#that game has a trio of siblings that are important to the story except no matter what you do
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I've had some ANF thoughts today. Y'all know how much I hate the "love triangle" aspect of the story with Javi, Kate, and David, right? If you can even call it a love triangle; it's more of a "David and Kate never felt like a married couple to begin with and now Javi has the chance to bone his sister-in-law as if that's not a weird thing to do at all👍" thing, so... not great.
I'm also just not fond of Kate as a character in general. She's pretty good in ep1, but after that it's a slippery slope as she's relegated to the injured love interest for Javi. There are interesting aspects to her, like how she's resourceful and on top of things, she keeps track of herds and overall is shown to be incredibly smart. But, she also has moments where she has to let herself be emotional and a little panicked because she knows she needs to get it out of her system in order to focus. She gets frustrated with Gabe and says things she shouldn't, and she just.... I dunno, does dumb shit sometimes? And that would be fine if it made sense... but it doesn't.
I was always more interested in the Garcia brothers aspect of ANF, and felt the story would've been improved if it focused more on Javi and David, their relationship as brothers in the past and how different it is after they've found each other again in the apocalypse. One of the best scenes in the entire game is the rooftop scene where David ask Javi to stand with him.
And so I was thinking about ANF this morning and what could be done to make Kate fit better in the story and like...it hit me: Kate should've been their sister.
No, seriously, hear me out: Kate should've been written to be the middle child of the Garcia siblings instead.
Do you know how much that would fix? Throw that stupid love triangle in the trash. It was never good, it did nothing for Kate's character, and now David and Javi don't have to bicker about who she's married to and who gets to bone her, okay? No bullshit fight at the end!
David was already married once, just let him be divorced or a widower, and a single father. Javi can have a new love interest; hell, give him two if you want, let him be a bi king over Eleanor and Tripp- wait, no that just creates another love triangle, damn it-
Anyway... if Kate was their sister, then her entire character overflows with potential that wasn't there before.
I say make her the middle child who was stuck with two rivaling brothers, one a military man who became a single father and the other a professional baseball player who lost it all in a gambling scandal.
What about Kate? Perhaps she's a single woman who doesn't know what she wants in life. She doesn't want to settle down and have kids like David did, but she also doesn't want to sink so low like Javi did. She wants to travel, but needs money to do that so she does what she can save up, but there's always something that makes her dip into her savings.
Y'know... like her father getting sick and needing to pay for treatments, which Kate is happy to give up those savings so for a chance for him to beat cancer, but there's always that little bit of bitterness lingering inside her that keeps saying, "it's never about what I want, it's always about David or Javi, I'm going no where, I'm no one, even I don't know who I am or what I want, what am I doing? Papa got sick, so Javi ran away again, and so did David when he reenlisted, and who got left behind to take care of everything? Me, it's always me left to take care of Mama and Papa, and the kids, and everything else!"
Maybe she acted as a mediator between the brothers, too. They always relied on her when they were pissed with each other, they vented all their problems to her, and she always tried to get them to connect on something, but never found that right thing.
Hell, this way she could get along with the kids better, too. She's just Aunt Kate. She always volunteered to babysit them for David. She and Gabe still have their tiffs due to clashing attitudes, but there's no "you're not my mother!" vibe.
Suddenly Kate's her own person and not just an object the game throws at you for the brothers to grunt "she's muh wife!" "but I love her, too!" at.
ANF becomes the story of these three siblings who experienced the worst night of their lives together: their father died after a long battle with cancer, their mother is distraught, Javi didn't show up in time, David's drinking on the porch and Kate's trying to look out for everyone. Then the outbreak happens, their father comes back as a walker and bites their mother, David rushes off with her to the hospital while Kate and Javi take the kids...
Years later, Kate and Javi have accepted that they've lost their parents and big brother, and they're doing what they can to keep their niece and nephew alive... until Kate gets shot and they reunite with David, because then everything gets extra complicated with the three siblings trying to repair broken bridges and survive together until they hit a breaking point where Kate gets sick of David's shit. She's done trying to be nice and play mediator, she's ready to do what she thinks is right and an argument breaks out... and Javi's forced to choose between his brother or sister, and the tragedy becomes about being unable to save one of them... not matter what, in the end, Javi will lose a sibling because no matter how hard he tried, they still fell apart.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
I just really hate every plot they give Kate, y'all. She was done dirty.
And I loathe love triangles that involve two siblings [usually it's brothers] falling in love with the same person, okay? I don't have the patience for it, I just want all of those love triangles to go far, far away from me forever and never bother me again.
Anyway, do you love this thing I do where I show up after months of inactivity to slap something like this down before scurrying away? Because I'm scurrying now.
#twdg javi#twdg david#twdg kate#i dunno y'all i'm pretty sure da 2 is to blame for this#that game has a trio of siblings that are important to the story except no matter what you do#your brother and sister always meet some sort of tragedy in their arcs and they're both such good characters on their own and uuughhhh#it's what anf could've done but nooooooooo here's this dumb romance plot instead#does anyone even had javi and kate as their twdg otp? like honestly?#i'm just saying the story would've been better if we burned the romance out and kept sole focus on the family#and i guess clementine can be there too she can fulfil the found family quota in her mission to get AJ back
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Hi ! If I may for your Ace Attorney AU I think that April should be Larry and Casey should be Franziska. April could be a "crime magnet" that always end up as a witness and can't keep her job because of it. I know that it's a shame because we can't have sibling Donnie and April like that but hey Larry has knew Miles as long as Phoenix so April and Donnie can still be childhood friend/adopted sibling in this ! Beside Casey personality fit well with Franziska and something interesting can be done with her relationship with Draxum ! And maybe even Splinter if she had know him before his murder ? Or through Donnie's stories of him 🤔.
Anyway feel free to not take into account my opinion on this, it's your AU after all. Though I wanted to share that I think that the rottmnt fandom deserve a fic were the turtles are important witness to a murder, someone is wrongfully arested and Phoenix is the defense attorney. Just thinking about how the boys would probably wound up April into testimony in their stead only for her to be discovered. About how she has to explain herself and tell she'll bring out the true witnesses if they keep an audiences to a minimal and the one present has to vow silence on what they'll discover. Then the boys arrive. All hail Chaos. After some panic people are like "you know everyday in the court of law is already so goddamn weird, this might as well happen ?" and calm down. Then Ralph, Leo, Donnie and Mikey proceed to be your average crazy AA witness (and I see them just testimony together because at this there's mutant in this court people don't care anymore 😂) but they actually provide very useful information. What between Ralph straightforwardness, Leo ability to detect anytging suspicious quicly, Donnie knowledge in technology and Mikey artistic eyes I think they would make very good and useful witness to solve a case. Just thinking about all this make me smile 😄.
Anyway I had forgot about that crossover but now it live rent free in my head again so thank you 😁 !
omg someone else knows enough about ace attorney that the post i made isn't just complete, utter nonsense-
GAH you're right about casey being fran and april probably being larry lmao - "shame this means we can't have april/donnie siblinghood stuff" FDHHDJ THIS FEELS LIKE I'M BEING CALLED OUT because YEAH...i know in my heart that casey fits better as fran bc it kinda aligns with her need to prove herself worthy but. that means i don't get april constantly calling donnie her Little Brother and it just severely annoying him cause it's just, well, True
i like that idea of just april being super unfortunate and just has to be defended constantly (though hm. too bad i don't think she quite fits the Maya role in this scenario lol), so larry does kinda make sense for her. and OH for the 4th case...april as a clutch witness to help her oldest friend out, even though he's so dickish now;; for the games i do see larry/miles/phoenix as the bff trio so perhaps this is better
casey and donnie's relationship i feel would be kinda different from miles/fran relationship since i don't really get any sibling vibes - maybe more like rivals to friends and dealing with all the trauma caused by draxum by the end of the trilogy, or something. casey knowing splinter through donnie if he opens up to her later on would be nice too - maybe a little through draxum badmouthing him as well? this is a mess but idc
ok ok so wait for your thoughts it's like - april is the fake witness then after a turn of events it's revealed she's (like every other witness) lying on the stand to protect her boys. boys come in - man what if Nobody bats an eye and it's because one of them is like "we're cosplayers :)", and everyone immediately forgives this except phoenix - and it's a mess and they're all terrible at being good witnesses bc they're teenagers who've never stepped inside a courtroom ever. they'd all have such sick breakdown animations my god
and ofc phoenix wins but it's after he gets like. repeatedly threatened by a 14 year old with a magic sword. every so often leo make a portal just to smack his face from the defendant's stand if he screws up.
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Congratulations Nik!
Your application for Amelia Bones has been accepted. I can’t wait to see what trouble and frustrations Amelia gets into, so stripped of power and authority. No passed handed out to former Department Heads, sorry Amelia!
Please look to the checklist for the next steps and reach out if you have any questions!
OUT OF CHARACTER
NAME & PRONOUNS: Nik, they/them
TIMEZONE: ACDT
ACTIVITY LEVEL: Relatively active. At least 3 to 4 times a week
ANYTHING ELSE: Cancer tw, hospice tw.
CHARACTER DETAILS
NAME: Amelia Susan Bones
BIRTHDATE: September 20th 1946
DEATHDATE: July 14 1996
GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis woman. She/her and they/them pronouns. Bisexual with a heavy preference for women.
BLOOD STATUS: Half Blood
HOUSE ALUMNI: Hufflepuff
OCCUPATION: Former DMLE HEAD (until death)
FACECLAIM: Louise Lombard (i have my own gifs and icons and things of her so dont worry to much about resources :D )
CHARACTER BACKGROUND
POSTBELLUM
The knowledge she died and left her brother and niece alone in the world weighed heavy on her shoulders. It’s something she isn’t coping with well. The knowledge that her death was the final stand the Ministry had, that it was taken over by Voldemort because she couldn’t beat him, was a tough pill to swallow for her. She knew he had his faith around and in the shadows waiting, she could count the amount of people she completely trusted in the Ministry on one hand but she thought that there would have been more of a stand. The knowledge that her failure was the reason the people she served suffered another war sits heavy on her shoulders. If she could do it again she would be more prepared, have an escape plan rather than just hold her ground against him. She wouldn’t have the same faith that the Ministry would hold their own against him without her, she should have known better. The only thing sitting on her shoulders heavier than that is the knowledge that her niece had suffered, that she wasn’t there to stop that and holds herself completely responsible for it.
