#BEHOLD A VERY VERY VERY RAMBLING LINE OF THOUGHT

[eybefioro]

(Kanji-less version, timelapse and ramblings under the cut)

ALSO OPEN THE IMAGE TUMBLR KILLED THE QUALITY AS USUAL

I wasn't sure sure which version was better, so here is the one without the ~~menacing~~ kanji! (And sorry. I'm sure the Kanji I did is horrible but I swear I tried my best)

So. Before some time before Good Omens consuming my every awaken thought, the media that lived in my head was JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Because of a certain thing I am working on, my mind end up connecting the two and I HAD to do something about it or else I'd go crazy.

(Cues 3 min time lapse bc i spent -checks app- ALMOST 46 HOURS on this thing. Fuck)

Since JJBA is one of my fixations, at some point I end up watching every single interview with Araki (the author) I could get my hands into, and lo and behold he actually shared about his process quite a bit over the years. We even have access to some timelapses of him working on illustrations!!! I tried to follow a bit of his process, and one VERY interesting characteristic of his work is the JoJo pose – very dramatic covers/panels that showcase the character. He often uses fashion shoots as a references (Araki is very inspired by fashion, architecture and music and there is a million references in his work it's very very interesting and fun) like this:

So there I go on Pinterest looking for a fashion photo that inspires me (Google was shit. What is happening to that search engine?) AND I FOUND IT

YALL. IT WAS LIKE A SHOT RIGHT THROUGH MY BRAIN. I COULD SEE IT SO CLEARLY. Aziraphale and Crowley falling out of heaven together after the second coming. Azi holding him. Crowley giving the middle finger to all those fuckers bc HE GOT HIS ANGEL BACK.

But the thing is... the things is. I'm no artist. I have almost no experience drawing. And this is not exactly an easy pose, and is something pretty ambitious for a beginner like me (I can literally count on my hands the amount of digital drawings I have done. It's all on my blog even lol) so like.... the chances of this going well were very slim. But I am very happy with how it turned out!!

I have to thank @elenthyaolyenths and @gribouli LOTS for that. Elen teached me how wings worked, a bit of anatomy with that, a bit of how she makes those beautiful fluid pieces, Li taught me a bit about colors and light/Shadow. Their support was amazing and they're so so nice to me 🥹

I had so much trouble drawing this bc I'm still learning how digital painting works and how Ibis Paint works. Idk what half of the stuff there does LMAO yk the line work? All in one layer. Don't do that folks. I resized the canvas half way through and had to redo a bit of the line art bc I had to scale it a bit to make the proportions better. Half way in I figured out how to make masks (again, elenthya is an angel for telling me that exists) so I had to learn as I went how that thing works (I still don't know how to use it fully). Ibis Paint froze like 4 times bc my phone can't handle it well LMAO my precision is shit bc I mostly draw with my fingers so I had to gave up control and use the stabiliser on maximum... and so on.

I'm having so much trouble with everything in digital painting BUT IT'S SO MUCH FUN. THERE'S SO MANY POSSIBILITIES. I'm excited to keep going and learn more.

Back to the Jojo style. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I love harsh lines and shadows, the dramatic effects, the detail, the crazy perspectives, the colors... THE WAY ARAKI DRAWS SMOKE AND CLOUDS.

This was my ref for the background, and to represent the heaven Crowley is flipping off and that they're falling from. (fuck this scene in the anime broke me. BUCCIARATI MY BELOVED)

AND THE CLOTHEEEEESSSSS I HAD SO MUCH FUN IMAGINING WHAT THEY'D WEAR IN ARAKI'S STYLE. Obviously Aziraphale is once again sporting something inspired by the crepes look bc omg that was so OVER THE TOP. I'm sure araki would come up with something crazier and more interesting than what I did, but I still think this is a fair shot.

As much as I love JoJo's style I have to say it isn't really an art style made to depict softness. Like. I don't think Araki ever drew something that looks soft. All the characters are slim or super strong, and the few ones that are fat he didn't really... Well. I'm gonna say it. Araki doesn't draw fat people, and when he does I don't think they're a good depiction. As I said he doesn't do softeness lol nothing looks soft in his style, not even fabric I think. It's all sharp lines, dark shadows (again, I love it but yeah) and thin (or extremely big in the first parts) people. This fits really well with Crowley but not so much with Aziraphale. If this was a pose that showed more of him I'd probably not do a great job at it. I think I'd need to go heavy on trying to make his clothes look soft and big to try to make it better.

Now WwwwwiiiIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGZZZZZZZ!!!! Elen is such a magician at drawing wings. I can't believe she actually offered to help me with this one. I learned so much. I was taking inspiration from her work, I wanted to make them BIG and GLORIOUS as she does and I think I succeeded a bit at it (they're not as fluid and perfect as hers, obviously, but I think they still look nice.)

As she was explaining to me how the anatomy works and all we ended up talking about how they're like arms and the digits in bats and I decided to give Crowley that type of wings. I also discovered that Elenthya used to draw DRAGONS. DRAGONS YALL. SHE GAVE ME A DOODLE OF ONE AND IT'S SO AMAIZNG. So together with the bat wings I tried to give him some drangon-esque feel. And she also gave me the idea to make Crowley's wings more damaged, to give more weight to the drawing - Aziraphale helping him not to fall again, holding him in the descend.

Anyway. I talked too much already and no one has the patience for this lol I just like to register the process of me learning things. It's fun.

[atopvisenyashill]

WHERE HAVE ALL THE STARK WIVES GONE AND WHERE ARE ALL THE COZ'S

aka i made the stark family tree from torrhen, the king who knelt all the way to the starklings & filled in some gaps too just for funsies. behold my magnum opus because i am a visual learner. some notes on the tree:

at the start of the tree, you’ll notice some lines are purple. those are not technically canon relations - we know those people existed but we aren’t told how they’re related or who their wives were. similar to my dornish timeline, i filled in a few gaps here based on the information we have to go off, some leaps in logic when it comes to the politics of the time, and some math.

similarly, you’ll notice some names in {brackets}. those are characters that we know exist but we don’t know their name (ie, we know alaric had two sons, we don’t know their names). i picked their names from other stark names.

the kids aren’t always in age order. i couldn’t get the graphic to line up in places bc of the cousin marriages and still keep everyone in age order, so i just gave up aksjd.

all the ones with the book sigil were Lords of Winterfell. all the ones with the show sigil were just born into the stark house.

alright now we got some explaining & rambling below the cut

george give the wives names. george at least give them a house. george pls you don't have to give her a personality just give her a freaking name george.

anyways!!! first things first, let's go into the names and houses i invented for everyone, starting from Torrhen's wife on the left and moving to the right:

Lady Manderly, the last Queen in the North - i think given the Manderlys are the #2 house, it was thematically fitting that the last Queen in the North was a Manderly! I also think it would make sense, given how common Iron Islander raiding was in this time, that Torrhen would want to strengthen his alliance with the house that owns his fleet. We also know the North’s fleet was pretty damn impressive at this time - Aegon uses them to fight several times after Visenya destroys the Vale’s fleet during the conquest.

Lady Dustin, wife to Brandon the Boisterous - Torrhen’s sons hate the Iron Throne and they’re all really pissed at the Stark Maiden-Ronnel Arryn marriage, so I figured Torrhen’s sons would want very fierce, very Northern wives (no offense to the Manderlys). Given Barrowton is one of the only true cities in the North, I thought marrying a family familiar with travelers, maybe a richer house even, might be seen as a benefit to staying strong against the Iron Throne.

Lady Flint, wife to Brandon the Boastful - Similar to Lady Dustin, I thought a strong Northern match would be what the sons of Torrhen would continue to go for. The Flints of Widow's Watch are considered the most powerful of the Flint houses so I thought that made a good match.

Lady Norrey, wife to Edwyn Stark - this one was fun & required some math and analysis. Basically, we know none of Alaric’s sons are married when Alysanne comes to visit, and Alaric is succeeded by his grandson, because both of his sons die before him. It means his grandson could be at the oldest 14 when he inherits. We also have Gyldayn say that some “Stark brothers” looked into seeing if Alysanne giving the New Goft was legal. I thought if Alaric & his sons were so annoyed by this, wouldn’t it make sense to marry into a house near the New Gift, who perhaps will be impacted by the decision and have the knowledge of the area and its history? Since the Norreys are right on the border, I thought that would be a good fit. I also thought it would be a good fit because Cregan married Arra Norrey just a bit later - and one pattern I noticed is that when a family marries into the Stark line once, they tend to remarry each other within a few generations again. They do this with the Blackwoods, the Lockes, AND the Royces - it’s likely the mothers & grandmothers influencing the matches, and I thought it was a fun pattern to repeat.

