Anghraine

Characterization poll responses part 2!

The original Tumblr poll got over 500 notes and over 1000 votes, so I can't realistically compile everything, but I did want to include some that I particularly appreciated. I'm organizing them by subject for convenience.

venndaai responded to this post:

LOOOOVE THIIIIS. You did my wife T’Pring justice 😍 and I’m obsessed with this dynamic between her and S’paak!!!

I replied:

Thank you!!! I was nervous about writing her POV out of nowhere, but I adored her in "Amok Time" and wanted to do right by her personality and voice in that episode in the AU context. When I thought about what her role would be in the AU, I thought it would be really interesting to focus on how the tense respect between her and Spock manifests when they have more common experience.

zingsthings said (on 31 Jan):

a) OBSESSED with this concept b) THE LAST PARAGRAPH is very rude and very perfect. but ouch

I replied:

Thank you very much! I love that line in TOS and thought that it'd be really interesting to see how Spock's mixture of composure and devastation would look from outside.

astarreborn responded to this post:

You should flip some of the women toolike city on the edge of forever, and the ingenue from conscience of the king,

I replied:

I've been thinking about this, because I tend to prefer AUs that take a relatively restricted premise and see where the specific consequences of that premise go rather than adopting a whole bevy of changes, but also I can't really see a way around the implicit homophobia without more changes... hmm. I would probably not switch Edith (that romance is more interesting to me as f/f in that cultural context) but Kodos's child being a son makes a LOT of sense, Charlie X would go really differently with f!Kirk unless Charlie is also a girl...etc. 🤔

astarreborn responded:

You could flip yoeman rand just for the fun changes to the enemy within. On further thought i agree with you on edith.

Is it ok if I come back in a few hours with more thoughts? I don't want to annoy you too much, but I really like this idea

I replied:

No problem! I'm delighted anyone at all is interested :)

In response to this post, yavieriel said:

I don't have particularly strong K/S feelings - TOS Shatner has Dad Vibes too strong for me to overcome - but this has been a delightful journey to watch you take.

I replied:

Interesting, I see that more easily from Nimoy than Shatner, but we all feel the Dad Vibes differently, lol. And thanks, haha—I went from "this is just part of the fabric of the universe of me, I'm not passionate but it just kind of IS to me" to "beating my head against the wall to avoid going insane" so fast it feels like whiplash!

yavieriel said:

Oh that is fascinating, Spock is entirely "hot but unapproachable college prof" to me. I can't even slightly imagine him drinking beer while grilling, or mowing the lawn in cheesy tshirts, or coaching t-ball. Whereas I feel like Kirk would be entirely comfortable with those things, and probably somewhat enthusiastic. My own dad's very stereotypical middle class cishet guy-ness is definitely somewhat performative, but it's not insincere, if that makes sense? Which also matches with Kirk's vibes for me.

I replied:

Ah, I see! My own dad is an extremely reserved and intense programmer from LA with zero interest in the various sportsballs and a great value for reason and debate (and board games that require some amount of tactical thinking), and we've always been conspicuously similar and close. Also Spock continually being on the receiving end of microaggressions is pretty true to the ways my dad has been targeted (as a multiracial Mexican-American man), so Nimoy's Spock feels all the more familiar. That said, I think partly the show sexualizes Kirk so much that I personally find it hard to see him as exactly paternal despite the strong Father To His Crew vibes. But I can see that as a way to read, for instance, Uhura saying she finds it soothing to listen to his voice through the intercom when she's nervous—it could be seen as a shippy thing, but obviously isn't intended that way.

My dissertation is in and my advisor responded to my anxious meltdown email about it by congratulating me on the achievement and telling me to get some rest and relaxation if I can.

I feel like both laughing and crying at this point, honestly. It's much too short because, despite the amount of time I've spent on it, I am an extremely glacial writer (probably not news to any of you l o l) and there will be a lot of work in the two-week revision time frame. But I appreciate being told to chill in a very nice way.

heckofabecca responded to this post:

BIRFDAY BIRFDAY BIRDFARY

incognitajones said:

"Still alive, so there" is a Mood

I replied:

Yes, exactly!

turtletotem responded to this post:

Everything about this is amazing.

I replied:

Heeeeh, thank you!

argumate said:

the Best Friends Club! *awkward side eyes at the Insane Cat General Best Friend*

riana-one said:

Catra shrieking at the Rebellion for having issues with their well meaning parental figures *ADOPTION VIBES GROW* Also Catra is Just Murder? Maybe? And hissing at Shadow Weaver.

alias_sqbr said:

I like your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter

[ETA 5/22/2024: I got enough responses that I lost track of actually responding to them all, but I've always found this fannish turn of phrase delightful and particularly when we'd been subscribed to each other's newsletters for over ten years :D]

hermajestythebomb said:

If you ever write it I'd love to read it.

horace-tabor said:

I think that if Catra was with Adora when she met with Glimmer and Bow and the whole adventure after that she probably would have begrudgingly gone with them. Or they might have just won the initial fight and captured them, which could go a variety of ways. Alternatively if Hordak didn't promote Catra she might have defected shortly after, since she is already talking about it when Shadow Weaver confronts her in one of the earlier episodes after Adora leaves.

Granted, Catra would probably be too bitter to seek the rebellion out in that scenario but she could wind up working with them in a variety of ways

venndaai said:

I love this

thoroughlycaffeinated said:

Dude I have so many ideas for this but I’m at work rn 😩

beatrice_otter responded to this post:

In general, from what I know of the fields of psychology and psychiatry, that is ABSOLUTELY the case with pretty much every disorder. The thing that spurs research is not "how much does this disrupt your life/how hard is it to live with" but rather "how much does this annoy/freak out the people around you."

This is one of the reason we need more people with disabilities in the medical field, both in research and treatment.

heckofabecca said:

Fascinating, ty for sharing

not-that-manic-pixie-dream-girl said [on Feb 25th]:

True, i’ve been in two sides and for me depression is 100 times worst than mania/hypomania

When i’m depressed my life literally stops for months. I can’t study,i can’t work, i can’t have sex with my girlfriend, i don’t eat,i don’t exercise,i don’t clean the house , I DON’T DO ANYTHING vs mania/hypomania i can still carry my life,of course there’s bad consequences

[ETA 5/14/2024: I don't know if I responded to any of these people at the time, but I thought the responses were intriguing/pleasant enough to preserve.]

xn3city responded to this post:

Sympathy. That’s the worst.

[ETA 5/14/2024: It's no longer as painful as it was at the time, thankfully, but is certainly unpleasant, so although I can't remember if I replied, I did & do appreciate it!]

brynnmclean responded to this post:

Honestly, speaking as a DM here, players taking the initiative and working out backstory stuff and location details is SOLID GOLD.

I replied:

Oooh, thanks!

[ETA 5/13/2024: apparently they were right! The same DM actually just invited me to collaborate on some world-building points pretty much completely unrelated to my characters! <3]