PERSONALITY
Tough, fair, kind, compassionate. This is how Amelia would describe herself if asked. She is far more gentle on the inside than most people who work around her would think. Stick her in a room with her niece for just a moment and you’ll see the stern blue eyes soften immediately. Amelia is a skilled negotiator and investigator. She has a way with words and a great deal of understanding in how to use them. However, she isn’t very good at using them to describe how she feels. She is compassionate,and hardworking, she much prefers to listen to how others are feeling than share her own feelings. Everyone else comes first in her mind. Will always put the needs of others in front of her own.
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY
The oldest of the Bones three siblings Amelia always felt somewhat responsible for them. Constantly looking out for them and keeping their health and wellbeing in mind. Being an Aunt has always been considered her greatest achievement. Holding Edgar’s first child was a life changing experience and laying them to rest with their parents was life shattering.
Her brother and niece were all the family she had left and she cherished them. With the death of her sister in law, Susan’s mother, Amelia truly stepped up to the plate. She never tried or wanted to replace her mother but knew despite her brother’s best intentions, Susan needed someone else to be around. Amelia doesn’t have any children and has never seen the need to have any, when asked if she was planning on having any she’d simply smile and reply “I have Susan. I don’t need anymore children in my life”
HISTORY
What was their life before the end of the war in ‘98 or before their death? What was important and formative for them?
Born a few months after the end of world war two and the capture of Gellert Grindlewald meant Amelia grew up in both the bliss of peace and the pain of rebuilding. She’d listen to stories of war from the other children and overheard her mother and father discussing it sometimes. She remembered the celebrations from the 10th anniversary of war’s end and attended many memorials of those who had fallen, both muggle and magical alongside her family.
When war came to the Wixen World once more it was much less kind to the Bones. Her parents were cut down in their family home by Voldemort himself, her brother, his wife and his children slaughtered in their home. She constantly thought back to nights her father would tell her she’d never have to suffer at the hands of another war and swore she’d do whatever was necessary that the last living grandchild of his got to live that promise.
Amelia lived alone in a small home just outside of London. She’d brought it just after the first war as she climbed the ministry ranks. It made the commute to and from work much faster and proved a safe, new home with no memories attached to it.
Most of Amelia’s time was filled with work and family. She had the odd girlfriend here and there but no relationship ever lasted more than a year. She was far too dedicated to her job or her family.
Amelia’s job was incredibly important. She held the line against Fudges conspiracy theory lies. Called him out behind closed doors at every opportunity. Made her dislike and disapproval known. She was a Bones after it, it meant something in the Ministry. There were rumours that if Albus Dumbledore wasn’t going to take the position of Minister, she would. And she might have, had she lived long enough. She was preparing for it, to challenge him, and all other comers. After it was proven that Voldemort was well and truly alive and Cornelius Fudge had wasted precious time denying it out of fear , she had planned to oust him if he wouldn’t resign. Take a vote to the Wizenagemont, remove him due to his incompetence. She was killed the evening before her vote was due to hit the floor.
OOC EXPLORATION
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO?
The after hogwarts golden trio aspect drew me in first. Then when I read the plot more and more the idea of “returned” got me more and more interested. My favourite AU plots in group rps have always been the “What if a character who has died returned?? What happens to your character?” I adore exploring that whole new side of them. It opens up things, plots, ideas, developments, that a traditional style of RP wouldn’t
EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS
CHARACTER CONTRIBUTION
How do you see this character adding to the community and the plot?
Bringing in Amelia is similar to bringing in Edgar. It brings a Bones from that era to the story and offers connections for Susan and characters in the Marauders Era. Bringing her would also add a character who is incredibly familiar with the structure of the Ministry and a depth of knowledge in her field.
PRESENT
One paragraph about your character’s life right now and how they are handling the current events of the game.
“You died, Ma’am”
The words were on constant repeat in her mind. What did they mean she died? She was alive right now, she was breathing, her heart beating. She was here. Except she last remembered it being 1996. They tell her it’s 2002. She died six years ago. Her last memory was fighting Voldemort, a loud bang, stumbling to the floor and then she woke up in the Death Chamber. A room she had both the privilege and horror of recognising. It made sense in a way. The last thing she remembered was being in her home but awoke in the Ministry but it was so hard to understand. How? Why? Everyday was a repeat of the same questions in her mind. She does her best not to dwell on it, knowing that now isn’t the time nor place to do so. Getting herself grounded, back into the world that she had no idea she left. Returning to her family. That was her first goal. Working everything else out will come later.
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Colony of Gotham (4/7)
The Colony of Gotham is an urban legend that is whispered about in the dangerous city. It’s said the Colony is a family of demons and spirits that stalk the night, hunting for the souls of the guilty.
When Bruce became Batman, he’d never intended to be mistaken for a demon. He was happy to lean into it, though, and as he gained his partners – as his family grew – they all followed suit.
First Part ~ Previous Part ~ Next Part
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For the record: the Flash and Aquaman in the story are Wally West and Kaldur'ahm, which is why they're referred to as second-generation JL. Kon has also passed on the Superboy title to Jon and taken on his own name.
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Selina found Carrie Kelley when the girl was attacked on her way home from her gymnastics class by a group of older boys. The woman ran them off then checked the girl over. She asked why the girl was walking alone and was annoyed to discover the girl’s parents had forgotten to pick her up from class, and not for the first time. Apparently, she usually would have gotten a ride from her teacher after pretending her parents called to ask, but he had left early because of an emergency and the assistant teacher took the train.
As Selina escorted her home, she tried not to think about how much Carrie reminded her of herself.
She still found herself waiting outside the gym two days later when the girl’s class ended. She watched Carrie wait for nearly half an hour before Selina moved to talk to her. She was surprised when Dick appeared moments later. She’d known the gym was the one he worked at, but it hadn’t occurred to her Dick might be the girl’s teacher.
The two swapped notes after Dick drove the girl home and began an investigation. Selina was half-tempted to just spirit the girl away, but kept things to the legal side of the tracks in the end. Mostly thanks to Dick.
Soon enough, she was the proud adoptive mother of Carrie Kyle. She hadn’t planned on taking in the girl permanently when going into it, but she knew she trusted the system even less with the girl thanks to her own experiences with it. Besides, even if she didn’t know how to parent, she had a wonderful fiancé who had all kinds of kids. One was already even attached to the girl. It’d be a piece of cake.
That confidence lasted a week, at which point she heard a news report about some heiress getting kidnapped while Carrie was at school and the anxiety kicked in. She probably should have called Bruce to talk about it. Instead, she panicked and took Carrie aside when she got home to tell her about vampirism. She then asked if Carrie wanted to be turned.
Carrie, thrilled to have this in common with her new mother, agreed immediately.
Once the girl was sleeping through the transformation, Selina calmed down enough to realize she maybe overreacted and called Dick. Unfortunately, Jason had answered the phone for his brother and put it on speaker without letting her know, which meant he heard everything she said and proceeded to spill her sins to the entire Colony like the little hellion he was.
All of the Colony eagerly accepted the girl into her new life, except Damian.
Something had been gnawing at the boy, and Carrie’s turning brought it to the surface.
Damian was his father’s only child by blood. By right, he should be a vampire. But as his mother was human, he was born human. He knew that vampirism was no more important to being considered family than it was to being a competent vigilante, but it still felt as if it were one more reason he fell short compared to his brothers. He was not chosen as they were. They had had years with his father before he had even met the man, before he had even been born in Dick’s case. And they had all been claimed into his vampiric clan. True, neither Tim nor Duke had been turned by his father just like most of their non-sibling family, but they were still related through vampiric magic.
Damian was not.
Gathering himself up, Damian met his father in his study to request to be turned.
Bruce said no. He wanted Damian to be older before he made a decision like that. When Damian pointed out he and Carrie were the same age and Cass was younger while Tim had been the same age as him when he was turned, Bruce reminded him that none of them had been turned by Bruce. If he had had the choice, he would have made them all wait as well. Damian’s anger grew as his father refused to budge even under his arguments about the life experience he already had and the fact he should have been born a vampire to begin with.
Damian ended up marching off in a fury.
The next time someone saw him was that night when Wally, Artemis, and Dick got back to their shared Blüdhaven apartment from dinner to find the boy sharpening a dagger on their couch. Wally gave the boy a cheerful hello and ruffled his hair, not noticing when the boy was only held back from stabbing his hand by a look from Dick. He did hear Damian’s threat to eviscerate him, but laughed it off as he usually did. Artemis gave the boy a wider birth as she followed Wally into their bedroom.
Dick sat down next to him, but before he could ask him what was wrong, Damian demanded to be turned. While Dick would have been happy to help his baby brother, he had a feeling there was more to it. After a bit of digging, Damian admitted that Bruce wouldn’t turn him so Dick had to. Trying to play mediator, Dick told him he would talk to Bruce and if that didn’t work they could come back to the conversation.
The boy thankfully agreed as Dick knew he would -- he knew his brother really wanted Bruce to be the one to do it -- so Dick went to change while Artemis turned on a movie and Wally slipped into the kitchen to make Damian something to eat. Dick sent Bruce a quick message to tell him where Damian was and that they needed to talk. Afterward, once his brother was fed and Wally finished off the leftovers, they played a few card games until it was time to put Damian to bed in the guest room.
