MEME: Reverse Questions

[citycouncil]

Muns: Post here listing all of the characters you play (you might want to list journals, too, just for reference) or are thinking of playing.

Everyone: Ask the MUNS anything about the GAME or THEIR PUPS, because we all know the muns will answer when the characters won't. They can be specific questions ("How does he feel about her?") or general questions ("Why did you choose this pup?", "How do you channel them?", etc.) You can even have pups ask the questions, but ANSWERS are coming from the PLAYERS.

For the last time we did this one, check out the tag.

Comments

[shelightsupwell]

The really wild thing about Shion is that it's like the writers of Blood Altar and Children of Vamfield had a little round table with their notebooks out and a whiteboard, and they said "Okay, brainstorm, what is absolutely everything Stefanie likes in a male character? Don't leave anything out," and then they made Shion.

When I first started reading, I'll straight up say, I paid special attention to Shion. Kim Sunoo is my bias in Enhypen, and I love that kid, and Shion is the character "based" on him (as I've said before, the characters never had that much in common with the members of the group, but they do have a couple little traits or interests that get tied in as easter eggs). And Shion shares a few of the things I love in Sunoo — his sunshine personality that sometimes simmers over into sass and snark, his enthusiasm — so I really enjoyed him, even though he really doesn't have that much screentime in TBA. He's very present and he gets some amazing moments, but the other brothers are all very much secondary to the love story between Heli and Sooha. But everything we do see of him — there's not just the cheerfulness and the sass, there are all these underlying moments of this being a guy who's hiding away a serious side (his talk with Sooha when they're eating ice cream) behind an insanely frivolous and reckless side (saying the wildest shit that he's supposed to keep secret because he does not care because he can lie constantly OR tell insane truths because he knows he can charm anyone into thinking whatever he likes). He's sweet and scheming both, and both parts of him feel equally genuine and both parts feel like a mask, and that's exactly my shit.

And then every single bit of canon that comes my way only validates my instincts. Every single little piece of new information is delightful because, even when I may not have predicted that specific twist, it just feels like "This makes SO much sense with exactly who I understand him to be." Like, man, I love me a spy. I love a hedonistic youngest son who yearns for love. I love characters that hide all their hurt behind bright and sunny extroverted natures, and I emphasize with people who fear they may be too much. The way he's been hurt again and again and swears he'll never care enough to let it happen again, but then he does anyway and gets hurt again anyway. The way he's frivolous and fun but when he makes a promise it's deathly serious, when he loves it's forever. How he seems like a silly little brat and he absolutely is, but under that he's also calculating and analyzing and considering what might actually be going on — he likes this guy so he's gonna go on this ride with him because it's fun and he's not gonna agree with his brothers that Anton seems suspicious, except actually he thinks Anton is suspicious and he's watching him closely. How he always wants all the attention but he understands people so well, taking care of Noa, knowing how to watch over Solon even when Solon rejects that care. He's... elastic. He gets hurt, he swears never to do it again, and then he runs right smack back towards his fears because he can't stop being himself, can't stop caring. And under all that sweetness is someone who will fight to the death for the things he cares about, who is actually and genuinely intensely dangerous, and knows it, and doesn't mind — sometimes enjoys — wielding that.

And I could see that even in TBA but then Vargr and Vamfield just continued to reinforce that again and again. There was no way I was ever gonna get out of those stories without loving him, but it really does feel like he's so geared towards exactly my tastes, so we picked each other, I suppose. I think, no matter how much I loved them all, the only other one I ever felt the tiniest inclination to consider was Solon, but Shion's hold on me was too absolute for anyone else to win.

As for his loudness, it's kind of a relief! I love Jae so fucking much, but he is a very introverted guy with a lot of insecurity and anxiety. He's never gonna be a social butterfly, and that's okay. But it does mean that getting him into situations or making him approach people can be tough. That's never a concern with Shion and I can tag into virtually anything, and it's fun because he could either make a best friend or an enemy because he's so loud and so much and so good at adapting to what's needed of him. It's really fun, so I love that about him.

I have vague ideas about a second item — there's a fountain in Vamfield that I considered having show up in East Hallow if the mansion proved too big an item, but it didn't quite fill the same niche I wanted and certainly not to the same degree of intensity, and it would be a good option down the road. I also thought about his tin of memorabilia, which is representative of yet another thing I love about him; he's always trying to stay detached and move on because he knows he has to, because immortality is a curse and you cannot love things because you will lose all of them, but at the same time, he saves all these mementos of where he's been and who he's been because that matters to him so much. All of that said, we're just over halfway through Vamfield's run, and Shion has proven to be a much, much more central focus in this series. The latest arc is very much about him, so I expect that there will be at least one more thing in the next few weeks that pops up as a potential item, and then the next series (a sequel to TBA) should be starting sometime this year as well. While a sequel is less likely to produce possibilities, it still might, so I suspect that, on top of the three or so items I have in mind, there are many more to come.

I WILL NEVER GET TIRED OF IT. I CRAVE TAGS. I CRAVE THIS CR. And he is the kind of character where every relationship and every thread is gonna be its own thing. Even on his item post, where it's very focused on a specific idea and a lot of the same material is gonna come up, it never feels repetitive for me, so I will never ever tire of it.

[shelightsupwell]

oh my god that's so many words

[campraeden]

I live for this shit om nom nom