#+1 guy who STILL doesn't have a proper story as well

[alanide-arts]

Icon 5/6 for @enlightened-moron

[pomefioredove]

Just read the whole "Yuu gets sold off by Crowley" stories and OMLLL THEYRE SO GOOD XDDD Any chance you could do more on it like if Niege won or if the parents heard about it and also decided to adopt Yuu and Grim?? Maybe the other staff adopting her too or more on Crewel's adoption please???

requests for the crewel ending are in high demand I see...

parts 1 | 2 | 3 | kalim | 'bad' ending | RSA ending

summary: a crewel ending type of post: short fic, mostly speculation characters: crewel ft. other staff additional info: platonic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu, definitely pre-book seven, parents being cringe

If Crewel were allowed to beat Crowley to death with one of his designer handbags, he would have.

...Unfortunately, with the adoption paperwork fees (...and a need for more designer handbags), he regrettably still needs this job.

And he'd like to keep an eye on you while you're still here, too.

The animosity between Crowley and the rest of the staff is unspoken, shared through passing glances and dry remarks at meetings, and though the matter is "settled", in Crowley's own words, no one seems keen on letting it go anytime soon.

The students who participated in the bidding war are subject to months worth of extra homework, harder exams, and worse studying hours from Crewel himself. To teach them a little responsibility, he says.

You, at least, are exempt from his radical new lesson plan. You have enough on your plate as it is.

After all, as soon as the legal proceedings are through and your identity as an autonomous human being in Twisted Wonderland is secured, the "fun" begins.

Your uniforms are tailored and rightly fit, you're given a proper meal plan, even Ramshackle is decorated with a few of Crewel's personal touches. A throw rug here and there, a fresh coat of paint, anything to cover up the rotting interior and turning it into something worthy of envy.

"...Given that Grim doesn't start shedding everywhere," Crewel had said. "Ugh, pets."

The rest of the staff are just as helpful, citing your recent experience with the bidding war as reason to take it easier on you for a while (or for the rest of the semester, really). Trein gives you less homework, Sam "accidentally" doesn't ring you up a few items...

It starts to feel more like the entirety of the staff has adopted you.

Not that you mind, of course. This is the closest thing you've had to family since... well, since coming here.

There's just the one thing, though.

"I don't know why you waste your time with those untrained pups. Honestly. The idea of their tacky shoes touching the rugs in here..." Crewel sighs. His eyes turn to you. "You know, I hear Vil Schoenheit has been looking for someone to take to his next shoot..."

Ashton chuffs. "Don't be ridiculous, they need someone who's strong enough to take care of them! Kingscholar is a real star once he gets motivated,"

"Please tell me I didn't just hear that," Crewel massages his temples. "And might I add, I'm their father, not you. I give the blessing. You're more like the unwelcome uncle crashing the family barbeque."

Grim nudges you with his elbow, muttering a quick yikes before darting out of the kitchen. You groan in embarrassment. "Guys..."

"I'm just thinking about what's best for them," Ashton says, puffing out his chest. "They're at an age where they're going to start thinking about dating, and we want them to make good choices."

"Guys,"

"Exactly. Schoenheit is a perfect gentleman, a master in my class, and has the style to back him up. Kingscholar can demonstrate occasional intelligence, but he's still another housecat," he shudders. "The shedding..."

A tired voice from the doorway interrupts their tense back-and-forth, much to your relief.

"Goodness, the two of you, at this again?" Trein scoffs, taking a seat at the table. "This conversation is highly inappropriate. You shouldn't be controlling the poor thing's romantic prospects, if they even have them. When the time comes, the choice will be theirs to make."

Crewel huffs, rolling his eyes and leaning against the table. Ashton kicks his feet. And neither utter another word.

"Good," Trein says, then clears his throat. "Ahem. But that's not to say that we can't offer our guidance. That Vanrouge did quite well on the last History of Magic exam..."

You groan.

[sawpaingsheadband]

CD Drama Translation: Story 1

Setting: one of those VERY EXPENSIVE grilled meat restaurants, where they serve you meat to grill at the table. I am assuming it's set before the Kengan tournament starts, it doesn't seem like Cosmo and Seki know Ohma and Kazuo yet. Also, Cosmo here seems to be still not of legal age for alcohol, so still 19 years old.

Main characters: Yamashita Kazuo, Tokita Ohma

Secondary characters: Sekibayashi Jun and Imai Cosmo

Original video here, minutes 0:00 to 6:55

Translator's notes: the transcript had some things missing, so I had to keep my ears sharp for any piece of dialogue (I am considering actually writing the person who uploaded the original video, but I am kind of chickening out of this at the moment). Nevertheless I could understand pretty much everything, although I have had some troubles understanding what Yamashita Kazuo is saying when he shouts/panicks, but nothing I couldn't understand with a bit more listening. I apologize if there are inaccuracies, both Japanese and English are not my languages, but I have tried my very best.

Translation under cut!

Pleased to meet you, everyone.

My name is Yamashita Kazuo. Today I have treated Ohma-san, who has been helping me out, to a meal and for this I took him to a grilled meat resturant.

Kazuo: Ex-ex-expensive!!! What are these prices??? Is this a luxury restaurant*??? Dammit, I completely made a mistake in choosing this shop, how stupid of me, I went to the wrong restaurant!!!

Ohma: What's up, Yamashita Kazuo, you look gloomy.

K: Oh, oh, no problem at all! Ohma san, feel free to order your favourite things! (I can't say no to Ohma san now that we are here... Well, it's fine, it's a pity that I just received the winter bonus... Eh, it's fine, maybe, it's fine...)

O: Oh really? Then let's order quickly. For now, I'll have 10 servings each of the specials: short ribs, special quality roast, and special quality skirt steak.

K: *panicking/sarcastic* Let's steal a 300.000 Yen car and eat all of the meat then!*

O: Since I'll try and eat different kinds of meat, I will order the ones I like.

K: And you'll have 10 sdervings each...

O: why? Do you want me to make 20 servings of each?

K: Nonono, it's all good! (Ooohh, I wonder if I'll make it to summer...)

***.***

Cosmo: hey, have you heard, old man? THe guy next to us ordered 10 servings each of the short ribs, special quality roast, and special quality skirt steak! What a wonderful meal!

Seki: Ooh, he's quite the misunderstood* guy! He's suited to be a Pro Wrestler!

C: oh, old man, pro wrestling is all you think about! Anyway, let's order something else!

S: Alright! Then we'll order 10 servings of misuji and 15 servings of round tip*!

C: YEAH! It's becoming a feast!

S: you're young, so eat a lot*!

***.***

K: So that was it... We ordered a total of 30 servings. I felt like reaching the gates of Heaven.

O: It wasn't a lot... I really should have ordered 20 servings of each.

K: YOUUU!!! How much do you intend to eat?!

O: Alright, let's order some more, Yamashita Kazuo. What do you want?

K: uuuhhh... I'll take rice, kimchi, namul*...

O: What? Don't you want meat?

K: Ah... Well... I'm on a diet...

O: You should have a proper meal Yamashita Kazuo. Alright, I am encouraging you to have meat!

K: wait, WAIT! Ohma san, I am REALLY okay!

O: this Chateaubriand they have is nice... Are you eating Yamashita Kazuo?

K: Eh? Chateau- Chateau- Chateau- Chateaubriand??? Also, yellowtail is the rarest of fillet meats! I am not a master though! I'm just repeating what I read in a gourmet magazine.

O: for now shall we order 20 more servings?

K: really are you ordering 10 servings more...

O: well, I am tired of eating red meat. I will order 10 servings of rib eye.

K: Nevertheless... Why such big servings? Are you afraid of lo0sing meat?

O: Come on, Yamashita Kazuo, eat up!

K: oooohhh the bonus... My bonus... is gone...

***.***

C: hey old man! the man next to us is ordering meat by kilos!

S: Ahahahahahah isn't it glorious?! I want him as my student!

C: Ah, you only think of this! More importantly, we ate all the meat!

S: Hey Imai! Don't lose to the man next to us! I'm ordering 2 lots of tongue* for us!

C: 2 lots?! This is the first time I see someone order this much!

S: THere's already ribs on the plate! And also! Gimme the beer!

C: YAY! There is a lot of meat!

S: Keep eating, you'll become big! Ah, but no beer until you are of legal age!

C: Old man... You are so funny, but also very serious at times.

***.***

K: Uuuhhh... The mountain of meat has gone... I put on an aeon of kilos... How does this man's stomach do...

O: hey, have you heard, Yamashita Kazuo? The people next to us have ordered in BLOCKS.

K: I arrived at a yellow belt, yet Ohma san looks like a machine...

O: Alright, should I order more?

K: WAIT; Ohma san!!!

O: what's the matter, Yamashita Kazuo?

K: well, eating a lot is not good for your body, right? So shall we stop here?

O: oh, is itlike that? They say you should be full only at 80%.

K: I am saved... It was a close one... Somehow I made it...

O: So we can order desserts.

K: Eh?

