#BUT AT LEAST WE'RE FUCKED TOGETHER

[eilaafterhours]

This quad banner has us all so fucked up that even if you usually go for just one man, you are very seriously considering going for all of them.

Welcome to 4(soon to be 5)Mains Hell! We hope you enjoy your stay!

[casterhex]

i enjoy fiddlestan and i get that people just want them to be happy and that’s why they draw them all cutesy but in a canon-compliant setting this is a genius inventor with early onset brain damage and a guy who chewed his way out of a car trunk. both united in having their connections with their families severed and being personally victimized by ford pines. being gay has to make them worse before it makes them better

[cementcornfield]

Is it fair to say that Tee is a need?

Tee is a need, yes.

If the front office isn't able to make that work, would you be disappointed in that?

I'd be very disappointed in that, yeah.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

snap's uber cringe vampire cherik rambling !!!!!! read at your own risk of charles/erik origins But If They Were Vampires and more !!!!

very simple makeshift vampire age map for the sake of understanding this vague timeline i have (hint: just multiply by ten) this is all subject to change because time is mean and im indecisive

infancy - 0 - 40

childhood - 50 - 120 years

adolescence - 130 - 170 years

emerging adulthood - 180 - 240 years

older adulthood - +250 years

elderly - +700 years

about dhampirs: they're not immortal like vampires, they just have a (much) longer life expectancy than humans (they really are just like 'weaker' vampires in this, only possessing half of their strengths and weaknesses)

'what's our time period' EXCELLENT question brother.

jk i think the main events will be set victorian-edwardian period (1850's-1910's) but charles and erik are at least a couple centuries old- probably born amidst the late 1500's (1580's-90's more specifically), maybe meet during the 1800's

charles' profile

charles heralds from a wealthy vampire family whos had their influence in england for centuries (maybe established roots during the 5th century), the general public none the wiser to their vampirism. at most there's rumors, but the family's charismatic enough to keep the murmurs at bay

brian is like. a little less evil to charles in this timeline. most of their time together being brian teaching charles how to run the family's business and whatever else vampires do to balance the life of a vampire and a human. at most, brian emotionally neglects charles as he stays vigilant in ensuring the xavier family can prosper for centuries. sharon xavier would be the one to instill all that is good and human in charles despite her own vampirism (most likely turned by brian before they had charles)

brian xavier is murdered by human kurt marko once the latter figures out his vampirism right before europe's widespread vampire hysteria (so maybe late 1600's)- not for any heroic purposes but so he can steal the xavier family's wealth of course.

he holds the xavier's vampiric origins over them until his eventual death (maybe early 1700's).

considering the idea charles' accidentally summons a pack of wolves to the house during a heated moment and they tear him apart- maybe kurt tries to protect cain and charles idk. charles wouldn't realize he caused this until much later while learning about his vampirism, BUT im still chewing on this so don't take this as 100% canon to this au.....

kurt never discloses the true nature of the xaviers to cain while he's alive, but as the boys grow older cain figures it out for himself and decides to dedicate his life to hunting down charles- how much of it is to rid the world of one less vampire or to vent the unhappiness he experienced growing up in the xavier household onto his brother is unclear

while kurt was alive, he experiments on charles in an attempt to understand his vampirism in an attempt to achieve eternal life without the drawbacks of vampirism. but i mean how good can your science be: evidently he fails vjELKJALKJ

as an adult, charles is curious about his own vampirism as he attempts to live amongst humans and perhaps help them (maybe not give them eternal life but at least how to extend life). he doesn't seek to 'cure' himself, only figure out how his biology works to live comfortably and safely: after all, there must be a reason as to why he was born this way, he reasons

he pursues a life of medicine to do this and along the way meets moira mctaggart (around late 1700's/early-1800's), a scientist working closely with the occult and isolated from general society. after some time, he reveals he's a vampire to her and they effectively become partners to further understand vampirism (but not romantic partners)