Lady Reed, wife to Artos Stark - So one thing we know is that Lynara Stark, Cregan's third wife, is not descended from the uncle who attempted to usurp Cregan but from a younger son of Brandon the Boisterous. I also noticed Lynara's son, Brandon, has an affair with a Fenn. The Fenns are sworn to House Reed, so I thought it made sense that this branch of the Starks has perhaps lived in the Neck, and brought a small household with her that included a Fenn or two that her son later has an affair with.

Lady Glover, wife to Ellard Stark - this is another “marry & remarry” match up but there I chose the Glovers also because I noticed the Starks tend to marry into the same few houses over and over again. These are likely their richest vassals and closest allies, so I thought again it would make sense that Ellard would pick a woman from a wealthy or important background as the succession crisis under Jaehaerys starts to kick off (in preparation for a fight, even if it's just a war of words). Since you have Gilliane Glover just a bit down, and I thought that would match up nicely with the "marry and remarry" trend as well.

NOW SOME ANALYSIS

Obviously there's been a lot said about the Sansa-Jonnel and Serena-Edric marriages that I don't really need to repeat at length but - I think the choice to have a Sansa and a Jonnel One-Eye marry is kind of sus, I think the "One-Eye" thing is sus, I think the niece-uncle connection here is kind of sus, and I think the fact that their mother was a Manderly is also sus.

There's also the fact that Serena has several sons and we have no idea what happened to them. That one stands out to me because of the Cregan-Lynara match; as stated above, Lynara is not, as some people assume, the daughter or granddaughter of Arnolf, the uncle that attempted to overthrow Cregan. Her Stark name comes all the way from a younger brother of Brandon the Boisterous. That's quite a few generations back that a Stark line has survived to remarry into the main line and we don't even know if she was an only child or had brothers and sisters. So Brandon's brothers' weren't just mysteriously offed/died out, but just two generations after Lynara, all of Serena's descendants just mysteriously die off? Nah, there's a story here that's hiding. The obvious suspect here is The She-Wolves of Winterfell story with Dunk & Egg. COMMA BUT. It's crazy that there are no Stark cousins in the modern day, no cadet House the way we have the Arryns of Gulltown, the Green Apple Fossoways, the Lannisters of Lannisport, etc., and also equally weird that Lynara's Stark line isn't a named cadet branch.

But let's get into the cadet/cousin branches in the modern day as well - one thing I noticed about the lack of Stark cousins in recent history (ie first and second cousins rather than like, seventh and eighth) is that a lot of them are female line cousins. Catelyn and Robb point this out in the book when Catelyn brings up the Vale Starks in the Templetons, the Royces, and the Waynwoods. I think the fact that Sansa is in direct contact with a host of those same families will come into play; perhaps when she unmasks herself as Sansa, someone will comment on her resemblance to Jocelyn, or maybe that familial connection will prompt a bit more loyalty out of one of Jocelyn's descendants if she has to make a mad dash out of the Vale.

And this is the same with Lyarra; she had a sister, Branda, who married a Rogers, which is a very minor Stormlands house. That stuck out in my head because I think this all really sets up the North to be ruled by Sansa; there are no male cousins or even female line male cousins (shout out Targaryen cousin Robert Baratheon) to step in and say "Well wouldn't you prefer a man as the Stark in Winterfell?" It's just Bran, Rickon, and Jon Snow that could possibly threaten her rule. It seems like she's very set up to echo her predecessor here but instead of Jonnel marrying her to steal her claim, Jon is likely to back up her claim, same as Bran.

And since I'm talking about namesakes here, let's dig into Arya Flint. There's two big associations here for Arya - Brave Danny Flint and the Wandering Wolf, Rodrik Stark. I think it's interesting that he served with the Second Sons, given that Arya is a Second Daughter, rather than the Stormbreakers, which was started by Oscar Tully. The moniker itself, Wandering Wolf, also makes me a bit excited for Arya's future; I've said before but I want Arya to do everything she wants to do and being so closely associated with a "Wandering Wolf" makes me think she will. The Danny Flint connection is also interesting here - there's the fact that Jon Snow, the sibling she's closest to, joins the Night's Watch (and even makes reference to Danny Flint), the fact that Danny dressed as a man and fought with a sword. Similar to the "Wandering" epithet potentially spelling out a happy ending for Arya, I am hopeful she'll have a happier ending than Danny Flint. But I do wonder if perhaps Arya will have some involvement with the Night's Watch, however it exists in the endgame.

Lastly - I'm so curious about Harrold Rogers. Did he help facilitate the friendship between Ned and Robert? Are the Rogers' still kicking around looking Starkish as hell? George where are all the cousins!!

[saphira-artandoc]

Behold… a project that began back in October 5th 2022…

C3 Swap AU

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I am nothing if not predictable

What is the swap AU?

The swap AU was created due to my love of that genre (If you followed me in my Persona phase, you know what I mean)

It was a way for me to practice my craft as time goes on and to this day, I’m still learning. It’s also an excuse for me to draw pretty outfits

It was also inspired by Eren Angiolini’s CR swapped classes (mainly VM and MN back then) before their own rendition of Bell’s Hells, done in 2023

The difference between my version and Eren’s is that instead of swapping DnD classes (Fighter -> Paladin) , we changed their subclasses (Fighter : Battle master -> Fighter : Eldritch knight). Some of these were taken from completely made up thanks to a homebrew list of subclasses

The entire creation of this AU is a group effort from various members of the Dorym Nation discord server. We did not plan for it to work as well as it did as episode rolled by. We did it mostly on vibes and somehow made everyone’s backstory sadder (oops)

Why making this post now?

With campaign 3 coming close to an end, I felt like it was finally time for me to face my fears and show the people what 2 years of creation do to someone, without any remorse for showing enjoyment in a piece of media.

I also struggle with showcasing my work in the last couple of years to a wider audience, especially with the rise in A/I art and N/F/T that just destroyed me mentally. This is why you don’t see much art posting from me

Also every time I thought I had a breather with art, shit just kept happening in the canon game and it really just spiralled to what we have today… Mind you this was created around episode e20 so we didn’t know everything about the characters back then… We were so close but had to change some stuff and add something else… I love the creative process <3

What did you mean by “you made everyone’s backstory sadder?”

When you go into a project made on vibes, you kiiiiind of mix-match a couple of ideas together. With the Swap AU, not only did we swap their subclasses, but we also swapped elements of their backstories with another member of their group. You will see it with everyone’s post.

Wait so you’re not sharing the art yet? Why not?

My goal with this post is to give you guys a small introduction to the AU. I know this will be at the very least 10 post in total minus this one since I’m hoping to give each Hellions their very own Tumblr posts

I am also a perfectionist and I want to give the best quality possible when posting the artworks. I am in the making of creating front facing reference sheets of each member of BH with max 6 different clothes ( EXU or start of the campaign, ball, outfit 2, current one, and for those with specific body transformations get that illustrated also)

There is already existing art of the AU that was created by @czpeterp that you can see here! (Their art is amazing, go check them out!!)

I have Fearne and Chetney’s that are complete, and Imogen is the next one in line. Expect for a post about them coming really soon (hopefully tomorrow)

That’s all for now! Sorry for all the rambling lmao, I do hope I piqued your curiosity and I’ll see you (hopefully) tomorrow morning for our first Swapped character: Fearne Calloway!

[polarisdelphi]

Continuing my Arthurian concepts, Lancelot of the Lake (I wanted it to be Lancelot du Lac, but alas, it looked really bad on his sheet, with the fancy font and all). As I did with Arthur, we have Lancelot and his sword - again, I just have a thing for designing fancy swords :')

His whole concept is blue, because you know... Of the Lake. Child of Avalon. It had to be blue hahaha every detail on his sword/armour is to look like plants, fountains and water.