O: so I will order 1 kilo of snowballs and 1 kilo of senmai

K: what, a kilo of snowballs and senmai as desserts?

O: Also, Japanese high-quality stone-grilled bibimbap, special cup, and top-quality wagyu beef nigiri.

K: ehhhh...

O: Ah, there it is, Yamashita Kazuo, ice cream too.

K: *heavy breathing*

O: feel free to take anything.

K: Farewell... Winter bonus... *wind noises*

____

*: the word is mise/ten, which means shop, but you would not define a restaurant like a shop, I think.

*: this one was a bit nebulous, I guessed it was like a way of saying that the whole thing was a robbery lol

*: the word is "gokai", which actually means "misunderstood". I guess Seki here is trying to compliment Ohma, so I don't think he's meaning it in a bad way.

*: misuji and shintama (round tip) are both cuts of beef.

*: the word is "dondon", which means "continuously"

*: I believe namul is a Korean dish, pls correct me if I am wrong.

*: another cut of meat, specificallyt the animal's tongue. I personally don't like it, but if you do it makes very good meals.

[seyaryminamoto]

Fic-to-Art #38: Ozai carries Azula to the physicians' wing

This has been done for A WHILE now, but I didn't post it because the past days have been chaotic and not just on a personal level. For one thing, I really wasn't eager to drop this when people were losing their shit massively over the liveaction and its recontextualization of Azula and Ozai's dynamics, I didn't look forward to releasing this just to be told that whatever I've done in my story is somehow wrong, sooooooooo... that held me back, for a few days.

Then? The AI-Tumblr deal started to be talked about and I may or may not have freaked out about that too. Sooo... this is the first glazed and nightshaded piece of my creation, as consequence. The original, clean and proper version is available in my Patreon. Is this me being a dick to Tumblr-only people? Unfortunately, it very much isn't, I'm not trying to say that if you want the best iterations of my art, you should pay me for it... this is squarely, entirely, at staff/the CEO's feet. Obviously, there's the insecure side of me that goes "what makes you think they'd steal YOUR art when there are so many better artists out there!" but ultimately? AI is about taking everything en masse. It isn't a matter of developing a criteria about who makes the better art... it's just taking EVERYTHING and trying to repurpose it in whatever twisted way it needs to. Therefore? I think my choice is more of a matter of caution than anything else. Once AI bullshit dies out (and I really hope it does), we may just return to the same level of quality across all my accounts. For now, it is what it is.

ANYWAY! Point is this artwork is very much what my Patrons happened to vote for this month, a very shocking scene where Ozai reacted in the least foreseen way to Azula being attacked. Azula's confusion/terror comes from a place of not knowing what to do and being powerless to stop her father even if she doesn't feel comfortable with his help... but for once, Ozai isn't making a dreadful choice that will only devastate his daughter. He's actually worried about her health... and feeling genuine guilt over what landed her in the situation where she was in danger in the first place. Yes. I like me my complex Ozai who finally learned actions have consequences. He bores me to death otherwise :') if anyone STILL doesn't know that this whole situation is Gladiator-specific, then I shall clarify fully: this is artwork based on my fic. It's about a story that has been developing these characters for ALMOST ELEVEN YEARS now. It has nothing to do with whatever's going on in canon or in the liveaction, the scene in question was written almost two years ago and the artwork proposed and voted for several days before the liveaction aired. Ergo: there is no connection between this and that. Nor am I saying through this piece that Ozai is a good father. He is not. He can still be an interesting character to work with on a narrative level anyway :')

Alright. With that out of the way, hope you guys like this piece! The big one I haven't posted is ALSO finished, also glazed and nightshaded, but I think I might just end up posting it on the 26th if I don't have time to do anything big for our eleventh anniversary... yep, I'm so busy I don't even have a huge project in mind this time. Also? I have a lot to write and I'm finally happily writing it, and I would like to continue doing that...

Anyway! If you would like to be part of the creative process behind this piece, as well as see it in its proper, OG, less color-bleeding clunky version? A $1 Patreon pledge gives you the chance to join in suggesting prompts, voting for them and reading Gladiator snippets 6 days before a new chapter is released!

[shinysamurott9]

I've had Ciel on my mind today and whenever I think of her, I can't help but think just how fucked her story and life is.

Seriously, she's born as a test tube baby, genetically engineered to be more intelligent with the express purpose of making better weapons and reploids for the dictatorship that created her, likely meaning she didn't have proper parents and no real childhood.

She created Copy X, who then went on to commit straight up genocide, so you know that definitely took a toll on her. Oh yeah she was 9 when she did this. So yeah can't imagine that helped with coping.

She then goes on to try and find redemption by forming the resistance to save reploids that her creation wants to exterminate, becoming the enemy of effectively all of what remains of society as a result, with people constantly dying around her for being part of her organisation. It's to the point where they are on the verge of collapse by Zero 1, this desperation being the whole reason she tries to find Zero in the first place.

During this whole time, Ciel is also working to try and create an entirely new, renewable and clean energy source on the faint hope that Neo Arcadia would cease their genocide of the reploids. An incredibly daunting task for a single person to say the least. Unfortunately it goes completely down the drain by Z3 where giving Neo Arcadia, or really at that point Weil, the Ciel System is completely out of the question. It was naive beforehand of course but it just sucks for her that all her time and effort spent working on the system in hopes of bringing a peaceful resolution basically meant nothing in terms of resolving the conflict with Neo Arcadia at least.

Oh and this was also after the guy who she handed command of the resistance to, massively escalated the conflict with Neo Arcadia, got a bunch of their soldiers killed only for him to eventually go crazy and have to be killed himself. So yeah I can't imagine that was great for her.

Honestly laying it all out like this Z4 is comparitively not nearly as bad for her, until right at the very end where the conflict that she is at least partially responsible for sparking is ended almost entirely by Kraft nuking Neo Arcadia. Fun fact according to the Drama Track, Vile's Incident, included in the Z4 Remastered Tracks CD, Kraft canonically killed approximately 20 Million people when he hit Neo Arcadia so yeah make of that what you will.

And of course after all that, Zero goes up and destroys Ragnarok and himself along with it. We see how grief stricken Ciel is in the game but honestly, listen to the Drama CD version of Zero's final monologue and hearing Ciel's scream shows just how crushing this is for her. Seriously her voice actress screams like part of her soul is being destroyed in that moment.

Honestly considering she goes through everything she does here, well before she even properly reaches adulthood no less, it's a genuine wonder Ciel isn't just completely broken by Zero 4. Worst part is it doesn't even stop after that, shit keeps happening and by the time the ZX era rolls around she's completely MIA, likely still alive through cybernetic enhancements so she's old as hell now and is forced to pretty much exile herself clinging onto the vague hope that the biometals she created will be found and used by an actually good person.

[trappedinafantasy37]

Act 2 of my Shadowheart origin has officially come to its conclusion and so it is time to update the ongoing story. In case you missed Act 1, read about it here.

WARNING: this gets pretty long. Again, it's a story. Also, some things are gonna be a little outta character and involve my own head canons as I try to fill in the gaps of what isn't directly said in the game.

MOONRISE

Rolling up to Moonrise, Shadow was ready to finally get some answers as it seemed to be the origin of the tadpole that is wriggling around in her skull. She may also have the opportunity to finally face the Absolute, which is seemingly a much greater threat than she initially realized. What she did not expect to see was Minthara being put on trial by a General Ketheric Thorm. Here, Shadow is a little conflicted.

Shadow still harbors immense guilt over what happened at the grove and Minthara is the one who led the charge. But, Minthara was merely a soldier following orders and she followed them faithfully, something Shadow can understand. But, it is also Shadow's fault Minthara is on trial. After all, Minthara's mission of securing the Prism was only a failure because Shadow purposefully hid it from her. The tieflings are all dead because of her actions, she's not about to let Minthara die too. She can't have more blood on her hands. That and she owes Minthara for giving her the mind shattering orgasms.

After the trial, dispelling of some Goblins, and getting an update to the main quest from Z'rell, Shadow makes her way into the dungeon so that she may rescue the paladin. And, of course, she helps Minthara with killing her tormentors. Shadow has to then do some excellent word smithing to convince the guards to just let her leave and walk out of Moonrise with a fugitive.

Seeing and understanding the Absolute for what it truly is, Minthara decides she wants nothing to do with the Absolute any longer and would like to join the woman that she prayed to and who saved her from certain death. Minthara is desperate for Shadow to let her join in on her crusade. If Shadow doesn't agree, Minthara would have her mind wiped and turned into a thrall. She would rather die! And, even if she did survive the Absolute, she has nowhere else to go and Shadow is, ironically, the only beacon of light in the dark for her. Thankfully, Shadow let's her join her on her crusade against the Absolute.