The next morning, Dick and Bruce went back and forth over the phone for an hour before Dick’s voice began to grow loud enough for Wally, Artemis, and Damian to hear him out in the living room. Wally stepped in at that point to help Dick calm down. Cuddled up to his boyfriend, he managed to stay calm enough to get his point across.
He understood that Bruce wanted Damian to be older when he made the choice, but there really wasn’t a choice for Damian at the end of the day. He was a child who wanted nothing more than to feel like he was accepted by his family and that family was made of vampires.
So Dick gave Bruce a choice: either Bruce turned him or Dick would. He gave his father until the end of the week before hanging up.
He then proceeded to spend the following fifteen minutes with his face buried in Wally’s neck.
“Bruce is going to kill me!”
All Wally could do was pat him on the back because honestly, Bruce could be really scary when he tried. Especially when it came to his kids.
Damian stayed with the trio during the week. Meanwhile, Jason was giving Bruce the cold shoulder and hiding out at Artemis Grace’s empty flat. Tim and Duke had made it clear they were siding with Damian, but otherwise kept their opinions to themselves. Barbara, Kate, the Kyles, and the Rows had elected to stay out of the argument altogether.
Stephanie and Bette had teamed up to leave a bunch of pamphlets and essays about the importance of teaching body autonomy on the desk of Bruce’s study, under his pillows, in the pockets of his suit jackets, on the desk in his office at work, and in the cowl of his suit.
Only Damian and Dick were at the apartment when Bruce showed up at the end of the week since Wally had work and Artemis had monitor duty. Both sons were anxious when their father first entered, but relaxed when he set his hand on Dick’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. He admitted that he still thought Damian should wait, but if it was what he wanted, Bruce would support them both. Despite a bit of disappointment still lingering, Damian gave him a small smile before Dick pulled them into a group hug.
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It was nearly eight months after Dick turned Damian that Robin finally got his secret twin back.
People had whispered for years about a relationship between Gotham’s demon and the infamous cat burglar that pilfered its high-rises. Some said Catwoman had been trying to gain the Bat’s favor for years in a bid for immortality. Others said it was Batman who chased the Cat, looking to steal her away as his bride. No one could say for sure who was right in the end, nor was anyone sure when the hunter had finally caught their prey, but either way the result was the same.
It started with tales of criminals facing off with Robin, only to turn to find a cat waiting to step in instead of a bat. These tales led many to look back and realize the thief hadn’t been seen for months.
Some mourned her lost humanity.
The only sign of her descent was the way her eyes glowed in the dark behind her goggles, her irises and pupils large like a cat’s. She still had her claws and fangs, and she still knew how to use them. She hunted for blood now instead of jewels and watched over the demon child like he was her own.
And perhaps he was. Robin had come to develop a grace not unlike her own with the balance and reflexes she was known for.
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The first day of winter break did not go well for Thirteen. First, she had gotten woken up by her dad ranting about something or other. Next, they were out of Lucky Charms so she had to eat plain oatmeal. After that, she found out the Teen Titans were on a mission so she couldn’t go hang out with them to get away from her dad’s rants about… ghosts? She was pretty sure she heard something about ghosts. Then, when she finally decided to just do something on her own and took a zeta tube to Denver to go skiing, she ended up stumbling upon some wackjob sorcerer trying to summon a demon or monster or something from… Okay, maybe the day wasn’t a good day for Traci’s attention span.
The point was that the day sucked.
She watched the guy shuffle about the cave rambling to himself -- or maybe her, she wasn’t paying attention -- as she channeled power towards the summoning circle he was using in hopes of stopping his spell from doing whatever it was supposed to do. Apparently, it worked because when the guy raised his hands and started chanting in Sumerian, the resulting bright flash left a girl within the circle instead of some hell beast.
Carrie was confused when she went from watching a movie with her mother one moment to standing in the middle of a cave the next. She took in the shocked face of the guy in the puke green cloak and the nervous expression on the tied up girl and said, “I’m guessing I wasn’t the one you were expecting?”
When puke cloak turned towards his book, huffing and puffing about magic and teenagers, Carrie decked him. He was knocked out instantly so Carrie called him a wimp and went over to free the other girl using the butterfly knife she always kept on her since it was a rare gift from Damian. The two alerted the police then took off, collectively deciding they didn’t want to explain why they were there.
Since Carrie didn’t have her phone and hadn’t bothered memorizing any of her family’s numbers (something she knew would be corrected as soon as she got home), she couldn’t call someone to pick her up. What she did have was her wallet, which included Tim’s debit card (because he needed to keep a better watch on his wallet) and a fake Id claiming she was seventeen (instead of her actual fourteen, because she and Damian bonded by going to the movies). She used the card to buy herself and the other girl, who she learned was named Traci Thurston, tickets on a Greyhound. Traci, not wanting to leave the girl on her own, had pretended she had been taken the same way Carrie was and revealed she was from Metropolis. She tried to object to Carrie buying her ticket, but the other girl waved her off. Her brother wouldn’t miss a couple hundred dollars. And if he did, Bruce would probably pay him back.
The two’s serendipitous two-day road trip turned out fun. They played games and watched videos on Traci’s phone. Carrie bought a pack of cards for them to play with so Traci showed her some card tricks Zatanna had taught her. In return, Carrie showed her some knife tricks Jason and Damian had taught her during rest stops. Traci told her a few stories she’d learned during her magical education and Carrie told her some Gotham myths.
Myths like ones about the demonic bat-man who had slaughtered a child and stolen the soul of a woman so he could create a family for himself, the succubus queen that slit the throat of any man who laid eyes on her and fed them to her undead minion, and the false angels that stalked the daylight.
In Carrie’s defense, Dick was the one who taught her those stories and he’d been telling them to Wally for years. How was she to know that Traci would immediately call Zatanna after Carrie climbed into her cab to make sure demonic monsters had not, in fact, taken over Gotham? Wally just thought Dick was making stuff up! Besides, she didn’t even know Traci was involved with anyone from the Justice League until she reached home and -- after explaining where she’d been to her worried family -- was brought down to the cave by Dick to find out which hero her new friend was.
None of her siblings believed Traci could be a civilian due to their own experience, which turned out to be justified.
It wouldn’t have been a problem if Zatanna waved it off like she’d wanted to do, but instead, the woman had to promise to look into it to get the girl to calm down. She assumed it would just be a monster in the closet scenario.
She was not at all prepared to discover Batman existed, let alone his legion of demons.
Normally demons would be a situation she handled on her own, but the sheer scale of the situation combined with the lack of information on basically anything Gotham had her bringing the rest of the League in on the situation.
Wonder Woman, Superman, and Cyborg were there to represent the founders. Flash, Tigress, Troia, and Aquaman arrived together, representing the second-generation members. The five main Young Justice members came, Nightwing bringing Power Girl and Supergirl along with him since the two had been visiting the former Superboy when he got the call. Last were Green Arrow and Arsenal, who had both been on the Watchtower when the meeting was called and as such ended up joining in despite not being called.
Wonder Woman started the meeting, but quickly handed it over to Zatanna.
When Batman was brought up, Tigress went stiff and Flash frowned. When the magician started to list her findings, few as they were, he leaped to his feet. “Wait, Batman’s real?”
“Yes, and we need to find him.”
Tigress immediately stood and left. Flash was about to follow, but Cyborg saw it coming and caught his wrist. “Where are you going?”
“Far away from here. I thought all those stories were just that. Stories. I’d like to be able to sleep tonight without worrying I’ll wake up to find a bloody kid hanging from my ceiling.”
At the series of exclamations that came from that, Flash and Zatanna explained that Batman didn’t work alone and actually had a large group of spirits or demons that followed him. When Flash was asked how he knew about the Colony, he admitted that he and Tigress lived in the area and both she and their civilian partner had grown up in Gotham. He said their partner had been telling him tons of stories about the Colony since he was a kid, but he’d always assumed they were just urban legends.
The Young Justice members all shared a look, wondering why Tim had never said anything. Wonder Girl glanced at Supergirl, who shook her head. Stephanie and Bette hadn’t said anything either.
Arsenal spoke up, saying Artemis of Bana-Mighdall had never mentioned seeing any demons in Gotham when she stayed there to visit friends and Power Girl added that Hawk and Dove had a friend in Gotham and they’d never mentioned trouble there.
The rest of the members considered this until Aquaman asked Flash for more information. Reluctantly, he started talking. He told them about each of them in turn, putting off a certain bird until the very end and then skipping over giving his name when he did reach him. He tried to move the conversation on from there, but Troia cut him off to ask if the last spirit had a name.
Despite himself, Flash glanced at the former Superboy before he answered yes. Nightwing noticed and crossed his arms with a frown as he asked what the spirit’s name was.
Flash’s voice was barely a whisper when he answered, but that was plenty loud enough for the Kryptonians in the room. Superman went stiff, Power Girl glanced at Nightwing, Supergirl gasped, and Nightwing slammed a fist into the table just light enough not to dent it as he demanded Flash repeat himself. When he did, he did it loud enough for everyone to hear so sounds of confusion and shock filled the room.
“Now you know how we felt when Kon-El here decided to go by that name! I’d been hearing stories about the guy for years by that point!”
Nightwing began to explain that the name came from a Kryptonian myth, before cutting off and glancing at Superman and Power Girl. The latter reluctantly finished it by saying that the original Nightwing was a spirit sent by the sun god Rao to destroy the evils that hid in the darkness. He was a creature of shadows, which left him separate from the gods until he and a fire spirit named Flamebird met and fell in love.
A silence fell over the group until Hex pointed out the obvious. “So a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil has the same name as a shadow creature looking to wipe out evil? Are we entirely sure we’re talking about two different monsters?”
The group fell into an argument. The Kryptonians denied that their myth could be the violent spirit in Gotham (aside from Supergirl, who started panicking about Batman corrupting the original Nightwing) while everyone else was split between agreeing with the Kryptonians or arguing against them.
