#ENOUGH RAMBLING THANK YOU FOR ASKING

[nina-ya]

bithday!! that is exciting! when is your birthday? 💙

OH AH its next tuesday!! the 13th!!!!

[technically-human]

okay now please doodle Charles and Edwin’s wedding. Also love your art it’s so cute and loveable in a way

Sherwani for Charles and morning dress for Edwin, yay

ko-fi

And you get a little headcanon/concept

At some point during their friendship, way before Port Townsend, Charles mentioned the tradition of wearing gold at weddings. He did so in a sad sort of way, as he had seen the pictures from his parents wedding, and knew her mum had not been allowed to wear a lehenga nor many gold accessories.

Maybe, as these things are meant to bring happiness to the couple, he mentions that as a child he believed his parents marriage would have been happier if she wore those things.

Edwin starts to collect gold items. He doesn't analyze the reason, but if a case offers gold as payment? Edwin is taking it. Charles thinks nothing of it, it's just one of Edwin's quirks.

After his revelations in Port Townsend, Edwin will eventually realize a few things regarding his gold rush.

And they will have a lot of gold jewlery for their wedding day!

[bloobydabloob]

Holy shit I love your Dirk interpretations, it's so true and I could talk about this shit forever. I feel like another part of his character that people seem to forget (along with Roxy for some reason) is that he's from the future in solitude in an apocalyptic wasteland. I just see that part of his character always removed which is disappointing because I feel like that's a pretty big part, especially regarding his themes around technology, his brother's theme of Time, his own isolation, and how he plays in the vastness of the universe and spacetime.

Art I drew related to the subject because I like to respond to asks with art.

But absolutely. I certainly understand where the lack of discussion over his isolation + upbringing comes from, considering a majority of the fanbase that I have seen builds their ideas based on their own version of postcanon. I’m not entirely sure how that would be fixed, but certainly even in the somewhat recent past I would see a lot more content regarding his upbringing both literally and symbolically. I don’t have much to add regarding the things you’ve mentioned, because they just are what they are. Dirk being confined to a singular room left to him by a father figure he never met, in a future where the only other person left on the planet is someone he cannot pursue a relationship of because of himself, with purely 3 robots to keep him companion, one being an exact replica of his own brain who is *also* trapped inside a pair of glasses, is about as literal as it gets to me.

The contrast to me involving the flooded, organic world in comparison to the little speckle of Dirk’s apartment packed with the dude and his technics is not only a representation of his isolation and entrapment within himself, but also of his lack of control. I think his obsession with & themes of control are a direct product in the case of Dirk specifically *of* this kind of upbringing. His themes of technology are also related to his themes around control. So much of his character is actually revolved around this to me like so much. Dirk is so deeply disconnected from humanity in every way and so much of his character + symbolism is based around that.

It doesn’t even have to be about the symbolism or anything though. It’s just pretty *interesting* in the literal sense that he lives in the middle of the ocean in the future. There’s not only a lot to theorise on to do with his young life there, but on how it might affect him in the way he acts for the rest of his life. The latter part is probably what I see mentioned the most by people talking about Dirk regarding this, I’m surprised I don’t see more discussion on the former too though. I really ought to actually talk more about Homestuck stuff on here. I will do it myself.

Roxy & Dirk’s relationship is largely ignored though because there is a narrative a certain demographic spreads that Dirk resented and blamed Roxy for her interest in him, and thus too many people believe that their relationship was or would continue to be an abusive one. Realistically, I believe it’s important to acknowledge that the way Roxy treated Dirk regarding his homosexuality wasn’t right while still acknowledging the obvious amount of respect and admiration Dirk had for Roxy. I mean we have a huge piece of dialogue from their post trickster mode conversations on the quest beds from Dirk purely stating how he feels about Roxy that people completely ignore somehow. I think this usually happens to characters that are women though. I know everyone says it, but it is true. Jane gets the exact same treatment of boiling her down to solely her negative aspects. The things I see completely mischaracterising both of them are horrific.

I mean how much more explicit can it get that their relationship is obviously very important to Dirk? But I digress. I think the best or I should say “most interesting” interpretations of their relationship usually come from DirkRoxy shippers actually.

I would be interested to hear about Dirk’s relation to his brother’s theme of time though. I don’t have any thoughts on this and I don’t recall ever hearing anyone talk about it before. If you or anyone else would be willing to enlighten me I’d be thrilled.