Promptly after joining, she makes a visit to Withers (who calls her maidenless haha) so she can get a respec and become a Rogue Paladin. By now, Minthara is an oathbreaker twice over. By joining the Absolute, she broke her oath to Lolth, even if it was against her will. By leaving the Absolute, she has broken that oath as well. Now, she takes up a new oath, but it will not be in any gods name, not after the gods have tormented her and abandoned her in her greatest time of need. No, she takes her new oath in Shadow's name instead and swears bloody vengeance against all those who loyally serve the Absolute. Now the cleric and her loyal paladin march outta camp to take on the Absolute together.

The two explore the Shadow Lands and fight many threats side by side. Some of their misadventures include:

Protecting that, eugh, cleric of Selune, Isobel, from Marcus' ambush

Talking Gerringothe Thorm into handing over all her money and quitting her job

Talking Thisobold Thorm into drinking himself to death

Talking Malus Thorm into being a proper mentor and allowing the nurses to stab him to death

Fighting off a shambling mound

Made this really weird guy with his pet bird stab himself

Killed the warden in Moonrise and cleared the prison, saving some Gnomes

Also went on a super secret stealth mission and cleared out most of Moonrise

THE GAUNTLET OF SHAR

Eventually they work their way to the Thorm Mausoleum and discover the Gauntlet of Shar. Shadow is ecstatic as she may be able to finally achieve her destiny, and Minthara is more than eager to help. After all, the power of a Dark Justiciar is legendary!

Once completing the trials, Shadow makes one final prayer to Shar. Of course, Minthara has her reservations about Shar. The Nightsinger is nothing but a poison and worship of her is self-indulgent. Clearly, it hasn't done Shadow any favors as Minthara can tell that her Sharran worship forces her to repress herself and fills her with self-pity. She also has a unique antipathy to Shar given the immense similarities to Lolth. However, Shar does have a few admirable qualities. One of them being the ability to grant Shadow the power of a Dark Justiciar.

They make their way to the heart of Shar's domain, the Shadowfell, and learn what the final test is that awaits Shadow. A woman trapped in a soul cage, the last Selunite. Now, Shadow doesn't know what to do. Surely, this woman, this Nightsong, doesn't deserve to be killed. But Shar is in Shadow's ear telling her to kill the caged woman. It also doesn't help that Minthara is on the side telling Shadow to kill the Selunite so that she may achieve her destiny.

Minthara may dislike Shar, but she will grant Shadow a power that they sorely need in their fight against the Absolute. And Minthara has no problems with gaining power. It is just a shame this power would attach Shadow to Shar forever, but so be it. Shadow completed the trials honorably and this is the final test! Shar is more than willing to embrace Shadow as her Dark Justiciar and grant her the power of one. Minthara does not want Shadow to back down now.

In an unexpected turn of events for everyone involved, Shadow throws the spear into the endless storm of the Shadowfell. The grove is dead because of her. What is the point of this "grand destiny" if it only leads to death? Look what it did to Ketheric. Look at the Shadow Curse! Shadow doesn't want to be responsible for any more pain and suffering in the world. After all, her guilt saved Minthara's life, someone who has been nothing but protective and loyal to her. Why stop here in front of the Nightsong? Minthara isn't happy with the loss of potential power, but she sees wisdom in Shadow's decision as it means she will finally be free of Shar's poison. That and, well, she's starting to grow a little fond of the half-elf and cares about her well being.

Unfortunately, disobeying Shar also means begging for her wrath. In response to Shadow's disobedience, the Nightsinger sends an indescribable pain throughout Shadow's body. There is no lesson to be taught here, it is just pain for the purpose of inflicting pain. Although Minthara feels that Shar is right to punish Shadow for her disobedience, even she feels that Shadow does not deserve this level of torment and Shar was too quick to discard her. She can sympathize with Shadow's situation given a similar thing happened to her with Lolth and the Absolute.

But there is an internal struggle happening within Shadow. She has been devoted to Shar her entire life, or so she thinks. Shar is the only thing that she has known. By turning against Shar, surely Shadow should have lost all of her clerical abilities. But, they are still there. A small part of her mind knows why she still has her clerical abilities and who is powering them, but she does not want to confront that reality. So, for the time being, she just ignores the fact that she has been embraced by the warm light of the moon.

RAID ON MOONRISE TOWER

Now time to take on Ketheric Thorm. The fight through the tower would have been a bitch, but Z'rell was the only one who showed up on the big day! Apparently, a pair of unknown and sneaky elves made their way through the tower and killed everyone a few days prior. How weird!

They finally rush to the top of the tower with Jaheira as a temporary ally to finally fight Ketheric. Since Shadow had done some snooping earlier, she was actually able to convince Ketheric to stand down and surrender. Minthara was in the back absolutely seething over the idea of showing Ketheric mercy. He doesn't deserve mercy! Not all that he has done to her! She is on the verge of having a fucking aneurysm cause Shadow is being merciful and at the worst possible time! But she will do what Shadow wants. But, Dame Aylin swoops in and starts a fight anyway, much to Minthara's delight! And of course, Minthara absolutely humiliates Ketheric and forces him to retreat back into his tower.

Shadow and Minthara finally explore the Mind Flayer colony where it is clear to Shadow that Minthara is not having a good time. But, Minthara is going to pretend like she's not having some serious flashbacks. She doesn't want Shadow to see that level of vulnerability in her. Not when they still need to find and kill Ketheric. Now just isn't the time for Shadow to think she's soft and weak. So, instead of talking about herself, she instead decides to provide some lore about the colony itself to redirect Shadow's attention away from herself.

Descending further into the colony, they finally reach the lower level where they eavesdrop on a conversation between Ketheric, some random dude who is neither young or handsome, and Orin, Minthara's tormentor. Of course, Minthara could say something, warn Shadow how dangerous Orin is. But she can't. Poor girl is having a silent panic attack over seeing her tormentor again.

Eventually Orin and the greasy guy leave with some weird throbbing brain and it's just Ketheric alone. Shadow goes up to confront Ketheric and gives him one last chance to surrender. Overwhelmed with his own guilt and fears that he can never repent, Ketheric falls back into a brine pool and functionally kills himself. And out pops Myrkul. It was a hard fight, but with the assistance of her fellow paladin, Dame Alyin, Minthara is able to land the killing blow on Myrkul and, by consequence, Ketheric.

Taking a victory lap, Minthara sits on Ketheric's throne and overlooks the rest of the tower. It may have been a few months and a little bit of blood, sweat, and torture. But she has finally eradicated the inhabitants of the tower and conquered Moonrise. Too bad she can't take the victory back home to her house. But, she can still enjoy this moment.

With the revelations of the new information they discovered about the Absolute, Minthara hatches the big brain idea with all 8 of her intelligence points of conquering it and taking it for themselves. With the power of the cult and the elder brain, they can reshape the world to their hearts desires. No more will they ever have to fear being tormented by the gods like Lolth or Shar. As Absolute, they would be gods in their own names and these other petty and vindictive gods can no longer hurt them or meddle with their fates. They would be the masters, the writers, of their own destinies and they will have the power to kill all those who dare interfere. Obviously Shadow is opposed to this as she'd rather destroy it and rid themselves of the worms in their heads. That and Shadow has never been one for power. Minthara is not happy with this response, but she is confident that she will change Shadow's mind about it soon enough.

Now that things have calmed down and Ketheric is finally dead, Shadow meets with Dame Aylin and Isobel back at camp. Aylin decides to show Shadow the truth of one of her oldest memories, and the truth that Shar did not want her to see. That she was kidnapped from her home. That she was fed lies her entire life. And, most importantly, that she has parents and that they were still alive!

There are still doubts swirling within Shadow's mind, but there is an inescapable truth. She has been embraced by Selune. But why? Shadow didn't ask. And a part of her still struggles to fight against the Sharran indoctrination that has been beaten into her. A part of her still sees Selune as the enemy. And yet, Selune embraces her, even if Shadow is not willing to embrace her back.

Even if she isn't ready to embrace Selune, Shadow still wants to put some distance between herself and the god who now only lives to torment her. As a symbolic gesture, she cuts and dyes her hair in the colors of the Moon with the sole intent of telling Shar to go fuck herself.

Minthara thinks about her journey thus far and everything she's done with Shadow. Since their first night after the grove raid, Minthara hasn't been able to get Shadow out of her mind. And out of pure desperation, she prayed to her, begging for Shadow to save her when she needed to be saved. The gods ignored her, tortured her, and left her to die. Shadow did not.

She has been the only person on the surface that has accepted her and appreciated her for who she is and does not hold any judgment against her, despite any disagreements they may have about the gods. And in her time of need, Shadow came and saved her. When she prayed to all the gods, begging for just one of them to help her, Shadow was the one who appeared before her. How can she do anything but worship her cleric?

But Minthara has been down this road before with another cleric in her old life. She does not want to make the same mistake again. So she asks to see into Shadow's mind and learns fully that Shadow will never hurt her, betray her, abuse her, use her, or abandon her. This is a new feeling for Minthara as any previous relationships in Menzoberranzan never had this kind of guarantee. For the first time, she has found someone she can put her full trust and faith in. She has found someone that she can truly be open and vulnerable to, confident that any vulnerability she may feel will never be turned against her.