most of their work concerns why vampires 'need blood' and how to find a suitable substitute ('surely it's not blood itself that satiates vampires but a property within it?'), but they also look to find out why vampires can be weak in the sunlight and why they appear immortal (aka: they're purely scientific in their approach to the vampire phenomena instead of thinking it's magical, charles reasoning that vampires are just humans with a type of evolved biology. time will tell if he's right or wrong in this approach, and brother he has plenty of time)

erik's/max's profile

compared to the house of xavier, the house of eisenhardt- while not as wealthy- still maintained some sort of reputation in east prussia. however, the news of their vampirism easier leaks amidst the mid-1700's heightened paranoia of vampires (probably a domino affect of the rumor of Renowned Xaiver Family being one of vampires expanding after kurt's death), and he finds himself to be the only survivor amidst the violence against his family

fleeing further east and with the benefit of his youthful visage despite his real years, max has no problem using his intelligence and experience to find work to support himself and manages life alone until he eventually meets magda (maybe around the same time charles meets moira, 1790's). with her being human, it isn't long until she and max introduce little dhampir anya into the world

he tells magda of his vampiric origins (after all, if they were going to have a baby it'd prob be best to let her know the baby's gonna be part vampire right..), but whether it's disbelief or not fully grasping the implications of such, magda accepts and loves him. max vows never to feed off his wife, mostly feeding off hunted animals to satisfy himself

for a while, max was content to live in relative solitude with his family: he wouldn't bother the humans, and in turn they shouldn't bother him. but soon enough (talking Ten Years Later soon enough), the true nature of max and his family is uncovered in the quaint town they lived in, and history threatens to repeat itself as a growing mob attempts to torch their home. they can't succeed before max makes a bloody example of the mob- a display that frightens magda and has her flee with anya in her arms. that would be the last time max sees his wife and child. he effectively repurposes the site of where he lost his family as a quaint memorial to them and the grounds remain relatively untouched bar his annual visits (the common people more often rumoring it to be cursed as a result)

max would change his name to 'erik lehnsherr' as a way to bury his past and move on with his new, less-human-sympathetic life. uttering his real name weakens his power if not strips them away for some time entirely, so he's greatly secretive to who he tells it to (spoilers: he never tells anyone). he spends most of his time alone in his castle, going out at night to feed off late-night wanderers in nearby cities

as for wanda and pietro, debating on exactly what to do with them and if they're blood related to erik or not. considering having pietro be a dhampir that maintained his superspeed while wanda's still just a witch. not sure what to do about lorna either. at the very least, if they do live with erik, he's greatly protective and overbearing about them (a possible blend of keeping them close to use their might against humans, and not wanting to lose any more of his family)

The Part People Are Here For charles and erik interacting

How Do They Meet wow great questions today !!!

around 1810's, probably during one of erik's Feeding Nights he bumps into charles and attempts to make dinner of him, charles at this point passing far too easily as a regular human. the ensuing encounter/fight eventually leads to charles having to reveal himself also to be a vampire (probably as a result of having to resort to using telepathy to keep erik at bay and thereafter explaining himself)

despite the rocky start, neither can hide the fact they're ecstatic about meeting another vampire and become fast friends. Yknow. After overlooking the Sorry I Tried To Eat You part

so now charles spends his mornings with moira and his humanly duties and at night he sometimes spends time at erik's abode and with his children (if i decide they live with him of course).

moira can't ignore the way charles lights up when talking about erik (and how could she: even if he was candid with her about his experiences, it was an entirely different feeling talking to another vampire who already understood- and perhaps understood better). as such, she doesn't let charles forget erik could potentially be a danger- something charles can't forget if he wanted to (see again: them meeting the first time. still, he chooses to believe in the better parts of erik)

of course charles tries to dissuade erik from seeing humans as purely food or menaces and encourages him to work alongside himself to find more 'ethical' ways to be a vampire, but of course erik is resistant to the idea and at times admonishes charles for his thinking.