[aliferous-ly]

special shout-out to everyone making gifs for the hermit charity event you are my absolute favorite people and the lifeblood of hermitblr <3

[good-beansdraws]

They made Alien Stage merch of the singers being treated inhumanely in Anakt Garden? ;__;

Milgram

I'm still reeling that they released such intense art as merch.... At the same time it's not like I'm complaining -- wanting to draw this with 0 hesitation only proved I am also not immune to "Let's put those guys in situations 👁👁"

Small descriptions of these scenes under the cut, then some overall au thoughts because this got my brain going...

Mahiru is always speaking of romance and her heart racing -- the aliens want to test just how fast she can go before "overheating."

Amane always enjoyed singing as part of a choir, but the aliens hope to isolate just her voice, and every piece of it, no matter how long she must stand and sing for them.

Kotoko is quick at improvisation in both her music and in a fight, so they wish to find out exactly what makes her tick in these different areas.

Fuuta's big mouth is what makes him stand out in Alien Stage -- they consider straightening his crooked teeth to make him more marketable before deciding on a fang.

Haruka has always been deceptively strong to the smaller members of Anakt Garden, so the aliens only analyze him in a state of weakness.

Mikoto struggles daily with the breathing and circulation issues from the lab, only allowing himself to break when the cameras are down.

I chose the assignments based on the pics themselves, and only afterwards started looking into the overall au -- compared to typical Milgram assignments, I feel like these made for some really interesting dynamics:

Mahiru meets the prodigy Amane in Anakt Garden and takes her under her wing. She obsesses over romance as a general idea, but it's mainly the vision of a complete, happy family that she's dreaming of. Therefore she's optimistic for a tie, and that the two can become a family at the end of Alien Stage -- until Round 1 stops all her dreams short.

Amane had always spoken of god and the universe, and the others find themselves finally listening only after she’s gone. (It mainly affects Mahiru, but I like the fact that Fuuta can still call her his god.) Mahiru reflects on their time together -- though Amane had a big heart, spending time with her caretakers often left her quiet and stoic. Mahiru remembers meeting her in her perfect, doll-frilled dress and vowing to take care of her.

Someone as strong-willed and rebellious as Kotoko has always hated how 03060809 play along with Alien Stage -- she is their self appointed enemy for aiding the aliens in killing other humans. Deep down, though, Mahiru’s shining light has given her hope. She can hardly admit to herself what strong feelings she's developed for Mahiru, much less tell her outright. She focuses all her efforts to fight aliens and corrupt humans til the end. She isn't afraid to smash guitars and throw some punches along the way.

At the same time, Kotoko has never noticed the person idolizing her in silence: Fuuta. Even when she lashes out at him, he's inspired by her strength and intensity. He can tell she doesn't feel the same toward him, so he keeps his growing, touchstarved crush a secret. He's also willing to fight the whole way, even finding a flaming escape opportunity for them as kids (to which Kotoko argues she isn't a coward, and needs to stay and fight.) It isn't until he sees his idol lose her fire that he finally stops and hands the win over. He gets in one violent, rash show of love before it's all extinguished in the rain.

Alongside them, Mikoto becomes a fan favorite to the public. The asthmatic with a gentle side and violently self-preserving one is a huge hit. (Something about Mikoto’s mvs being the most popular for a while.) He earns win after win, no matter the health and memory issues that haunt him. Any time a performance gets too risky, John takes matters into his own hands to make sure they come out on top.

Though it's harder for him to physically evoke Amane's relationship with Mahiru in round 5, he knows how to play into right lyrics: "make me your god, I can give you everything." It's easier for him to act as Fuuta, giving Kotoko a Deep Cover moment of guilt that she'd gotten him killed by fighting for the wrong things. In a twist of irony from canon, Kotoko says her final words in Mahiru’s arms, and Mahiru is the one left feeling responsible for the loss...

Back in their childhood, Haruka and Mikoto had found themselves outcasts together. Haruka was always afraid of Mikoto after witnessing his violence against the other children (I think it'd be weird to switch around victims so maybe it was both of their faults that Haruka’s suster died.) But at the same time, a part of him kept coming back and seeking Mikoto's attention because he admired him so much.

After being rescued from a disastrous Alien Stage round, the others in the resistance were taken in by Haruka’s innocent shyness. Regardless of his protests at poor public speaking, his heart earned him the spot of leader. He is willing throw himself in the path of danger to protect the people he cares about -- an admired trait until it actually does get him killed.

(And a bonus Yuno for Bones :D)

[gingermintpepper]

I haven't read the Odyssey so I'm asking you. Are you telling me besides Athena, Apollo was the god who helped Odysseus and his family the most? Indirectly at least.

If that's true it's really a missed opportunity in EPIC.

No, no, the god who assists Odysseus the most after Athena is unquestionably Zeus.