From Shadow's perspective, Minthara is also someone who hasn't judged her for any of her misdeeds either and has always stood by her side. Even when Shadow was overwhelmed and drowned in her guilt for her actions at the grove, Minthara was right there to comfort her through it all. Even with their little disagreement in regards to rejecting Shar, Minthara was still right there. Even when they disagreed on how to handle Ketheric, Minthara was still right there. Even when they disagreed on what to do with the Absolute, Minthara was still right there. Minthara can disagree with any decision that Shadow can make, and Minthara will still stand proud right next to her, fighting in her name. Shadow has never seen this level of loyalty and devotion from anyone, at least not that she can recall. How else can she feel anything but adoration for her paladin?

Thanks for reading my story! Act 3 is underway and, oh boi, I'm already feeling the Act 3 dread. Not to mention, the Elden Ring DLC has finally arrived, so it may be some time before I get back to Baldur's Gate. But, once I wrap up Act 3, I'll get to writing the story and provide the final update as well as the epilogue. As per usual, I will still provide my mini progress updates.

<Act 1 | Act 3 >

[chilldust]

Dreamflower Original Story MASTER POST

This post is a collection of facts and information about my original story universe, "Dreamflower", and the main storyline soon to be published on AO3, titled "May I Love You".

The post will be divided into sections under the cut, first section includes the basic synopsis and facts about the main characters and the environment. After each published chapter, any new characters introduced will get their own little section and a possible visual sketch of their character.

Dreamflower universe is very loosely based on my FNAF Animutant AU, but many things are made and flexed out to be so much different that this is a completely original story at this point, despite the main characters sharing some similarities with Sun and Moon from FNAF-

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Synopsis of the story:

Humans have always been afraid of things they aren't familiar with. When a new type of subspecies of humans started to appear after the late 60's they were terrified. Theories of alien invasion or the devil's advocates taking over the earth slowly, members of this new species, Animutants, were denied regular human rights, and often forced to live outside major cities, or sometimes even killed as a form of funded euthanasia.  Solros Ellis is a young adult who, despite being a human, has never had an easy life. Growing up in extreme poverty, bullied until he dropped out of school, abused by his alcoholic father, Solros has only wished for freedom. One morning, Solros wakes up to a new reality: he has turned into an Animutant overnight!  Learning what could possibly happen to him if he stays in the city, Solros runs away from his old life and meets Luan Costello, a guy of his age who was born as an Animutant, denied basic human rights and lived his whole life feeling like a burden to those around him. With Luan's help and kindness, Solros is getting adjusted to his new life as an Animutant and healing those wounds his old life left on him.  Will the difficulties of being considered something less than a human bring Solros just another set of unfortunate events, or was his mutation written in the stars so he could meet with Luan?

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Plutonia:

The story takes place in a made-up country called Plutonia.

Plutonia is an island country. It has its own indepedence, but works as a constitutional monarchy under the English Crown, just like Canada. 

On the world it's located underneath Newfoundland island, close to the North-East coast of the US.

Both Solros and Luan were born in Duskfort City. Solros lived there until his transformation. Luan's family lives up to the North in a small town called Bluebell. 

You can read more facts about the country from here.

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Main Characters:

More info about Solros:

More info about Luan:

Side characters (Luan's family and Solros' parents):

Other characters will go under the respective chapters they first appear in!

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Chapter 1:

Summary:

Luan Costello is an 18-year-old young man, who will soon graduate from high school, just waiting for his life to start. Except he has never gone to a normal school, has no real friends and is haunted by the fact he feels like a burden to his loving family. There's nothing wrong in his life, other than the fact he was born as an Animutant and denied a lot of basic rights in human society. Yet, he feels like something is still missing. An opportunity, maybe love; something that would make his life have a proper meaning. But he rarely leaves his house, doesn't spend time with people of his age, reads books and writes poems all day long. Is he really expecting his destiny just to walk up to his house and knock on his door? Well, guess what...

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[fins0up]

GRAAAHHHH I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE MINECRAFT MOVIE I HAVE TO I HAVE TO!!!

(Small disclaimer: I don't blame any of the underpaid and overworked writers & animators. They deserved better than this slop, I'm sure of it.

like the general public, I too despise the trailer. Let me just start with the trailer itself.

1.) Love how you can tell where the fucking green screen is. /sarc. Also the line "This guy is such a toolbag" they give her feels not only millennial, but fucking stupid jesus christ. You could've made a block joke there like. "...This guy is such a blockhead." "Yeah everything's made of blocks here." Or something AT LEAST TRYYY GUYYYSSS...

2.) The artstyle I know everyone talks about it but the FUCKING ARTSTYLE OH MY GOOODDDD IM DYING why has literally no one talked about the wolf though LIKE???

why is the wolf's body literally discord shaped. Why is Built like That. What the fact did they do to you??? Like, I just... I hate the combination of the realism and the blocks like??? JUST MAKE IT FULLY BLOVKY???? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIIIISSSSS GOD it's so fucking uncanny I hate it. I hate it so.

3.) Love the whitewashed Steve /sarc. Fr though, are we surprised? I hate that Jack Black of all people is playing him like guys that was a joke people was making. Are y'all able to understand jokes? Or understand what a pos Jack Black is? Jesus fuck gamers he's not only ableist (supports Autism Speaks) but a zionist as well. But besides that Steve feels like. Hold on.

Look at Steve. If he actually existed in the real world, I have a feeling he would be muscular (because he mines, builds, + farms like all day), and probably somewhere around his 20's-30's. You're telling me that Jack Black, an actor + musician who's in his 50's. Like, this isn't to say that Steve wouldn't have some tummy fat at all, he probably would! But like... Jack Black just doesn't... feel like Steve at all. Jack Black is like the exact opposite.

There's just like this... massive, icky vibe about the entire trailer that makes me hate it. I think it's a mixture of the live action "isekai" shit with the like... blocky textures that makes everything uncanny and gross to look at. And it feels like rather than taking the concept and saying "Hey, since the experience is so varied, let's take multiple characters and storylines and take proper care of each to tell a different story of the same game" (like Fallout the Show) they're just like, "Eh... I mean... I'm sure the Isekai trope will work again."

Not only that, but like over all it feels like rather than looking and seeing this game and being able to "laugh with" Minecraft fans (side note: I wouldn't mind Minecraft being comedic, admittedly, a block world is a fucking ridiculous concept. But, I'd still say keep the same sentiment that the game has which is, "You can build your own version of the world from the ground up, you are the master of your destiny") they're looking at it like that one mom from that AITA post and saying, "This is ridiculous and childish. Why do you like this? It's stupid. It's just some game about blocks."

I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that fans can't be picky about videogame movies/tv shows at all. Because I enjoyed the Mario movie, despite some fans hatred of it. I can't ignore the fact that videogame movies tend to be 50/50 on how fans will react to them. But still, really? This is what you guys have to show after 10 years? This is what we get? It feels like a punch in the gut, dude. I hate so much. I can't stop thinking about it.

[glass-bride]

Diabolik lovers Lost Eden Subaru Sakamaki Short Story Translation

Scans and translation review by: @karleksmumskladdkaka

Please keep in mind I'm not 100% fluent in japanese and english, I did my best, but it may have mistakes, feel free to dm me if you find any. Hope you enjoy it anyways.

The World Tree stick roots in the ground of Eden.

This one, as if in order to inform the end of world to me, continues to lose leafs.

I'm realizing it everytime I visit here.

The fear dominates my mind.

Like, that I can't be like the old man... ...

But, no matter how much I've been thinking, the answer is something that isn't coming.

When I kicked the ground while shaking my head, the feeling of fear desapeared a little.

And then, I thought about a woman's face. That chooses me, no matter what.

That vowed to be by my side... my beloved woman.

"But, she hasn't come yet, huh... ..."

Where is she, and what the heck she's doing? While looking up to the sky, i release an indescribable sigh of anxiety.

The woman expected to be by my side at this time usually, ain't revealing her figure now.

Well, whatever, because it's not like she promissed anything.

That's why I don't know what this woman is doing.

That's right, for example, even if she is involved with my other brothers, or if she is in good terms with the founder guys and the mukami family, who have started to visit me excessively at my place... ...

It's not related to me.

"... ... ... ... Shit!"

I don't want to stay in this place for a long time. Just because of this I'm leaving.

After giving this proper pretex, I turn my back to the world tree.

It's not... ... to search for this woman, I got around the surroundings in order to investigate the eden.

"You... were you still doing that?"

"Su- Subaru-Kun... ... !?"

Unexpectedly, I found the woman easily.

The place was at the Eden flower garden.

We frequently visit here to recover the withered plants of Eden.

By looking at the crouched woman's hand, I understood that she was planting in the ground awkward artificial flowers.

Are you leaving me alone to take care of the garden?

As soon as I thought it, my own confined feelings disgusted me.

"Hey, let's go back to the bedroom quick"

"Could you wait for me just a little longer? Since I'm almost finished."

"... ... ... ..."