Flash considered sneaking out, but hadn’t made up his mind before Wonder Woman decided they needed more information and her eyes landed on him. Despite his arguments against it, he was assigned to get information about the myth. Arsenal and Power Girl were also asked to speak to their Gotham contacts, but everyone knew Artemis of Bana-Mighdall didn’t like Wonder Woman while Hawk and Dove were wary of the Justice League so they weren’t expecting much on that front. Flash sent a quick look Young Justice’s way, well aware all of them were friends with his partner’s little brother. None of them met his eye and they all kept quiet.
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed his nephew by the back of his suit and the two left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TFW I realize since no one realizes the Colony exists, no one realizes Nightwing's already technically taken so Kon can go the Chris route and call himself Nightwing :) Dick was very amused when he found out.
Vampires’ animal forms:
Carrie: Eurasian lynx
Damian: Azure-winged magpie
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Recent Shadowbringers story has me speculating a bit on Convocation of the Fourteen relative to mythology and I think I got stuff.
Heads up this spoils like crazy.
IIRC it got confirmed that the Convocation members got Greek names, although I don’t remember if they were all named for the pantheon or not.
But since Hades gets referred to using abilities known as Titanomachy in particular I’m gonna lean hard toward YES.
Who is which god though? What’s even happening? I have a few ideas and in order to explore ‘em a bit will list the names and details that strike me as particularly important. A point of note though, Hades is not an Olympian within mythology. One of the original gods born of Rhea and Cronos yes, but he literally drew the short stick that said “congrats you get to live alone among the dead have fun”.
Zeus: Youngest of six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Drew lots with Poseidon and Hades, wound up getting dominion over the sky as king of the gods. Had loads and loads of sex. Strongly affiliated with lightning.
Hera: Hands down has the title of pissiest of the gods, which is fuckin’ saying something. This is like 98% because she’s the goddess of marriage, childbirth, women, family, and fidelity while being married to Zeus the fuckhead. Youngest daughter of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Associated with the peacock. Commonly transformed her husband’s lovers into animals and IIRC had some ties to storms but I might be misremembering. Also notable for having given birth to Ares with Zeus legitimately (who no one likes except Aphrodite) and Hephaestus alone. She threw Hephaestus down the side of a mountain because he came out ugly iirc.
Poseidon: God of the seas, water, storms, earthquakes, and horses. Middle son of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos, when he drew straws with Zeus and Hades he got dominion over the oceans.
Demeter: Goddess of the harvest, fertility, motherhood, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. Middle daughter of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Hades abducted and married her daughter Persephone and she got next level pissed about it, made the world cold and barren (winter) until Persephone was returned.
Athena: Born from Zeus and Metis, confirmed more powerful than Zeus. Metis had a prophecy where any child she bore would be more powerful than the father, so of course Zeus had to stick his dick in that. Later became filled with regret and fear when it turned out Metis was pregnant, turned her into a fly and ate her. Fast forward a bit and Metis gives birth to Athena inside of Zeus, and Athena explodes fully formed and adult complete with armor out of Zeus’ head. Athena has some duality with Ares as they’re both war gods and both technically born from Zeus. Athena is goddess of wisdom, handicraft (like weaving), and strategic warfare. Virgin goddess.
Apollo: God of the sun/light and the arts, also certain kinds of performance including music, poetry, philosophy. Notable in that his golden arrows were not nearly so painful as the silver ones favored by Artemis. Twins with Artemis. Also majorly known for being associated with both plague and healing as well as prophecy. Prophecy comes up in particular through the Oracle of Delphi. Notably the reason to Dionysus’ madness in some philosophy.
Artemis: Goddess of the hunt, twins with Apollo, uses silver arrows that hurt like a motherfucker compared to the golden ones her brother favors. A virgin goddess associated with the moon, wilderness, childbirth, protection, and plague. Worth noting she could be super super pissy and did in fact turn a man into a deer to be mauled to death and eaten by his own hounds because he accidentally caught her bathing.
Ares: God of war as in slaughter and bloodlust, also of violence and “manly virtues” as in his dick r big. Has weird sibling energy with Athena because they represent dramatically different aspects of war. Only loved by Aphrodite, literally no one else likes him.
Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty and fucking, top tier manipulator, also affiliated with pleasure, passion, fertility, and desire. Married to Hephaestus but not at all happy about it, has a pretty open affair with Ares. Sometimes she’s a daughter of Zeus but usually she was born from the universe’s castrated dick being thrown into the ocean and making a ton of sea foam which became her.
Hephaestus: Smith of the gods, master craftsman and god of the forge. Also associated with invention, fire, and volcanos. Didn’t really cheat on Aphrodite despite her cheating on him hard. Was rejected by his mother Hera for being too ugly and was literally crippled by her.
Hermes: Messenger of the gods, a trickster, god of travelers and athletes, guide to the dead, has fucking WILD cults dedicated to him to this day including fucktons of alchemists and just Hermeticism as a whole. In other words also the god of new age and magicK. Not magic, emphasis on the k because that’s what the modern magicians in their funny hats do when they’re feeling edgy.
Hestia: Eldest of six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos. Goddess of the hearth, being fire and the home. Has probably the least amount of drama out of all the gods ever, and while that isn’t necessarily saying a lot she seriously had no drama. Possibly relinquished her seat among the Olympians to Dionysus in some stories. Was notably a virgin and had a major following of priestesses in Rome consisting of the Vestal Virgins.
Dionysus: If there is a god of chaos and insanity besides Eris it is him. God of drunks and performance and opulence/excess/parties, notably has a philosophical contrast with Apollo as the madness to his reason. Top hedonist. Has a group of violently crazy women who worship him called the Bacchantes. Do not understate violently crazy bit they have torn people to shred with their bare hands.
Hades: We know this is Emet-Selch already and have more lore on how he visualizes souls/the Lifestream (interesting term given rivers of the dead in Greek myth, though not exclusive concept to Greek myth)/the Underworld. Eldest son of the six siblings born to Rhea and Cronos, though he is younger than Hestia.
Another point of note--there are, classically, TWELVE Olympian gods and then Hades. Why then one extra and how suspicious is that with our Convocation of 14?
Normally, like I mentioned Hestia is an original member who essentially gives her seat up for Dionysus. But she’s also a much quieter goddess within mythological stories, so while she could be included it’s also possible that another god or goddess is being used to reach fourteen.
First, I’m gonna go on a limb here and say I think Lahabrea is either Apollo or Ares, but leaning heavily toward Apollo. The orator thing fits, his role within being crazy good/productive in creating concepts makes some sense (I mentioned possibly Ares because he has an affinity for certain weapons too which makes me squint), and with how much the Ascians have referenced things being foretold or prophesized at least one of them is required to have ties with that ability. Additionally, Apollo being tied to plague when there the Terminus event going on and people are speculating that creation magics had something to do with the cause has me unbelievably suspicious.
I am also going to say that I think it’s possible Elidibus is Hermes. Emissary-->Messenger as well as having a pattern of being a trickster or liar makes a lot of sense. Also interesting in that one of his other functions is as psychopomp, or escort of the dead. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was the one responsible for raising new sundered Ascians.
I also think that if Lahabrea is Apollo, Igeyorhm might really be Artemis for that twin thing + their Ascian Prime misadventure. The impulsivity makes a bit of sense for her too, as does the fact that she fucked up the entire thirteenth shard while being tied to plague. If I thought Lahabrea was Hermes I’d have pitched Igeyorhm as Aphrodite purely because it’s myth canon they made a hermaphroditic child together one time, but I don’t think that makes as much sense.
I don’t think the game is putting as much emphasis on the three kings setup for Ascians with Zeus/Poseidon/Hades because Lahabrea and Elidibus don’t really fit into the roles of Zeus or Poseidon either of them. FFXIV associates lightning with judgment in a cool way but it gets stressed really hard that Elidibus is just supposed to be an Emissary and Lahabrea has other gods he fits with better. I honestly think the ones who remained unsundered just happened to be the ones who got missed rather than that particular trio.
On WoL, there are plenty of fans having fun speculating that WoL is Persephone in the name of shipping lol. It’s maaaaaaaaybe possible because she’s goddess of spring, renewal, rebirth, nature, and the underworld. And she also goes back and forth between spending time with Hades and spending time with her mother. So that whole MIA thing might work.
Halmarut being all about plants I’ll bet 100% is Demeter. No one else makes sense.
Nabriales if he does use lightning like I remember might be Zeus, which explains his attempted sleaziness a bit and his inferiority complex being one of the sundered. But I’m a bit doubtful because he seems like he has too big of an ego to have potentially been in charge of Amaurot at any point ever. His personality and eagerness to fight remind me more of Ares. Also no one likes him lol. Dionysus strikes me as most likely overall because it would explain him being pissed at being under Lahabrea as well as his whole attitude.
Mitron is Poseidon. Cannot be anyone else, he is all about oceans and fishes. Strongest case for Elidibus and Lahabrea not being tied to the other two kings--Mitron literally cannot be anyone but Poseidon.
Who is WoL though?
Currently my big guesses are Dionysus if Nabriales isn’t (as a foil to Lahabrea-Apollo), Zeus (mightiest of the gods, lightning of judgment and huge badass), Persephone (the creation and underworld thing is neat and who even knows), maaaaaaaaaaybe Hestia because of the primordial light/fire bit, being oldest, and just not being about the drama.
I know basically nothing about Altima besides her being there but would be more inclined to figure her for Athena than any other goddess purely because SE seems to be going with matching gender stuff and with a name like Altima I’m doubtful about other goddesses fitting better. Hera is the only one beside Athena who could maybe own that.
If anyone else has knowledge/notes on Ascians and can chime in on what seems fitting feel free!
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A, B!!!, J, L, N, P, Q, R, S, T, Z!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLS TELL oof i love ur writing!!