Everyone's Favorite Part: The Divorce

for a while- maybe five years- erik isn't aware of moira's existence. but on a night charles neglects to visit him he spots the pair walking to moira's home. following them, he's quick to discover moira's lab and realizes charles has been cooperating with a human this whole time (how much had he told her about erik? how much of their weaknesses did he expose to her? why wouldn't he tell erik about moira sooner if she wouldn't be an issue?)

enraged, erik doesn't wait for an explanation as he barges into the small shack and barks accusations of betrayal at charles. it only gets worse when moira is puzzled that charles didn't tell erik about her when he was more than happy to tell her about erik, only reaffirming erik's suspicions charles was attempting to doom vampires as a whole

what happens next im still up in the air about, but it'll be how charles loses the use of his legs in this universe

scenario a is while erik and charles brawl in moira's shack, she hurls holy water onto erik and disfigures his face. while he's down, she attempts to throw more holy water on him to at least give her and charles more time to escape only for charles to shield him at the final moment. while he's mostly unharmed, his legs get burnt as he pushes erik out of the way and finds he isn't able to regenerate the damaged limbs

scenario b is moira still gets erik with the holy water, however charles drags them out of the shack and tries to break for the nearest town. unfortunately, during their escape erik finds one of moira's silver-tipped crossbows (or something to that affect: still deciding if he should have control over magnetism in this but Details Details) and shoots charles in the spine ultimate style. going off the myth silver is Not Good for all 'unholy' and dead creatures of course, charles' nervous system isn't properly able to regenerate for Above Mentioned Reasons (his body's so 'dead' the antibacterial properties of silver eat away at him). the cruel irony of it all really (or silvery... heh.. metal...)

as a result of being burned by the holy water, erik would wear his helmet more often- at least until he feeds off enough humans to regenerate the damaged tissue (note: only human blood can restore holy-artifact-induced wounds, which means charles won't regain the use of his legs because of his refusal to consume human blood)

either way, once she and charles escape erik and relocate, moira stays with him for some time- at least long enough for charles to get used to his new way of life without his legs and figure out what they should do next, maybe two-three years. eventually, charles and moira agree it might be safer to work apart from each other and effectively split. probably leads to charles moving to america to keep an eye on vampires on the other side of the globe while moira keeps an eye on europe

after the encounter with moira and charles, erik becomes more active and now seeks out other vampires (or humans to turn into vampires), fully intending on converting the world to become a vampire's (and hell why not monsters in general) paradise

Things to iron out

the difference between animal and human blood

Whats the benefit to drinking human blood: is it tastier? More nutritious? Evidently its restorative properties are more potent for vampires than animal blood

Maybe more animal blood is needed to supplement human blood (i.e. one human may need the blood of- say- five pigs or something yk what i mean)

Maybe its possible for a vampire to live off animals only, it’d just be more difficult and they might not be as physically strong as vampires who feed off humans

Would they eventually cave into craving human blood? Is it a conscious effort to Not feed off humans? Curious….

Perhaps moira tests the effects of human vs animal blood on charles, offering blood from her arm both directly from her and extracted first to then drink. He cant argue its wrong if she’s offering for science no…. Its For Science Charles its ok…

Another thing i want to solidify is time period: on one hand i wanna do this modern-ish period but im also thinkin bout the 14th century…. Shrug i still have a lot of finer details In General ill work out with myself. For now it’ll prob remain around 1700’s-1900’s

A final minor thing i wanna work on is erik’s ‘real’ name and his name situation in general, mostly how magda knew him. Maybe changes his name to ‘erik lehnsherr’ after the eisenhardt incident, and goes by ‘magnus’ after magda, her knowing him as ‘erik’ while charles mostly knows him as ‘magnus’. ‘Count magnus’…. Hm…. Dunno if i wanna reintroduce ‘magneto’ into this or not …… ill figure it out at some point …

Perhaps other vampires and dhampirs saying his real name doesn’t negatively affect him and it’s strictly only if humans/non-vampires say it

[comradecowplant]

Oh so we're finally getting into REAL secret of the wilderness now, the REAL reason these women are so fucked up and never could fully open up to anyone else in order to heal. Misty didn't kill Jessica Roberts to keep the secret of tragic but understandable survival cannibalism, it was because they 1) killed these random people for walking in at the wrong time on their trauma-induced insanity ritualistic cannibal society who 2) could have led to their rescue a full extra winter before we know they actually get out 🤯🤯🤯