I see the woman shaking the head and I get terribly discouraged.

In addition,  you can go back before me, she means.

She doesn't know my feelings.

I sit on the ground and give a deep sigh.

Without a doubt, she thought I would end up leaving.

The woman looks at me in a strange way.

"... ... ... ... Because."

"Eh?"

"... ... Because! You're in trance with that thing like an idiot... ... I'm saying that you should be more aware sometimes! (1)"

I wonder if she undertood my intention.

The woman's cheeks turn red for a moment, and she covers her face.

Simultaneously, I fall in self hate.

I didn't mean to say something like that.

The embarrassment controls my mind, and I fell like I want to scape right now.

At this moment...

"... ... !?"

I breath surprised.

The delicate body that was right in front of my eyes untill just before, was now dived inside my chest.

This way, she passes her arms around my back, and grabs my clothes with her thin fingers.

It was so sudden that I couldn't embrace, or push her aside, just kept dazed.

I felt like a really long time was necessary to comprehend the situation.

Could it be, that she wanted to be hugged... ...?

The moment I realize it, several minutes seem to have passed.

While the woman makes a slightly upset face, she turns her eyes towards me.

"... ... Ch. Don't make this face! (2)"

But even this treatment, stirts up her said greed wish.

Overwhelmed by love, I pull the woman inside of my arms.

This way, I kiss her nape.

The woman was moving as if ticklish, so I dropped my lips there many times to immobilize her.

"We're getting back to the bedroom for sure. Prepare yourself to what comes after this... ... okay?"

As I whisper it close to her ear, she looks so embarrassed, but responds to my expectations with nothing but a nood.

Untill some time ago, I lamented my own lack of power, and then got jealous that she didin't pay attention to me, but now it wasn't remaning on the corner of my mind anymore.

I held her hand with strength, and quickly traced the way towards the bedroom.

Now, I just want to feel her.

The warmth, the touch, the voice, the shape... ... I wanted to put my hands in everything.

.

.

.

Translation notes

1 - Subaru used the verb 構えって here which means "posture", I've found an article explaining this word can be used in martial arts as a command to get ready, so I thought that probably he was upset with Yui because if someone attacked her she would be stabbed without time to try defending herself, since she wasn't aware, she wasn't in "posture" to fight.

2 - He uses here 調子 which means mood, and 乗る which is a verb utilized to talk about taking means of transport, if I translated it word by word would end up in something like "don't ride this mood".

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON THE POWER RANGERS COMICS: Billy broke the Grid in a fit of hubris and has now dedicated the rest of his life to repairing it. With this mission he'll - wait, what? the 2016 series is done? This is an entirely new continuity and unrelated story?

Well. Okay then.

You guys voted for it, so here it is - the first of my Power Rangers Prime recaps! So for the most part this new ongoing series is still the source of a lot of speculation. They keep hyping it up as PR's answer to Marvel's Ultimate or DC's Absolute series, as an alternate take on the franchise and characters, and my thoughts on that are........mixed. But putting that aside, the nature of it means we don't really know what is being planned for this or what exactly this will contribute to the franchise overall. We're in completely uncharted territory, and that's both a good thing....and a bad thing.

It's Power Rangers Prime #1!

= So true Rita now go [REDACTED] Elon Musk. oops, spoilers

= omg yay we're gonna see that altered Samurai suit that the covers won't stop showing off a

= oh wait nvm

Mark: there's a baby in this dumpster

= you know before the issue dropped I kept calling Jun a hybrid based on his name and hair but in the issue proper the implication just seems to be he's pure Eltarian (We only see his Eltarian mother, but Valentina mentions having to teach Jun human customs like traffic lights). Other Eltarians in this issue have non-Z names so I think that's just the book choosing to ditch that element of the 2016 Eltarians (which is a very good thing btw) but Jun's the only one with hair (not counting the few beards we see), so I don't know what's up with that. When are we going to hear the Eltarian hair lore

= Nice propaganda Jun did your MOM teach you that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes because political agendas are a cycle)

= If you know me you know I talk down Melissa's romances a lot and unfortunately this intro for Ryan/Valentina has already given me a bad first impression lol

I won't go further because again, first issue, want to be fair, etc. but I legit groaned out loud at the whole "I'M the scary one, I'M the one who taught him the cool moves >:)" dialogue. It's bad enough that Valentina's character introduction boils down to "girlfriend of Ryan and friend of Jun" but her only other bit of characterization is "whoa, the GIRL is the tough fighter who can beat up the boys"? It's tired at this point, I'm sorry. It's low-hanging fruit for a Power Rangers character to know how to fight. I don't care if she's a good fighter if she doesn't have an actual like. greater role beyond a romance. Ryan doesn't get a lot of screentime in this issue either but he does get established as part of the VR Troopers at the very least so we at least know how he'll impact the story, but Valentina literally has nothing beyond her attachments to guys. I hope that gets fixed in later issues, but after what happened to Aisha in Darkest Hour, I'm cynical. Anyway I better move on before I start ranting about how the women were treated in Darkest Hour again.

(also was Kaitlin not Ryan's love interest in VR Troopers or........)

= you need to lay off the comic books, seriously

= So as no one can shut up about right now: the VR Troopers are in this series. And yeah yeah that's really cool and all I guess, but as someone who's never seen the show, I'm genuinely surprised no one is asking......isn't VR Troopers' whole thing that they get their powers and stuff from a digital dimension? aka VIRTUAL REALITY Troopers? Is that going to be the case here? I mean, I guess it must since they're still called VR Troopers, but it just seems kinda out there for this specific use for them. Watch the VR stand for something like.......Velocity Range Troopers or whatever, something more military-esque.

Also going off that these guys are clearly being set up as antagonists (or at the very least foils to the Rangers) and I don't know why more people aren't picking up on that.

= Melissa I'm gonna need you to look me in the eye: DO NOT. HOOK UP. LAUREN AND ORION. PLEASE resist your instinct to hook up every girl Ranger that makes eye contact with a guy and DO NOT HOOK UP LAUREN AND ORION. There's already too many blond white people in this book we don't need them to make more

Orion: your ancestors are from feudal Japan? Then why are you wh

Lauren: please don't ask me why I'm white.

= ah yes, the well-documented 1954 iPhone

= Selena it should have been you.

[shadoedseptmbr]

tagged by @dandenbo, thanks!! <3

How to: Rate your OCs based on how they handle cuddling/being cuddled.

well let's see

Jacen Shepard: 10/10 loves cuddling, loves to be cuddled- out here being a 6'4" golden retriever little spoon anytime someone halfway offers, gives the best good hugs and big guy that he is, is always *very careful* of his strength when he's snuggling Tali but loves when Kaidan nearly cracks his ribs for him, heh.

Scout Shepard: is about a 5/10, she finds it a little undignified but is always willing to offer a cuddle to a friend and discovers she does quite like that Garrus is taller than she is, if a bit spindly, and does a good full body wrap when required Aedan Shepard: hmm. from a 1/10 to a 6/10 over the course of her story. She's just...not *used* to it, doesn't really get it, certainly will fold herself into a pocket of non-existence if one of her hookups tries. Has never offered a hug in her life. Gerte figures out that she's a little like a feral cat; feed her and she might lean against your shinbones before skittering off. Manages to work up to shoulder pats. Kaidan's the one who really breaks down the wall- mostly with his post-migraine need to touch and once she gets that it's acceptable- she's even willing to be the big spoon once in a while Aeryn Hawke (proper kirkwall version) 8/10 will big sister hug anyone who sits still long enough. She and Fenris have a toe tap system but she will be in anyone else's lap in a heartbeat, given time and opportunity. tagging... @threewhiskeylunch @keriweird @faejilly @laelior @nightmarestudio606

or if you haven't done, feel free to feel tagged!

[horizon-verizon]

I think George dont realised what happen to season 2 was a butterfly effects from season 1 yet George still praising season 1, he actually did similar with his complain about Targ sigil, isnt he too late for that? That four legs was already there since season one (Harry Llyod costume), if George still enjoying season 1 and can separate them with his book why can't he do that with the following season they never intent to follow his story btw.

What GRRM was trying to say in the dragons post was what he continues and expounds on in his Maelor/Sophie's Choice post: if you mess with the most critical, moving parts of the plot, you're going to strip the story of its meaning AND empty yourself of logical lines towards future events. that's what anon's referring to.

Well, anon, in that dragons post, GRRM didn't give examples [that had the, in my opinion, very necessary and well warned spoiler] and didn't explain what he meant by "Fantasy needs to be grounded.   It is not simply a license to do anything you like. Smaug and Toothless may both be dragons, but they should never be confused.  Ignore canon, and the world you’ve created comes apart like tissue paper."

