#( OH AND THE THING I FORGOT TO MENTION IN THE INITIAL POST IS HE MADE ALL THE FOOD FOR /JUST/ THEM )

[endawn]

thinking about the dinner date bird serenade thing pax would do in dai if romanced by the inky again and ,,, him going to josie ,,, she gets him fancy clothes and everything. he plaits his hair back ( something like this ); showing more of his face and ears. wears fine, but still rather simple clothing ( like this. might have the tiddies out, might not ).

[scorpiosbite]

the time actress!reader mentioned obx in her interview

𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 ────୨ৎ──── while the obx cast were together in drew’s hotel room madelyn in her ever obsession of game of thrones brought up that you had mentioned how much you love obx in an interview. causing them to watch the interview together.

𝜗𝜚 pairing: actress!reader x drew starkey

author’s note: this takes place in 2023 during the filming of obx 4 and 3 weeks after the first time they watched the show together. at this point of my timeline the cast have watched the entire first season of game of thrones.

drew was scrolling through his phone, you had followed him back on instagram a week ago and he was on the moon. though he hadn’t messaged you yet. unsure on what to say to you. drew prided himself on being a confident man yet, your ability to make him nervous through a screen was unprecedented.

while stalking your profile for the umpteenth time he found himself wondering about you yet again. your limited amount of posts made you even more intriguing to him. he wondered what kind of person you are. what things made you tick, whether you would stare up at him with those siren eyes, whether you moaned or whimpered during sex, whether your face scrunched up and your mouth hung open as your chest heaved like it did in your sex scene that hasn’t left his brain since the moment he watched it.

just as he fell into a spiral of thoughts about you madelyn spoke up from her seat across the room, drawing the attention of everyone else, and drew was suddenly reminded that he wasn’t alone in his room. “oh my fucking god! i forgot to tell you guys!” she was staring down at her phone. but drew was having trouble focusing on her, still consumed in his thoughts of you.

the others, however, had no problem driving their attention to her, so drew remained in his bubble staring at the most recent post on your profile, a vogue magazine cover from three months ago, of you, seated, legs spread on the iron throne with the sword dark sister held in your hands standing between your legs, the crown of aegon the conquerer tilted on your head, the lace thigh high socks with garters disappearing under the skirt of your tight mini dress and the bold red coating your lips enticing him further.

it wasn’t till he heard your name slip from madelyn’s lips, was his attention torn from the captivating sight on his screen. “wait, what you just say?” madelyn smirked “of course, only when i say y/n’s name, do you listen.” drew blushed lightly. but didn’t make the move to defend himself, after all they would be right, he had been distracted from the moment he saw you in all your glory stealing the screen.

“what i was saying that y/n mentioned obx in an interview, just pass me the remote, i’ll show you.” drew’s heart rate spiked, the thought of you having seen him in his element, doing his job, made him self conscious in a way that he wasn’t ready to admit. once madelyn had the video loaded on the screen, drew was once again struck by how effortlessly beautiful you are. dressed in simple black pants and an off-shoulder cream long sleeve top, brown boots disappearing under your pants and simple gold hoop earrings, your brunette hair loose and following in natural waves. drew looked at your empty neck and thought how good you would look if there was a necklace with his initial hanging there, branding you as his.

madelyn skipped through the video until the moment you were talking. the interviewer asked you and your cast-mate what shows you watch during your down time when filming, your voice rang through the silent room and drew was struck once again by how attractive your accent sounded, your british accent deep and sultry but more casual than the tone you use when playing visenya. “oh, well mimi and i love outer banks a lot, to the point where we quote it on set quite often. i think we’ve annoyed everyone.” you laughed and drew thought about how he wanted to hear that sound for the rest of his life.

your cast mate and best friend, mimi who plays arianne martell laughed and agreed and the interviewer who was surprised by your answer said that obx was one of her favourite shows too. your face immediately brightened as you watched her intently as she spoke about the show. what drew would give to have you look at him like that.

madelyn paused the video and drew knew that once everyone had left his room he was going to watch the entire video. “that’s so cool!” jd gasped. “i know right? that’s so crazy that she’s seen our show.” madison replied. but drew couldn’t bring himself to speak, he wondered what you thought of him after watching his performance. he wondered if you had the same all consuming thoughts he had about you, about him.

“i followed her when i first watched the show and she followed me back, but after seeing that clip a week ago i messaged her and we’ve been talking back and forth ever since, she’s so fucking cool, it’s insane. i think we’re friends now!” madelyn raved. “you’re friends with her?!.” drew was baffled, how was madelyn just bringing this up, she has known about his developing crush for weeks. “ah, now you want to chime in drew?” “yes, we’re friends and she’s gonna be in la when we get back so i told her she should come hang out with us, what you guys think?”

drew’s heart felt like it was going a mile a minute, he was gonna meet you. what the fuck.

thank you for all the love on the first part i’m so grateful. and for everyone who wants to be added to the tag list i’m figuring out how to do that so please be patient with me. also please send me asks about this au i would love to do like a drew starkey x actress!reader thoughts thing, but let me know what you thought of this part!

[freyaphoria]

Hello! Since I can't save the writings in my drafts and your request is currently stuck in my drafts, I have to post it this way. I hope you can see your request T_T By the way, I wrote this 4 times, and the universe prevented me from writing it. Normally it was over 2k words, but most of it was deleted and I forgot what I wrote. Anyway, Love u!♡

Look Like a Freak

tw: nerd!Seonghwa x fem!reader, oral(giving mentioned, receiving), squirting, slapping, fingering, vibrator using, degradation, bondage, overstimulation

wc: 1.5k

taglist: @aim-blossom @matzrionette

“Seonghwa, are we really going to do it here?” It was too late to ask now. He made an approving noise as he abused your pussy between. To your surprise, he could hear you and respond. Normally, after tasting you, Seonghwa would be pussy drunk and wouldn't hear or see anything.

Seonghwa's room was the most virginity room you've ever seen. There were more Star Wars figures and Legos than you could count. And what is it? On the top shelf of the display case, on top of the Star Wars legos, there were colorful house legos and animals next to them, which you might think were related to animal crossing which might attract the attention of 5-year-old children.

You and Seonghwa went to the same university and met at the dance club. When you first met him, he was very quiet, buried in his book with a book by an unknown author in his hand and he was wearing the metal-framed glasses he was currently wearing, not communicating with anyone. Even though most people avoided communicating with him, you felt his potential in his eyes under those big glasses. You had initiated the first communication and asked him something about the star wars lego keychain hanging on his bag, and before you knew how the things had developed, he had pulled you into the back storage and made out with you. After a while, you started fucking after every dance lesson and became addicted to each other. You were nothing but a fuck buddy, but you'd still meet up at his house every once in a while to build Legos together like cute couple, and as you can imagine, your night would end up in his bed, trying to recover, with his cum dripping down between your legs.

Same thing today, you met at his house to play his favorite game, the two of you lying in bed while Seonghwa was playing Animal Crossing on his Nintendo. But you had made him horny without knowing why, and Seonghwa stopped his game, which was an unexpected move from him, and started eating you. Animal Crossing, where you played with Seonghwa, was still on on the TV and calm music was playing.

"Can you at least turn off that game? It's ruining the whole mood-" You were cut off by Seonghwa shoving your panties into your mouth. "Don't tire that beautiful mouth of yours by talking, you will be tired enough when I put my dick down your throat."

Who would believe that someone as nerdy as him could make you this wet? If you told your friends who knew him, they would all think you went crazy. But right now, you were in his bed with your legs wide open and you were dripping, Animal Crossing in front of you, Star Wars figures next to you, and a nerd Seonghwa losing himself between your legs.

When Seonghwa started using his fingers as well, you realized you wouldn't last long. He was eating you out and fingering you so professionally that you were seeing stars every time, your legs shaking uncontrollably and squirting on him. And so it was, the moment you felt his fingers inside you, curls them up and abusing your sweet spot while his tongue stimulates your clitoris, you couldn't hold back that ball that was growing in your belly any longer and you came into his mouth. Your voice came out as a muffled moan through your underwear in your mouth. "Oh but I couldn't hear you clearly, looks like we're going to do it again." He pulled the fabric from your mouth and kissed you hungryly. Since he still didn't remove his fingers from you, you continued to spasm uncontrollably around his fingers and began to squirm from the overstimulation.

"What is that? You got tired a little early for a slut like you. Open your legs." As you tried to close your legs, Seonghwa forced them open. When you closed them again, you were startled by the sound of him slapping your thigh hard. "You want to be a brat? Okay then." He let go of your legs and headed towards his desk. He opened his drawer, took the rope next to a lot of Animal crossing cards, closed the drawer hard and turned towards you. You held back your laughter when you saw the colored cards. He adjusted the thin metal-framed glasses that fell on the tip of his nose, found the end of the rope and started wrapping it around your wrists.

"Hwa, I'm getting rope burns, haven't you found that furry handcuff yet?" He tied the rope tightly around your wrists, he bent your leg towards you and brought your ankle closer to your hands and tied the rest of it to your ankles. "No I couldn't. And if you stop squirming, you won't get a burn." After tying your other side in the same way, he checked its strength and made sure that it was not loose. He looked at you, his masterpiece, from head to toe, then he spanked your pussy that you had forced open and exposed for him, and he moved towards your upper body. You let out a small scream at the sudden feeling of pain. He tied your upper body by looping the rope around your chest and tying it over your arm; so it stabilized your arms and prevented you from closing your legs.