OH MAN OH MAN OH MAN THANKS EMY!!!
aaaaa you love my writing? i’m so happy to hear that
A: Your current OTP.
HAMAHAYA. HAMAHAYA BIG TIME. And also lowkey Ishimondo but HamaHaya is my main one!!! I love them so much and I have so many headcanons and stories for them!!! That’s kinda why I want to put them on poly relationships? Like I want these relationships to be explored but I can’t take them away from each other
B: A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind.
I haven’t considered Yuuichi ² (and i refuse to call it any other way) but man did you change my mind. Did you.
Also there was this one time I just liked MasaHika as a BROTP but then @producktions and my brother came and… I surrendered :’D
J: Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr.
Oh, Voltron definitely! I saw all this fanart, and fics and stuff and all I knew it was filed under ‘gays in space’, but then @justanothermatsugirl and @srta-double invited me to watch and… Porntron came to be. And Porntron is the best thing. Ever.
L: Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for?
It depends? I usually try to make both of us happy when it comes to requests, for example, if that person likes, say, HamaHaya but I feel like I want HamaKura I will ask them for HamaHaya anyways because 1. HAMAHAYA and 2. Maybe they will put more feel into the art!!! And what is most important of art is the feelings that it is put into it! Best art is the art you can tell the author put all their heart on~!
but if i could choose anything, give me the hamahayakuraminamana, you cowards
N: Your favorite fandom (for the people; not the thing you fangirl over).
Um… Is it normal I want to say the MOTHER fandom on 2014? Especifically on DA. It was like a tiny family… Everyone knew each other. Everyone was nice with each other. It was so nice. But now everyone parted ways and I have no idea where everyone is. Most left DA (and so did I) and I can’t help but wonder where they are. But my current fandom is really nice too… It’s like a family, too… Sometimes.
P: Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).
Lately I’ve been thinking about a Go Ares AU a lot and hamano goes to tengawara for obvious reasons but that’s kinda boring so I gotta think about something more interesting >:3c
Kind of a joke AU, but still:
Have you guys ever heard about ~LA FERIA~? It’s like this weird Spanish thing we have. Everyone dances and sings these lame guitar songs which are mostly like aAAAAaAAAaaaYYYYYYYY @loreprotectionsquad can confirm BUT! that’s not the interesting thing! The interesting thing about Feria is that we basically get a mini amusement park on our town, just because!
So my brother and I thought about some Go kids there and it just…
Hamano gets Kurama a giant Snake plush and he tries to ride on a… Ride with it and it almost slips out but he clings to it and manages to save it. Hamano thinks it’s adorable. Kurama swears he’ll kill him if he tells someone. Hamano promised Hayami he’d get a plushie for him too, but he is unable (because you can only win one plush per day) so Hayami gets a dolphin plush for him. Imagine Hayami walking around with two overly joyful boyfriends clinging to their giant plushies. Goals.
Kirino and Shindou ride on the ferris wheel which they don’t set up anymore, but still. and Ibuki tries to climb it but fails (?
Shinsuke rides on some dinosaur themed train, and there’s clowns with balloons and stuff you can snatch from them. He gets a plastic axe. Which are super hard to get i need to tell you the story of how i got one when i was like 8. it was so stupid it’s funny He somehow convinces Tsurugi to ride too, while Tenma and Aoi look at them. They have become the ultime balloon snatchers. No one can stop them. Aoi and Tenma are so proud.
Taiyou comes, sees Tenma and waves at him, approaching him. Then all of the sudden, Fuyuka comes rushing after him, and tells Tenma that ‘Taiyou should be in right now, sorry for the inconvenience’ and picks him by the stomach (you know… like a kitten, with her arm around his torso? you get me, right?) while Taiyou tries to escape, but fails.
Kariya and Hikaru try to hide from Hiroto and Midorikawa, who have come with them, but Kariya wants some time alone, while they want to take pics of everything they do, basically.
Something about Yukimura and Fubuki was mentioned, along with Kishibe and Aphrodi, but I don’t remember ;v; Also, Amagi going with Mahoro and Yukie, and all of the third years (Minamisawa as well, for some reason) going together too.
My brother kinda dislikes Galaxy (except Tetsukado, Kusaka and Konoha) so I’ll do their stuff myself.
Minaho and Manabe compete to see who will get more plushies. They only get one keychain working together. They give it to the first team member that they see because they don’t know who should keep it.
But that was after the previously mentioned day, so the Second Year Trio got them plushies instead (they got the hang of one game and they WILL make the most of it. And, they have to help a boyfriend out, right?
So they spend the rest of the festivity together. And they have fun and stuff.
There’s one ride with horses. Konoha spends 98/100 there. Otherwise, she wouldn’t come. It’s so noisy, and crowded…
Kusaka comes and goes to check on her. He can’t ride on most… Rides (this is redundant) anyways. He’s too tall.
Tetsukado and Hamano competed to see who was better at Duck-Fishing. Let’s just say that Shinsuke and Hamano’s boyfriends came home with lots of plushes and prices…
Sakura aced all the games. How did she manage, no one knows (she was, in fact, the first one Minaho and Manabe offered the keychain to. But she rejected it and got two super sparkly keychains for them instead. Minaho and Manabe offered it anyways in exchange but she said that it was nothing and that they should keep the one they got.
Matatagi showed his brothers the place and rode on some rides (seriously how is this so redundant). Eventually they joined the Plushie Fest. Matatagi’s brothers cheered. He, not so much, not when he had to carry around giant plushies for the rest of the day, as his brothers were too busy exploring around.
I think that’s all??? Am I forgetting someone? except zanakurou but i don’t know what to do with him. he dances sevillanas. i don’t know. sorry darling
Oh, yeah, and there’s also this AU my brother and I made in which Kurama is a time traveler and quite literally Hamano and Hayami’s son (he has a big sister named Estrella but that’s for another time) and he has come because their parents were too slow too realize they had feelings for each other and he fears for his existence and his sister’s (???
Q: A ship you’ve abandoned and why.
Can you believe I used to ship Min/////a/kura? But, to be honest, I didn’t know what that was. I just found some comic of them and I thought it was cute. Then I got more into InaEle, and well…
I’m saying that one because I can’t think of anything else XD
R: A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships.
The Kurama multiship fest, which I will proceed to explain, even though the first one is sorta popular, but still:
Hamano and Hayami, because I saw HamaKura and I thought it was really cute! (when i got used to kurama, at first i didn’t like him but i found hamahayakura and i went ‘eeeeeeeehhh’ but you already know that story) then I thought of HamaHaya + HamaKura and Hayami just got into the package for some reason XD
Hikaru, because I was salty I didn’t ship him with Minamisawa and I wanted to ship him with someone but I didn’t know who, then he had a little scene with Hikaru on the games (when they go look for Shinsuke or something) and a lightbulb light up on my head
Tenma because, honestly, how can you have someone you ship with everyone but not Tenma? Plus it’s cute.
Tsurugi because I saw somebody posting drawings of them and I went ‘hey they cute’ and that’s all. also the fandom team might or might not had something to do with it
Kariya because they had this scene when they went to China on CS that i don’t even remember but what i do remember is my brother asking me why i wasn’t saying anything about the ship, and i went ‘well, i don’t, BUUUUUUUUUT’ and so it started.
Minaho because, and listen well because this one is weird, I was in class, and I was bored, and I decided to make quadrants for some InaEle characters, I started by Minaho and went ‘huh so, Moirail, Manabe, Matesprit, Manabe, Kismesis, Manab-wait’ so I decided to crack it up a bit and now it was ‘Moirail, Hamano, Matesprit, Manabe’ but I wanted to give him a Kismesis (that could’ve been perfectly Matatagi, but I didn’t think of that because I’m dumb) (also read: a love rivalry more or less) so I gave him Kurama. THEN I played BigBang and they had a small interaction and since back then I couldn’t even read Hiragana I don’t know what they said but Kurama made a sad face afterwards so I take it as I was right
Fei because Kurama learns Bouncer Rabbit on Galaxy (actually the two-people version. He does it with Hamano because I’m obvious) and also Fei stole his number, now Kurama has to steal something back (???
Taiyou because on my CS game Kurama, Taiyou and Hikaru always do hissatsus together on the random thing (that makes also Sakura and Matatagi do Butterfly Dream together all the time for some reason. Which is funny because I lowkey shipped it before starting Galaxy) so I got used to seeing them together.
Ibuki because my brother always calls them losers (he’s a bit mean sometimes, but I love him ;v;) so I started relating them n stuff.
Hakuryuu because my brother and I have this thing called the ‘Spammer Club’ which is for characters that say other character’s name a lot. We have Hakuryuu (who we jokingly call churugispammer) Miyasaka, Ibuki, Hakuryuu and Kurama got in too for some reason. So yeah. It happened. N stuff.
Also I brotp him with Kinako, but I brotp Kinako with everyone.
S: What’s a headcanon you have?
Hmm… I headcanon that out of the Second Year Trio, only Hamano has siblings (2 sisters, him being the middle sib- and no that’s not me self projecting ok)
Hayami has mentioned more than once on the games that he wants to be a scientist, and I headcanon that it’s because his mother is! Which also means she’s super busy most of the time. So Hayami is quite dependent, but he can’t cook for his life. Hamano is surprisingly okay at cooking, and he’s learning to bake.
Also, Hayami really likes penguins for some reason.
T: What are your favorite male/male ships or female/female ships?
Ack, that’s a hard one ;v;
- Male/Male - (to keep things fresh from 3 diff fandoms each)
Hamano/Hayami (Inazuma Eleven)
Ishimaru/Oowada (Danganronpa)
Killua/Gon (HxH)
Shu/Valt (Beyblade Burst)
Hau/Gladion (Pokémon)
- Female/Female -
Diana/Akko (Little Witch Academia) (i gotta continue it sob aaa)
Ootani/Anna (Inazuma Eleven)
Moon/Lillie (Pokémon)
Z: What’s a ship that you want to ship publicly, but everyone on tumblr hates it so you keep your mouth shut about it?
