I Was Rereading Septimus Heap, And . . . Man, I Forgot How Much I Love This Series.

So I guess, arguably, Amelia is the main protagonist of Infinity Train.

That just makes it even worse that we can't get to see the season centered on her

I realized halfway through writing this that parts of it are incredibly cheesy. Then I realized that pretty much everything I've posted is cheesy. Then I decided that I'm okay with that, because I need some cheesiness in my life. So here, have some cheesy fluff (and also some angst)!

When Adrien gets out from under Gabriel's thumb, I imagine he's going to wear a bunch of disgustingly unstylish clothes. I don't mean he'll start wearing styles that Gabriel objects to; I mean he'll start wearing styles that everyone objects to.

If you think this looks bad . . . thank you, that's the point

Alright, here's a survey question for my fellow Plance shippers. Which plot thread do you prefer:

Lance starts flirting with Pidge as he slowly realizes his feelings for her, and she finds it extraordinarily confusing

or

Lance never flirts with Pidge, because he sees her as a friend instead of just a girl, which highlights how unique their relationship is to him

I meant to draw this back in November when I first read the asexual Jasnah chapter, but uh . . . better late than never, right?

Reading the chapter that revealed Jasnah was ace was one of the happiest moments of my life. No joke, I went to bed that night grinning so hard it hurt the next morning. If there was any doubt about it before, Brandon Sanderson is definitely my favorite author now. Ace Jasnah is awesome.

I understand people being a little disappointed she's not homoromantic or 100% lesbian, but just remember that's she's not heteroromantic either--since the only romances she's ever been in (in any iteration of the Stormlight archive) have been with Taln (WoKP) and Hoid (RoW), she's clearly actually infiniromantic--romantically attracted to people who are at least a few millennia old and way too knowledgeable for anyone's good.

(Also, yes, I will be using ace Jasnah as an excuse to draw her exclusively using purple palettes. I mean, I would've anyway because something about her is just purple, but now I have an excuse.)

I was practicing piano and hating the metronome, and then I thought of Ryan practicing guitar and hating the metronome (do you use metronomes with guitar? Surely you do (and if not I just might become a guitarist)) and I had to draw this. It's a pretty crappy comic, but eh

He just seems like the kind of person who hates metronomes, you know? They're so annoying. Restrictive. Frustrating. Distracting. Cold. Un-Ryan.

"The fire in his veins cooled under her rain, and stillness settled over him. Something soft fell into his lap. He held it up and breathed in its scent, sweet and flowery. Marinette.

"He buried his face in the fabric and held it close, imagining he was holding her instead. It hurt to be together. It hurt to be apart. But the hurt felt like a promise, and when she was in his arms he always felt that he was exactly where he was meant to be (the cosmic phenomenon, the whole that made sense). He couldn’t touch her, but she touched everything around him.

"(She was the rain, and she was everywhere.)

"The last chord rang though the room and then faded into silence. There was a rustling sound on the recording, and then he heard his own voice whisper into the microphone: 'I love you, Marinette.'

"The recording stopped. Adrien sat motionless, still hugging her hoodie."

-@carpisuns, "tell me something i don't know'

I don't know why this scene hit me so hard—the entire story is full of scenes that both make me want to sob and smile for the rest of my life, after all. But this one . . . I just had to draw it. It feels almost immoral to illustrate a scene from this story so imperfectly, but I can't do perfect art, so I tried to do emotional art instead. (No it's not raining in Adrien's room, I was just trying to illustrate the metaphor that Marinette is rain, I'm sorry this is so bad Mar, I love this story so much)

Honestly? Agreed. I'm trying to write a recovery sequel to the fic I wrote last night where Adrien actually loses his arm, and . . . I don't know, a prosthetic just doesn't seem right. I hesitate to call it a cop-out or anything, but losing an arm is not the kind of problem a character should "solve," it's the kind of problem a character should "overcome."

Actually, I went on a rant about this to my sister one time while we were discussing character arcs, so I think I can explain why a prsothetic is a bad idea narratively. It sort of is a cop-out, in terms of story. Adrien losing his arm presents a challenge he has to overcome as a character; through overcoming it, he will grow. But if his problem is solved quickly, it's easier for him to pretend he didn't lose his arm. No, obviously it's not like all the challenges are gone—I don't know anything about prosthetics, but I doubt they're perfect replacements for original limbs yet—but the issue has in part been "solved" before he could grow. In terms of character development and story, giving Adrien a prosthetic would be a bad move.

And it's also just bad disability representation, I think? I mean, I hesitate to discuss that aspect of it because I'm not disabled and I don't know anyone who's disabled. (So if I'm misrepresenting anything, please tell me.) But I think it's similar to trying to "fix" an autistic person by making them not autistic—it's toxic, damaging, unjustified, and helps no one.

waitwaitwait i just had an idea

what if plagg can give adrien some kind of substitute for his arm?? like one of those prosthetics but magical? and so to all the civilians, chat noir never lost an arm, because it's covered by the suit.

but if adrien just suddenly lost an arm, no explanation, what would he do?? marinette and gabriel probably know his identity, but what about everyone else?? further cause for identity shenanigans?

tbh!! Despite all of the other “blonde boys that fuck up their right arms and have dead moms and are child soldiers/heroes” having magical or high-tech robotic arms, I actually prefer that Adrien never gets one! I saw someone mention that Max could theoretically build him one, and other people have mentioned miraculous wiz biz, but I think it’s still interesting to have a disabled character whose disability isn’t solved fictitiously.

As for his identity, I imagine that whatever event involving Hawkmoth removing Adrien’s arm landed Gabriel Agreste in prison or death lol. So with no more supervillain to fight, it might not be as much of a concern if people figure out his identity.

Unpopular opinion: Vin/Elend is actually really well written.

Not because of the pining/buildup in the first book, but because of the way the established relationship was written in books two and three. It's rare to see characters together, on screen, in stories. Rarer still to see them having problems that they work through, arguments, doubts, differences, and issues that they overcome because they love each other, even if they're different people. Rarest of all to see love that lets a character sacrifice their loved one for the world as the loved one would want, instead of sacrificing the world for the loved one.