"Now, what should we do with you?" You felt even wetter with the feeling of being restricted and having all your control in his hands. The feeling of emptiness inside you was becoming unbearable and if he didn't fuck you soon, you would start crying and whining from frustration. "Just fuck me already."

The left side of his mouth lifted up and laughed slyly. A deep chuckle escaped his throat. "No no, I won't give you what you want that easily." This time, he opened the drawer where he kept your toys under the previous drawer and took out the pink vibrator with remote control. When you think about what he did to you with it, your heart starts to lose its rhythm and the adrenaline in your body begins to tickle your pussy waiting to be filled. The vibrator that he play with you for hours and eventually makes you squirm from overstimulation and cry and beg him to stop...

"How about this? No coming until I finish my new lego set. If you come, I won't fuck you tonight. Understood?" "Wait, at least let me suck you." He moved the toy in his hand over your folds before inserting it inside you, collecting your wetness on the toy. "Are you that much of a cock slave? Is there a day you don't spend without sucking me? Can't that little belly of yours do without taking my cum?" Your face turned red because of his dirty words. Yes, there wasn't a day without sucking him, but there wasn't a day without him eating you either. You were considered equal in every way. After all, you were a fuck buddy and that was your purpose. "Please just let me take you in my mouth" He balled up the panties he had just taken out of your mouth and put it back into your mouth. "Just deal with it for now. You can do it, right? It shouldn't be too hard."

After laughing sarcastically, he moved the vibrator over your folds for the last time and put it inside you. You gasped at the sudden feeling of being filled. The fact that you didn't know when Seonghwa would start the toy and when he would stop it made you nervous and excited. After licking his fingers, which got wet because he inserted the vibrator inside you, and tasting you again, got up from you and took the lego bag next to his wardrobe and placed it on his desk. "Which one do you think I should do?" He took out the Lego sets one by one from the paper bag and showed them all to you. The hilarity of your current situation and the Animal Crossing music playing in the background almost made you laugh. You were thankful for the fabric over your mouth that prevented you from laughing.

"Oh that's it!" He took out the 1394-piece Ghost & Phantom II set from the bag and placed it on the table. When he took the remote control of the vibrator and started to turn it on at medium level, you first lost your breath and started to squirm in your place. But he tied the ropes so tightly that you couldn't move much.

"Remember, no coming until I finish this set." He opened the box and placed the contents on the table, looking at you who began to tremble slightly. “You look like a slut.” And you look like a freak you thought.

[zhuoyichenpretty]

Ep 26 Commentary

Alrightyy I've mustered up what's left of my brain for a belated ep 26 commentary post. IRL responsibilities are getting a bit away from me so I wasn't able to spend as much time on this as usual; apologies if the haste shows through! Consider this more reaction than meta.

As always, spoilers under the cut:

A carry-over comment, but I really do appreciate the Li Lun/ZYC scene in ep 25 for how it solidified ZYC's resolve and reminded him of where his heart is, what he believes in, what he chooses to defend. Such a load-bearing and pivotal conversation for both characters in opposite directions of development. It also makes ZYC's return to the Bureau triumphant in a way, despite all the preceding trauma, despair, and hopelessness. WX embraces him in relief that he's safe and in comfort for what they've all just been through, and for us, it's doubly meaningful as a sort of homecoming after a confrontation that only we have witnessed. It's also interesting, the cutaway as they hug, the things we have been made privy to and the things that are kept private from us.

Ouuughh the lines voiced over as ZYZ and ZYC meet eyes for the first time since all that transpired in Tianxiang Pavilion. It gives such a deep sense of wordless understanding and intimacy. I'm reminded of when the show did that for Ranyi and Miss Qi's final lines.

As I mentioned previously, a lot of subtext became text in this episode, which was quite exciting (and also extremely adorable the way ZYC was like "I think I've said too much" /// afterwards). I didn't expect ZYC to convey his understanding of ZYZ to him so soon, but that really goes back to something I love about ZYC: that he doesn't really waste time expressing something once he's come to an emotional conclusion. Maybe there's something to be said there about how he knows, after the loss of his family, how important it is to say the words when you have them to the people in front of you while they're still here.

If ZYC's words and his tears offered to a catatonic ZYZ in ep 23 were an expression of star-crossed and conflicted love, this parallel scene is just an utterly unrestrained confession, the stars be damned.

Also, tbh I never found ZYC's reactions to ZYZ to be unfounded or unreasonable, even when misguided in the beginning (and necessarily so, given the narrative and premise) or at times harsh (which I also found much-needed for ZYZ to hear, and delivered with obvious sympathetic anguish). He was clearly reflecting and actively revising his own preconceived notions this entire time, feeling for ZYZ the whole way through, and I do think he's demonstrated realistically and impressively the full extent of empathy perhaps as far as it can possibly stretch without personally experiencing ZYZ's life himself and while still living and feeling for his own. But to see ZYC so ready to address his previous flaws, to admit them and correct them, to go beyond them and to reach out so plainly for ZYZ in front of him now that he has that personal experience—the relationship between them has transcended the initial set-up of two opposing characters meeting in the middle. The show has gone that extra step and made their perspectives one. And given that I didn't personally find that step to be narratively necessary, so to say, (as in, even without it there's not truly a narrative obstacle because I already believed ZYC loves ZYZ despite everything and we've already seen the lengths he'll go to not to kill ZYZ), it feels like a choice in every definition of the word. Like a development motivated by love all the way down.

WX gets the least traumatic cloak-draping scenes out of the three of them, thank god.

Oh shit I forgot about fixing the Wilderness I'm so glad they didn't lmao.

Ahhh the crossroads moment at a literal (kind of) crossroads right before entering the Bingyi Clan's forbidden area. ZYC suddenly wanting to go alone or back out, stuck weighing the danger to everyone's lives, who they can and can't save depending on his choices. It makes me think of what happens when we let intense love in and it comes with intense fear, makes us freeze up. Suddenly, the stakes are in sharp relief, and the courage to move forward isn't so simple anymore.

"修好了，你也別死" ("Once it's fixed, don't die either.") Head in hands. ZYC's voice here, his expression, that desperation. Yeah I think this episode was so draining because of how all pretense is being stripped away and all that's left is ZYC's profound love for everyone, so raw and vulnerable that it hurts to watch, especially knowing he won't have it easy trying to keep everyone alive.

Kind of love how freely ZYC cries and says the vulnerable things in front of all his loved ones. Like. That's truly his family, his people, his heart.

ZYZ please. Imagine ZYC's grief without you. Please just stay.

Yay 12 seconds of angst-free bickering right before (as someone else called it) the trolley problem

Ok so, I'm not sure how common this interpretation/reading of the following scene is, but it's been rattling around in my head for a while now so I'm just gonna include it here. If y'all disagree, pls disregard! Basically, when ZYC first turned to PSJ and thanked her, I was terrified for a moment that he would ask her to stay. Because on one hand, ZYC would never, but on the other hand, imo there's a lot of (I think deliberate) ambiguity baked into the scene. In ZYC turning to PSJ right after we're told "one of your friends or all three of them," in him starting the series of goodbyes with the character he has the least onscreen development with, in the finality of what he says to her but also the lack of clarity on just who this is final for, in PSJ's expression and WX's reaction, in the dramatic turning away at the end. Like, until he turns away from her, I think there's room for interpretation on what he's decided to do, and as someone who's grown quite surprisingly invested in the ZYC-PSJ dynamic, I'm kind of morbidly interested in this reading of events.

What might be going through PSJ's head at ZYC's words, if at this moment she hasn't yet realized his self-sacrificial intent? Does she think she's going to be asked to stay? Does she assess the situation, conclude that she's the person ZYC is least close to and perhaps the one least able to contribute in whatever comes next as the only human here, and begin resigning herself to this outcome? Are the tears in her eyes the sole indication of her conflicted unwillingness to die here that makes it through because as he's talking, she's evaluated that this is the best possible scenario for them all (esp for WX) and will commit herself to his decision even if it also breaks her heart to be chosen this way?

I may be taking this and running a bit far with it, but I just think the ambiguity of this one brief moment can create such angsty implications between the lines (as if we needed more angst...) and despite their scarce onscreen interactions, I'm kind of a sucker for the "extremely noble (to the point of tragedy) knight choosing to acknowledge and follow and dedicate their silent loyalty to a leader they deeply respect" dynamic, even if it is understated with all the other relationships going on in this show. Given how reticent PSJ is, it makes a meaningful impact on me every time she displays concern for ZYC, so you know it crushed me to watch her desperately and irrationally (the most pragmatic of them all!) try to shoot at him with her arrows while knowing there's no way it'd work. The way she was the first to act, the sound of nothing but the ice and the stretch of the bowstring. I really do love their platonic bond much more than I expected to.