Ahahah, what are you talking about [hides my polyship mess under a rug] it is not much that they hate it, just that no one is interested XD
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92, 78, & 27 for whoever has been neglected recently.
Thanks! I'm going to go with Firedrake because Dray is constantly claiming that I neglect them. (I do write an awful lot of short stories about the trio, so Dray's probably right.)
92.) What was their childhood like?This is something I'm still trying to figure out, four years into writing about these dorks. Dray is so secretive and quiet about their past! I know Dray grew up in the country next door to Concordia and that their father was upper class, so Dray grew up with a good education and not wanting for anything... except maybe a decent father. He wasn't so bad in the beginning, but he fell in love with a woman who had no family. This was great at first, it was love, but heredity is important in that country, and this kind of ate at Dray's father until it made him angry and bitter and he walked out when Dray was about 10. After this Dray's mother struggled to raise them alone when she wasn't in the best of health. Basically Dray didn't have the best childhood and their teenage years were worse, and Dray doesn't really like to think about it. No wonder Dray tends to live in the moment and has fears of abandonment.
78.) If they had a nightmare, who would they run to?Adair. Definitely Adair. Blythe has been Dray's sibling-by-choice for a few years, but they kinda fell out touch with each other for a while and haven't really built that back up yet, and their relationship has always been kind of ... contrary. (Basically they get along because they don't get along and that brought them close together? I dunno, somehow it's worked for them lol.) Plus Dray knows better than to wake her up because of a dumb nightmare. Dray knows Adair wouldn't mind being woken up and will sit and listen and reassure and hug until Dray feels better-- and Dray’s done the same for Adair. Adair and Dray have a more healthy sibling-by-choice relationship than Dray does with Blythe and while Dray loves and trusts Blythe, in a situation like this it’s going to be Adair.
27.) What is their favourite holiday?I've come up with a few holidays for Concordia, but haven't done much with those yet. I'd imagine Dray's favorite would be the Day of Good News because it's a time for trying new things and making new goals. And honestly, as a performer Dray mostly likes holidays because that means definite money for a bit since people are looking for entertainment and are more willing to be generous if they're feeling happy and festive.
(This is for this ask game. Feel free to send me asks!)
#writing#about my characters#ask game#unexpected inspiration series#my writing ramblings#ui pov: firedrake#ravenpuffwriter
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Wither Tinkerbell? Part 2: Ridi, Goofy, sul tuo amore infranto! (KH liveblog)
There is no link to Part 1 because adding links breaks Tumblr apparently fuck this broken shit website.
Before we continue, I need to share with you this image that Google Image Search shared with me:
Never give up on your dreams, kids.
You’re welcome!
Where were we? Oh, right: What does this have to do with Kingdom Hearts, you might ask? It’s this: Goofy, for all that he can be, y’know, a bit wearying, is not a character who intrinsically incapable of being sympathetic, of having pathos and humanity, of an emotional and narrative arc.
Fifteen+ hours into Kingdom Hearts, Goofy is a non-entity in the story. Donald Duck is only slightly less of a non-entity, but he and Goofy nevertheless could have disappeared the moment they handed Sora the keys to the gummy ship and it would have had no bearing on anything that has happened since. Writing them out of the story would be comically easy, since their only function has been to give Sora his ride: they’ve had no bearing on anything that happened, and if you muted their dialogue in cutscenes it often would have no noticeable effect because nobody reacts to their presence anyways. If you told me they were ghosts that only Sora could see and interact with I don’t think I’d be able to argue otherwise. They’re the Jacob Taylor of Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts is a game that coasts on its own back catalogue of characters - it presupposes that you have already watched all the Disney movies and played all the Final Fantasy games, and that therefore it doesn’t need to do any of the hard and important work of giving the characters character. It assumes you’ve seen Goof Troop, so why should it do anything to make you care about Goofy when you presumably you already do?
Let’s go back to the inciting incident of this whole mess, a thousand words and a long scroll up ago: Tinkerbell. This is a real photo of my actual desk, taken right this moment:
Yeah, Tinkerbell and Periwinkle have been watching me watch this the whole time.
What?
...
WHAT?
I... I just really like The Secret of the Wings, okay? I’m an only child andI like stories where someone discovers they’ve got a rad twin sibling and it’s got my best follower Grey DeLisle in it - and Kari Wahlgren, and John DiMaggio and Dee Bradley Baker and also Anjelica Huston, Lucy Liu and Timothy Dalton in it so SCREW YOU I JUST REALLY LIKE THIS MOVIE OKAY! SOMETIMES A GUY CAN DREAM HE HAS A COOL SPUNKY TWIN SIBLING OUT THERE WHO GETS HIM ITS NOT A BIG FUCKING DEAL STOP SHAMING GUS FOR LIKING GIRLY THINGS YOU’RE JUST PERPETUATING TOXIC MASCULINITY
Jerks.
Where was I?
Oh, right: I like Tinkerbell. She’s pretty great. I mean I could go off on Disney’s perennial Thin Princess problem but I won’t because despite what Tumblr thinks not every thing is relevant to every bit of discourse. My point is that I like and care about Tinkerbell, I carry a lot of good will for her - but that doesn’t make Kingdom Heart’s lazy, indifferent story writing okay, because I didn’t know or care about KH Tinkerbell.
Really let it sit with you for a bit: Sora never watched Peter Pan. He’s never watched any Disney film - Tinkerbell is a small blond thing whose done nothing but ignore him in the all of forty five seconds he’s been in her presence - but this is his reaction to her imprisonment:
Of note: off to the left there you can see Kingdom HEart’s doing it’s thing again by never spending time animating faces if it doesn’t feel the need to, which is why the Trio wander through most of this game with the same stupid expression on their faces regardless if they’re waiting in line to buy a gummy part on watching somebody die.)
Sora’s reaction is... is... it’s just not grounded in anything. Ursula turned into an enormous godzilla monster and Sora didn’t blink - didn’t even see fit to make a comment. This is a kid who is frustratingly unreactive to shit that happens around him - not so much passivity as disturbingly disconnected from the emotional ontology he lives in. The few minutes of passion stand out for being all the weirder because of it - its always related to Kairi.
Except here, for Tinkerbell, a character he knows nothing about. You could make the argument that he’s merely a hero from the Finn the Human school of heroism - he doesn’t have to know Tinkerbell to want to save her, he’s just A Good Good Virtue Boy. But again, this is a character who only musters emotion when its personal, and Captain Jameson Bellerophon Hook, Master & Commander SS Jolly Roger treats this as personal - your ‘pixie friend’ he says, and he gets a reaction. I mean, Sora willing chooses to walk the plank and die rather than let Tinkerbell... stay captured?
Wait, what? No, back up, we need to go through this again.
Captain Hook: Quite a codfish, that Riku—running off with that girl
without even saying goodbye.
Sora: Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?
Captain Hook: To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, where Maleficent resides.
But you won’t be going there. [Holds up Tink] Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind? Hand over the Keyblade and I’ll spare your lives. Be glad I’m merciful, unlike the Heartless. So, which will it be? The Keyblade,
or the plank?
Can we just... sit with this for a moment? Here are the options Captain Jimmothy Heliogabalus Hook presents Sora:
A) He can depart for Hollow Bastion, but in doing so he will leave Tinkerbell in captivity.
B) He can surrender the Keyblade, at which point Hook won’t kill him. (Will he let Tink go? Unclear)
C) Sora can walk the plank and die.
Sora... chooses death, because he can’t relinquish the keyblade, but nor can he suffer the pain of Tink’s captivity. So - time to die.
... what?
WHAT?
(CONTINUED IN PART 3)
#tinker bell#peter pan#captain hook#smee#kingdom hearts#sora#donald duck#goofy#dukeofriven liveblogs kingdom hearts#disney#hollow bastion#The Secret of the Wings#roxanne#a very goofy movie#periwinkle#kairi#grey delisle
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so I actually finished fe echoes shadows of valentia after *checks back through blog* about one and a half years. or rather, I got totally fed up on my first playthrough and restarted a few days ago bc I was sick of having it semi-complete. I have Thoughts so... under the cut
might as well get the technical stuff out the way.
loved the artstyle. but the ui fucking sucked. all the important numbers and stuff is WAAAAAY too small to make room for character portraits and the layout of a lot of options is just... weird. oh and there’s no way to look at a zoomed out map and it’s a pain in the arse when I just wanna check where the fucking enemies are.
combat system is... definitely interesting for a fire emblem game. I enjoyed it overall, but it felt a bit lopsided. no weapon durability (yay), no weapon triangle (eh), magic users learn spells in character specific orders (hm), 90% of bow using enemies can’t do shit against fliers (wtf?), absurdly high crit rates (ugh)... lance users ended up near useless by endgame. I had a single one who could hit hard enough to take down an act 5 enemy, and he was too slow to chase them. meanwhile I could keep my archers back way out of enemies’ range and crit them, or field my many mages who could do massive damage AND heal each other constantly. srsly, all hail our lady and saviour delthea, who by the final boss had 30 atk and could oneshot almost every enemy with her lowest level spell. she is the best, and I love her very much.
there was a lot of other fidgety stuff especially on the overworld that really got on my nerves after a while. I’ve never been fond of the point hopping system that’s fairly common in tactical rpgs, but echoes has the infuriating variation that forces u to fight every respawning enemy u cross. fuck those graveyards. fuck them to hell. especially fuck them when I have to pass them so often to complete sidequests in the villages and such. but at least dungeon exploring is still fun. well, I say that, and it leads into another bother.
fates, the previous fe game, did a lot to improve the experience of casual players such as myself. the protagonist being allowed to fall in battle without an insta game over, for example. phoenix mode was nice for replays too, tho since echoes was preeeeetty linear that’s a moot point for me. echoes decides no, actually, fuck that, and also fuck the battle saves introduced in awakening. ur gonna work through duma’s tower for an hour with no way to save and reload and if one of the ten million enemies in there knocks down celica ur losing all ur progress without even a chance to use the in-universe save scum device. bc fuck u.
