#enber askbox

[enberlight]

Please please please drop your own full lovesquare story I am BEGGING 🙏🙏🙏

I cannot think of a better account name to have asked this XD

The following recounts my disastrous teen experience with love and destiny, where I was simultaneously Adrien and Marinette (from Miraculous Ladybug) with a Love Destined By Fate(TM), and my own near-love-square identity shenanigans that were the result of a bunch of dominoes set off by watching Sailor Moon as a teen with that dang elevator scene and subsequent delicious angst @lnc2 reminded me of and drop kicked me back into ancient feels over XD

The dominoes started in 1998 when a friend remarked he liked Sailor Moon. I hadn't gotten into anime yet but I respected his opinions and art talent so I gave it a try. It was horrible! The first episode I saw was the theme park one where Serena and Rei are competing over Darien and it just seemed so ridiculous and juvenile. But boredom and afternoons spent with Cartoon Network brought me back to the show and the shenanigans eventually hooked me. I was also into the image songs and hollered along to the Kid Rhino CD.

At that time I was a Junior in high school (11th grade), and one year into a deep crush with the violin prodigy in my honors classes. My oh moment literally snuck up on me the year before in the art class we shared, while "All I Want for Christmas" was playing. Instead of "is You" my brain whispered "is Crush's Name" and my world came to a grinding halt as I froze then looked over at his table and went Oh Noes.

I had it bad. But like Marinette, I couldn't bring it up to him, I didn't have the guts. And when I found out he had a long distance girlfriend, I tried to backburner my feelings. But Fate kept throwing us together. We had all the same classes together except foreign language. We both had ADHD and had seriously chaotic ene-rivals-almost-friends energy together. We were born on the same day. In every math class our seating was right next to each other, despite taking place in two different rooms, being non-alphabetical, and changing up mid year. The universe was making sure this guy stayed stuck in my head, but I was too dang slow to make a move when he ended up single again. I'd had a love letter written in wingdings ready to attach to his locker with some chocolates for Valentines and I chickened out. Then he started dating The Most Perfect Girl (seriously she was amazing. Beautiful, Top Grades, Honor Society, Track Star, and Genuinely Nice). So I backburnered again. We graduated and went to separate colleges and I've only seen him once since, but he was still in my brain rent free until 2001.

Meanwhile I was also Adrien because it took me a damn decade or two to retroactively realize all the times a guy or girl was interested in me back then. I blame being a social outcast nerd and my inability to read social cues coupled with being conditioned to never trust anyone being nice (because it was usually a trick to go Ha Ha she fell for it).

I did finally date some in 1999 but it didn't pan out. My next relationship was in 2000 online, part of the Sailor Moon dominoes.

College in 1999 gave me Ethernet and SenshiTV.dhs, which had all of Sailor Moon from S3 onward subtitled in two part downloads. That meant I could watch Part A as Part B downloaded, then watch the second half of the ep while downloading the next Part A. I spent many nights not sleeping due to this, no regrets. I discovered the original soundtrack and supplemental image songs and fell in love with them. This transferred to the Ronin Warriors and Gundam Wing soundtracks, too. Finding music that wasn't a midi was trickier back then, til community College in 2000 when a guy pointed me to AudioGalaxy, a peer sharing site for any and all music.

Each genre or artist had its own message board, and I settled into the Gundam Wing Message Board where I met a lot of people I'm still friends with today, including @absentlyabbie and my Hub. The message board was a text based RP hub, a hodgepodge of fantasy and sci-fi from various popular anime at the time plus Just Plain Random. I ended up cyber dating one of my RP partners, and our character pairing was a popular one on the main non-Gundam RP. But after we met in person we just didn't work out, and I couldn't find any peace when I logged in to RP or join the board or AIM chats because our friend group kept bemoaning how OTP we were.

So... I made another login, complete with new AIM name, so that I could still hang out but be left to my own devices as I swore off men. Of course, as soon as I did, I was hit with another Oh moment with one of my friends in the RP group.