I also wanted his sword to have that ~clashing~ of fluid like fountain shapes and rectangular, harsh line shapes because even if he is water, he is also constant in his loyalty, beliefs and is someone you can rely on.

(oh I told you guys I have some hot takes regarding Lancelot, Guinevere and all that... 'TIS LOTTIE TIME NOW)

Also did the whole ~testing Photoshop layers thing~ again and, lo and behold, we have some vitral looking version of Lancelot. It can also be him during one of the rituals in Avalon, who knows ;)

More ramblings on my version of Lancelot, what I thought during his design, who he is to me as a character and why he has that insufferable smug smile, under the cut below hahahaha

(fangirling? yes, fangirling over arthurian legend, yee been warned)

First things first: YES, Ioan Gruffud.

I fell in love with Lancelot because of him in the 2005 King Arthur movie and that is FOREVER the vision I have of Lancelot, this man has SINGLE-HANDEDLY made me believe he is a loyal friend and a little shit at the same time and there is NO room for another Lancelot in my mind.

I fucking love him so much

The 2005 movie is one of my favourite versions (I was 13 when I first watched it, he was my teenage crush, I'll love it to death) - but it does leave a lot of the characters out to create a whole other story on its own. I love it, but there's so much more on Arthurian Legend we can work on!

My Lancelot, then: yes, prince of Benoic. Taken by Avalon, raised by the Lady of the Lake, ruthless in combat. Best Knight of the Round Table, could even be better than Arthur (some say), and fiercely loyal to his companions and commander.

One hell of a womanizer, though. This man can't see a good looking woman - or even man, for that matter - without starting to flirt and say some things that would make even the gods flush. Everyone laughs while Galahad wants to die every single time Lancelot's flirty mode is ON.

Pretty useful when they have more stealthy missions that require lying, deception and cheating - be it men or women, Lancelot's charm will NEVER fail.

(other more "brutish" Knights, so to speak, say it's his Avalon ✨ pixie charm ✨ - and really, the man doesn't disagree)

Even if he is very loyal to his friends, brothers in arms, and his beloved Arthur, he can't be like that in romances, though. Lancelot's love is a quick flame that burns down an entire forest in the blink of an eye and it's put out quickly with a heavy rain the day after, while Arthur's love is a lingering fire on a winter night, keeping his lovers warm and away from harm as long as it has wood or coal to burn.

That's why I chose to give Lancelot a more reliable look with all the rectangular shapes, constant stripes and more of a "bulky" look compared to Arthur (Arthur has more of a slim-strong constitution). But he also has some sharp points, because of how dangerous he is, and the ever flowing shapes of the water of Avalon - like his very flowy dark blue cape.

He's always covered in blood too. He is the best Knight, he has no problems when it comes to killing, and he doesn't have Arthur's moral compass. If he has to be ruthless, he will be.

(told ya this man lives rent free in my head)

And that's very important to his character, in my opinion. Lancelot is a pagan, he doesn't mind bloodshed, and he certainly has no issues with giving in to lust and earthly pleasures. There is no Heaven to judge him, and no Hell to burn him. He is fatally human. Not trying to be better and to go on a moral high horse when his hands are covered in blood and his only talent is death - just surviving his times as he can.

HENCE - and brace yourselves for hot take time! - why he loves Guinevere, but he's in NO WAY a better man than Arthur. He would stop his flirting and womanizing shenanigans for her, but WHY would she give up someone so absurdly upstanding and unreal like Arthur for him? And he doesn't want her to. She deserves better than him. He loves being around her, his heart aches, but how many hearts hasn't he broken? It's kind of a poetic justice sort of thing in his view.

And he wouldn't sleep with her, not when she loves Arthur and Arthur loves her so fucking much. He might be a little shit, yes, sassy, bitter, hedonistic and even annoying at times - but he is loyal. He doesn't love easy, and when he does, he loves hard. And he loves Arthur too much to do the one thing that would destroy the man he would give his life for.

He's a bastard, but he does have standards. A bastard with feelings :)

Jokes aside, this is, again, MY take on Lancelot. MY Lancelot, is all fun and games, will argue religion with every single catholic/christian he meets on his way, will get covered in blood during battle, will kill with no remorse, will drink with no remorse, will indulge in sex and break hearts with no remorse.

But he will give his life for his friends - he will sacrifice everything for those he loves, and his loyalty can never be bought - for in the end of the day, if he's lying on the grass choking in his own blood, he knows those are the ones who would come to his aid. He knows Arthur would rather die for him than watch him die - even if Lancelot thinks this would be the utmost stupid-est and unfairest thing to ever do.

The world deserves and needs an Arthur in it - not a Lancelot.

In my Arthurian Legend, this is his character, this is who he is. A lot more darkness and existential dread, pleasures and adrenaline rushes in battle to cover up how flawed he thinks he is - even if bards sing of his heroic feats, his reputation is that of a hero and women everywhere swoon upon hearing his name, painting him as a knight in shining armour.

He's not - he's a womanizer in a blood stained armour, pledging his killing skills to someone who has a better, idealistic view of the world and higher moral standards than him.

If you read all of this, thank you for coming to my TED Talk, and do know I suffered immensily not making him a dual-wielding killing powerhouse.

[phaerlax]

you as the WolfBoyGuy and me as someone who has just recently seen the puppy light, do you have any tips or what you'd consider Required Reading to get a good grip on writing wolf boys? moreso karu than garu just because i personally have a hard time writing dudes with as much bluster and "doesn't tend to default to conventionally agreed on niceties". i have (admittedly mild) torments I'd like to put him through >_>

Anon is asking me about blorbo... I have been training for this for so long... behold now the ramblings of a man possessed by two wolves. I'll talk a bit about how I approach writing Karu and then include some curated recs.

It took me some time to really get going on wolfboy fics; I also found it challenging to handle Karu's characterization. Two big reasons why:

Tsunderes are just difficult to do if you're grounded in realism. It's a very 'anime' archetype and people don't behave quite like that. This makes it harder to naturally reach for reasonable/appropriate responses when putting the character in situations. The big want/think/say/do splits can also complicate straightforward scenarios (e.g. the character wants something and does what he needs to do in order to get it. This path is often closed to the tsundere).

The game gives little insight into Karu's inner world. NU: Carnival is very dialogue-heavy in its narrative. When we do get introspection, it's often Eiden-focused. This means we basically never get to see the thought process that leads Karu to act this way or that, except in the rare instances in which he talks to himself (like in some H scenes when he goes "ugh it feels so good but-").

The style that I ended up developing for my angry wolf boy writings follows these principles:

Keep him silly. This is because I fundamentally see Karu as a comical character. Yeah, his personality can be traced back to traumas and there's a lot of interesting stuff to explore in that regard, but I am not personally interested in that tbh. The reason I love him is the wacky nonsense and ridiculous behavior that we see in the game. It was at first sight for me. I didn't need depth and I still don't XD Any advice and references I provide are skewed by that. I have a preference for almost never taking him seriously.

Mind his 'narrativization' tendencies. Karu is comically very enamored by the idea/narrative that he's a mighty warrior with many great skills who will conquer humanity and who should be respected and served. On some level, he knows this isn't entirely true, so he will sometimes (try to) avoid situations that would bring attention to his shortcomings. But most often he's trying to prove himself and get others to share his narrative. When something or someone reinforces the narrative, he gets proud, pleased or happy-flustered. When something or someone goes against the narrative, he gets annoyed and angry-flustered. He is very good at ignoring reality, however. Even though he'll seemingly take exception to every little slight, he moves on very quickly and pretends nothing happened. And though he's stubborn, he's also willing to surrender, cut his losses and 'try another day' when he's foiled.

Mix his narrativization with the narration a lot. This kind of free indirect discourse is just my style in general, but with Karu I find myself using it more intensely, to such an extent that the narration can get quite dialogue-like in how it expresses his thoughts. When I want to portray a 'tsundere stumble' moment, I sometimes make the narration interrupt itself as Karu consciously aborts a line of thinking that would lead him to unacceptable conclusions.

Let him just be rude for no reason and with little consequence. Karu's default way of addressing and dealing with people (other than Kuya) is rudeness. At best, he attempts some form of condescension in which the reason he's doing something 'nice' is because you're so weak and he's so awesome or whatever. Most characters seem to simply not mind his behavior and, again, it's usually played for laughs anyway.