incidentally, duma’s tower is where I quit during my first playthrough.
buuuuuuuut there’s more to games than mechanics. there’s story too! and... hoo boy. there’s two major sticking points for me that ultimately make it a disappointment. spoilers ahead for literally the entire game.
number one: the broken aesop of alm’s arc. ie, fernand was right.
so, fire emblem games have a lot of birth destiny and divine rights to rule and all that jazz. while it can be just a background fact of life (awakening and imo path of radiance fell into this) or a major problem that causes protagonist centred morality out the whazoo (Y HALLO THAR FATES’ CONQUEST ROUTE), echoes tries to go a different route, especially in the first act. alm butts up against those who don’t think he should be allowed to be a knight, let alone lead an army bc he’s of common birth. even those on his side (*cough*clive) struggle to hold noble and common life of equal worth. but here’s alm, the poster child of destiny caring not for trivialities such as parentage. he’s a good fighter and a good leader, and proves that even a commoner can become a hero!
except they can’t. alm isn’t a commoner. he’s a prince. he could never vanquish duma if he hadn’t noble blood in his veins, bc the falchion is locked in a vault only royals can enter, and is a sword only he can wield. were he truly a commoner, he would have failed. and all this would’ve been easily forgotten fridge logic if the characters hadn’t kept bringing the even a commoner bs all the way with them until he found out who his dad was! fernand, the primary voice for this shit, doesn’t die until after seeing alm revealed!
frankly, alm being a lost prince was purely a detriment to the story. oh no, he killed his dad? who fucking cares. blood is the only thing they share. I’ve seen this dude like twice before I cheesed his ass by warping my best units up to his section of wall and zapping him. half his dialogue is only available post-patricide. alm had more of a connection to Asshole Cousin Berkut that to him. also, his plan for preparing for the end of the world as is stood was one of the worst I’ve ever seen.
but there’s also a more fun point. number two: the straight agenda!
ugggggh. listen. on my first round through, I joked a lot abt all the unrequited love going around. and honestly there’s quite a lot of interactions that I found genuinely nice. faye and leon being open about their feelings and accepting they aren’t requited, and alm and valbar being honest and comfortable with that. or delthea mentioning her crush on clive to his sister and having mathilda immediately pointed out. or like, clive and mathilda’s entire relationship during the game. I like me a lovey dovey battle couple.
but then the epilogue slides hit. why the fuck would mathilda become a Good Housewife(TM) after marrying a man who encouraged her as they fought alongside each other. delthea gets the same treatment and settles down with an unnamed husband and becomes “normal” in her slide. then u have mae and boey who get married and have children and argue AND THAT IS IT. like guys, I like me some rivals to lovers as much as the next lesbian, but u can’t be said to have kids that give u more reasons to fight and have me believe this is any way healthy. please find a replacement for celica bc u do NOT work together on ur own. *sigh* at least clair and gray have a nice marriage where they’re both free to be themselves. in my game anyway, idk if she hooks up with tobin if they get higher support, but when he’s an archer and she’s a frontline fighter, they never had a chance.
and then there’s alm and celica.
I could’ve liked alm. I really could. while his base is still Default Fantasy Hero, I like his comments when u examine things, I like that he has the nerve to stand up to clive when he’s on his bullshit. but dude. u met ur fake cousin celica briefly when u were kids, got along well, then obsessed abt her for like a decade. get. over. it.
same to u celica. u were fucked in my eyes from the beginning bc I find devout characters actively dull, but come on. u made a friend who had a birthmark like urs. as far as ur concerned, that’s all. stop reading the script and try learning the politics of running that kingdom ur set to inherit.
beyond the “alm...” “celica...” wistful calls, and the forces of destiny/the writers, I could not tell u what draws these characters together. the one time they’re not staring into the middle distance at each other, they’re in a petty fight that makes celica look like a spoiled child (and keeps her there until after she sells her fucking soul to the shadiest guy in the fucking universe? celica. celica cmon.) like why do these people like each other. with as much as destiny pulled them together rather than human connection, they may as well have been siblings instead.
on my first run, I genuinely thought that was where they were headed. I got given “alm can lift royal sword” and “celica ‘lost’ brother in fire” and put together that OH! they’re brother and sister! like mila and duma! bc it’s history repeating itself! and then conrad showed up and I was confused. also, iirc alm genuinely believed celica was a cousin of his while they were interacting as kids and didn’t learn she was just in Fantasy Witness Protection until later, so for that to turn into poorly telegraphed romance is just... ew.
anyway. at least most of the characters were good. can’t even pick a favourite tbh. I like clair a lot, and tobin and gray. mae and delthea are both fun and adorable. the valbar/leon/kamui trio are great and chill dudes. I even like silque despite being the nun type, bc she just tries so hard and I appreciate that. oh and sonya’s very lovely with genny and DESERVED BETTER THAN BECOMING A LITERAL SOULLESS HUSK IN THE EPILOGUE AS SHE TRIES TO HELP OTHERS, FUCK U ECHOES.
also there are definite immersion hiccups. oh, the land’s barren and we’re facing famine, huh? *stares at trees full of oranges* *stares at wells full of water* *stares at baskets full of fish* *stares at inventory full of meat and vegetables* *stares at knife that can produce food if I kill an enemy with it...*
wait. I turned a lot of enemies into food with that knife. like my inventory for celica’s army filled up with it. was... was I eating people the whole time?! D:
anyway, fe15, 7.5/10 too much swamp
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ok!! I was too sleepy the other day but I want to put down some more bnha thoughts now that I’m all caught up with the manga!! but then i just kinda speed read through a rather large portion of it and watched the anime while doing so many other stuff bc sob i have v limited free time, so until i’m done with a much appreciative re-read, I only have a few v quick Conclusions rn
putting them under cut bc i have a giant headache and i’m rambling but i’m not very sorry for it but anyway
1) Iida Tenya is the purest, squarest child I have ever seen in a good long while, and he is my pure, square child now and I love him v much (ALSO IT WAS HIS BDAY RECENTLY AHH HE IS THE BEST BOY HE DESERVES THE WORLD!!! also crying a bit since i wanted to make something for this new child of mine and yet i have zero time and energy weeps!)
I mean it really is a bit surprising for me, since super serious class president character types don’t usually leave that much of an impact for me, but I fell in love with Iida so quickly??? He’s so earnest and passionate, always does his best and just such a Good Boy all over, then after when his emotions are threatening to plunge down the deep end after that tragedy with his brother bc ofc that much passion and determination used for revenge could be a v bad thing v quickly, but then he acknowledges it!!! and strives to be a much better person from it...!! I just thought welp he’s my child and he’s in my heart forever now. I’m also v invested on seeing his career develop?? i mean he’s taking up his brother’s hero name, does that also mean he’s taking over the Team Idaten??? How would Tensei’s sidekicks react to his baby bro becoming their new leader? Are they even still around? But you know I bet Tensei talks about Tenya all the time like the doting big brother that he is, to the point that they begin to adore Tenya themselves but man I hope Tenya wouldn’t have to suffer complexes and find himself comparing himself to Tensei and decides he himself is lacking when it’s time for him to face the team but welp i’m getting too far ahead god i need to stop here
ALSO IIDA TENSEI IS A MOST WONDERFUL PERSON, A GIFT, A BLESSING no wonder Tenya loves him and adores him above all, and I too love Tensei with my entire being and i need to know how he’s doing oh my gosh pls let him be okay...!! also I need him to be a teacher at UA preferably of Robotics or tech something (bc he just screams tech nerd to me ok have you seen his hero suit oh my god) too with a swanky high tech wheelchair and teaching kids and you know he’ll be amazing at it too since he’s so supportive and a generally wholesome person god I need to yell out my utter love and adoration for Iida Tensei in a different post one day...!! (i obvs have a thing with siblings who adore each other and then one of them has to suffer horribly and I just-- goD WHY??!! i’m just so v glad Tensei’s still alive... weeps! gdi ace!!)
2) okay i’ve been betrayed by aloof, genius, over powered pretty boys before so i didn’t trust Todoroki Shouto at first (it’s so hard though holy shit he’s just so aesthetically pleasing with that ice/fire thing, and that scar doesn’t help either since it’s just like my other son sabo’s and also zuko’s actually and zuko’s a good egg) but then he learned to forgive and love himself??? and he’s actually soft and v kind???? Todoroki didn’t let me down, and I love him for it. also his shitty old man is shitty.
3) that said, it’s v easy for me to ship todoiida, i mean there is just so, so much fun to be had thinking about a very square super beefy nerd speedster and a soft hotcool pretty boy genius getting together, so I was so v hyped in checking out their tag for shippy goodness.... only to discover they’re actually a rare pair???!!!! i am shocked and appalled tbh. like. they’re right there????? I’M UPSET ABOUT THIS
4) thank god for todoiideku ot3 though (tho tbh i’m still working on truly liking Midoriya bc as adorable and so painfully, unbearably kind as he is, somehow it’s always so hard for me to like /THE/ main character/s of any series (except luffy. monkey d. luffy is always the exception to any rule.) so yeah there’s that but goddamn i’m so weak towards this ot3′s mutually supportive relationship dammit and i just want more okay!?)
5) actually i’m THIS close to ot4 shipping the deku squad bc how could I ever leave out Uraraka holy heck just how good for the soul is the main trio’s relationship is???? it’s so pure i’m crying a bit. i just need horikoshi to give me some substantial todochako interaction and i’m game (i only vaguely remember them during the school trip arc being in the same group trying to get back Bakugou from that mask guy)
6) but then ship or no ship Uraraka herself is enough, okay!!! she’s a wonderful ray of sunshine she could float me to infinity and I’ll thank her for it. also I super want a re-match between her and Bakugou
7) i’m so conflicted about Tsuyu, I mean I love her, but frgs are literally a nightmare to me so?????