We were on AIM doing something and he used his lightning ability. My secondary character, Eve, went something weebish like "ooo, inazuma no karada". Then I realized I hadn't picked quite the right words, so I had my original account, Kitz, laugh at me and call me out for talking about Storm's naked lightning body.

Somehow after that we ended up together as Storm and Eve, both in RP and out, while I wingmanned for myself as his other friend Kitz (he was one of my supports and confidante after the breakup). We spent Thanksgiving together in 2003 when I was visiting my Aunt in his home state, then he moved in with me in 2005. We got married a bit later and have two kids together.

As an aside, our RP characters had twins, then months later his RL sister got pregnant with twins. A few years later our characters had another child... and so did she. We decided our characters were done having kids then, lol.

But yeah... because I watched Sailor Moon after randomly overhearing a friend mention it, I ended up overcoming my not-so-fated crush and have had a wonderful 20 year relationship with my best friend (we spent years watching the same shows together over the telephone).

On a different branch of those dominoes I also met @silentmagi and @brushfeathers-thoughts and was introduced to furries which is how I finally realized I'm Bi, Ace, and Nonbinary. But that's another story!

[enberlight]

Since my health has gotten better, and it looks like work will be slow for the rest of the year, I'm thinking of getting back to some Miraculous Ladybug fanart. Specifically Kiss and Poly memes!

If you'd like to see your favorite Miracuclass OTP, OT3, or OT4 snuggled up, drop me an Ask with their names at @caffeinatedmagpie.

I don't have 3D models for the full class yet, but you can see who I do have ready over on my art blog. If you request someone I don't have modeled yet, I may still be able to do them. (Example, I have the resources needed for Chloe and Sabrina, but not Lila. Lila will be unlikely to get an art but the other two are possibilities!)

Please note that for now, the only heroes I'll have are Chat and LB. The super forms are much harder to pull off than the civvie ones. :(

Adults are also out for now, unless you want one of the Miracuclass aged up.

PS: Luka and Kagami are counting as part of the Miracuclass, I have them modeled.

Also, one group per ask, please, it makes answering them tidier! Send asks to @caffeinatedmagpie

(Edit: Examples in the reblog! It's not showing up in tags.)

[enberlight]

Askbox is open!

[ID: Enber, a long-haired redhead in a purple blouse and thin-framed glasses, sits in a beige armchair, holding pen and paper beneath the caption "I'm all ears". End ID]

Ask me anything!

As long as it's polite, I'll field any questions about myself or fandoms I'm involved in. This means you can pick my brain about being queer, being a fandom oldbie, being a writer and artist, being ND and enby, (which my autocorrect tries to insist should be envy), what have you! Please don't drag in fandom salt, though, I have no taste for it.

And I haven't seen most of ML S4 so that's a wasted ask if you had a current season comment in mind. ML in general is fine of course!

And, since I'm a chaotic creature, random thoughts and nonsense are also welcome if you don't want to ask something.

Small Addendum: No blurry porn, please. Or crisp clear porn. I could barely be less interested and I'm not publicly posting it. Also, I've been online since 1995. I am not clicking links XD

[enberlight]

Interest Query!

I'm curious about what kind of content my art and writing followers are comfortable with and expecting from me.

My ML Mermaid AU, Balancing the Scales, is at a crossroads. Now that intros are handled, Adrien and Marinette will be getting closer. But how close is a question I haven't settled yet.

Do I:

Keep it PG13, no kinky stuff

Fade to black and keep things Implied Only

The above but with the Cut Scenes on my AD account

Just up the rating and bring on the lemons

Similarly, is there any interest in seeing steamy or lemon artwork from me? This would be 3D renders, either in fandom or OC. And aged up obviously. Or is that a Hell No? (Art would end up on my AD Twitter since Tumblr can't even stand exposed forearms.) I would also keep previews on a new AD alt here for those not wanting to see even the crops.

You can answer in the comments or by Ask if you'd rather stay anon.

Thanks!

[enberlight]

Mermay is here! My writing muse is hiding but maybe I can art for Balancing the Scales and my other merfic ideas hmm?