What's different now, anon, is exactly what he said in his post, anon: they are messing with VERY CRITICAL MOMENTS that have to do with the end of the war itself; they crossed a particular line in the telling of the story itself, something that should, at all costs, be retained in the show for the ending (Maelor). This isn't about costumes or anything that could be easily reshaped into a "close-enough" storyline, esp bc Jaehaera NEEDS to make it to the end of the Dance and no she cannot replace Maelor. No, she cannot become Aegon's heir; bc the greens were steadfast abt it having to be a boy, having the succession go through males, thus stick to their own guns/reason for going into the war in the first place and going towards their fall. And this part abt Jaehaera, again, is not even the thing GRRM was talking abt out the post.

It's like asking someone to be happy with someone making Nymeria have mostly men instead of women in her group of Rhoynar-rescued; like having the Mountain not kill Elia Martell and her kids, which leads to Oberyn going after the Mountain, which goes into the acceleration of the Dornish plot against the Lannisters going on right now. At least, this is the thing he notes. And he's entitled to expressing what he sees and observes are not-great changes to his story when he see/observes them. As we all are when we're looking at something created for us to watch/read; with him, the actual writer, he has even more "right" to.

In season 1, he also wasn't promised (seemingly) something would happen and then that thing then not happening, as what was the deal with Maelor and Ryan promising Maelor would exist.

the following season they never intent to follow his story btw.

This is conversation of the definition and parameters of "adaptation", but first, GRRM was basically giving us an extended....not metaphor but an extended parallel of what he [the guy who wrote this story for anyone to adapt or not] thinks are the most important elements of the story; and he chose dragon legs likely bc it was one of the most incentivizing amongst many fandoms, he takes great pride in his reasoning for those legs; he wishes to express to his/the show's fans an arm of care and relation towards changes eh doesn't think production or execs should or had to cut or distort BEFORE he he heard of HBO's plans to produce it and when he met with the producers/Condal about it.

Because--before that ill-fated post--from how GRRM writes abt HotD, even when he's positive, it gives off the impression that he's never in the actual writer's room despite how many fans argued that he was and had to have been as an exec producer (that must have been awkward for those fans upon seeing GRRM demonstrate how wrong that notion was). If he's not in the writer's room or has proper authority, all he can really do is sit back and watch the product...maybe a little earlier tha most, but still, he's not involved and he's reacting and thinking about the show.

Anyway, what, anon, do you think entails an adaptation "following" a story? How closely or far from the original plot would you say is "too far", when it finally becomes something that is not the actual story anymore but an invention by those who want to make a completely different story? And does this actually sound like an adaptation? Or a fanfic?

Definitions:

adaptation: a composition rewritten into a new form, or to fit a different medium; a screen adaptation of a novel fanfic: stories written about TV, film, or book characters by their fans (= people who admire them); stories formed from existing, usually published material with a plethora/array of possible interpretations of the source materials present themes, characterizations, etc./the purpose of creating fan material for the sake of personal enjoyment

HotD was always going to be more fanficy sorta thing bc it is a hotly debated section of a history book IN YERMS OF THR MIST INTIMATE OF RVENTS AND DETAILS BETWEEN CHARACTERS; however, like what historians and history books have always tried to do and continue to do so, F&B is container if actual firsthand records as eell as secind hand. There ARE more probable and likely options of situations the history book creates for us to....not "solve" but piece out when it comes to possible biases, and some claims by some narrators are very easy to mark as false.

And what you piece out will be very much a reflection of how you view certain behaviors, characters, ideas, AS WELL AS you actual knowledge of what inspires GRRM, why it does, why we care abt those things (I'm talking real history) what the lore of the world Rhaenyra and the rest are in. I'm talking laws, how some people view some of them and how they will twist them to their own emds. And most of all, as I already said, somethings without a doubt...precisely bc it i IS a history book, happened. And some of those need NEED to be on screen for the end to make any sort of sense the way it was intended to.

But I also think he's hopeful abt Ryan making some script changes from his very rare assertiveness.

I also think that this is all part of a reckoning with the different degrees people are willing to tolerate the "inventive" adaption that really changes the source material that many have not actually read or understood; some want the adaptation to match as close as possible to the orig (a lot of book readers), other don't care how far away the story gets from the org, others are in an undefined but just as variant "middle".

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Your responses to the Stolas/Blitzo debate are… odd. I agree that Stolas is being hypocritical, overly judgmental, unfair, and ignorant of his own behavior- but isn’t that the point of the show? Blitzo’s also messing up in a lot of ways, he takes jokes/insults too far, he has problems respecting boundaries, he’s acting unfairly aggressive and apathetic. But that’s the whole point of the show, isn’t it?

We are only halfway through season 2 of a 3-4 season show, which means we still have sooo much further to go in the story. Therefore, of course the characters are still flawed. If Stolas and Blitzo were perfect and weren’t being flawed the story would be flat and boring- or if Blitzo was the only one making mistakes. Then there would be no show to watch, no?

Also, I feel like, if Blitzo’s allowed to be ignorant, narcissistic, and intentionally hurting others due to his insecurities, trauma (like being overly rude bc he’s defensive, disrespectful of boundaries) AND he’s allowed to make mistakes on his path to healing and redemption-

then so isn’t Stolas? Stolas also had a hard upbringing and an abusive marriage, so there’s many things he flawed in (like expressing proper intimacy, or properly self-reflecting). He’s not as far as Blitzo right now in his journey to be better but he will get there- as Vivzie has said herself. There’s still AT LEAST one and a half more seasons, in which will contain Stolas’s self reflection.

This is also why I think you might have the perspective that the SHOW itself sets Blitzo up as the bad guy. Because 1. Anyone with proper media literacy can also see Stolas’ flaws but more importantly 2. The show is about Blitzo, and at the moment is focused on Blitzo. Therefore we are seeing every side of him, the good the bad and the ugly. We haven’t entirely begun Stolas’ arc (we’ve like… dipped our toes) and thus the show isn’t putting a main focus on anything about him- his mistakes OR his healing. But those things will start to unravel as this season goes on and into the next season.

If you have the opinion that the FANDOM hates on Blitz? Well I can’t really help that, besides saying idk what side of the fandom you’re on. My side very much stays in the middle and admits they are both wrong.

I just feel you’re being too harsh on Stolas and aren’t really seeing the show for what it really is: HALF of a story about two equally flawed individuals.

Thoughts?

You think I'm too harsh. I will be even harsher. The reason why I am harsh on Stolas is because the crew doesn't realize how much Stolas is fucked up as a person and how realistically in life Blitzo would get the heck out of their with that crystal and leave. Yep, no being gaslighted into a relationship based on a facetious grand gesture but just leave that unapologetic bird. The guy said he was trying to make things right but he never properly apologized nor showed he truly understood the gravity of power he had on Blitzo. Also most of all he doesn't understand how condescending and bigoted he was and even when Blitzo spells it out the doubles down and claims Blitzo is the bigoted one. It's projection on his part and shows he still hasn't learned anything while pretending he is. The problem is he doesn't have he narrative harshly hold him accountable. It doesn't try to correct his behavior but gives him new excuses to feel sorry for him as we groan at the narrative's favoritism towards him and how supposedly he's actually this great guy despite that erasing all of season one. Sorry, but Stolas is worse and the show refuses to admit it because they have fallen so in love with him. Also the guy should expect to instantly be forgiven and be sympathetic for it. That is what shows Bojack called out for which is feeling entitled to forgiveness after you didn't do anything to try to properly heal those around him while Blitzo gets wrecked for the same thing. The show is hypocritical on who it wants to punish and who it wants to reward. And it's rewarding a abuser who thinks he's the victim.

[lucabyte]

HOWDY! *slams pile of papers on the desk* i have Inquiries. OKAY SO-

1.) i know the bridge between infurno and purrgatorio is Ali realizing they cant leave, so like, whats pawradisio???

2.) wtf happens ta Ali durin the 'age ???' section of their design timeline. what type cult stuff do they get involved w and how. its haunting me i needa know

3.) whats with the 3 year memory erasing thing in that one ali purrgatorio relationship chart. Really funny chart ive shared it w a few friends but also im staring intently at it like Huh What O_O

4.) what is mymk's final form? is it gonna be written, a comic, etc?

5.) got any music you associate w any mymk characters/ali? besides like, in canon reasons like Chrome more like any songs/artists/lyrics that remind u of anya em :0??

anyway yeah huge fan! also hope ur vacation's fun!

Hehe hi :)

1. We shall get there when we get there <3 my lips are sealed. Though I will say, there are further books by Dante one can animal-pun the titles of... Though they aren't part of the divine comedy..... (Alludes vaguely to plans that will inevitably take me years)

2. Okay so spoilers for Creature Feature, Ali's home setting (and @samhainian's thing) (because this is all a bit of an open secret) but Ali is, as I've alluded to previously, an Antagonist.

Creature Feature is a real world adjacent setting, set in our modern day, only with all manner of monsters and cryptids living secretly alongside humans. Ali lives in Wraithbrook, a hidden town populated primarily by monsters (albeit, most everyone still upholds a disguise, just in case). Being a (very) small town with an effectively captive population.... The post-high-school ennui tends to set in bad for people. Hope you enjoy the family businesses, kids.