Bibliography of Karu Studies

Keep in mind that many Karu fics are kuyaru, and Karu in kuyaru is quite different from the core of the character, since he's uniquely eager to please Kuya. Still, even kuyarus can have some nice insight.

who let the dogs out has a lot of juicy Karu inner conflict, and it even explores the ways in which such hangups make him outwardly grumpier. Due to kuyaru, it ultimately leads him to a place of submission, but his initial thoughts are very in-character.

Baser Instincts is a kuyaru in which Kuya gets to see the pups in a new light, because they help him in a difficult situation. It's another great source of inspiration for Karu struggling to express his feelings.

Bow Down! explores how he might react to Eiden letting him top, in a very true-to-character way.

Lonely at the Top is Karu/Dante, which means you get to see Karu at his prickliest and most insufferable, and how that can be managed.

A Matter of Pride is a good example of the 'concessions' dynamic that can be done in Eiden/Karu.

Goshujin-Ai is an older Karu/Yakumo and a good example of Karu feeling comfortable and doing the 'attempts at condescension' thing I mentioned before.

Slave number one, rub my chest again is me speculating on what it might look like for Karu to ask Eiden to do things to him and try to control sex.

Warden slander wolf Commander is probably a good example of the 'fine I give up but I'll get you next time' potential of Karu, as well as the kind of bleed-heavy narration I talked about.

Master, do you have another wolf besides me?! delves into Karu's potential for jealousy as a way of expressing affection. It's pretty canon-compliant because most of it is adapted from NEON Carnival.

There are many other fics in the Karufic Archive, but I think the ones above are among the best for the purposes of thinking about the writing.

Please feel free to talk to me non-anonymously if you ever want to discuss wolf boy content! As you can see I am cursed with thoughts and need places to put them. I'm also always very happy to do anything that I can to shepherd and sponsor GaruKaru content; if you go ahead with your impulse to write about them (please do) and want a beta reader, don't hesitate to ask~

[infinialtairs]

Y'ALL! BEHOLD FINALLY, I CAN INTRODUCE CASPER INTO CAPTAIN LASERHAWK FANDOM!!!

i kinda had him in my mind for long time, refining how he would fit in the universe, i'm still NOT 100% sure how he'll develop or progress as a character (doing fan oc for fandom is very difficult for me :'>)

so just enjoy homeless shady fox man before you there's some quirky lil stuff about him, like the fact he'll be very flirty towards people, acting all charming and cute but not to seek any romantic interest (unless it just...kinda would happen natrually) but more to hide his deep insecurity (living poor, not really great friend when he will joke about your dead pet or family member or something along those lines..)

And about his design, you don't really have to lean towards one or the other fully (like when i'll draw him, i might still keep the yellow sclera like in more "official" art style but still mainly draw him in simplify version), i'm not picky, i just wanted to show how you can draw him basically if that make sense ^^' sorry for too much rambling

(also i made this as a random thought last night, Casper would be 100% a dumbass, going way over his head and wonders why he's always ending up in weirdest places..)

[dumbfinntales]

I recently completed a game that caught me completely by surprise. My Friendly Neighborhood. On the surface you might look at it and go “ugh another yucky mascot horror indie slop?” and trust me, when I initially saw the game I thought the same thing. I’ve fundamentally grown to dislike mascot horror, or kid friendly horror. So few games actually get it right, and most are really dumb. I’m not gonna name any so I don’t upset people, but imagine if you take Bob the builder. Okay, now he’s Frank the breaker and oh he has sharp teeth and red eyes. That’s how these types of games seem like to me.

So I kind of dismissed MFN when I first saw it. But lo and behold, a few days after the games release I saw a tweet on twitter of someone calling it a “survival horror” game and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I looked into it and by god, it really is one, and inspired by classic Resident Evil titles too. A fucking RE clone with muppets? I gave the game a chance and it blew me away. MFN is a genuinely fun and competent survival horror game with great atmosphere, fun combat and intriguing puzzles to solve.

The best part to me is that the game isn’t trying too hard to be scary. Sure it’s called survival “horror”, but it feels kinda light hearted and does parody of popular horror tropes like a bathtub with a body in it that you have to drain for an item. The puppets themselves are really charming and I enjoyed their demented rambles. My favorite line went something like “My friend recently really upset me. So you know what I did? I SHOVED them into the ground and STOMPED their face!�� and they say all this in a very muppety voice which is hilarious. The point is that they’re not giving the puppets sharp teeth and demented lines like “I’ll eat your flesh” in order to be “scary”. The devs knew it would be impossible to make the muppets scary, so they leaned more on a parody.

Being inspired by classic RE games the game has a lot of familiar DNA like obscure puzzles, doors that require specific keys, backtracking, inventory management and even limited saves. Although on survival difficulty there was more than plenty of resources and save points so I never felt like I was running out of saves, or ammo or even health. The level design was also great and the world looped on itself in interesting ways and backtracking wasn’t as tedious and there was always some surprises waiting for you.

The game also seems plenty replayable and you can unlock different cheats by finding collectibles around the world. It isn’t overly long, which to me is a plus especially in a game that’s meant to be replayable, so I’ll definitely play through the game again on harder difficulties and maybe chase after some achievements.

But do I have anything negative to say? Well mainly nitpicks. The game could have benefited from more basic enemy types than just the puppets that chase after you and the small hand puppets. There’s also level specific “hazard” puppets, if you can call them that, but I dunno. It would have felt a little more interesting with some variation in what enemies you normally encounter. There’s also only two proper bosses in the game and the first one is way too easy as it goes down with just two grenades. I genuinely thought it had a second phase or I’d encounter it again, but nope. The last boss was alright, although really easy to avoid. At least it took a fight.

So yeah. How’s that for an indie surprise? There’s a lesson to be learned, never judge a book by its cover. But can you blame me for doubting? There’s way too many kiddie horror games trying to have deep lore and be all spooky and failing horribly. But MFN is a genuine gem, if you enjoy classic survival horror games do give it a try!

[silent-browser]

I wish to ramble, so here I am rambling.

I have been impatiently waiting for the next chapter of a manga called I'm being raised by villains and it is so so good. And with potential for every ML involved to be a yandere.

I will be talking about plot so spoilers are inevitable. You have been warned.

Okie dokie with that out of the way.

As far as the most recent chapter for me (ch.23) there are 2 love interests (1 who is definitely Yan) and 1 in-the-process-of-breaking platonic yan dad.

I will ramble my thoughts on each of them in the order they appear in the manga.

The dad.

Man's really pulled a "At first I was like, haha my child, as a joke. But bro, I don't think it's a joke anymore". Dude went "BEHOLD! A CHILD!" to "BEHOLD! MY CHILD!" Fucking love this trope.

He realized that he loved this kid and then she was humiliated, hurt and vanished and it is heavily implied that he's not doing so well up in the brain space because his beloved daughter is missing and I can't wait for him to break.

It likely won't happen but I really want to see him go on some grief fueled rampage, looking desperately for his daughter.

This possibility has inspired a different yandere werewolf fic that is still in the works (oop. More spoilers I guess 👀)

The Magician

This one already broke :)

Sweet little baby mc is off on her own and trying to find this boys parents and he's furious because she's missing technically and he might be feeling abandoned by, not only his birth family but also his new found family that he has with her. She is his mental stability your honor.

The new guy

He's literally been here for like 2 chapters and he's already calling this tiny 5 year old his master and barking for her. Bro, she gave you bread, chill.

I can see is future yandere the being a manipulative one. Maybe to her (pwease let me stay 🥺), definitely to the people around or in her way(you are clearly of no more use to her so why don't you go to that cliff over there and jump ☺️).

He's going to be either her most loyal servant and right hand man or her most prominent annoyance.

I have left out much as it does not contribute to the discussion on yanderes. Also I wanna try a secret second thing out. So go read or re-read this manga right now damn it! I am very much enjoying it.

Aww can't have an infinite list of "read more" lines. Damn. Oh well

The massive thing I left out!

1. It's Isekai. I like Isekai, sue me.

2. SHES A MOTHER FUKN DRAGON BITCH!!! AND HER LITTLE WINGS ARE BEGINNING TO GROW IN! They are currently only just little nublets but I can't wait until she reveals herself in all her majestic dragon-y glory!