Drop an ask to me over at @caffeinatedmagpie for mermay requests for Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino! I might draw from those :3

(Doesn't have to be official prompts just with one or more of them as mermaids.)

Other Miracuclass mers welcome too! I have most modeled as humans now.

[enberlight]

Do you think Kagome Higurashi is her own ancestor?

I rather doubt it. That would mean that part of her family has a demonic bloodline, though it'd be rather diluted in the hundreds of years since the feudal era. My brain says that'd be troublesome as a priestess or shrine family.

Oddly enough, though, the demonic blood may not necessarily interfere with her purification powers, as her daughter Moroha seems to have inherited them (based on the trailers). Since she's a quarter demon, it wouldn't be impossible for a descendent another 5 or so generations down, thus even less demon, to have purification too. So it's not impossible she's her own greatest gran. Just. Odd and unlikely imo.

(Though it could be a different power Moroha has, since the eps for Hanyou no Yashahime haven't aired yet. And Kagome passing down her own power, undiluted, that many generations? Ehh..)

I find it more likely that she's descended from a relative of Kikyo. Neither she nor Kaede had kids, as far as we can tell from the original series, but there could be cousins. Given her grandfather cares for the shrine around the Tree and Well, an ancestral connection to Kaede's family is likely. At the very least, someone attached to the village that takes over guardianship of the Tree and Well.

Another option is she's related to Sango and Miroku or Kohaku. There's a passing resemblance between Sota and Kohaku. And their family would have a vested interest in guarding the well. But. Kagome's family is priestly rather than hunters. I also don't much care for the "related to Miroku" theory because uh. Grandpa, NO. Bad flirting. Also makes multishipping hecka squicky if she's their great-etc grandkid.

She's not necessarily related to any of the main characters, though. Quite possibly she's just related to a random villager and oh boy did they luck out not dying in any of the multitude of attacks during the series. Maybe they moved in much later.

Or maybe she's related to that kid the demon crow tried to eat and it's a damn good thing she shattered the Jewel. Kid could've been inspired to follow in her footsteps and apprentice to Kaede...

[enberlight]

What would y'all like to see happen in the story or artwork for "Balancing the Scales"? The main plot is set through to the end of the fic, but there's wiggle room for little interactions or how I set up an illustration.

So... What's y'all's wishlist for a fic where Adrien has two mermaids (Marinette and Alya) living in his old bedroom? ...Given, of course, the complicating parameter that Gabriel Agreste has them prisoners in there, so it's not quite a fluffy wacky roomie fic. But I'm certainly making room for fluff and cuddles where I can 😸

For those who are caught up in the fic, I'd like to reassure y'all that things won't get more Yikes than what Gabe pulled in chapter 2. I have reins on him to keep everyone else as safe as possible and won't be focusing on things like that.

Next chapter will feature the girls figuring out their situation. Teaser pic up on @caffeinatedmagpie!

[enberlight]

In this fandom there are way too many people who think Gabriel is a good person overall. I've even read a post where someone thought he treated Nathalie better than Ladybug did Chat Noir just because he seemed worried when Nathalie got sick after wearing the peacock miraculous like... she's his only ally so ofc he's gonna worry. No one else is as devoted and loyal as she is.

Ouch. Let's not even get into the Ladynoir dynamic salt. It is a cartoon, he is over the top, she is over the top, they're a mess, they're kids, leave em alone, they don't have a clue how to Do Feels. They care deeply about each other in different ways, but expressing themselves is a mess. Especially when either is stressed or reacting to deepseated trauma issues.

(Also the characterizations for this show vary from writer to writer, they have their ups and downs. SO DO WE.)

Gabriel and Nathalie... it's clear they care for each other. The depth and nature of what Gabriel feels for her is uncertain. I would have kept shipping it if Nathalie had been in the dark. Or at least didn't look Absolutely Malicious in her supporting role. Blind devotion characters are great! I've written some! Bad guys, too! But ugh. Nathalie I hoped for better :(

Someone please have Gorilla take custody omg. Adrien is not safe there.

How many collectibles do I need to bribe him with?