Oof. The freezing. I don't want to sound like a broken record but I loved TJR's acting here because I think it's so easy for this scene to look awkward as he's stuck facing forward and pretending to freeze haha. His microexpressions as he realizes ZYZ is behind him, as he tries to chase him away with his words, as he's probably burning from the inside out with all that ice. That last tear as his gaze turns hollow. A+

I also love ZYZ's lines about not believing he can't overcome ZYC's powers like yeah this is a newborn demon with no inner core and ice powers that he taught him lmao

Okay, that's a wrap for my thoughts on this ep! I was originally going to include ep 27 reactions here too, but seeing as this is getting a little long, maybe I'll roll 27 into my thoughts on ep 28? We shall see!

[solradguy]

Re: Overture Stories

Since I can’t write this in a comment on the post I would like to say that when I first started translating Guilty Gear stuff I had just come off of Ace Attorney and was initially extremely confused when characters mentioned using what I immediately assumed was something like “legal power” before realizing that it’s just what magic is called. (Thank you Guilty Gear Wiki)

Oh oops I meant to turn replies back on but forgot to. People were being annoying so I'd limited it haha...

But YEAH Guilty Gear uses some really goofy combinations of words that just don't make any sense if you plug it into a JP>EN dictionary. It's so difficult to figure out how tf to localize it if you don't have a bunch of documents gathered to compare things. I was actually working on a table of weird terms over in a sandbox on the GG Wiki but haven't had a reason to add to it much recently: https://guiltygear.wiki.gg/wiki/User:Solradguy/Sandbox/Translation_table

Yesterday the wiki editors and I found out that they almost never localize 隊長 or 団長 consistently too and that the English GG World entries for them are totally fucked, they hardly tried at all lol Those are the "Commander" and "Captain" entries respectively. Note that 団長 is "captain" but is also the kanji used for Kliff's rank in the Holy Order, which has only ever been localized as "commander," but then they used 団長 for Ky in the newest Xrd short story too. Which takes place before he was made commander. So they should have used 隊長. And also the "Captain" GGW entry in English just completely leaves out an entire line in the Japanese entry.

This is not the only time GG has had such errors in either the GG World or official localization. By far.

Sometimes translating Guilty Gear is so....

[ziekkfreak2-0]

Obligatory procrastination posting.

Too lazy (and busy) to draw out all my ideas, but I really want them outta my head. So have a bunch of unorganized thoughts abt my MD Swap AU. Don't take any of them as final or canon tho.

Below the cut ofc hehehehehe

THE BUNKER:

🚪 No joke, I forgot if they ever mentioned what the name of the bunker Uzi lives in is called.

🚪 ANYWAY, what if besides making big ahh doors, the Worker Drones also used the DDs' overheating issue against them? So their colony is designed to be very warm, not enough to overheat a regular Worker Drone, but just enough to gradually affect a DD. Sorta like a contingency for if they ever infiltrate the bunker.

🚪 Could also add an aspect of the bunker having a lot of lights and being very vibrant, to play with the fact that the DDs are bug themed in this. This + the idea above would kinda make the colony like a big ahhh bug zapper.

🚪 Does this mean that the colony is a lot more serious about the DD issue and not just playing cards all the time? Nope! Still a bunch of incompetent silly billys.

NEXUS:

🐾 Finally figured out his trauma: Extremely knowledgeable with vehicles and zoology, but given that no one seems to care about cars and all biological life on Copper-9 is dead, his knowledge is almost entirely useless.

🐾 Puts up with all the bullying bc he sees it as his own punishment for being a burden on his peers.

🐾 I need to make his backpack bigger. I want it to be big enough to fit all his friends in (well at the beginning of the story, I guess it does since he has no friends). Note to self: make a doodle of this.

🐾 Might scrap the school bus idea and instead have him find a military car of sorts?

SERIAL DESIGNATION Z:

🪰 Oh god I haven't made her solo yet. Sorgi I frogor 🫶🫶🫶

🪰 DDs aren't as short as her. In fact, she was a little taller as a Worker Drone. L and T got a lot taller tho LMAO

🪰 I like to imagine she would get along well with Tessa and inevitably picked up some of her characteristics. Thus, Z is now "The Scavenger" of the DDs, looting the carcases of her victims and using it to build... Something.

🪰 She always loses to her teammates if they ever spar, even though she's a really good fighter. L just likes to take advantage of her low self-esteem, and T disturbs her, to say the least.

🪰 Dies the most frequently bc of the points above + her experiments.

DISASSEMBLY DRONES:

🔺 Okay but listen, I am absolutely crazy about their overheating weakness. So it's like their DD specific features (interchangable hands, wings popping out of nowhere, and nanite acid tail) all require a lot of power, but they're still working on the same amount of power they had as Worker Drones.

🔺Rarely ever gonna draw em, but the DDs should all have different insect wing types. Just to show I did like. At least a little research.

🔺 Antennae for receiving signals from their other squad mates. Possible to intercept and listen into.

🔺 Possibly giving each of the DDs a unique ability related to their titles. Small hints to the others, but I'm considering "The Watcher" for L and "The Travesty" for T.

🔺 The titles aren't an in universe thing btw, I just like foreboding names.

edit: Frogor to add the intro post to the AU

[catchyhuh]

What are your thoughts on the rest of the gang’s knowledge/experience with Jigen’s fear of ghosts, and likewise for Lupin’s fear of octopi?

I. GOT MORE INTO THIS THAN I EXPECTED i also looked around a bit to see if i could find fujiko, goemon and zeni’s little… unserious fears, but i couldn’t remember anything/my gigantic lupin screenshots and note-taking docs were no help in finding stuff those three were creeped out by. if anybody has any info on how to ruin these three’s days, please share

SO!

IRRATIONAL /NOT THAT BIG A DEAL FEARS

lupin: not fucking big on octopi

probably got it from some absolute nothingburger childhood event where he went to the beach and one got a bit too close to him and he internalized that rather than all of the other fucking insane shit that was going around him throughout that time

jigen is probably the one who fixates on it the most because it’s. really not that serious. it’s not like this is some kind of trauma trigger, he’s just icked out by the suction cup thingies. ergo jigen is always the first to shove an octopus at lupin just to laugh at him when he makes a face and goes “CUT THAT SHIT OUT”

fujiko doesn’t really think about it much, and honestly didn’t realize it was a thing since it never came up in day to day life until they went to scope out an aquarium for some jewels in the mosaic mural or whatever and he just grimaced like a cat about to throw up when he saw the giant 10 foot tall red octopus on the wall hovering over him. and she’s just seeing him wince at the wall and all she can think is “oh my god does he think the rubies are fake. is he about to tell me this is all for nothing” while lupin is thinking “jesus christ. i love her i love my fujicakes i have to do this i love her i lo

goemon is the least affected by it, since he’s usually busy doing his own thing in instances where it would come up. he’s off doing whatever the hell he wants on the beach, he’s waiting outside on the roof at the aquarium, he’s letting jigen handle the main dish while he prepares the sides. even if he did witness firsthand lupin going “EW EW EW GET IT AWAY” like a child seeing a centipede for the first time he’d probably dismiss it as “oh, he really hates that watery, slimy texture on his skin. i wouldn’t want that either, really.” and then just. gently bats it away. doesn’t think anything of it in the slightest

did zenigata INITIALLY know he was afraid of them. no. he didn’t mean to actually freak him out while he was throwing an actual fucking octopus on him to catch him that one time, it just made sense to get a grabby animal to help him. well. grab. however when he DID FIND OUT, he spent a whole week setting up petty and random ways to throw octopi into his thwarting plans. it’d be a lot easier to catch someone if they were so caught off guard by something they hate they totally forgot to check around their surroundings. unfortunately for pops this is probably the reason why lupin’s not AS creeped out by them as he used to be. son of a bitch accidentally used exposure therapy on him like fear factor or something. oopsie!

side note this is making me realize i wrote that entire splatoon post without once considering the fact that lupin fucking hates like half the environment there. double oopsie

jigen: not fucking big on ghosts. or nuclear radiation but that’s not the point

i can understand why a guy emotionally haunted by all of the people he’s needlessly killed in his life would also be afraid of those same people like. ACTUALLY haunting him. plus it’d be funny if he went his entire childhood not that bothered by the idea of ghosts only to get steadily more freaked out by the idea as he got older

in a more nonspecific sense he just does not like having shit jumping out at him and ghosts seem to be the most common proponent of that so by association FUCK GHOSTS

lupin, to balance the scale here, is the worst. accidentally forgetting to mention a movie has to do with ghosts, bringing him into an old warehouse to steal something and certainly not because it has old creepy halloween props in it, hell, he even keeps extra white sheets on hand juuust in case. more than anything this just annoys the shit out of jigen and makes him reconsider his entire life that led up to the point of his lifetime partner in more ways than one actually resorting to going “ooOOoOOOOoo” at 3 a.m. to push his buttons.

fujiko is delighted by the fact, but restrains herself here. unlike the above example, she knows the most effective scare is one that comes out of the blue, after spending so long feeling calm. she’ll be sitting at the table in the morning reading an article on her phone, gasping really loudly and going “‘mansion at (address just up the street from their hideout) declared officially haunted 45 years after human remains were found in the basement’?! how creepy! i don’t know how you guys can stand sleeping a few houses away from that” and yes, this tactic ALSO annoys him, but is still effective, because they keep staying in these crumbling, old buildings in old towns and if he tries to look it up later there’s a 50/50 chance that article or a similar one is actually real

goemon… has a bit more fun with this than you’d expect. primarily because jigen doesn’t think he’s very aware of the fact, and… goemon’s default halloween outfit is always a pale, sunken-eyed, donned in white ghost. it doesn’t SCARE jigen so much as unsettle him in a childish way that he can suppress a bit, but the real gag here is that jigen honest to god doesn’t think goemon’s doing this on purpose. oh, jigen.

zenigata probably only found out because someone just outright told him, he thought about it for a minute and went, “i guess that makes sense,” and nothing ever came out of the fact. if the two were in a situation where they could just josh around and everything i could see him ribbing at him for it just because. well when you think about it on a surface level it is kind of funny for a man as scary as jigen to be spooked out by a widdle ghost. but outside of that, it’s not really something he could use to his advantage or for his own personal amusement, so he doesn’t make a real big deal out of it usually

[shrinevandal]

Initial thoughts on Double and Neoplasm - Who is guilty? What's true and what's a lie?