That is all. Have a very nice "time_frame".

[jadebread64]

time for me to post my bullshit ramblings on the new doctor who episode in no particular order like a maniac lol

(SPOILERS AHOY, DONT CLICK ON THE READMORE IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE EPISODE)

obviously seeing tennant and tate back in their roles is so cool, they feel exactly as they should, it doesnt even feel like 15 years have passed when you watch them its great

DONNA CANONICALLY HAS A NONBINARY DAUGHTER AND IM SO FUCKING HAPPY ABOUT THAT

NOT ONLY THAT BUT HER ALSO BEING PART OF THE METACRISIS TIME LORD SHIT IS SUPER COOL

lmao im not even joking when i first saw the meep™ i literally thought "aww it's so cute i hope it doesnt end up being evil" and LO AND BEHOLD

OH MY GOD DAVID TENNANT JUST SUDDENLY PUTTING ON A FUCKING JUDGE WIG AND DOING A COURTROOM SCENE WITH THE MEEP AND THE WRARTH WHILE DONNA AND HER CONCERNED FAMILY JUST OBSERVE

also i think the wrarth voices are so funny cause in the trailers they're like *auurhghghg scary monster sounds!!1!* but in the episode they just sound british like every doctor who space alien should

i think the new TARDIS looks really cartoony and i think it's kinda fun, idk if ncuti is gonna end up with this TARDIS set (i'd imagine the bbc doesnt have the budget to make a whole TARDIS set for 4 episodes then just make a new one lol) but i think it looks kinda plain at the moment? idk if they added some chairs and bookshelves n shit like the capaldi one and make it look more lived in overtime it might be one of my favourites just for the whole classic who vibe it has. either way it's perfect for david he gets to run around like a little kid in there and thats all that matters lol

also tennants new suit looks so fucking good and honestly wish he just had that in series 2-4 instead of the brown suit

i think it's so funny how literally not even 5 minutes after entering the TARDIS donna just fucking spills her coffee on the console and the whole thing just explodes and goes to shit immediately lmao

ALSO WE'RE GETTING A FULL ON TENNANT/TATE ADVENTURE NEXT WEEK???? AM I IN 2008 OR 2023 I CANNOT TELL ANYMORE TIME HAS NO MEANING

im really hoping we get to see whoever the fuck neil patrick harris' character is in the next episode, im 99% sure it's gonna be the celestial toymaker but only because the doctor who youtube account kept posting celestial toymaker clips and i think they're being cheeky bastards lol (/positive)

(/sarcasm) i cant wait to see all the queerphobic assholes shitting on this episode for having the few pronouns/binary lines in it and going "dOcTor wHo iS wOkE nOw yUcK" even though doctor who has been progressive since literally 1963 with the daleks (which got a fancy new colourization that i need to check out still but thats a whole OTHER THING LOL)

oh yeah and david's acting is really fucking good in this, like when he thinks wilf has died and he just sorrowfully says "i loved that man." like MY HEART CANT TAKE THIS

plus when he thinks he has to sacrifice donna to save everybody, holy shit his perfomance is incredible

this is just a me thing but seeing a doctor who episode live as its broadcasting is so cool, i've been watching this show for like 8 years (i think??) and i usually just ended up finding it on dailymotion or some shit like a day or two after the episode aired so i'd always be late for it lol (btw for the people coming after me i dont pay for disney+ at all lol) so watching it the at the same time as everyone else was very cool especially since i nearly slept in through it lmao

anyways i think thats all if i remember any more things i'll add em in lol

plus some bonus ramblings before the episode aired

[vatesaeterni]

anamnesis

application writing sample 🍃

“Humhum…

In the wind lays lines of stories,

Those that are known but never seen

And in the eyes of ye, beholder,

Do they hold what you seek?”

On the midday streets of Mondstadt, a green-clad bard muses aloud.

Of course, where a bard goes, a crowd follows. (A turn of phrase of Venti’s own making.) Such is the burden of the incumbent bearer of the title “Most Popular Bard in Mondstadt”, but he accepted this fact without fuss quite a long time ago!

Most people, however, would only consider that phrase applicable if a ‘crowd’ could consist of a single young girl, come to seek the source of a simple song heard from her bedroom window. Hence why Venti the bard paid ‘most people’ no mind.

A feather-light sigh escaped his upturned lips, his eyes easing open as he broke from his reverie. Hopping down from the crate on which he was sat, he turned-heel with a flourish and leaned forward, hands on hips and face scrunched up playfully. Just as he thought, there meeting his gaze from around a corner peeked two eyes the color of clear sky, wide and shining.

“Huaah… Should I feel insulted that my audience won't even deign to approach me? Tell me I’m not so intimidating,” teased the bard, feigning indignance. “But of course, I won't hold it against you! What kind of performer would I be if I drove away those who came to see me?”

The girl startled as he addressed her directly, clearly thinking herself to have gone undetected. A reasonable thought to have, in most cases, but unfortunately for her, Venti was quite a unique case.

He chuckled airily at her reaction, straightening his posture.

“You've been standing there a while, haven't you? No need to hide! Come, now, gather ‘round,” he urged invitingly, outstretching a hand. Helpfully, a warm breeze blew through the street at that very moment, as if guiding her forward, and seemed to linger around Venti in a way that fluttered his cape rather majestically. (This was no doing of Venti’s own, of course! Perhaps a mischievous spirit was hanging around that day, tsk tsk.)

Those eyes, full of wonder, gave a slow blink, before the rest of the body holding them meekly emerged from around the corner. Venti beamed as she approached, leisurely leaning back against the crate he’d been sitting on before. 

“My mama said,” a small voice piped up unexpectedly, “Lord Barbatos makes the most beautiful music of all, and that, um… every child of Mondstadt could recognize his song.”

She paused, looking down and fidgeting with the hem of her blouse.

“Mister, are you Barbatos?”

Venti’s eyebrows shot up. A beat of silence was followed then by his doubling over in a fit of giggles, clutching his stomach and wiping away tears. Human children, really… how amazing they were!

“Hehehuhu, you flatter me, little one! Indeed, some have said before that I must have been blessed with my talents by Barbatos themself. But, between you and me,” he leaned in to stage-whisper conspiratorially, still grinning brightly, “I think my skills surpass his!”

The girl cocked her head inquisitively and took a step back, looking confused and surprised by his bold claim.

“Are you… allowed to say things like that about the gods…?” she asked tentatively, as if afraid she was now in the blast radius for the divine smite that was sure to rain down on him any second.

“Haha, piety is good to have!” Venti laughed. “But perhaps Barbatos… isn't so far from humanity as you think. In this humble bard’s opinion, a god of freedom and song shouldn’t want to be some… unreachable entity, don’t you think?”

His expression then softened, looking upon the child. Those eyes… really reminded him of something. Tugged at threads of memories deep within the swirling wind, tangled and dense.

The girl looked lost at his words, and he chuckled inwardly at himself. It would do her no good to ramble such things at her. As a beloved child of Mondstadt, she would realize the truth in time, see it in the flowers, hear it in the wind.

“Then,” she began before he could say any more to ease her confusion, “What makes him a god?”

And like an arrow shot through the mind, the memories rushed in.

What makes him a god?

A lone wisp of the thousand winds. No past, no name to speak of- no speech to speak with. No strength to protect with.

He- who was now a “he”- knelt by that tree’s roots, as kneeling was now something he could do. And white robes trimmed with gold draped across where that child now rested for eternity.

And he looked to the heavens, clear and blue for the first time in eons, where the stars hid behind curtains of light. That child would never see the sky. That child would never feel the cruelty of the stars.

The tyrant god had fallen, and the lone wisp had felt the pull of the stars. A new god born in that very moment.

And the newborn god took that child’s appearance, and with fingers he played the child’s lyre. With hair he fashioned braids. With wind he cleared the sky. And as the child’s life had faded, no one looked to the sky, for they found it in his eyes.

And the newborn god was tormented to find that he could not change his eyes.

The stars chose him. And the stars named him Barbatos. And there, upon that tree’s roots, Barbatos wept for the first time, with eyes that would never be sky blue.