So... This leaves the listless vulnerable. And boy is Ali a bit malleable. A trusted figure in their life takes advantage of this, part of an accellerationist group looking to break these confines, having singled them out as candidate for their most recent attempt to mold a magic user into a weapon to shatter the veil. And, well, if you've got a self-hating isolated guy who is predisposed to a bit of Catholicism already... Why not utilise the concept of the antichrist? They will be bringing a world together, in a way... And when you've been around as long as some immortal librarians have, doing a little bit of time dilation in the later stages of indoctrination isn't thaaaaat hard... Sooooo....

(But don't worry. They get better. Eventually. At least they look it. Everything is A-OK!!!)

(as for if purrgatorio is canon to this timeline....? Yes! But in a fucked up way! Can't make it too easy for the little guy....)

3. Okay so I was coy literally a sentence ago but yeah purrgatorio is set dead on like.. at the exact same time MYMK proper *should* start. Thus, it cannot exist at the same time as the main story... Ali's narrative powers keep them from being subsumed by the universe and just becoming a funny animal themselves.

But should a time come where Ali is *gone*, and the world is similar enough to the moments before they arrived? Well, the narrative can just pretend the time hasn't passed! Just, don't think too hard about your count of how many Halloweens and Christmasses you've had doesn't really line up....

(A normal person would simply name Purrgatorio noncanon, but hey, if Ali's whole thing is that they manipulate reality like a Narrative... Well. May as well use it! So once canon is over for both parties, things can start creeping back in. It's needlessly overcomplicated but I'm having fun)

4. Written with illustrations! An Online picture book, I suppose. I was initially damning myself to a comic, but after playing in the space with Purrgatorio, I realised I prefer prose. I'll probably write the thing in whole and then release it bit by bit as I work on the illustrations? I have a working outline as of right now and it's not a super long story lol. But its likely going to come after some practice with smaller projects like my reworking of Hazeclan and maybe Damonquest (name pending) (the latter featuring a cut main character of mymk lol)

So! ETA: a while. But we stay silly

5. OKAY.... so I can't link character playlists sadly since they don't exist (..... Yet.) and I'll stick primarily to our at present Purrgatorio cast.

I am like. Famously bad with identifying songs (<- usb stick full of songs on shuffle in the car as a kid) but I have been trying to put thought into this recently (my gold standard for this being my friend @teddymedley who's so good with character songs I did ask him for some vibe checks for this even)

So these are messy and some are like, inherited from earlier drafts of the characters so can be a bit off but I'll give a handful and their reasonings. (No links or embeds though I'm on mobile and Tumblr might eat my visibility if I do. I'll reply with some though)

[Ali Alighieri]

1. "Here comes the flood" by the Divine Comedy (self explanatory really, that animatic will exist someday I promise. This is THE big one to me, but @samhainian may have a different top spot opinion lol) Bonus: it has a demo version that also fucks supremely

2. "All the angels (demo)" by MCR. (Ali is not the MCR sibling, they're the P!ATD sibling. But I don't listen to panic lol)

3. "If you could save yourself you'd save us all" by Ween (peak "sorry what was that line just there?" song)

4. "In the meantime" by Spacehog (I like Spacehog. Everyone gets a spacehog song yaaay)

5. "Here comes the sun" cover by Ghost (not their style of music at ALL and you KNOW they're contrarian about the Beatles, but grim irony is such a vibe here)

[Chromium Mono]

1. "Manicure" by Lady Gaga (this is such a flippant "because I said so" choice lol)

2. "Let it grow" by Renaissance (this is such a nice cheesy song. I like to think of this as speaking to the actual nice loving guy chrome can be when he's not being a prickly bitch)

3. Kissing Ancaps by Patricia Taxxon (... GOD this song is way too cool or smart for chrome lol. It's a chrometab song to me because of the big words and cynicism. It's too modern and online for them but I'm attached to it... Also it contains a sample from let it grow)

4. "Run away with me" by Carly Rae Jepsen (more vibes based! Love some ms jepsen. But at least has a coherent theme wrt to eloping lol)

Bonus: oh god I really have to finish the voiceclaim video I was making. Premiere kept melting on me but I should probably let the world know chrome sounds like Donald Glover huh. The marshall lee to live action Simba pipeline.....

Bonus 2: @teddymedley suggested "Ratchet" by Bloc Party, with the phrasing "subject matter younger chrome sound older chrome" which I like!

[Tabitha Boss]

1. "Cable Rat King" by Gem Milsom (this one genuinely feels like a solid choice to me. It's polite and tentative and about depressive spirals, and is from the same album as the Number One Main Labyrinthine song, Pipes. That animatic will exist someday too I promise)

2. "This too shall pass" by OK GO (Preferably the brass band version. I think Tabitha would adore their videos, he'd be delighted by the moving parts and generally light tone. Also, Labyrinthine has a different "this too shall pass", being by Danny Schmidt)

3. "When will you die?" By TMBG (goofy song. But you get it.)

4. "Zeroes" by Spacehog (Spacehog again 👍)

Bonus: Jimmy buffet discography. He is living on island time baby

Bonus 2: @teddymedley assigned "Happy Hour" by Eels and I think the strange upbeat lethargic energy fits

[Lavender Wafeu]

Lavender is really funny because I honest to god don't think she listens to much music. This means I barely associate music with her apparently.

However @teddymedley did suggest "Black Rainbows" from Hawaii: Part 2, and I think that's better than any of my previous notes. Those previous notes being entirely the words "Little shop of horrors". She, Knives and Mafioso do also share an association with "Panda Hero" by Hachi but that's more visual to me?

I have however begun associating some Zelda OST tracks with her though... Hmmm....!

[Markus Felidae]

This poor bastard has shed and gained characterisation recently enough to have shook the MCR out of their system.... I don't have all that much for them.

Now. Hm. I think I'd have to go with some very on the nose musical tracks? My mind immediately goes to the opening track to Disney's Notre Dame, and maybe like, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer from Cats? These are such dreadful picks lol. Sorry buddy, characterisation overhaul syndrome. They probably also would listen to P!ATD same as Ali though so do with that what you will.

Bonus: in Markus' earliest iteration over 10 years ago..hrm. long story short, 121 guns is so fucking unfitting but it's lodged there forever lol

[Lupus Felidae]

Lupus is associated in my head with the kind of dub anime opening best codified by 4kids era Pokémon. Like the ideal song here is that one from Yugioh. "No matter what"? That kind of cheese and boyish power of friendship. "OK!!" From the JP endings of anipoke goes here too it's cute to me.

"I can go the distance" from Disney's Hercules is also up there for the same vibes. She's just silly and having fun!

Bonus: "Don't let's start" by TMBG is a Miao song to me, but in relation to her family. So it's also Lupus and Markus' by association.

[Ess Somil]

The idea of an ess playlist is hysterical to me. I feel like it's a Mother 3 battle theme in that man's head all the time. What's your time signature boy.

Anyway, "Numbers" by Neil Cicierega. Since it is overwhelming enough of a soundscape. Or just "Doctor Worm" by TMBG. For that they live in the soil.

.... And that's probably enough!!! This ask is very long now! Sorry it took a while to answer lmaooo. I've been very busy but it's been nice to chip away at during my downtime! Thank you so much for the questions :)

[ut-versotale]

A Trip Down Nostalgia Lane

This AU's been in existence for so long, and the most current iteration is so wildly different from the rest. As such, I felt it'd be kinda cool to show you guys how the AU's progressed over the years. I don't think it's too big of a problem to reveal what the initial plans were for each iteration, what I liked and didn't like, and my thought process behind forgoing the old ones

If you don't particularly care for all that, here's the iterations' major characters lined up. (Iteration 4 I only have revealed Asriel and Undyne, so the rest I've designed so far are silhouetted)

Iteration 0.5

Oh boy, where to begin with this one...?

I number it "0.5" and not "1" because there were only two parts that never even officially released on this Tumblr blog. I did upload Part 1 for an April Fool's joke a while ago. But really, it was only ever present on the TS!Underswap Discord server over half a decade ago.

To put it bluntly, Versotale at this point was just a reskinned Undertale roleswap AU. The personalities, while I tried to keep them intact, were not the main driving force. As such:

Asriel is a silent protagonist (And not in a cool clever way like Kris; I mean just straight-up silent)

The only difference with Undyne as a narrator was noting that Frisk was a human at the first save point

Flowey had a more formal speech pattern but was otherwise barely affected despite carrying Chara's consciousness. They weren't even named Asthana yet.

Frisk... well, I can give my past self this, he certainly made an effort to differentiate Frisk from Toriel. I can't say he did a GOOD job at that, but they certainly were different. Awkward dialogue, though, and not much sense behind why they were the mayor of the Ruins at 13 years old

Overall, you can 100% tell I made this as a young teen. Awkward dialogue, barely any effort put into the concept, unoriginal...

