i think i don't really vibe with most other fans of my favorite male characters is because they usually depict them too much of a man, and i am not interested in men, i am interested in The Character. and i am not saying that they should depict them as women, or nonbinary, or should depict them as feminine, no, not at all. but there's like, you know, you can depict a male character as The Character, and you can depict them as The Man. do you get me? like, i go to the fandom looking for art and fics, and it's just, regardless of his actual characterization, it's all just fantasizing about some kind of an abstract dominant patriarch, wearing my favorite character's face. it may be the most totally-wouldnt-have-normal-relationships (and sometimes even would-literally-abuse-you) kind of guy, and you join a dedicated space for his fans, and all they talk about is how they want to marry and start a tradcore 50s style nuclear family with him. it can be a guy who's arrogance and attempts of domination are explicitly shown to be a facade that hide the fact that he's actually kind of a massive pathetic wet loser, and you go to his fics, and they're all depicting him as a caricaturish daddy dom. at this point it's like, do you even like the character at all, or do you just like The Man, and project this man onto whatever character you find visually attractive? and these people kind of, really really poison actual discussion of the character, who is kind of a fucked up evil person (i only like *those* types, so im talking about them) because they see analysis of the actual character as an attack on their fantasized daddy dom husband, who is actually isn't The Character at all, and is simply a face of the day for The Man
i like when fiction treats love as a more complicated force and not something that is inherently pure or redemptive. portray it as flawed and complex as any other human impulse. give me love as prejudice, love as possessive stasis, love as addiction, love as blindness, etc.
i DO believe that a good writer can make mischaracterization work. oh there's a character who doesn't normally cry? figure it out!! disect the character. make the situation cryable for them. make that character cry ugly tears even if it goes against their very nature. YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK!!!
A great piece of advice I've seen is "Don't fixate about what the character would never do. Think about the circumstances that would drive them to do this, even if they wouldn't normally."
Over the last couple of weeks me and some of my good friends from silcotwt and tumblr have been working on this collab to celebrate one year of community! Enjoy our Silco’s and all of their various crimes <3
(from left to right: @bethegusto, @mauvedraws, @rcntlydcccased, @skale93, @/doctorstrcnge, @/silcohuspat, @nxarrt, @/_abikore, @/_voodoodles, @olethrus-arts, @whiskikistudio, @/arty_the_ninth)
Not "The Character did nothing wrong" or "The Character is irredeemably awful" but a secret third thing: The Character may display moments of deep love & compassion, may even have a strong sense of ethics, and may also be capable of brutal cruelty that is irreconcilable with those traits. The constant tension between the different sides of The Character's nature is exactly what makes them compelling, and attempting to reduce them down to simply "a terrible person" or "innocent & misunderstood" is missing the point of the questions a media with nuanced characters is asking you to consider
You don't like my domestic au? But I lobotomized the characters just for you :( isn't it so nice now that everyone's happy? They all talk and forgive each other 😊 they're getting married, you know. They're pregnant, you know. Time skip soon! Two beautiful kids. After they have them they will put aside all their passions. Maybe they will never go back to the coffee shop 🤭or university 😜. Maybe they will stay at home with their children. I made this world just for you. Isn't it domestic? Isn't it perfect? Look at how everyone smiles! I am smiling :) are you?
Every selfshippers who do oc x canon with silco make their self insert a second parent to jinx. I also saw this in a lot of silco x reader fanfics. It's so cute but i wanna see BAD second parent/don't want to be a parent trope!!!!!!! I want toxic relationships!!!!!! Angst!!!!!
I love this dynamic because it's so much richer; and believable to be honest? An anxious attachment, on a teen to boot, is very insightful and hard to navigate.
*self indulgent OC talk*
I wouldn't say my OC, Runa, is a bad parent; she doesn't dislike Jinx, but she also doesn't treat her specially just because Silco cares for her; Runa is very clear about that:
"Don’t tell me how I would’ve handled it."
"You didn’t handle it. You weren’t even there. I’ve sedated children younger than her who’ve been pulled out of mine collapses with half their limbs crushed. Age doesn’t change pain."
"You don’t get to decide that for her. Not without telling me. She’s not some random brat from the Lanes."
"No, she’s your brat from the Lanes. I’m very clear on that."
She also doesn't have any desire to be a parent, but she is very maternal when it comes to the Undercity as a whole.
Someone commented their relationship as: "The kitten keeps trying to play with the cat and the cat wants absolutely nothing to do with it." Which is honestly perfect.
Jinx doesn't necessarily like Runa. She finds Runa's pragmatism unfun. They met while she was young, and because Runa bolsters Silco's practical side, he would be giving her reading assignments and vegetables for dinner. Which is bad in the perspective of a child. She had to come to terms with the fact that Runa might just be good for Silco.
And they're often confused about each other. All this to say, a complicated relationship, because it is a complicated situation.
a little yap on my oc, because i'm feeling self indulgent and manic.
She likes herbal tea, hates the snow with a genuine personal grievance, and she loves a clear blue sky. She doesn’t believe in sports (too much energy, and too much going on). She loves the theatre, but pretends it’s an intellectual interest rather than an emotional one. She always takes her showers in the evening.
She’s no nonsense. A little self-conscious in the way competent people often are; like she’s constantly aware she might be slightly too visible and slightly too sharp around the edges.
Runa is a doctor, a systems thinker, and someone who keeps accidentally ending up in rooms where she is not supposed to have power… and then quietly does anyway.
Silco is her problem. And also, unfortunately, her joy.
Her favourite takeaway spot is “Marty's Steam Noodle House” and she always orders ginger broth noodles with extra greens and too much chilli. Silco, without fail, orders bone marrow stew with pepper. He always takes her pickled plum, and she always ends up taking his menma.
Silco’s favourite takeaway spot is “Roddy's”. He always orders salt-crusted fried fish and whatever today’s “mystery catch” is, while Runa orders a smaller portion of battered fish. They always order extra scraps—broken batter bits and if they're feeling it, a basket of fried potato cuttings.
Her favourite gift he gave her was half of all his assets; less a gesture than a restructuring of power that made her impossible to quietly remove from his world. His favourite gift he gave from her was a hand-carved tea set, and which she uses daily.
Runa’s favourite gift she gave him was boudoir photos; something he keeps under maximum security and would never acknowledge openly, however the quieter fact is his favourite gift from her were her hand-rolled cigars, the first thing she ever gifted him.
Silco likes her upside-down smile. And he finds it a little bit attractive when her voice gets raspy from smoking too much.
She likes his grit, in the way you might call something dangerous “useful” and then quietly realise you meant “necessary.” And hates how people treat Silco as some sort of conversational piece.
Runa believes, against her better judgment and her own stated principles, that Silco is the only person in Zaun who can truly match her. Not in agreement. Not in morality. In scale. In stubbornness. In the work.
What’s slightly irritating (and occasionally humbling in a way you didn’t ask for) about writing Runa and Silco is that they are both cleverer than me. I've outwitted myself out of writing my own fic. 🚬
I've been a terrible parent, I haven't updated my fic in two months now... BUT, I have not forgotten about them. This just means an update is imminent.
As a birthday gift, my roommate (doesn't know a single plot point of arcane but knows every theme of my fanfic) drew my OC (Happy AU).
discoholicmusic
snowghoul
stormborns
amandla
areudirty
