he has an iron stomach now. I go the opposite way and say thanks to the degree of experimental testing and the lack of exposure to a wide variety of foods, he's almost overly sensitive to new foods. To the point that he pretty much subsists exclusively on things from the SOLDIER cafeteria (who have a list of things that they can prepare for him) or things that he himself has prepared.

THANK YOU FOR READING ALL OF THAT.

#Character asks #Sephiroth #Headcanons #FF7 #Final Fantasy VII #asks

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boghermit · 7 months

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4. Does your OC have a failed friendship or relationship they still think about? What happened? Is it an unresolved regret or is there a chance for reconciliation?

5. Does your OC have a signature weapon and/or attack? How long did they train to master it?

6. Does your OC know magic? Were they born with magical ability or did they train to acquire it? What is their favorite type of magic? Least favorite?

17. Does your OC have an enemy? What happened between them? Is it mutual or one-sided? Is it petty or serious? Is one party seeking revenge? Does one person want the other dead or are they content to hate them from afar?

19. Has your OC ever had an experience with the paranormal or the divine? What happened? Was it a one time encounter or is it a normal part of their life? Did they find it terrifying or thrilling?

Thank you so much for posting the questions, because I definitely lost the original post. 😭😭

Spoilers below the cut

4. Does your OC have a failed friendship or relationship they still think about? What happened? Is it an unresolved regret or is there a chance for reconciliation?

If Salem had any good relationships prior to the Nautiloid, he can’t remember, amnesia and all that. I do wonder what his relationship with Gortash was like – were they actually friends or lovers, or just really good business partners? The in-game dialogue makes it sound like they were thick as thieves.

5. Does your OC have a signature weapon and/or attack? How long did they train to master it?

In-game he uses that cool staff from Auntie Ethel’s lair, but I imagine him using a sickle or scythe as his main weapon. Something a bit gnarly and related to interaction with nature, but sinister. He also wears a boot knife. I don’t think he’d have any special training with them, just experience from living rough all his life and engaging in normal and definitely not illegal Dark Urge activities.

6. Does your OC know magic? Were they born with magical ability or did they train to acquire it? What is their favorite type of magic? Least favorite?

He was definitely born with some kind of dark magic, being who he is and all that. But the tiny little part of him that didn’t belong to his father was always drawn towards nature – both its orderly and chaotic sides. The cycle of life, death, decay, and rebirth. He learned folk healing, alchemy, and something much darker – necromancy. His favorite types of magic are the kind of magic he learns from the Circle of Spores – fungal rot and necromancy – and oddly enough, healing. He doesn’t dislike any particular kind of magic, but dislikes wizards, if that counts.

He has a CVS receipt length list of enemies.

He has beef with Orin, possibly more than anyone else in the game, because, well, you know! And then there’s his father of course. I don’t think Salem would have ever been content to just let Orin go. They have history on top of history.

I’m not entirely sure about Gortash. Maybe they’re just enemies out of necessity? I’d love to know more about their canon relationship.

And there’s always Auntie Ethel. In the game, he kind of has to fight her, but in my canon, they’re petty rivals at worst.

19. Has your OC ever had an experience with the paranormal or the divine? What happened? Was it a one time encounter or is it a normal part of their life? Did they find it terrifying or thrilling?

Considering what the Dark Urge is, many many many experiences, repeated. The most stand out ones are probably meeting Vlaakith and subsequently waving nonchalantly, fighting the Netherbrain, and of course, being killed by one spiteful god only to be resurrected by another who saw good in him. That last one was altogether horrifying for him. That’s an experience he’d rather not repeat.

#salem #omgkalyppso

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catghoulz · 4 months

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didu know your literally the most wright person in the entire world anbotu christianity and also merry christmas and it loves u? sorryt its druk

thru teh power ov schizautism + gnosticism special interest ive unlocked teh rare ability ov Looking at """""""""non canonical"""""" textz & th absolute abundance ov syncretism th early jesus movement had w/ surrounding spirituality & like. trying 2 understand th actual rootz ov christianity rather than just blindly accepting the mutilated corpse ov it which haz 4 thousandz ov yearz been molded in2 an empty puppet to reinforce th needz ov wider power structurez

tbh tho putting aside my fascination with early christianitiez in termz ov my actual beliefz i think id identify more with the sortve. alexandrian religious syncretism glimpsed in the greek magical papyri & much ov nag hammadi, wherein itz divinitiez r often invoked coequally with godz ov greek or egyptian pantheonz. i may be fond ov sophia & barbelo & epinoia & sabaoth & various other figurez from gnostic christianitiez but i am also fond ov inanna & dionysus & phanes & th water serpentz & all kindz ov other bitchez. & this waz extremely normal! i think part ov pplz problem religiously iz theyre following religionz which historically tended 2 syncretize elementz tht compelled them from neighboring spiritual beliefz, but treating tht religion like a static thing which must be kept segregated from outside influence & well. the spiritfluid doeznt lov it folkz! u are letting her stagnate wen she LITERALLY wantz 2 play with her friendz!! letz all keep her moving everyone ^v^

o also i blame much ov th cringe ov modern christianity on stigma against wht iz now called psychosis tbh. i think some level ov it iz basically required to meaningfully engage in religion & by trying to eject such ppl from society ur pretty much guaranteeing tht religion will be boring shit in their absence