It's pretty easy to see why I forewent this version of the AU. Only two parts were ever made. I must thank @beethovenus who gave me a lot of very helpful critiques, such as giving Asriel a voice and making original sprites rather than using sprite edits, as well as encouraging me to make this Tumblr blog for it. Thus, brings us to what I'd like to consider the first PROPER attempt at this AU...

Iteration 1

Ah, this one... this ALSO lasted only two parts. Can't remember why. But I made a lot more headway on this one. Quality aside, I am happy that I had the guts to try and make original sprites of my own back then, even if they aren't particularly good compared to now.

This was where I really attempted to make the characters act noticeably different. Though there were still quite a lot of problems, some that would even persist all the way up until Iteration 4.

I wanted to give Asriel a combination of his regular and Flowey personalities. A cool idea on paper, but the lore doesn't support him acting like that well enough. Thus, I refer to this version of him as Sassriel. This was one of those problems that persisted up until Iteration 3.

Undyne having this snarky back-and-forth with Sassriel. Again, cool idea on paper, but it is not supported by her personality in Undertale, nor the altered circumstances in VT Iteration 1. Also, with Undyne being a disembodied consciousness, it means she's merely an observer of the story and not an active participant, meaning her dialogue got very boring very fast. Undyne in canon was always an active character, so putting her in a role that basically FORCED her to be a passive character was maybe one of the worst decisions I could've made that lasted way too long, all the way until Iteration 4.

You'll notice a whole bunch of characters that never actually saw the light of day in the comic. In the bottom row, starting from left to right, there would have been Pepper (Who DID have a design but I've lost it), Donavan, Dr. Aakil, Lily, and Queen Alice. There's not much to say about them story-wise since I mainly just got the designs down, and you can probably guess what the plot was gonna be like given this was the early days of the AU where it was still very much following the Undertale formula. I think the only UNIQUE things I should mention are that Aakil's version of the amalgamates would've been cyborgs.

Iteration 2

This is the one that's lasted the longest (so far), managing to push its way into the Cold West. I tried to break out of the Undertale formula a tiny bit with this one, to varying degrees of success. There's not much history I can recall or find with this iteration, but I suppose I can give a character rundown of the ones you never saw, ironically enough all positioned on the bottom row again.

Donavan... not very unique compared to Undyne. The main gimmick that separated him from her, I think, was that he had gloves designed by Aakil that were soul-powered.

Valencia... a new character who was meant to be an expanded version of Napstablook's role. Fun fact: Valencia's hooded trenchcoat design there was originally Pepper's Iteration 1 design.

Everyone else was... about what you'd expect.

Looking back on this version, I am... honestly very embarrassed by how badly I butchered the Cold West. I wanted to do so many cool things, like a bounty on Asriel's head and all. But my God... Spade and Pepper sucked so much. Especially Pepper. For characters who at this point were meant to be this AU's replacement of Sans and Papyrus... what poor substitutes.

And honestly, I think that's why I scrapped this one; because I hated the Cold West and how I did it. It felt rushed, awkwardly-written, bad characterization, horrifically-bad puzzles, etc. Thus, Iteration 3 was made.

Iteration 3: Hybrid

I nicknamed this short-lived one "Hybrid" for multiple reasons.

It's where Deltarune became an extremely prevalent influence in Versotale's universe. So no longer is Versotale just an Undertale AU, it can also be considered a Deltarune AU as well.

Many characters could be considered hybrids at this point. Asriel and Undyne shared determination and a body. And, more interestingly, the Mettaton role also shared a body with Mettaton. More about that in a bit

When I was making Part 10-B of Iteration 2, Iteration 3 was meant to flow naturally into it, effectively replacing all of what had came beforehand. That never worked out.

Ultimately, I abandoned this version because it just simply wasn't doing it for me. By this point, the project was beginning to feel stale and boring. Despite my attempts to make a new unique storyline, it just kinda... felt like it was still following in Undertale's footsteps far too much. I mean, you've got the protagonist kid, an old fallen member of their species, the double-crossing flower, a mentor who's lived in a secluded area all their life, a chef who wants to join the guard, a tough grizzled guard captain, a morally-dubious scientist, a celebrity, a monarch... you see how I became dislliusioned with the quality of what was supposed to be my "Unique Undertale storyline." The most unique thing at this point WAS probably Spade. But still, many elements of this version of the story were very fleshed-out. I tried to turn Pepper into a character who wasn't just a bargain-bin Papyrus clone, I had come up with a more unique Hotland area, and it probably could've turned out really nice.

I think the thing I genuinely really liked from this old version was that Shella (This iteration's celebrity character) actually was also possessed by Mettaton. There was this huge backstory thing where the scientist character had monster dust and was injecting humans with it, and since Mettaton was a ghost, his consciousness became attached to Shella's and served as her sort of "assistant." He gave her all the tips and confidence to become famous and gave Mettaton the opportunity to indirectly entertain humans like he always wanted. While a cool idea on paper, having... well, essentially Mettaton technically in the same place as canon Undertale again just felt cheap and lazy. Not to mention it only continued my disillusionment with my "unique story" being far too similar to Undertale for comfort.

But the Surface shenanigans this iteration... man, for as weird as Gaster being king was, I had such a cool thing planned for all the Ebottobia characters. It's something I wanna carry over into Iteration 4 to a certain extent.

Iteration 4: "King Asriel"

This one's really freaking cool. Going back to the drawing board completely, the story resembles almost nothing like Undertale's, with the sole exception of the main premise: People underground, free them from imprisonment through peace or violence.

I'm so proud of these ideas so far, you have no idea. The new Ruins area I'm excited for, the new Cold West feels like an actual proper flowing storyline now, the other areas have way more uniqueness, the characters feel like their own characters with their own stories now (Even the ones that appear in canon), the plot feels completely different... I think you all are really going to like it

That's all. Just felt like taking a trip down memory lane and share some ideas and designs the public never got to see.

[diy-fire-water-pups]

(( I feel the need to come here now and ask some people to be more considerate. ))

(( I created this blog for fun on my SPARE time, which is little to none because I need to worry about getting money constantly so I can eat. Not to make it everyone's problem but I literally haven't eaten anything today yet and it's currently 6:30 PM as I'm publishing this post right now. There is food at home but it's just one option, which I'm so tired of eating it constantly for being one of the cheapest things to buy, it doesn't satisfy me anymore and we're just halfway through the month. I don't have any source of secure income and I got four other mouths to feed ASIDE OF MY OWN. I am constantly overworked with my underpaid part time job as English teacher because neither my father or younger brother can help me checking these homeworks or exams, they don't know English language like I do, and I still need to balance that with drawing for commissions, which are the only way I got to get money during the month. My father is too old to get hired for anything. My brother is still finishing college, if only that shit would end their strike to continue classes so he can graduate still this year and look for a proper job, which will also probably take some time, it's not easy to get a job here.

And it takes a lot of time for me to draw and answer the asks in this blog, usually over 1 hour and half, up to two hours or even longer when there's all three pups + something else they're doing or for the background - that is, if I work on it non-stop, because I usually draw a sketch, it sits there for a few days, until I stop again to clean it up and draw the lineart, then wait a few more days until I go and color it to finish and publish the answered ask. I have some drafts with a doodled answer waiting for a week or even two, still waiting for me to finish the art and post them. I'm having fun with these on my own time.

WITH ALL THAT SAID, I cannot afford Magic!Anons that demand for specific amounts of asks to be worked on, no matter how many. You gotta understand it: If I would start the M!A effect tomorrow, the first ask with that effect would show up like, one whole week AFTER or so. It just does NOT work here. Besides, I have some stories going on in the blog, like this entire thing about Marshall's incoming deafness, which took me what, let me see... Two weeks and half since I replied the first Anon who started it and it's still not done completely yet. I still got another interesting story to start and entertain you all with it, this other one has been waiting sitting in this blog's drafts for literally ONE MONTH now. I'm not gonna interrupt them with side effects.

If you want to dare my pups to do something funny or silly, that's cool! But it'll go for only your dare ask and that's it. I'm not gonna disturb other asks or RPs. Magic!Anons are to be fun and short and sadly I do not have the time to have anything going on for too long like that, not when it's something that changes appearances, or whatever like that.

I am not mad, or angry. I'm just asking for consideration. I am an exhausted and probably currently underweight old artist who just wants to have fun and have some food to go by every day. I'm not a tireless art machine. I'm doing this for fun, every day I wake up I'm glad to have started this askblog and see how much you guys enjoy it and enjoy my portrayal of these pups we love so much, it always makes me smile and feel like I can do some more and keep going, despite all things being against me. But sometimes I need to be firm and say no as well. I have my limits.

Thank you if you read this far. And please, don't ask who was it or what happened, I don't want anyone going after who tried to push this specific M!A here. They're a very nice person who just happened to insist on something I said no before, and I do not condone people attacking others on someone else's behalf, as much as your intention is to defend someone, that's just shitty attitude!

Let's go back to this blog's usual business, shall we? Though now I gotta get back to checking those exams answers, Idk if I'll get time to draw any other reply for tonight, maybe past midnight. I still need to stop and get up to go eat, ugh. ))