Then Venti the bard was back in the present, standing just as he had been, wearing the same smile, though he couldn’t remember what had caused him to smile. There was the girl, staring at him expectantly with sky blue eyes. What question had she asked?

Ah, right. He laughed dryly.

“I don't know what makes him a god, other than that he is. After all, I’m no more than a humble bard, and I’m perfectly happy with it staying that way~”

Barbatos, famed weakest of the Seven. A prankster, singer, drunkard. The rest of Teyvat knew him as the absent Archon. But in the end, he could laugh along when his name was trampled and he had no pride left to uphold. He could laugh, because Mondstadt was free.

[maineshewrote]

I-just-started-s4e4-thoughts:

I can see how Oliver's least offensive robe has had its effect on Mabel's nightclothes style.

I just love the character/relationship development we get to witness, going from Oliver wondering if they have reached a point in their friendship when they can turn up at each others' place in nightclothes to the trio casually starting every other day by recapping their case while still in their nightclothes.

And just as we are told, literally, by the victim that she was not the intended victim (see: Tap in), the investigation is sent in a whole new direction, and lo and behold—we have use for a second murder board. I'm not complaining, let's not minimize Sazz's part in this case.

A moment of appreciation for the score that is always evolving and utterly beautiful and still very much tied to the original tunes of the show.

I feel like the rare blood type is going to be significant at some point. This is the second time I've taken notice of that, and they don't usually do that unless it's important. Sort of feels as wooden as that lighthouse, if you get my drift. If this is about Sazz refusing (or being unable, more likely) to be a blood donor and someone getting revenge on her for someone else dying because of that, it's either going to be heart-breaking or lame or I'm just rambling.

Oh! But how did they find out they had the same blood type? How about a nice traumatic bonding moment flashback when one of them had to save the other by being a blood donor? Now I'm really getting carried away. The fanfiction opportunities are piling.

Ugh, Oliver's obsession with stalking Loretta was bound to happen but it's so bad, please stop. They're obviously head over heels in love, this is just gonna make them unnecessarily fall out. About that menacing arm, I would love it if it turned out to be Dickie, but the man's chin didn't really look like him in the Instagram picture.

It's interesting that the picture they used for Loretta's Instagram is not a picture of her but of Meryl. That is, Meryl's there with her own hair, not her Loretta wig. (Evidence: much shorter hair, no bangs) Did you know Loretta's is the same wig she wore in A Series of Unfortunate Events (where I thought the hair was awesome)?

Why are Howard's sweaters getting progressively worse? I didn't think it could get much worse from the absolutely faceless yellow thing we saw last episode, but this duck is unfurling.

And where's Jonathan? Howard's saying he hates being alone, so what's his boyfriend doing? Is he perhaps going to work like normal working adults, unlike Howard?

Mabel being the guys' keeper in public, while the guys are utterly oblivious to making themselves appear as ridiculous as possible, love it.

BEN! The way I screamed. That is bloody lovely! Of course it's a double but this is so sweet, it's like meeting an old friend again, even though through most of season 3 I didn't even like Ben. (And I mean most of the times I watched that season. I think I only really liked him the last couple of times around.)

The amount of times the trio has had to witness Ben rise from the dead is staggering. Let's make it a running theme, every season a brief Ben come-back. Can I hear a wahoo?

Peak comedy in Oliver's momentary expression of consideration when Glen said that you can't come back from the dead, knowing full well that's just what Ben did.

The irony. Ben being given rat poison and his double seeing rats.

I LOVE that Howard is auditioning with the lines from Oliver's stage dream sequence. Canonically makes no sense (although Oliver could've used the lines in the podcast) but such a pleasure to watch.

New era for the penthouse spotted. Still unsure which decor I liked best, but it's not this one.

Melon is giving people-pleasing Hollywood Cinda Canning. She should meet the real deal.

This unfulfilling relationship that Sazz was trying to get out of better be with Jan. My boy Charles has had to deal with way too much undeserved guilt this season.

The escalation of the horror-movie-like Paradise dream to the absolutely soul-crushing tragic drama of Charles's heavy conscience was both genius and gut-wrenching. There was so much emotional nuance in that little scene, especially in Sazz's light manner of reply, in the meaningful way she portrayed not only Sazz's stubbornly positive attitude towards life but also the heartbreaking tendency in many good people to bottle up their vulnerability behind a positive mask, even and especially when people who love them unintentionally hurt them. I was deeply touched by this scene. All the while my heart is constantly aching for Charles who really doesn't deserve all this guilt. Yes, we have been led to believe he was pretty egoistic and distant in his glory days, but we have to remember that these negative qualities that we've been told about have been exaggerated due to Charles's own insecurity about himself.

No comment on the Oh Hells, nicely wrapped up for now.

It's actually so sweet of Charles to do the funeral, but there was always a chance it was going to be some big unusual stunt.

Well, look how the turntables. Paul Rudd knocking Charles out this time around.

Incredible how Irish Ben Glenroy in a bar fight could move me to tears.

Save me, heart-warming flashback scene.

I said save me, not break my heart all over again!

Sazz saying, "Let's keep this under our hat," because they basically share the same Brazzos hat. But why do these two Brazzoses' police badges have different numbers?

This show just keeps on giving. Aphrodite is back!

Okay, bit dramatic for someone named after a fruit. Not to pour cold water over this entirely unconvincing threat, but Melon's probably just going to laugh this off and have a silly explanation for being there. No clue here, people, let's move on.

But did you notice the music? Seriously more exciting than Melon pointing a gun was the theme playing during her threat, which was the same one that played when the trio found Ben falling in through the elevator ceiling (You Gotta Be F'n Kidding Me). What a lovely last nod to Ben's memory!

Sweet move on the production's part for only mentioning special guest star Paul Rudd at the end of the episode, otherwise the surprise would have been ruined.

[vixthefantheorist]

Going Back through to Argentum Inanis (the audio of the Video)

So earlier... -looks at time- last night, I popped out a theory ramble on @smoliboops post about the badges of Anomaly Found and from there some peeps also threw their thoughts on it, @n-anon being one of them and also @scarlet-witch-angel made one on it, very good theories and thoughts all around. I also thank @intothebutterflyburrow for having it appear on my dash when he reblogged it. Thank you! :D

So yeah I saw smoliboops' post, rambled like a loon for an hour typing it on phone about my thoughts, which activated Scarlet witch's theorist brain (:D) and made her own theory, which I found very interesting. I do need to get around to reading those theories you mentioned, Scarlet, I'm curious.

Anyway, what she pointed out in the audio of Argentum Inanis of Anti sounding like he said "Oh! I found the Time!" Which intrigued me, I spoke with @septicuniverse (I have her on Discord) because she was curious of what I thought of Scarlet's theory (I loved it); but I also wondered if that's what Anti said in the video.

Which brings me to yeeting my theorist ass over to the video and listen to it... it was pretty garbled with warped vocals and sirens screeching because Anti had to talk to Marvin through Silent Hill's phoneline. (I SWTG ANTI... SPEAK MORE CLEARLY OR I WILL WRING YOUR NECK!)

But it was possible to hear what Scarlet heard, but I decided to rip the audio from the video and yeet it into Audacity! (-jazz hands- Everyone's favorite game of Clear That Audio!) Yeah, we all know I'm not the best at all with these... but I try.

But I was messing with the audio to try to clear things up. As well as practice with audio volume~

And... I got a few different lines that I could make out in the audio because you know garbled mess.

The first one I heard was "Do you want in? There's time!" which made me believe Anti was very well aware of Marvin's presence with the orb and taunted him from watching Anti's work in the safety of his magical home/lair... where the hell Magic man lives. Thus inviting him into the chaos he was making, curious to see if Marvin can and will do anything.

And given Scarlet's information of Sean and Robin implying that the black eyes on Marvin showed him being possessed by Anti... which led me to believe he took the challenge... and failed. For that timeline maybe... (I guess?) or Marvin allowed Anti to possess him to see if he could glean any information from Anti's connection to him to try to turn the tide of this chaos Anti was causing. Does he succeed? I have no idea.

But wanting to be doubly sure, I tweaked and listened to the audio again for another hour, and then realized that it wasn't 'In' but 'Him' in the audio. Which turns it to "Do you want him? There's time!" which shocked the hell out of me because that made a bit more sense, thinking to Anomaly Found, there were was a small group that broke into the IRIS facility to do something, whether to break Chase out, or break themselves out if they were captured (or let them capture to try to get closer to Chase) or something else altogether that had them fucking around in the building at the time Anti decided to turn into into his personal playground.