ANYWAY aww ilu2 i hope u hav a nice drunkenness ^v^ since itz hiz big day here r some ov my favorite Jesus Momentz

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jaspervulpintine · 2 months

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Matthew Lillard, bisexual, male + he/him → isn’t that Jasper Vulpintine? i’ve seen them hanging out with the were-creatures. i hear they're 26, but they’ve only been in alexandria for 6 months. they seem to be curious & gentle, but also crafty & skeptical. it’s cool that their animal counterpart is a fox.

Basics.

Full name: Jasper Vulpintine

Age: 26

Orientation: Bisexual

Species: Were-creature (Fox)

Height: 6ft 4'

Appearance.

Pictured above is exactly how Jasper looks.

Jasper has blonde hair that is brunette at the roots and his eyes are blue. He has no piercings or tattoos.

His appearance will vary in the GIFs I use but this is the 'canon' Jasper.

Family.

Jenna (Mother)

Judah (Father)

Jack (Eldest brother)

Jerry (Elder brother)

Juliette (Twin sister - older by a few minutes)

Biography.

(TW: alcohol/drug use, fire, shooting, attempted manslaughter, mental health issues)

The Vulpintine family were one of great affluence. Proud business owners, Jenna and Judah decided to have three children with the intention of leaving a business to each child to ensure their stability and success in life. However, this plan went awry. When they went to welcome the arrival of their third child, they were met with twins.

Ignoring the obvious problem, the family continued on as normal. The children were raised mostly by a live in nanny, making any actual bonding time with their parents scarce and often hard fought for between the four. While the others grew accustomed and found ways to entertain themselves, Jasper grew to be needy and often acted out for the sake of getting attention.

By early adulthood, he was living a life of partying and reckless engagements with just about anyone who was willing to give him their time. And so, on his 25th birthday, his parents decided to award his twin sister the last remaining family business, leaving Jasper with nothing for himself. They chalked it up to a harsh life lesson and told him to reconsider the path he was currently on as his ways brought great shame to their family name.

Humiliated and enraged, Jasper spent the next few days heavily intoxicated and in his unstable state lit a branch on fire, shifted into his fox form and snuck into his sister's room with the intention of burning it down. The flame took and quicker than he had time to process, the fire spread and reality hit him. The alarms sounded and as people began to come look. He attempted to flee the scene, hoping his shifted state would be enough to keep him hidden in the dark of night. However, he hadn't accounted for his eldest brother's keen eye and before he could make it down the stairs, Jack shot him in the flank, sending him tumbling into unconsciousness.

When he came around, he found himself in the middle of a forest. Like nothing he'd ever seen before. He was completely alone, but the agony of his leg reminded him as to why. He never heard from his family again and is still unsure what became of Juliette that night. He searched for civilisation but eventually gave up hope. Weak and weary, he shifted into his fox form and over time learnt to hunt, dig and slowly make a rudimentary life for himself. By the time he stumbled across Alexandria, he was set in his ways. Wary of people and bordering on antisocial. Though he still lives in the forest, he's grown to rely on the nearby town and finds himself returning often to see what he can buy, trade or steal.

Personality.

Due to spending so long away from people, Jasper’s grown to be antisocial. He doesn’t trust easily and usually doesn’t say more than he absolutely has to, to get his point across. He’s quite shy and timid at first, relying on his senses to keep him safe, rather than communication. But, if he warms up to you, he will be fiercely loyal and affectionate.

He’s not quick to anger, but, he is quick to resort to violence if he’s pushed. He hunts for a living and so finds biting/hitting to be his quickest options to end a threatening situation. However, he doesn’t rear up without very good reason.

Potential Connections.

A good samaritan, who takes pity Jasper and leaves food out for him either near their home or at a designated place in the forest. Eventually, he’ll arrive in time to see who it is, and they get to talking.

A not so secret admirer perhaps someone who wants to help him reintroduce himself to society, or is fascinated by his lifestyle and wishes to follow alongside him.

Romantic interest, preferably a long term partner with the knowledge that it would likely be unconventional and they’d have to be willing to spend a lot of time outdoors to be with him.

A petty rival, someone who finds Jasper to be a pest, perhaps he’s stealing from their garbage or off of their washing line and they eventually catch him and see who’s causing them trouble.

A nighttime companion, Jasper is often awake at strange times and has no real designated sleeping schedule. It would be nice for him to find a gentle companion to go on late night walks with and perhaps look out at the stars and contemplate life.

(Of course, I’m up for almost anything else, but, these are just some ideas to help kickstart a bigger conversation)

#unveilintro #Jasper #Jasper:Intro

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