Hello! This is a (fairly long, sorry) post analysing the MV for Double, as well as Neoplasm, and what it means for Mikoto, Orekoto, a potential 3rd alter, their relationship as a whole, and Mikoto's judgement.

Note: I am a system myself, I am usually not very open about this so please don't ask about the details. But I think it's important to state that I do struggle with a lot of the same stuff Mikoto* does, and so my perception of it comes from a level of understanding that singlets may not have.

Obviously this contains spoilers for both Double and Neoplasm, I would recommend you watch/listen to both beforehand. This is also just my initial interpretation, I have purposefully avoided any other posts about it to make my theory/interpretation as straightforward and from-the-source as possible.

Some terminology notes: I will be using John to refer to Orekoto, as Es has so thoughtfully dubbed him. Also, if I say MILGRAM in all caps I am referring to the project itself, and if I say Milgram in title case I am referring to the location/entity which Es works for. I also believe the 3koto theory, which will become relevant at various points here. Any translators or sources will be linked at the end.

Alright, let's get into it. Music video analysis:

Double - Visual Motifs

There are a lot of visual elements to Double, which I will break down into different sections.

Phone (& Tarot)

There are two major instances of Mikoto's phone being important in the song: Right at the beginning, when he's getting several texts and then an incoming call from "Chief" (almost certainly his boss), and in the middle of the song, when he gets a call from his mom. In the beginning, Mikoto* doesn't even look at the texts, and when he answers the call, he seems to barely be listening.

Translation of the texts are as follows (thank you rochisama on wordpress!):

- Regarding the first draft you submitted today, I think option B might be the best after all, so can you remake it by morning.

- Also, I forgot to mention, but you made a lot of mistakes with the one we spoke about earlier, so make sure it’s all fixed too. This one also needs to be ready by morning, so I’ll leave it to you to get everything ready.

- Oi, get back here now.

- Are you going to abandon your duties?

There are also two fun little details here with the phone: His lock screen is a picture of the Hanged Man, the same version that was on his shirt in MeMe:

Also, His battery is at 29%.

Two of prisoner nine.

Later in the song, when his mom calls him, he immediately picks up, greets her energetically despite the bags under his eyes, and informs her he's doing well and not to worry.

"Oh, hello? Mom? It’s been a while. Yeah… well, I mean, some days are hard, but… I’m doing alright, don’t worry. How’ve you been? I’ll go home next time I get some time off."

He also hangs up very quickly, as if he doesn't want to talk to her. He gives her placating words and then ends the conversation as soon as he can.

According to his S1 Interrogation questions, Mikoto's family consists of him, his mom, and his younger sister. His parents are divorced. He gets along well with both his mom and sister, but also states that he can't let his mom worry. This checks out with him hiding the truth from her, as letting her know just how badly he's doing would certainly cause concern. Keep all this in mind, it will become important later on.

Eyes

I don't have much of note to say about it right now, but eyes are a pretty heavy visual motif throughout the whole video.

One thing I will say about it, though, is the large eyes across the whole screen show up twice: Once as orange, symbolizing John, and then as a grey-blue, symbolizing Mikoto.

Colors

There are five important colors: Blue, Green, Red/Orange, and Pink.

I'm grouping red and orange because I believe they both symbolize John. Blue is obviously Mikoto.

As I've mentioned, I am a fan of the 3koto theory- The visuals in the MV for MeMe, and even the composition itself, allude to 3 different entities (Music theory nerd here, hehe - I wanna write my own take on the 3koto theory eventually and talk about the way the song itself changes, but that's for another time.) And now in Double, it seems like there is still that imagery, albeit much less strongly than before.

So green, like in MeMe, symbolizes Midori/Midokoto/whatever you wanna call him. Pink is a little bit of a weird one, so I'll get to that in the moment. Anyway, let's start with some John moments.

The red glow in the back shows that John is the one fronting in all three of these shots, with Mikoto being asleep behind him in the second one.

An example of blood splatters with an orange tint. This is part of the reason I think both orange and red symbolize Mikoto, since they're so interconnected here. Also, as mentioned in the eyes section, the eyes there are very orange whereas John is usually associated with red.

Speaking of eyes,

Huge 3koto implications in a few frames from this shot. John's body flashes green at one point, and the background and fire-halo are green when John's eyes are glowing orange. In the next image, the body's eyes are scribbled over in green. This scene in particular is very interesting to me, with both implications of Midori's existence and his connection to the eye motif. It also calls John "savior"

Here's another notable instance of 3koto near the beginning, right after John throws Mikoto's phone. Notice the color progression in the scene. Green background with blue text, down to red background and red text. John is clearly being portrayed as an outsider here, with Midori and Mikoto being a duo.

Going back to blood splatters, there are various points in the video where the "inverse" of the blood is either green or blue. This also checks out with both red and orange being John's colors; Blue is the opposite of orange, and green is the opposite of red. This also doubles (haha) as another example of John being the opposite of MikoMido

The train itself has a lot of green highlights. When John stares out the door into the other train cars, it flashes green a few times. It's not pictured here, but the door also flashes a staticky pink once, and so does Mikoto's body earlier in that same scene I showed where it's fully green.

Alright, more on pink now. I'm actually not entirely sure what it may symbolise, but my main guess is it's Mikoto's victims.

Aside from the instances mentioned above, these are the most prominent pink scenes in the video. Similar to how orange was juxtaposed against both blue and green, here it's against blue. In context, these scene also seems to me like a switch, a realization of what Mikoto has done. A brief instance where his memories coexist with him, and he's horrified at his actions.

Double - Overall Analysis

As pointed out in the colors section above, Midori seems to be very present still. He seems to be haunting the video in a way, lying just underneath the surface.

A really important aspect of DID that hasn't been directly addressed by MILGRAM is the fact that it's caused by childhood trauma, usually around the ages 9 to 10 or younger. For those who don't know, this is because young kids have not fully formed their identity and sense of self yet. Usually, kids will eventually consolidate all their various parts into one, which becomes their sense of self. But trauma literally changes how the brain works on several levels, and for some kids, that interrupts the process of those parts fusing together. (This is also why there's discourse behind the idea of an "original" personality - Which one is the "original" between a pair of identical twins, for example? One cell divided into two, so really neither of them are that first cell.)

My theory for Mikoto's childhood trauma and subsequent DID symptoms, is that Mikoto in his current form is the body's "first" alter, and that Midori was the original host. (I have several reasons for believing it's this and not the other way around, but it's not that important for this post. But do think about, "I'm already the fake one.")

We know that John specifically was created as a result of Mikoto's job stress, meaning he was obviously not around when Mikoto and Midori were kids. By the time the events of MILGRAM roll around, it seems like Midori is completely dormant, or at least very rarely fronts, as John seems to pretty clearly imply just his and Mikoto's existence in both Double and Neoplasm. But if John wasn't around when Mikoto was a kid, there has to have been at least one other alter throughout the course of Mikoto's life. You don't just suddenly develop DID at age 23 without having had it since you were traumatized (Unless the MILGRAM team is just clueless about DID, which is possible too but imo they've done a pretty decent job so far so I would rather believe in 3koto. I have faith in them, maybe that'll bite me in the ass eventually, who knows).

Mikoto's childhood trauma is not very clear, but I think it can be one of two main things, and they are likely connected: Either something to do with his parents' divorce, or the reason he is so against worrying his mom.

Mikoto clearly loves his mother a lot, but it seems like doesn't trust her on some level. He doesn't want her to worry, which is an understandable emotion, especially if she puts a lot of pressure on him to perform well, which I have a feeling is the case. (Full disclosure, I could be projecting my own experiences here, because I have had these same struggles with my own mom pressuring me to do well in school and such. But I think it's worth mentioning)

Mikoto clearly hates his job, but he doesn't get a new one. Referencing the Interrogation again, while he seems to enjoy the career path he's on (ie graphic design), the job he currently has is purely to make money, and not for his enjoyment. He also mentions in the Interrogation that he hopes someday he can start his own indie company. In the real world, it's actually very common for graphic designers to start with jobs in advertising, because it makes a lot of money. Then once they have enough to support themselves, they go on to projects they're more passionate about. So Mikoto's reasons for sticking with his advertising job could be either to make money or to satisfy his mom, or both. Again, I could very much be projecting here.