Anti knew Marvin was watching his movements, watched everything he did, trying to find or understand what the hell Anti was doing and why (or he knew and trying to locate his main victim to prevent shit from happening). Either way, Anti was well aware of Marvin watching him and taunted him about having Chase in his grasp and if Marvin wanted to stop Anti, he had to act. Again, Anti inviting Marvin to challenge him for Chase's freedom and fix everything... somehow. I'm just guessing here.

Again, I wanted to be doubly sure and I knew I couldn't really clean the audio as well as I wanted to... it's just too difficult for me even though I am trying really hard on these... and figured to roll all the changes back to start clean and try new things to do with it to fix it up.

Lo and behold, I fucking heard it in the audio in its original form... if only the siren wasn't there it'd be clearer. But... It's still the same "You want him? There's Time!" but... I realized, in hearing it and looking to the audio image... the first half of the saying is cut off...

"Do you want him__- There's Time!"

Which made me realize -why- the second half was garbled. It wasn't just the screeching siren Anti loves so much, but the fact the first half of the audio overlapped the second.

And I had to listen to this several more times trying to focus on the overlap and I heard it... because the second half of the first sentence not only overlaps but warped into a robotic sound.

"Do you want him -back, MARVIN-? There's Time!" (or 'First... TRY!' of Anti taunting Marvin for not doing anything but yearning to get 'him' back. So if he wants 'him' back he has to at least DO something rather than wait for someone else to do it for him)

(PLEASE for the love of Theorist Gods, be careful with the audio... It's kinda loud since I did fiddle with the amplify feature of Audacity to raise the volume some... I hope at least. I mean it's not a whisper but still be careful. I don't want anyone having ringing ears or going deaf because of me. D: )

^ That is the original audio just amplified.

^And that one is the edited one that's a little lower but still kinda loud but I edited it to try to make it as clear as possible. This one since I was trying to dampen out the background noise, the robotic "back, Marvin" is bit harder to hear but its still there (or easier, depending on whose listening to it)

I was fucking FLOORED when I heard that. (Or I have lost my mind... if its that then I apologize, my fellow theorists and fans of the Septic Egos) This just leads more of the fact that Anti and Marvin KNOW each other on some level. Which opens up a slew of other possible theories or lends some weight to already existing ones of Marvin and Anti having some kind of history.

Now comes the question of which 'Him' Anti is taunting Marvin with. Chase? Given that Chase is the protag and the main target of Anti. Makes sense.

But... remember who else was captured by Anti~

That's right! JJ!

It makes SO MUCH SENSE NOW! Especially with all those other theories I've seen of JJ and Marvin knowing each other. JJ's First Appearance! He fell through Time and ended up in the past. And him mentioning that he arrived far too early! (why was he there in the first place? What did he mean by that? That was never answered because Anti too possession of him and swept him away.)

THEN we have JJ's Jolly Jaunts! A puppet stage that has the symbols of the main cards on it and looked something part of a stage show for the younger kids. Why does it have the card symbols, something Marvin has on his own mask, on it and not just JJ's own flair? Unless, the two were partners in magic shows. Marvin took care of the older audience with his magic and JJ took care of the younger audience with his stories, songs with the puppets.

It's possible that not only Marvin was part of the Magic Circle but JJ was as well. I mean why else would Marvin just hurl him in time with actual magic if the Magic Circle was very secretive of this stuff... especially the Inner Magic Circle, unless JJ was a member too?

And in Jolly Jaunts, Anti taunts Marvin with a puppet show and clearly shows JJ's state of being and helplessness. JJ, himself, at the end of it pleads for someone to help him. Pleading to Marvin to help him.

Just HOLY SHIT... this goes deep, guys... Damn, Sean you are fucking good at this. Guys, we really need to start paying attention to the audio... it can crack some shit wide open with them.

But yeah... just my rambling thoughts... again... Thank you all for reading if you made it this far. I apologize that I rambled your ears off.

Edit :

I wrote this in the middle of the night. I really need to stop doing that lol. But do keep in mind that this is all assumptions and theory based on some garbled audio.

I don't know if Marvin and Anti (or rather Argentum Inanis) have history together in the not so friendly terms. (Likely they do since the Magic Circle has a book on Argentum and time spells.)

Nor do I know for certain if JJ and Marvin also have a history together as friends, let alone partners of a magic show. Or if JJ was a part of the Magic Circle.

Hell for all we know Anti could have taken Jackie as well and that's why he hasn't shown up. And that's the "him" Anti refers to in Argentum Inanis video. Probably not likely but still possible.

Or it could be a completely different "him" that Marvin is trying to save.

Oh... Just realized that could answer somethings with Anti's rant in KJSE... "If you want him back so badly, then why don't you save him?" Was he speaking about C!Jack? Not just then but in Argentum? Or again someone else altogether since there are more characters in this story besides the six Egos now? Hmm curious...

[bumblepuppy]

Behold, my sleep deprived ramble on why I didn't like blade runner 2049 (as posted to a discord server last night)!

The OG Blade Runner is not a particularly easy film. It is a kind of pretentious and atmospheric sci-fi neo noir about a shitty cop who kills escaped slaves. Even if he's played by a handsome and charming 80s Harrison Ford, he is a stinky awful man. When I first saw the trailer for 2049, I thought 'wow this looks like trash compared to the 80s movie', but every other BR fan I knew got upset and said they thought it looked cool. Harrison Ford being in it also made me apprehensive, since the end of the director's cut hints at him being a replicant with implanted memories, which while I -didn't- really like that plot point (since 'replicants are more emotionally human than the human characters' is a theme in the movie and all), I thought it was weird for them to just forgo that and cast old man Ford who is definitely not an unaging robot.

The film is already on thin ice with the 'this replicant died during childbirth' line and then fell right through and immediately got hypothermia with 'the mother was a replicant named Rachel'. Not only is the shitty 'turns out they lied and Rachel isn't affected by the four year life span replicants have :)' theatrical cut ending now canon, trying to rehabilitate Deckard and Rachel's relationship into being romantic is. Um. Not good!!! Pretty much any modern feminist reading of Blade Runner is going to mention that Deckard can legally kill Rachel on account of her being a replicant, and the scene where she walks into his apartment and he says things like 'you want me to kiss you' reads more as coercive than romantic. But no, their love is so pure they made a baby :) the fuckin messiah apparently :)

OKAY. That sucks but maybe it at least has better characters. I don't like Rachel or Deckard much anyway, but the replicants in OG Blade Runner are wonderful, especially Roy and Pris. No such characters here! The evil replicant who hates our protagonist is essentially a yandere who hunts him down and is obedient to her master, which is. yikes. And then there's the AI hologram that's Ryan Gosling's housewife. I can kind of dig the idea of her, but her whole character revolves entirely around Gosling and god it's just. So annoying. Also she's just so "Maybe you're not a replicant :) Maybe you're actually born from a womb and special :)" which thankfully isn't the case but ugh it's just kinda gross and gender essentiallist to me. Incidentally, why is 2049 so cishet. Why is is so white!!!!

anyway the movie farts around for two hours about who the special robot jesus baby could be. Is it Ryan Gosling? Thankfully not, but the replicant makers are after him and his AI girlfriend for knowing too much about the TRUTH and hunt him down while he's hunting down Harrison Ford, because we need more movies about Harrison Ford having strained relationships with his children. The only good thing about the movie shows up here and it's his dog, but also I hate how he doesn't know if it's real or not but WHATEVER this movie doesn't care about the OG blade runner lore ANYWAY

it's a very unispired performance from Mr. Ford because he likes Blade Runner about as much as he likes Star Wars and isn't getting paid disney money to be here. he tries to convince us that his love for Rachel was like a brick, it will never shatter and will always be thick. evil Jared Leto (yeah he's here btw) makes a hologram Rachel because, well, we're not going to pay Sean Young to be in this movie, but it makes him emotional anyway

It's hard to talk about why the female characters in 2049 suck so much compared to the ones in the OG because the OG only has three and Pris is the only one I genuinely love, but the women in 2049 are only defined by their relationship to Ryan Gosling. His boss is a tough lady cop who wants to keep him safe even though the other cops are robot racist. His wAIfu is dedicated to him because that's her programing. Evil replicant lady is obsessed with him because ???. Rachel is dead but she is a mother a life giver the most important thing for a woman to BE that makes her more human than human, right? she even died a noble death of childbirth so we don't have to deal with any of her thoughts and feelings about somehow having a working womb! And then there's the random sex worker woman, where my problem isn't her being a sex worker (again I continue to stan Pris, the simple pleasure bot) BUT that her one conversation with a named female character is about letting the wAIfu use her body so Ryan Gosling can have sex with them. It's just. Not good!!! I get that it's a dystopia sci-fi but it just feels like dudes writing women badly

anyway, to conclude this madness fueled rant, AI: Artificial Intelligence did the whole 'artificial beings made by the artificial beings' thing way better and also did robot sex workers better. That is a sci-fi movie opinion that I would be shot for but fuck it!!!!