[benevolenterrancy]

I am enjoying your Journey to the West comics! As for Sanzang being a bit of a useless scaredy-cat, well, I guess that's why they sent the other three along! 😂

I am reminded of when I was living in Japan and went to see a JTTW based movie. While I didn't necessarily clock all the details (no subtitles) I was a bit surprised at first to see that the role of Sanzang was played by a female actor. Apparently this is pretty common in JTTW adaptations. I am *pretty* sure that the shippy vibes between Wukong and Sanzang were in there intentionally -- there were definitely more than a few moments of Sanzang being knocked ass over teakettle and being caught up against the chest of a strong monkey king...

Anyway in short JTTW has accumulated some wild adaptational lore over the years and there's always room for more

"Sanzang being knocked ass over teakettle and being caught up against the chest of a strong monkey king" absolutely ENTRANCED by this mental image, I am not far enough in yet to have encountered this per se but now I am now eagerly anticipating this development xD very excited to see what comes of that, got to love old stories that just get adapted and adapted and adapted again and pick up their own strange quirks

so far it's mostly been them both driving each other absolutely and completely insane as far as I can tell, but we've only juuuust gotten the full party together. Sanzang has banished Wukong (for killing demons innocent human bystanders!) and I'm foreseeing some Serious Problems on the horizons given that Wukong seems to be the primary line of defense for the squad of dinguses...

[lucabyte]

On the subject of your recent post, do you have any ways to come up with interests/dislikes for your characters? Cause usually characters pop up for me with a personality and background for why they’re Like That and I can vaguely find what they’d like and don’t by tossing them into scenarios and seeing how they respond, but I usually have a way harder time extending that into things like what they’d do in their free time

!! Okay this is something where like, I have trouble with this too? Coming up with what they do on the day-to-day.

I think I mostly try not to sweat this stuff until it's relevant (at which point I'll put myself on the spot and really logic it out. I know recently I was digging into different university timetables for Lavender's subject of Horticulture, which I mostly did by checking out forums like thestudentroom & going on uni websites)

But yeah, no I think I'm a similar way. I can come up with a core for a guy, how they act and then throw them at a bunch of interests or scenarios without having to think too hard.

Generally, though, the process of giving them Interests is an iterative one where I claw outwards from the core Joke or Concept-- Like going from that to related concepts, and then flipping those concepts to find opposites or tangents that feel like they bear fruit. Like a fashion-forward character could be into customisation, or thrifting- or go tangential and say they also enjoy fashion dolls, and then from there go into real life fashion doll wikis for inspiration, then like... Maybe they like horses from those going hand in hand, or maybe they have a complete inverse of hating fashion dolls due to [find a specific pet peeve they have]?

(or, just go wikidiving and play a game of 'ok i have to assign this thing i just found to SOMEONE. who does it fit?')

But as for like. What they *do* with that hobby.... So this is a weakness of mine-- Like I tend to just hope that until I get around to them, it's not *obvious* that characters are lacking Internal Activity Timetables. But whenever I do get around to trying to flesh it out I usually just go hard in on research. This usually means checking out personal blogs of people who have those hobbies, or looking into what jobs entails (THIS PART SUCKS TO RESEARCH SO BAD. hate it). (LIKE FR RESEARCHING FOR CHROME'S MUSIC CAREER IS KILLING ME THE RABBIT HOLE KEEPS GOING LET ME OUT)

Reddit is genuinely not the *worst* place for this-- Stuff like hobbydrama will give you a glance into the shape that some people's lives take in really odd ways. Like you can trace back how people must've gotten into that scenario.

But figuring out a character's like job/student status and how much time must be made up of stuff like that can help.

It doesn't help that as an artist my own "what do i do in my free time" is a lot of sitting on the computer and drawing -_-;;; So i'm not the best model for it all.