Now onto his dad and the divorce. I won't lie, I am not at all an expert in Japanese law, but I'm fairly familiar with US law because my mom is a lawyer here. So how it usually how it works in the US is that parents divide custody by either working out a schedule or by simply choosing which kid goes with which parent, unless one parent is abusive, in which case all kids go to the non-abusive parent. In Japan, however, apparently the mom is the default parent that kids go to, regardless of other situations, except in some extreme cases probably. Again, not an expert, but it seems that even if Mikoto's mom was abusive in some way, the court system would still give Mikoto and his sister over to her, especially if her form of abuse is purely psychological with no physical evidence. So this is one possibility, but even if both parents were good people and separated on friendly terms, divorce can be traumatizing for kids. It's unclear at what age Mikoto's parents divorced, but it seems to have been long enough ago that he doesn't even consider his dad part of his family. Meaning it's very possibly the main source of trauma that cause Mikoto's DID.

Neoplasm

Alright, finally it's time for the audio drama! This is a much shorter section, but there's a LOT here and I'm really excited about this one actually, because it seems like a step in the right direction for Mikoto and accepting John. He doesn't know it's DID, nor does Es try to tell him, but he acknowledges it as "sleepwalking", which is still super huge. If Kotoko and Es ever choose to inform him, it seems like they have a much better chance at getting across to him now than when MILGRAM started.

John being much more present and coherent is also big news, as he has a full on conversation with Es, and even receives a name from them. Although he expresses concern about this and "wishes he had stayed a monster", I honestly think this is amazing for both him and Mikoto. Along with the sleepwalking analogy, it's progress on their ability to accept themselves and each other.

John also sheds some light on his and/or Mikoto's murder, claiming that there were several indiscriminate victims, and that his memories are also fuzzy, citing that it's likely because he had only recently been born. To me, the most interesting part of this is the fact that John's memories are not intact. While he seems to think it's just due to not really being used to being alive, I think there's another explanation for it. Fuzzy memories are a very common symptom of DID, and most notably happens when one alter tries to access another alter's memories, often because they're being blocked. Maybe in a similar way to how Mikoto doesn't remember anything? 🤔

Another important thing here is that John claims that he is the one who killed people. But the most pressing question is, is he telling the truth?

We know that Milgram's criteria for what counts as murder and who counts as the perpetrator is very loose; For example, Yuno's abortions are enough to qualify her, and Fuuta doxxing Killcheroy is enough to qualify him. So it's not a stretch to think that maybe John really is the killer, and that Milgram just picked Mikoto as the person to be judged since he's the "main" alter. But this honestly doesn't sit right with me.

If there's one thing we know for certain about John and his dynamic with Mikoto, it's that he would do anything to ensure Mikoto's safety. Notice how he was incredibly nonchalant about the murder until Es pointed out that even with psychological evaluation taken into account, the death penalty is still very likely for Mikoto. As soon as they allude to Mikoto being in danger, John's attitude immediately switches, claiming over and over, very relentlessly, that he was the sole killer, and that Mikoto is innocent. His frantic behaviour is a very clear sign that this is survival mode; why would he tell Es the truth if it could put Mikoto in danger?

All of this really goes back to the major differences between them; Mikoto is honest and uses humor to cope, John avoids being open and lashes out at people. Mikoto straight up blocks all the bad memories, John is aware of them but has a hazy recollection of events.

So while it's a possibility that Mikoto is innocent and that John is the killer, I find it much, much more likely that Mikoto did it and then blocked his own memories, and that John is lying about the situation to protect Mikoto. It's what he's always done, after all.

Final thoughts - Forgiven vs Unforgiven

This may be an unpopular take, but I think as of right now, my first instinct is to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. I'd like to point out that there's a difference between Innocent vs Guilty, which is how the terms are officially translated, but in Mikoto and John's case I think they are interconnected. There are cases in Milgram where I think they're completely separate ideas and cases where I think the difference is moot, and MikoJohn definitely fall into the latter one.

I also am very conflicted on the concept of Metavoting; for example, Amane being voted Unforgiven was an incredibly stupid decision on the majority's part and I'm not afraid to state that. (Tbf Her mental state is delicate enough that forgiving her would also not end well, but lesser of two evils imo. But all that's for another time.) However, with MikoJohn, again, it actually aligns very well with my actual judgement. John very clearly states that it's his belief that forgiving Mikoto will reduce Mikoto's stress, and allow John to fade away. Whether this is a good or bad thing, or neutral even, is pretty complex honestly, but I think for me personally, I would view it as a bad thing.

Again, I am not very open about my system-isms, but I relate a lot to Mikoto in his current state of being unable to accept John's existence. I was in that exact same position once, and for me, accepting the existence of my alters was very beneficial to all three of us, and we are much closer now and less stressed overall. If John continues to exist, that means Mikoto will have a chance to figure things out and accept John's existence. But if John fades, he may be still caught in that perpetual state of half-existence, with Mikoto being unable to accept him.

So with all these things together; the fact that Mikoto is the one we are judging and I am pretty sure he is the killer, the fact that John may fade if Mikoto is forgiven, and how that isn't a good thing in Mikoto's case, and the fact that - I am pretty damn sure I want to vote Mikoto as Unforgiven. This isn't the be-all, end-all, of course. We don't know if John's prediction is correct about disappearing, we don't know if voting Mikoto Unforgiven will actually have the opposite effect that I hope for and drive him to his breaking point, hell we still don't know who did it. My opinion may change because again, this is just my initial thoughts. I'd love to interact with other systems about this and see their thoughts and opinions. Thank you for reading if you made it this far!!!

Translations, Resources, Etc

Chief's texts, translated by rochisama on wordpress

Interrogation questions, referenced from the MILGRAM Wikia. I'm unsure of the translator, sorry.

A/V of Neoplasm, edited by ac on youtube, featuring translation by onigiriico

kayanomikotoba's Triokoto theory (fun fact, this post is one of the main reasons I got into MILGRAM!)

A quick overview on Japanese divorce law, specifically by the US foreign embassy but it's good enough for my purposes

[beltransadie]

Small tidbits about my Still Into You 2ha animatic

Coz it's April, exactly one year from now was when I started completing it and I'm in the mood now. + I don't think I made a proper one + it won the twitter poll

Check it out if you're interested... or not! I just want to dump my thoughts and fun facts that I thought of while making this.

To preface this, check them out if you haven't seen it yet: (Still Into You & Please Don't Leave Me)

If you've been hanging around my blog for a while, it's kinda evident that I did post a promo post for Still Into You back in January 2023. And that first part does have an in-depth explanation about what it covers (which is from the start to the first chorus).

If you're wondering why: TL;DR I can't work on An Act of Kindness coz I was back home from school for vacation and I thought of the idea during a trip.

Anyway, I ramble. Time to get to the actual discussion.

(spoilers!!) The Actual Discussion

Making the rest of Still Into You, unlike Mo Ran's feelings for CWN, was actually just straightforward. I already knew that it'd cover the rest of the book, given that I intentionally focused heavily on book 1 while making part 1.

Like part 1, part 2 was that type of animatic that just naturally flowed during the storyboarding and rough sketch process. The whole animatic is divided into three phases which covers the following: Book 1, Book 2 and 3, and lastly the Epilogue.

Book 1 I've already discussed in an earlier post here but I did find this interesting tidbit I wrote to my cousin:

Anyways the discussion:

Yeah I really wish I have a funny image to put here. I'm really enjoying looking back at my stuff and seeing my initial plans though.

Order at which I made each part.

One thing of note (and actually a common oversight I experience while doing storyboards coz I don't do timings) was that I storyboarded the frames when the vocals started and forgot the timings in between.

So I kinda had to fill the parts between part 1 and 2 last-ish? (don't really remember the proper timings).

Oh, oh! And another fun fact:

Still Into You Part 2 (Rough Draft)

Part 2 was initially done on my tablet in CSP so there's a whole different and rougher version of it. (pls lower the volume if you're wearing earphones)

Funnily enough, this took me like one sitting to finish and a whole lot of sessions to clean up. I do like this process though given that, around the time I drew this, I started leaning heavily into animation and prioritizing getting my thoughts across without care for cleanliness. (Something I felt held me back too much while making Please Don't Leave Me).

In fact, there are some obvious frames that I didn't really bother polishing up (mostly because they're too hard for me or they just flash by quickly). A glaring example is this frame from the third part:

Another fun fact about the scene where TXJ shows CWN the plant he's been raising is it's actually inspired off of a doodle I made for someone in the Two Lifetimes CSE back in April 16 2023.

I just really think that it's super adorable for them. Mo Ran in the the epilogue section alternates between TXJ and 2.0.

Aside from the plant, TXJ also appears in this frame which is inspired from one of the extras. Another silly intentional decision I did is to have him pour alcohol onto a cup and drink from the bottle.