8) Mirio and Tamaki...!!! need to get married asap (also I keep thinking about that yearbook post where that one guy says “You got to enjoy little things in life so I like blowing bubbles” or smthn like that, then that other dude goes “My friends call me Bubbles bc I’m always rising to the top!” bc you know I’m dying a lot over the origin of Tamaki’s hero name I mean “Suneater” when he literally calls his bf “the sun”??? yeah i’m dead) But anyway!! they are also precious kids and I love them v much
9) well anyway aside from todoiida and any combination of todoiideku, and also miritama, I'm not feeling too invested in other ships??, I mean like Momo and Jirou are practically gfs already, and i like how Kirishima's so very good in getting through Bakugou in a v positive way, and also Tokoyami and Shouji during the school trip arc is so, so good, but for the most part I just want to watch the kids grow to the heroes they want to be except the grape kid delete him
10) BUT ACTUALLY MOST IMPORTANT wtf give the girls more depth and character development you coward...!!! there’s 150 chapters already and yet from the girls, it’s only Uraraka’s motivations why she wants to be a hero that we know about. gdi horikoshi i want to know their stories too!
ok I’m stopping here for now I keep messing up the sequence of events in this manga I mean holy shit they’re always almost dying literally every arc, man give them a break
#anne's rambling#about bnha#sob QUICK conclusions i said and then i went and word vomitted like this#i have so many other feels about this manga#mostly iida related ofc and also towards some other pure kids in the series#shipwise my overwhelming disappointment that there's no 15k todoiida slowburn fic waiting for me after i caught up is heart breaking...!!#am i gonna have to make my own content??? sob i don't trust myself being able to finish stuff anymore#godd! it's been 84 years since i've last been in a fandom... why am i still falling for all the rare ships!?#but anyway ships aside#it's also not v surprising that i'm completely and utterly done for by the Iida brothers they're too much for my weak weak heart#listen i need them to be in the same panels again okay i don't care how minor a character iida tensei is#i just need more scenes of these precious brothers together okay!?
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The Significant Other Festival (c) The Pensive Federation
It never takes that long for a group of British people to find themselves talking about the weather, and so it is almost inevitable that this edition of The Significant Other Festival, in which – to summarise – two’s a party but three’s a crowd, should at some point take ‘Conditions’ as an overarching theme.
Despite ten (very short!) plays and an equally short musical having different writers, different actors and (mostly) different directors, there were some links between the plays. Some links were more explicit than others, with the same props coming up time and again, serving different purposes. As for the subtler links, well, that would be giving too much away.
Humid by Anthony Cozens opens proceedings with a bit of a ‘swearathon’, a point I didn’t personally pick up on at the time but it was commented on by fellow audience members in the interval. There are, of course, people who do tend to swear as naturally as they breathe, but here, when all three characters are at it, there’s little to distinguish one from another. Miles (Michael Shon) is at a fairground with his partner Izzy (Olivia Negrean). He is carrying around a goldfish that he won earlier in the day by putting some hoops through some objects. This being a funfair, the fish has been in a bag for an indeterminate period and has now died, presumably through lack of oxygen. The fish’s fate gives Izzy’s friend Hannah (Katherine Jee) the impetus to hurl insults at Miles (yep, more swearing). The ending is open-ended enough to leave a question in my mind about the fish being a metaphor for Miles and Izzy’s relationship unanswered.
Flurry by Olu Alakija was the darkest of the plays, and not just because it was set in a forest in the middle of the night. It is, to be blunt, gradually revealed that of the three characters, played by Leanne May Bennett, Ashleigh Cheadle and Virginia Lee, one shows no remorse or pity whatsoever for the death of a man who “shattered” their own lives, which understandably horrifies the other two. It is not made entirely clear – perhaps it wasn’t considered important – precisely what the deceased man did, or was alleged to have done, but it’s clear that this isn’t a motiveless murder. The play got me thinking about how I would react to discovering if I were complicit in the taking of another person’s life: I might well have ended up being the character in this play that started panicking and needed calming down.
One more thing: I couldn’t help but scribble down a line in this play about the weather. “The wind is howling like an X-Factor contestant.”
Inclement by Emma Allison sees Mark Bentham (John Rayment) and his second wife Nina (Rekha John-Cheriyan) meet up with his ex-wife Linda (Pat Garrett). Or, rather, Linda meets up with them, in order to join in with the many arrangements required for Simon and Louisa’s wedding. The bride is Mark’s daughter by Linda. Nina has no patience for Linda’s fretful personality, and the play quickly becomes beautifully dramatic and explosive. The fears and insecurities of both Nina and Linda are palpable, though it is Nina’s forthrightness that ends up putting a substantial dent in Mark’s diplomacy, with almost devastating consequences.
Tornado by Lydia Rynne is set at Simon and Louisa’s wedding, or rather, the reception, though the (presumably) happy couple remain off-stage characters. The best man, Adrian (Nick Pearse) and a bridesmaid, Kyla (Kate Tulloch) are lost in a maze at the reception venue. There is, probably, some imagery going on with being lost without a roadmap and only the weakest of mobile phone signals with which to attempt to contact a friend. It wasn’t altogether clear to me what the ‘tornado’ in Tornado was, except to say that this pair initially seemed too different from one another to commence a relationship, even one that, for reasons unfolded within the narrative, would only last a relatively short time. The ‘significant other’ role, a fired waiter (Roberto Landi) is rather underwritten and plays an ultimately negligible part of the play.
Gust by Alexander Williams begins with Gail (Elizabeth Guterbock) taking her friend Steve (Anthony Cozens) out of doors for a badminton match. The standard of play is inconsequential to the dialogue, particularly when Robin (Kamran Vahabi) appears. Robin has, in Gail’s own words, betrayed her trust, and while Robin and Steve are more than reconciled, Gail remains uncompromisingly unresponsive. The play is an intriguing observation into how certain people who busy themselves trying to ‘help’ are often themselves unable to swallow the sort of medicine they insist others must take in order to get over the past.
Overcast by Rob Greens had me in a combination of laughter and deep thought. Becca (Christi Van Clarke) and Angie (Hanna Lucas) are using a pair of binoculars to spy on people. Not just any people, but people they know. There isn’t much difference between this and looking people up on social media and reading about what they have been up to. Warren (Jamie Coleman) enters the scene after an altercation with an off-stage character (one the ladies are spying on) from which he has both physically and psychologically run away from. The implications and applications of this storyline are vast – it seemed to me to be a reminder not to draw conclusions too hastily from what can be seen at face value without being aware of the bigger picture.
Thaw by Reece Connolly sees another dead goldfish as a narrative driver. Colin (Luke Lampard) and his girlfriend Jenny (Evelyn Lockley) are attempting to bury ‘Gary’, the late fish belonging to Colin’s sister Abbie (Flora Ogilvy). Abbie is distraught at the news, and there’s a hilarious moment in which, in desperation, she attempts to use body heat and friction to warm the frozen ground up. This came across as a coming of age story, and in burying the fish, Abbie is also saying goodbye to an age of innocence and, one would hope, able to go onwards and upwards in life.
Haze by Sylvia Arthur begins provocatively. “I’ve just seen Mother in bed with a fascist,” declares Sidney (Laura McGrady), a statement that becomes all the more strange, and macabre, once it is established what has happened to ‘Mother’. Shelley (Laila Alj), the firstborn of these three siblings, has a long-standing secret that can now be revealed to both Sidney and Sonny (Alex Dowding) now their mother has passed away. Why wasn’t anything being done about a corpse being assaulted though, irrespective of the assailant’s political beliefs? Hazy indeed.
Cold Front by Brian Eley considers what happens when loyalties are tested by the practicalities of life. Squidge (Rachael Oliver) is naturally defensive at the change in living arrangements between herself and long-term friend Becks (Rachel Smart) and relative newcomer Jess (Katherine Rodden). The narrative took a while to really get going. A lot of time in the first half was given over to establishing that this trio get on very well with one another through fun, games and singing, and at first sight I couldn’t see the point of it all. On further reflection, it’s an example, par excellence, of how people prepare for awkward conversations by living in the moment and crossing the bridge of confrontation only when it is reached.
Drought by JFW Nutt starts with an apt question: “Why is it called London Luton?” It is indeed in Bedfordshire and well outside both the Oyster public transport travel zone and the M25 motorway. A stream of silliness is quickly established as Tamsin (Jayne Edwards) and her partner Ben (James Lawrence) try to enjoy an afternoon out with Ben’s older sister Annette (Lydia Smart). Annette speaks her mind, and all of her thoughts spill out, however unsavoury, without any filtering or leaving out of even the most trivial of details – Tamsin later points out that Annette must do better to take her “meds”. It isn’t easy for the likes of Ben, trying to care for family members while trying to live out his own life. A good combination of hilarity and poignancy.
Sunny Spells by Frances Bushe (with music composed by Lemon and Franner Otter) skilfully tells a story through song – there is some spoken dialogue, too, and a suitably big finish allows for the rest of the cast throughout the evening to join in a rousing closing number. The lyrics are witty, even if the narrative isn’t, with characters played by Antonia Bourdillon, Clark Alexander and Sydney Aldridge dealing with what to do with an increasingly frail elderly relative who now requires round-the-clock care (and no, a one-way plane ticket to Switzerland is absolutely not on the cards). If a fuller version of Sunny Spells were of the same quality as this short musical, it would be worthy of a West End run – there’s something about looking to the future and carrying on even when one is frightened of messing things up along the way that places this well-devised show firmly within the canon of musical theatre.
Review by Chris Omaweng
The Significant Other Festival
14th to 18th March 2017
http://ift.tt/2kUAXNu
http://ift.tt/2m0r5aj LondonTheatre1.com
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