[goldensmilingbird]

felix for ♦ (quirks/hobbies), ▼ (childhood), and/or ൠ (random)?

♦️ (quirks/hobbies): I always thought he would be into history and mythology (and the fact that in canon he named himself Argos made me happy because of that). But also I love that the bible states that "the only hobby he allows himself" is art. It would give him and Bri something to bond over, and it's just nice seeing a character who chooses to go into STEM but is also artistic. I don't want him to be perfect at everything though. Maybe his drawings are anatomically correct, but not very expressive. Maybe he writes mediocre poetry sometimes and doesn't show it to anyone. Stuff like that. I feel like Bri gets not only infatuated with him, but also inspired by him? Like he's kind of a muse for her. There is a line about how she wants to create beautiful things that bring happiness to people. And I want him to get inspired by her too. I think also, as he starts opening up to people more, it would be easy to get him infodumping. He would be that kind of person in the group that knows a lot of random stuff, from historical facts to how to get out blood and coffee out of clothes. He would probably read Wikipedia for fun, tbh

▼ (childhood): Okay, I have, like, a vague backstory for him in my head, but it's not defined yet. The backstory the bible gives him is "hothead/daredevil, kinda spoiled, got into an accident and now wants to regain his old abilities". I kinda want to take some stuff from that and mix with my old interpretation. I had an idea that instead of the accident, it was a genetic chronic illness that made him disabled and also led to his mom dying. And I'm also attached to the headcanon of him being in ballet class with Allegra before all of that went down. So due to his illness, his father insists that he is homeschooled and Allegra is the only kid he is still in contact with. They try different treatments and such, and finally his father decides to move to Paris so he can get better education and treatment there. Him and Allegra get separated and the next time they meet is when he's allowed to go to public school - and lo and behold, there is a familiar face.

ൠ (random) - This is really random, but I like to headcanon him as face blind. He still can't recognise Ladybug because of magic, but he also struggles with recognising people when they just change clothes or hairstyles. And people attribute that to him being rude or not paying attention, meanwhile he is just internally going "am I supposed to know this person??" Needless to say, it doesn't help to make connections with people.

Thank you for your ask! I like rambling about him. If anyone wants to, you can still ask me

[dilatorywriting]

So on the topic of our experiences with twst cards, I thought I'd share some of mine lol.

My luck is pretty unbalanced. I got Malleus and Jamil's Sclading Sands cards on the same pull, which was also my FIRST pull.

But when I was pulling for Malleus' birthday SSR (Which I really really wanted) I was on my 58th pull or so, the most I've actively tried to pull for a specific card and I didn't get him at all.

On the other hand, earlier that month for Lilia's birthday, I randomly decided to do a single pull impulsively and Lo and behold Lilia's SSR birthday card came home on that single pull.

One of my weirdest experiences is one with Tsum Leona recently. I wanted to pull for Leona or Riddle's Tsum, but more of Leona's because I wanted a Leona SSR. I did get both Cater and Floyd's Tsumsitter cards, but still no SSR. so I went on discord, and saw that someone pulled one of Malleus' cards in a ten pull summon and said something along the lines of 'Are you really going to let Malleus appear on your banner?' and the lo and behold the Leona Tsumsitter came home that same pulled.

I tried it and it WORKS. I just thought it was pretty hilarious. Maybe the cards really are sentient after all.

I guess one more flex is that Epel's sledathon card came home on the first ten pull on his banner lol.

Ah! sorry for rambling!

It's always fun to hear the wild and wonderful tales of Gacha Game woes. Like, my luck is also fucking all over the place. I pulled for Cater's Birthday SSR with the free key set, and got it twice in the same set. It was so wild that I was convinced that meant you auto got the birthday cards in the pull no matter what, which obviously is not the case, which my flatmate immediately confirmed for me when hers very much did not do that lol I pulled all the way to 100 for Azul, and still didn't get his dorm SSR. Yet I've gotten Jade and Floyd's at least three times each at this point in completely random pulls. Still don't have Azul's. Sebek's birthday also came home in his one random pull, and somehow I've managed to get every single Cater SSR by accident but have had to go buck wild saving keys and whatever and use all of them whenever there's a specific card I'm aching for (minus the one Vil Dorm SSR incident which was A Wild Anomaly).

[shadymissionary]

Hi, I feel like rambling here for a bit. I have a kinda life-changing conversation coming up tonight that I'm both extremely excited and extremely anxious about.

My partner and I have more or less been in a polyamorous relationship with our two close friends for...idk, 3 years? We've been getting very close with them over the years, and now that we all live in the same city and see each other frequently, it's almost always on my mind. And polyamory can be scary and confusing!! There is almost no framework for it that we learn about growing up, like with monogamous relationships, and so it feels a lot harder to navigate all of the questions and uncertainties.

Circumstances could not have lined up more perfectly to have this conversation though, so I'm feeling good about things. And it's just going to be an enormous relief to be open and honest with my friends about things that I've been holding in for years.

These two are so important to me, I love them so much they're like family, and I've felt so insecure about speaking up about certain things due to the fear of their reactions and potentially damaging our relationship. But I know they love me too and will be completely understanding.

I'm so happy to have an amazing partner that has listened to me vent about this stuff for years now, and his support feels like the one thing that has kept me sane. And I'm glad that I finally have the confidence and motivation to move through all of this uncertainty into a healthier relationship for all of us.

I've been doing a lot of work on myself lately, starting HRT, journaling, going back to therapy, reading mental health books, and listening to mental health podcasts. Last week I was listening to a lecture on Individuation, from Jungian psychology, and the concept of synchronicity was introduced to me. Basically, finding a connection between your own thoughts/desires and the things happening around you in the world. And to recognize when the universe is slapping you in the face telling you to do something.

I had an amazing therapy session yesterday and discussed the feelings I'm having, and how I finally feel ready to address them so I can move on from all this stress. But not knowing how best to find a time to talk about these things and get the conversation started has been the obstacle. I left the session knowing I had to reach out to the two I need to talk to and see if there's a time we could meet and chat. I even had a time limit on myself of getting this done before they host a Halloween party next weekend.

Lo and behold, just a few hours after yesterday's therapy session, I get a text from them asking us to come hang out tonight. Normally I would think up some reason not to, just wanting to chill at home on a Tuesday night, but it was so clear that the opportunity to talk was literally being handed to me. It makes me feel like the world is telling me to do this, and that it's gonna be okay.

I am going to cry so, so hard. But it's going to feel good to get it all off my chest. It's kinda scary, I've never cried in front of either of them that I can recall. So I know it's going to be a surprise that I've been holding all of these feelings in for years. More than anything, I just want the four of us to all be on the same page.

What's also kind of funny to me is like... in most respects, this should be a very easy step for me, but I've had to do so much to build my confidence in order to have this conversation. Earlier this month I came out as non-binary to my parents, and then soon after to my whole extended family. Like, that stuff should have been the hard part! And it was, don't get me wrong, but it didn't take nearly as much effort and crying as it has to prepare myself for tonight's conversation. The impossible task in my mind has been "open up about your feelings to your closest friends." And I'm certain now that I can do it, and that it will work out. ♥

This final dungeon music has been playing in my head all day as this conversation looms in the near future. Fitting that I just got to this point in Baten Kaitos last night hehe. I am gonna survive from that mf force!!