Meanwhile 2.0 appears here:

The one on the left is also from (you guessed it) an extra! It's based from an offhand mention that CWN makes in one of them. (Let me know what your guesses are haha)

I kinda just jumped into the 3rd half of the song, huh? I hope my ramblings aren't too much! I just wanna let it flow naturally.

Returning to the topic of the storyboard, I really only had a rough idea of what I wanted for the 3rd half. The references to the extras and even Goutou's appearance just came when I was already putting it into frame. Like, this was what I initially had in mind for the 2nd chorus to the end.

I think one of the notable differences is that I initially planned on doing the half MR half CWN screen transition the same way i did with chorus 1 and 2 but decided against it. In retrospect, I think it fits a lot because both aren't divided anymore.

Something about the second verse + chorus of the song

Like in chorus 1 and chorus 3, this section of the song takes on a darker tone since it covers book 2 going into book 3. It's a lot to talk about so I'm gonna select a couple that I personally like that's worth mentioning and leave the rest to the viewers to guess.

Also sorry not sorry for those who got spoiled by the animatic lmao.

The confession scene

Another fun fact: The confession scene in Still Into You and Please Don't Leave Me are intentionally connected through the color palette.

It's just that Still Into You takes a dump at how it treats it. Yes, the stick figures are intentional. It adds to the funny and tbh Still Into You really is just a feel good animatic. The comedy also serves as a whiplash to the angst hell that is the chorus 🥰.

(Insert obligatory CWN running at a tree meme here)

My Favorite 2ha Moment

Gotta insert my favorite chapter here (ch 184) which I think is one of 2ha's peaks because it resolves CWN's doubts about MR's feelings all this times.

And I'm just soo glad I could incorporate it in an animatic because it's so important to me. AND Like, 'yknow, I think it echoes the song very well because guess what MR tells CWN then?

“It has always been you."

That one frame before the chorus

There's like this moment before the second chorus starts where MR tells CWN something. I wanted it to echo ch 207 where MR felt the pressure of having to reveal that he actually is reborn and has memories of his past life.

If this were animated I'd have had MR match the song and tell CWN "I'm still into you".

Anyways, here's the frame before it zooms in. Physically it's still at ch 207, but I wanted the shadows to imply what happens next which is the chorus.

Other Bonus stuff

Ran out of stuff I wanna gush about so Imma talk about cut content.

XM and the MHX twins are supposed to have more frames (I didn't include it because it felt like it had too much energy)

2. Ling'er and the village ranwan visits during farm arc is also supposed to make an appearance

3. I forgot to animate the butterflies

4. I was supposed to polish the sequence at 2:41 - 2:51 at one point.

5. Fuck ow

6. CWN was supposed to glomp MR at the reunion scene

7. You and I

anyways go watch it

[starsmuserainbow]

Pretty much last minute, but, I made some new pics of the costumes of my muses! (Almost no new costumes - only Starlight has something new, and of course I made new things for the one char that hasn't been here last year and her twin bc I had to)

A bunch of pics incoming - and thus a long-to-scroll-post below the cut. Starting with the opposite order, because Star gets enough spotlight already.

Two pics as "appetizer" or whatever before the cut!

Using some existing scene here and simply having adjusted a few things. My initial plan was to bring all my chars onto this scene (bc halloween background, and a good amount of space too), but then I decided against it.

And because I love what I managed to create for him, here's also one pic already of the one char that isn't even a muse here (so far) - Akira, Akari's twin!

I should have moved him further "up" (as in, to the left if you look at the pic as it is here) in the thing I think, but, I only realized that way too late so this is the pic I'll keep.

Akira totally climbed up some church or something when the moon was out and the scenery was just perfect. Whoever he was out with absolutely insisted, multiple times, for him to come down, that it's dangerous and that he can barely stand up there (and on the decoration thingie at that, not even on the roof itself) much less pose, but he didn't relent, managed to find a hold (probably after being close to slipping or falling a few times) and actually pose up there smoothly.

Bonus:

Of course he has the teeth to match, too.

Would have loved to make his group too, but I barely had the time to finish this, so getting 4 more ideas and making them a reality would have taken way too long. Perhaps I'll find more time next year.

Tidbits I want to mention or noticed too late when taking the screenshots: - The ruffle neck thingie, the lower part of the ruffles glitched into his body. It isn't just one ruffle there, it's wider than the above layer. - I did search for a free-to-use background of the night sky with the moon, somewhere on one of these "free backgrounds" websites I found this one, and it did say free for personal use. Slapped it onto here because I of course didn't take screenshots within KK with the skybox visible (I need to actually check that in the settings somewhere when I want it which sucks)

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Next, of course, Akari! She decided on a costume together with @merveiilles Aoi who is going as Raven, so of course she's Starfire!

Tidbits I want to mention or noticed too late when taking the screenshots: - This is her Idol/Mermaid-Hair, that's why it's so insanely long. It should be a lot wavier than this, because it'll be nigh impossible to get it this straight after it's in her huge curls almost all the time, but I did what I could within the limits of KK - Probably obvious, but, those are contact lenses. Her eyes are red otherwise, after all.

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Continuing my reverse of going through the characters, next up Pyrrha!

I like to think that whatever Halloween-esque party she went to had a broom hanging like a swing to match the aesthetic of the party. Of course with a witch-costume, she had to use it and get a picture.

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I would have liked to have a model for Mimi ready for use to combine with Sheshe for this year, but while I downloaded a model before I have not yet found the time to check it out and adjust, so I didn't use it yet. Thus, another time her alone. Oh well.

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Mar'i again as Mar'i'o, too.

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I still love my spunky cheerful pirate Lightning. Her white top is still supposed to go down longer than the corset is and "pop out" again below the corset, and not basically leave her with a free belly, but it's the limits of (my skills in) KK.

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Me-ow~

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Sheriff Mia is back again too! The colors of the right side feel more like the colors I want, the brown is kinda so pale on the left pic. Idk why, I probably forgot to adjust some settings before taking the screen.

Tidbits I want to mention or noticed too late when taking the screenshots: - Just... ignore how in the second/right pic she has her guns out and has them in her holsters too. I forgot to take off the guns in the holsters. Just imagine those wouldn't be there.

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No new pic for Moonshot because the whole thing for him is that he doesn't get the appeal, joined because Starfire asked him to, and then proceeds to just stand in a corner somewhere growing more unhappy over time.

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Actually a new outfit! I had that ready for her already, actually, last year, and now decided that Starlight would very much go as a fairy this time instead of the rainbow she went as last time.

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Tidbits I want to mention or noticed too late when taking the screenshots: - It's such a struggle to draw those laced-straps there everytime I do something with this outfit. But adding them onto the model in KK doesn't look good, ever, so I have to take the effort.

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I still very much adore this outfit, though of course there's glitchy stuff at the top of the belt.

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And that's all! I still love all my chars and their costumes a lot. I wish I could actually have done some things for halloween - I'd still be open if anyone's interesting in starting something even now that it's almost already over - but alas. I'll find the time to be here again properly eventually.

[ntdramaqueen]

Ryan Started The Fire

Today's on Ineffable Shenanigans:

A few hours earlier

It's Christmas. Aziraphale decided to throw a gift giving party because Maggie, Nina and Muriel have just moved into town (or, rather, appear out of thin air thanks to me, but shhh don't tell anyone). Crowley grouched at the idea but followed along anyway. Before the celebration, they paid a visit to Maggie and Nina's and were lucky to run into Muriel on their way home.

(here's a small "fanfiction" that I wrote without realising it; before you read, i do apologise for my silly mistakes if you find any)

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. They had a lovely talk about "cuppertea" and "snowgoating", which, in fact, were "cup of tea" and "snowboarding", Crowley corrected. Muriel seemed to be so blown away by what Christmas had to offer, that Crowley and Aziraphale decided to make a change in their plans and introduce the angel to all kinds of winter fun. They headed to The Winter Festival, with Muriel bubbling with excitement at their side, wittering on about how they've never met a "snow angel" and would very much like to do so. Aziraphale kindly explained that a "snow angel" is not a real angel but merely a shape of one made in snow. "Oh, I must try and make one, too!" Muriel exclaimed but, soon, their face dropped, a line between their eyebrows becoming more visible with each passing second. "If only I knew how to." "Not to worry," Aziraphale reassured them. A mysterious smile appeared on his lips. Crowley knew that look better than anyone. "No." the demon said plainly. His plea was met with a silent giggle. "You see, I happen to be, as you might say, a professional in the matter." Muriel beamed. Crowley let out an irritated groan. "It's quite simple. All you have to do is to lie on your back and move your arms and legs out and in, as if you're flying-" "That's not how the angels fly and you know it." the demon interfered. "Quite right. But this is how humans picture it." "We're not humans." "But we act like ones." "Yes. Exactly. Act. In the end, it's all just play pretend. My point is, you can't explain things the human way to an angel who's been on Earth for only-" Caught up in their usual bickering, they hadn't even noticed Muriel dropping to the ground and frantically moving their limbs in the snow following Aziraphale's instructions. It was when they let out an amused "HA!" the pair jolted and turned to the source of the sound. "See?" Aziraphale said proudly. "No need for difficult explanations." Crowley could only grimace in response, defeated.