I do have some characters that intentionally do jackall though so I try to write them to be different to characters who have internal lives that just haven't been fleshed out yet LOL. (Which I did by giving them the like... Handful of 'hobbies' those scary Whole Ass Adults will have to the exclusion of any actual joy. Just implying they let a lot of the day pass them by without doing much.)

But yeah no don't feel like that you're the only one that struggles here. And I fear the main solution here is researching and reading about the lives of real people and just trying to transfer that knowledge. (I'd love some quick fixes if anybody else has them but I feel like theremay not be many LOL)

[sysig]

Is this small and pixely enough that it’s not a spoiler

[fallloverfic]

I love singNsong again reminding people in Side Story that Dokja wanted other people to read TWSA (he wrote reviews and comments! It was his first wish), and he only stopped bothering because people harassed him for it. He didn't gate-keep the story. When he's avoiding talking to Sangah about it at the beginning of ORV, it's because he knows what happens when he tells people about the story, not because he's gate-keeping it from her. He notes he's not proud of his hobby (likely because he's been bullied all through his life, including for reading the thing he loves): he finds it embarrassing to talk about, and better respects her studying Spanish in her free time (learning another language is a generally accepted thing in society). He assumes she won't care or will look at him funny (or worse) for when she learns about the novel he's into.

Basically anyone writing "let's gatekeep ORV" posts because of the anime announcement or because they dislike the manhwa or some other weirdness, y'all are the villains in the scenario.

The literal climax of the story is about sharing ORV with as many people as possible. What story were y'all reading?

[boypr1ncesss]

the thing about the queer media tournament that really gets me is that last i checked there wasn't a single mxtx work on it. like not even the untamed made it in and don't get me wrong the og mo dao zu shi books are huge but cql is def more popular among tumblr circles. idk it just really rubs me the wrong way how every single piece of western media that ppl have ever gotten a lil bit aggressive abt shipping with is there and then for east asian media there's utena and madoka magica and the handmaiden and last i checked that was pretty much it. and then for the rest of the world there's next to/nothing but idk enough to really make judgements there.

[beanghostprincess]

this is how i imagine sanuso fights

sanji, flirting: draw me like one of your french girls...

usopp: okay, so i just draw you

sanji: it was a movie reference, idiot

usopp: the fact that you're referencing a movie where one part of the main couple dies after their ship sinks isn't as romantic as you think

sanji: take a fucking compliment maybe?

usopp: reference better movies, idk

sanji: well, nevermind, don't draw shit. i'm gonna go cook.

usopp: WHAT????? c'mon! over a movie?

[sanji walks away to the kitchen]

nami: what happened now?

usopp: i referenced titanic

nami: you're a moron

usopp: *sighs* i know

[shortqueershakespeare]

when you have two time blind chronically late bitches organising phone calls there is not a chance both of you will ever be ready at the assigned time

[martyrbat]

batman: son of the demon

[ID: three panels of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul being in love (and horny) for each other. In the first one, Bruce is in their luxurious bedroom for the first time and is awkwardly standing in his costume as Talia is behind a dressing screen and is changing into a white, satin négligée with lace detailing on it. She reminds him that they technically are married (and that she consented readily to it) but Bruce confesses, “I remember. But it's hard for me to consider that marriage real.” Talia emerges from behind the screen, looking as beautiful as ever as she walks up to him and eases his cowl off. She tells him, “Beloved, you give too much thought to what is ‘real,’ and what is not, to what is ‘true,’ and what is ‘false...’ I realize that is your way, but just this once, accept things as they are...” He strips himself of his clothes as they move to the bed—Talia laying on her back as he's between her legs. She continues to speak, “Forego your control, your discipline... just once, let yourself go... and take me with you.” Her arms slip around his neck as they kiss passionately.

The second panel is lineart of them against a white background. They look at each other lovingly, her hands reaching up to be on his shoulders as he holds her waist. The narration boxes read: ‘While still finding time to be a newlywed, a role in which he is quite unskilled... but—to his delight—quickly learns.’