My initial plan was to have a "family outing" with the three of them and then, eventually, a cozy Christmas party with friends. Let's just fast-forward into the future and say that nobody came to the husbands' party. Why? One could only wonder.

Maggie and Nina were probably... busy. When Aziraphale and Crowley visited them, something rather odd but not surprising happened and, believe me, humanity is not ready to see it.

As for Muriel, I'm sure they were so invested in The Winter Festival's activities that completely forgot about the invitation.

With all that being said, It's not surprising that as soon as Crowley, Aziraphale and Muriel made it to the park, THIS happened:

Of course, they had to run home fast in order to stop the fire from spreading any further.

Fortunately, they managed to extinguish it almost immediately. No books were burned in the process, only a small part of the fireplace was now pitch-black. Nothing a minor miracle couldn't fix.

However, a good talking to was inevitable.

(another side story because i haven't mentioned this in my previous posts)

When they bought this cottage, it never occurred to them that the house might had been vulnerable to certain weather changes. Therefore, once winter had arrived in town, Crowley would constantly wake up shaking from unfamiliar coldness in the room. You might say, he's a demon, he can't be cold. But, alas, the whole situation "send shivers down his spine" quite literally. In particular, Crowley expressed his biggest discontent over the lower part of his corporation freezing. Until he discovered the wonders the fireplace in their living room could do.

"Must you do that right in front of me, my dear boy?" Aziraphale asked once, clearly distracted from his afternoon reading. "Absolutely," the demon replied with a coy smile. They stayed silent for the rest of the evening.

The thing is, a certain someone forgot to put out the fire before leaving. And since Crowley likes to occasionally "play with fire", there was only one person to blame for this disaster.

Don't worry, they made up eventually.

+ [bonus]

The aftermath:

"Crowley, dear, I don't think that violently hammering the stove will make it fireproof. If anything, it will break." "You're the one who asked me to 'tinker' with it and forbade me from using any miracles!" "When I said 'tinker' I didn't mean 'pull it into shreds'. And we don't want another fire to occur, do we?" "Are you saying I purposefully set the house on fire? I just wanted to warm myself up because it's so bloody cold in here!" "You're a demon! You can manipulate your physical processes without even lifting a finger." "You know it doesn't work like that."

[fancyfade]

I saw the post saying Batman fans think dc intentionally make Bruce a terrible parent to give Damian angst…just…have these people seen what dc writers and editors in interviews?

A lot of writers and editors revealed they see Damian not more than an arrogant and entitled brat that needs to learn his place and follow the status quo…which is hilarious as a lot of modern writing heroes make fucking frustrated with their holler than thou personalities.

Heck I remember the writer got Tim Drake last recent book said she liked Damian but he can be difficult at times

Oh like Ra’s and Bruce? Almost like he related to the some of the most complex mainstream comic book characters.

And from my experience, a lot of writers want to write the idolized version of Batman that made up as a kid. Which unfortunately makes Bruce treat Damian as afterthought unintentionally.

Now I don’t expect Bruce to be the perfect dad, but as you stated months ago. A lot of modern Batman writers have a fundamentally lack of desire to have Bruce act like a parent/figure. In fancy I notice this with the other batkids where their bonds with Bruce have been extremely watered down. Can you confirm that as you read more older comics than me.

Sorry for a long anon, I don’t think Bruce is meant to be a terrible father. Just a lot of writers project their personal bias against Damian into other characters…which in turn make a lot of them worse as writer forgot Damian is a child…not to mention Bruce bio son. Not saying parents and kids have 1:1 of personalities. But do writers remember Bruce can be an asshole too?

yeah a lot of the writers do project their personal biases - as well as they personally don't view Bruce's adopted kids as his actual kids* and it's more comfortable for writers to just have them do different things when batman doesn't "have" to be a parent. like dick and bruce have pretty good rapport in silver and bronze age.

for older comics its strange. like I'd say even tho golden/silver age bruce didn't refer to dick as his son, he still definitely had "dad like" qualities. like we see a golden age bruce knock dick out to stop him from following him to his presumed death**, and silver age Bruce encourages dick to spend time being a kid and enjoying basketball and for example 1 comic dick goes to his school's spirit night instead of on patrol.

bronze age dick is college age, so their dynamic is different. dick's out of the house in college, and honestly I wish writers would do this more if they just didn't want to write Bruce being a dad. Like for Damian's situation instead of Bruce being criminally negligent/stupid why can't we just see Damian living with Talia he literally has a mom. you don't want to write bruce being a dad there are options.

jason we see him being a good dad but also his tenure as robin is pretty short, and then for a while the robin of the time (tim) is important in that he is not bruce's son. he's a trainee. Bruce doesn't have any minor children for a while, and only after OYL (occurs 2006 in our world) do we see him adopt a nearly adult tim.

For which Batkids have had their bonds with Bruce watered down, I'd have to read more current batcomics. The old comics I'd say we do have phases where Dick and Bruce don't talk much, mostly due to the annoying post COIE retcons of how Dick becomes nightwing (Bruce initially tells him he can't be Robin after he gets shot, then immediately adopts Jason to make him Robin, and then later that is retconned for Bruce to kick him out). I've spoken multiple times about preferring pre COIE retcons where Dick had more agency.

Cass I am not sure if we've seen her interacting a lot with Bruce lately, due to the aforementioned not keeping up with current batcomics that don't have Damian. She does show up in spirit world but :P that's about Xanthe.

From what I hear from people who read current Tim comics, Tim's bond with Bruce is very strongly emphasized, tho I haven't read those comics myself so I can't comment firsthand.

Overall I think a lot of portrayal of Bruce as straight up negligent or abusive*** is due to writers just not caring about portraying him as a dad, they care about loner batman which maybe is the version from their head as kids? or could just be because that's a lot of what DC likes to emphasize. also the general "men express emotions by being angry and violent" thing many writers like. and DC was going to set up Damian as the villain for 5G, so they had to put him in a place where Bruce couldn't have seen this and stopped it, so they decided that he was going to claim any level of ignorance in order to not look bad (because I guess just not knowing what's going on with your child is fine)

*for a similar thing not in batman comics: i think that if Death of a Prince writers viewed Garth as Aquaman's ""actual"" kid, even though Garth was adopted by him and raised by him for a large portion of his childhood, they wouldn't have had aquaman being willing to fight aqualad to the death to save his biological child, arthur jr, at black manta's threats.

**which is also what Talia does for Damian in Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul - she knocks him out to take him away from battle and protect him

*** as opposed to realistically emotionally unavailable for his character, which I think works especially post Jason's death. but also WRT for why I think the negligent stuff is OOC (here - post)

[ineedhelp-posts]

MY MIND IS FULL OF BSD SHOWING UP TO WORK WITH A LIPSTICK MARK ON THEOR CHEEK BC THEY FORGOT TO WIPE IT OFF (or maybe on purpose🤨🤨)

YES. ONE 100 PERCENT. 

OKAY SO LIKE IMMA DO THE ARMED DETECTIVE AGENCY (MINUS THE SIBLINGS BC I HATE THEM AND KYOUKA BC SHES JUST TOO PRECIOUS TO BE WITH THE OTHER INSANE PPL)

AND IF YOU WANT ANYONE ELSE REQUEST AGAIN BC I GOTCHU AND I'LL DEF WRITE ANOTHER THIS WAS FUN

Quick storytime: I went to a Comic Con as Dazai, and I saw a Nikolai and a Fyodor, so I went to go ask them for a picture, when CHUUYA CAME UP TO ME AND WE ALL GOT THE BEST PICTURE TOGETHER OMG I LOVE GOING TO CONS

"Soukoku real <3" -Chuuya cosplayer

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚Bsd’s ADA showing up to work with lipstick on their cheek˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ ●・○Mentions of su!c!de(Dazai core), mentions of violence?  ●・○Fluff! And a lovely GN! Reader who wears lipstick and PULLS IT OFF UNLIKE ME-

-Atsushi is the type to not realize he had lipstick on his cheek, after saying his goodbyes to you in the morning, he went to work oblivious of it. That is, until someone pointed it out to him, and he blushed violently, y’know, like Tamaki!

You kissed him, and he happily made his way to work, only to see people staring at him, wondering what he did wrong. “What…? I-is something wrong?” He asked, nervously. “Ah..Well…your cheek.” Immediatley, his hand went to brush his cheek, only to find a pigmented mark only found from lipstick. He flushed a deep crimson, and had to go sit down to deal his his big boy emotions.

Yosano and Dazai kept it on purpose-- People need to know, y’know?

-Yosano kissed you goodbye as you walked out the door, and you kissed her. She was extremely happy to wave goodbye and smile at you, knowing you left a lipstick mark on her cheeks. She smirked, touching the precious mark. She went to work, grinning as people stared, mouths wide open, knowing exactly who left that mark. Kunikida wanted to scold her but didn’t for fear of her ability.

-Dazai kissed you and asked specially for a kiss on his cheek so lipstick would leave a mark on it. He happily showed up to work, albeit a bit late… but oh well. Kunikida barely wanted to talk about showing up late with that mark on his cheek. He grabbed Dazai by the collar and shook him violently and droned on and on about how ‘It’s improper to show up to work like that’ and blah blah blah, he didn’t care. He just wanted to tease others about it. You were the one thing worth living for in his opinion, and he’d live just for you. Unless…double suicide?

Rampo knows, but doesn’t care. So what? People know you’re dating, or at least they will now. And if they dare to comment negatively, they must suffer the wrath of our favorite little snacker. 

When you placed the kiss on his cheek after handing him his daily snacks, he skipped to work happily, and went to go sit down. Yosano walked over, smirking and teasing him. “So~ Who’s the lucky person~?” He looked up at her, opened his eyes and beamed, holding his arms up happily, “Y/n!!!!” Later, Tanizaki came up to him, confused.. ”Hey, Rampo, you know that you have lip-” 

He glared at him, unhappy “Yeah. Y/N gave it to me when they packed my snacks this morning. Have a problem with it?”

“N-No sir!”

Kunikida won’t realize it initially, but then when he does, he has a mini mental breakdown because his face isn’t ideal. Ah, but he’ll leave it, because the shape of your lips are just so ideal to him.

“Oh, uh, K-Kunikida-san…You have a little..” *Motions to cheek*

“Hm? A what?” He touched his cheek, rubbing it gently and holding up a finger in front of him, mouth agape at the red mark on it. He flushed red, and after a brief yelling at/taking out his anger on people, he left it, smiling to himself and touching gently where the mark was every once in a while.

SORRY I HAVENT BEEN POSTING SCHOOL IS ALMOST OVER SO I GOTTA DO THIS LAST STRETCH, BUT ILL TRY TO POST MORE I PROMISE BABES

[thearchmanofgreenfield]

SNEAK PEEK (YASSSSS!) 'They Who Hide Under Top Hats' Part XV: The Ceremony II

“Oh good, there you are,” said Lily stopping once she saw Lucian appear in front of her. Lucian rolled his eyes.

“Why is everyone so keen to know where I am?” asked Lucian with a sigh.

“Well while it may not be a surprise in your case, I would wager it would be quite inconvenient to have an initiation ceremony without the initiate,” said Lily.

Lucian raised his eyebrow at Lily unimpressively; at that point, her mean humor did not even phase him. “Are mother and father still upstairs?” he asked. Lily shuddered, “Thankfully yes, I managed to escape mother’s clutches once she finally forced me this tight, drab excuse of formal attire!” she said whilst pulling on her grey waistcoat. “Hopefully Lucy and Lid prove to be more of a nuisance than me so I can rest before she starts pestering me again!”

Lucian raised his eyebrow and looked at Lily, “I doubt it, few things are as much of a nuisance as you!” he said in an attempt to mimic Lily’s method of insulting. Lily simply frowned. She was unimpressed.

“So, I imagine you’re here cozying up to the others after that whole debacle earlier?”

“We made amends,” Lucian said plainly crossing his arms. “We agreed to work together should the need arise and harbor no animosity,”

“Well it seems you forgot to invite me to this peace talk,” said Lily smugly with a wide grin. “Well I suppose it gave you more time to spend with little old Laura Hatly, didn’t it?”

Lucian blinked. “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, confused as to why she would mention that name specifically. Lily glanced at him with narrow eyes, as if she was determining whether Lucian was lying to her, which made Lucian even more confused and uneasy. Then her eye glanced over in the direction of the staircase for a moment; she then simply smiled and shrugged. “Nothing! Nothing at all,”

NOTES: HEY! We're at 3K! Been going a bit slower recently seen school is gonna start again soon. But I'll still have a ton of free time this month. I've also been drawing recently so that's eating up my schedule too. Anyways there will definitely be another SNEAK PEEK this week (ha that rhymed) and I can't wait to post the whole chapter.

Cheerio! :D

HEY, YOU! Yeah, you. You like fantasy? You like fantasy with guns, mysteries, secret societies, shadow governments and ALL that other jazz? Do you like free original stories RIGHT HERE ON TUMBLR? Well, if so why not try this one riiiight here! You won't regret it!

[wordwings]

I saw someone post an #bweirdOCtober prompt and was inspired to join! I don’t have a lot of energy and I want to put what I can into actually writing so this is going to be all fun, as little effort as possible. I’m drawing from both my ‘professional’ writing OCs and my TTRPG OCs, whichever fit. Not literally drawing, btw, I’m a writer. Unless I get really inspired.

Prompt 1: Fave OC

I will take this as: OC that has been on my mind a lot, because I can’t actually pick favourites.

Linn (or, Galinndan Liadon) is my character in a DnD campaign one of my brothers DM’s. They’re an elven knight (cavalier fighter subclass) who disappointed their family by not being as stuck up as them and also getting into a romance with a member of a rival family, so they sent them out to adventure to ‘prove themself’ (or, be someone else’s problem).

They’re traveling with their boyfriend and their cousin/squire as their retainers (boyfriend has since been updated to sidekick; he’s a bard) and my partner’s character, a human who was taken in by their family after his whole family got murdered under suspicious circumstances. As for the other party members, well, I don’t need to go into them because they just keep dying and being replaced by new ones! My brothers (the two who are not the DM) have had to make new characters at least three times now, while my and my partner’s character keep surviving.

Which is why Linn has been on my mind, because they’re trying to be a noble knight, protector of good and the common folk, and they just keep losing people! On top of that, every time they try the get help from an authority figure, they turn out to be corrupt—our DM has tried to make us choose between these rulers who are each horrible in their own way and we just keep going ‘nope, you’re evil, fuck you’ while occasionally begrudgingly working with them when our goals happen to align… In short, Linn is having a crisis of conscience and it’s very interesting to roleplay. I hope they can save the world and remain a good person, but I can see them giving up on adventuring and running away with their boyfriend, or just straight up giving up on life and turning evil.

Oh, I forgot to mention there’s a possibly evil dwarven wizard living in their head who keeps trying to possess them!

This campaign is a great example of what I love about TTRPGs as a form of storytelling—it’s great practice for my character and worldbuilding muscles, because you’re never in total control and are forced to think about situations you’d never imagine on your own. And especially as a player there’s not a lot of pressure to get it ‘right’, it’s about having fun together and seeing where things lead. I was initially struggling to make Linn adhere to their initial character traits, before realising that everything that happened could change a person—and that made much more sense.

[dynamicdragonite]

Finished S2! S1 thoughts here!

(Forgot to post this lmao)

If they're not gonna help him could the 'cons at least get Soundwave some Cybertronian ibuprofen or something? For his back?

3 different clip show episodes! Needed to pad the runtime of this season, hmm?

Orion Pax was very fun and cool

Operation: Bumblebee didn't quite top Stronger, Faster, but it damn sure tried its best

'Though the medic... could have done better' AUGH

That entire exchange between Bumblebee and Knock Out ('WHAT is with the Rent-A-Car????') was absolute perfection, my favourite moment being Knock Out noticing that Bumblebee was no longer chasing him and literally stopping to talk shit in the middle of his mission. We love a man with priorities

RIP Breakdown, you didn't deserve that buddy

People were saying that KO had no noticeable reaction to Breakdown's death, so I was a little wary, but while we didn't get the immediate reaction, we absolutely got the aftermath

Namely, Knock Out becomes increasingly more reckless, speaking out while Megatron is in the room (where before he mostly only spoke when referred to) and becoming bolder in those conversations, such as shouting at the Insecticons, becomes far less focused during missions, preferring to stand and talk shit/make puns, and while he does not visibly mourn Breakdown, he mentions him a fair few times and it's likely he does not even know that he's dead

Triage my beloved. I get it now.

The whole aftermath of Toxicity, and Miko failing to find closure with Wheeljack, and that shot of Wheeljack turning and limping back out of base because nobody will talk to him and he's just made it worse? Perfection.

Bulkhead's healing arc itself was a little. Mmh. Miko why is your characterisation like this?? I want to like you!

My initial reaction to Smokescreen was 'oh I hate his ass' and then now I'm like 'omg Smokescreen hi!!!'

Raf's mom did NOT notice he's been disappearing every weekend and every weekday after school, but him dropping to an A- was what got her attention? Yeah okay lady.

Also, she had no questions to the adult man in a suit being in the 'study group'???

Did she even know which child was hers????

The slow realisation that the 'cons are getting closer and closer to figuring out where the autobot base is? Hell YEAH

Alpha Trion's voice was so similar to a comedy voice I know that I didn't register a goddamn thing he said bc I was too busy laughing, but then the pan back to Optimus' face where he just looks like he's not paying attention at ALL-

KO panicking and trying to yank out the brain wire so Megatron would be stuck in Starscream. Bestie how did you think that would end. You're just lucky Dreadwing was too busy betraying Megatron to tell him about that

Also RIP Dreadwing, you didn't really do... much at all actually, but at least you weren't Starscream so you had that going for you

Jam jars; the perfect human containment systems

Also KO and Starscream fucking with their captives vs Soundwave just holding Raf. He has other priorities okay. Like carrying.

Ratchet's reaction to the mission (anxiety) and then his reaction to the fact that Optimus just destroyed the lock... love that

Ratchet's reaction to Wheeljack turning up, we've only seen him that happy at the end of Operation: Bumblebee and hell YEAH I get it now

They are SUPREMELY good at season endings