In the third panel, several weeks have past. Bruce and Ra's al Ghul are walking before Talia interrupts and asks her beloved for a word. Bruce starts to ask if it can wait, due to him and Ra's discussing an important mission but she tells him it cannot. Ra's reassures, “Go, detective, we shall speak of this later.” Bruce and Talia pull away to talk in private, the background a beautiful, bright ombré of red and yellows. She has her arms up on his shoulders as he holds her waist and starts to ask, “Now, Talia, what's so impor—” but she quickly shares, “Beloved, I am with child.” Bruce starts to repeat her but Talia already confirms again, “I am pregnant.” She continues to look up at him, patiently waiting for his response as Bruce stares straight ahead, obviously in shock. He slowly repeats the words back to her in an attempt to register them, “You're... pregnant?” Before he suddenly beams! He pulls her into a tight, close embrace as he excitedly announces, “That's wonderful!” Talia smiles at him and says, “Isn't it?” Before her father can shake Bruce's hand with his own warm smile. Bruce still holds Talia's hand as Ra's tells him, “Detective, Dr. Weltmann could not keep this from me. My congratulations.” END ID]

[nataref]

Been thinking on it more recently, and.. I'm so sick and tired of AGAB language and its substitutes. I'm sick of AGAB being used as a cudgel against transwomen, I'm sick of division and binaries, I'm sick of seeing people misattributing traits/behaviours to the genitals you are born with instead of attributing these traits/behaviors to societal structures and to the individual as a *human being* not "AMAB" not "AFAB" just human. Just a person. Because that's all any of us are. The only meaningful difference in human sexual dimorphism is how it impacts your reproductive capabilities & healthcare needs.

A trans man is abusive or toxic? Cool, thats because hes an asshole. Not because hes a transman. Anyone can be abusive or toxic. Its not attributable to his AGAB/Transition history/gender. He would be shitty either way.

A trans woman is sexist? Cool, its because shes a woman who happens to also be sexist. Alot of women are. It's not because of her gender, or her AGAB, or any other aspect of her gender identity. Guess what? Anyone can be sexist, it came free with your worldwide systemic misogyny. To single out a trans woman as being sexist *because she's trans* is transphobic. Shes sexist because shes a person who is sexist. Thats it thats the whole story case closed, can we all stop with this ridiculousness now?

My point being, the toxic traits and bigotry, whatever they might be, are NOT STORED IN THE GENDER. It is stored in the person. The individual, and the larger sociopolitical structures which enforce these ideas. The toxicity is stored in the human person in front of you, to try and endlessly argue otherwise betrays a tendency to dehumanize, degender, and categorize (usually trans) people. To see their behaviour as a reflection of a group rather than the reflection of that person, you know, the full human being you are talking to/about.

I just... I hate this. I want people to put their money where their mouths are and understand that gender being understood as rigid categories that largely dictate how a person behaves, looks, and feels, has always been the fucking root of the issue (transphobia, sexism, misogyny, intersexism, etc). I'm sick of boxes I'm sick of persistently being told who I am, and who other people are, because of AGAB. I'm sick of it in every form it takes. So sick in fact I've honestly decided from now on I'm never telling anyone who doesn't already know my AGAB what I was assigned. Because it doesn't fucking matter. It's never mattered.

And maybe, just maybe, if you don't get to pry that information out of me- and other trans folk- at every possible opportunity anymore, you'll start seeing me as a person first, and transgender second. A person with flaws and strengths, a person who is whatever way I am *because I'm me* and not because I'm part of whatever category you want to shove me into. And maybe, just maybe, it'll make some of you stop and actually seriously think "why do I even want to know so badly?"

Thats all rant over goodbye 🚶

[theygender]

Man I'm already disappointed to be working in the business field anyway but if it's going to mean mass corporate layoffs every 1-2 years as a standard practice then I might just disappear into the mountains

[wentian]

okay funny shit fr: gotta love how half of reddit hates on neve, another half hates on lucanis and both are wrong bc we all should hate on bioware for forcing their randomly picked by a blind monkey npc pairings on us *again*