Zeus genuinely has no problems with Odysseus and makes it very clear that he finds the man brilliant and would have already had him home and safe if he had his way, but he makes it clear that he's deferring to Poseidon who actually has the problem with Odysseus because, ultimately, the sea is Poseidon's domain and kingdom and Zeus doesn't intend to step on his brother's toes.

(Od. Book 1 trans. Robert Fitzgerald)

I'd definitely give third place to Apollo however. The big bug-bear about Apollo in the Odyssey is just that he's much less tangible than Athena or even Hermes who appears to Odysseus multiple times to help guide him/give him proclamations. His presence is everywhere though; like I've previously mentioned (and like he did with Jason) it's Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon as he sails the sea after Odysseus blinds Polyphemus. It's also Apollo keeping Telemachus safe. His most vital role by far is when Odysseus returns to Ithaca in time for the challenge that will determine the next king. Not only is it a shooting contest whose first hurdle is to string a bow, the challenge itself takes place on a festival day for Apollo. Athena is there with Odysseus and Telemachus physically, but Apollo is looking after them in spirit, sending signs and signals to keep Telemachus especially safe.

(Od. Book 15, Telemachus warns about the state of Odysseus' house to Theoclymenus, a son of one of Apollo's prophets.)

There's also the fact that Odysseus makes sure to pray to Apollo before he attempts to string the bow:

(Od. Book 21. Beggar-Odysseus petitions to shoot his shot)

Likewise, before he slays the first suitor, Odysseus again prays for Apollo's guidance and gaze to guide his arrows:

(Od. Book 22. Odysseus commits the first of many (divinely-sanctioned) murders)

Also, as an additional thing, have Telemachus invoking Zeus, Athena and Apollo that he could see the suitors have their asses beat:

(Od. Book 18. Telemachus excitedly gushes to him mom about his cool new friend (Odysseus. Odysseus is the friend.)

There's a lot of minimisation of Apollo's role in the Odyssey because it isn't as bright and showy as his role was in the Iliad but hey, even there people tend to minimise how truly present Apollo is for the duration of the war when they're doing adaptations. Within Epic, the stage is already more than set for both Apollo and Athena to be there at the advent of Odysseus' revenge but none of that matters if that's not the creator's intention, y'know?

[sentientstump]

i have a (very evil) question to ask... who's your favorite miracle mask character? favorite to draw, favorite to think about, favorite in general? :)

i will let the images speak.....

thank you for the ask! (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~

[beauty-and-passion]

also yes i think you should talk about dipcifica i love the old man yaoi as much as the next guy but i also will always crave this kind of "coming of age" love story

Glad to comply! Here are my points about why Dipcifica is canon and endgame and everything:

1) Dipper and Pacifica are a walking "enemies to friends to lovers" trope. It literally started with Dipper saying to her face he doesn't like her, what's more clichè than that? When he said it, all I could hear was "We will definitely become a thing in the future".

And guess what? After a while, Dipper changed his mind: now he doesn't think Pacifica is the worst anymore. The next step is admitting she's great, asking her out and becoming a couple.

2) "Northwest Mansion Mystery" is basically a huge Dipcifica manifesto, thanks to the introduction of more tropes like:

the characters are put into nice suits

Pacifica fixes Dipper's clothes like a good wife

these two share an adventure together - which is universally something that would strengthen the bond between two people

their daring escape ends with a hug, given out of a sincere emotional reaction

the hug is followed by some cute awkwardness (especially from Pacifica's side)

Dipper and Pacifica share a heartfelt moment in which she reveals her insecurities, something we can be 99% sure she doesn't usually do. Also because... with whom can she share them? Her parents? Her supposed friends?

Dipper changes his mind about Pacifica after understanding her a bit more (which is always the interlude for the development of romantic feelings)

Pacifica finds the strength to do the right thing, only after Dipper sacrifices himself

the episode ends with them having fun together, laughing and enjoying their time. Also, it's implied they probably spent some time after the party to clean up the mess they made - so who knows? Maybe they shared some more time together and talked a lot more.

I mean... I've seen love stories start with less than that.

3) Dipper and Pacifica have another adventure together in Lost Legends. The formula is similar to Northwest Mansion Mystery: Pacifica has an issue (caused by her shitty parents), Dipper doesn't understand what her problem is, they share a heartfelt moment in which she reveals her weakness, Dipper tells all the right things, they hug, Pacifica does the right thing.

This is another way to reconfirm what the episode in the series already told us: these two have chemistry. They are meant to be. They are a walking enemies to friends to lovers trope - with a side dish of "slow burn" too. And we all love slow-burn stories <3

But this adventure shows us something else: how things have changed since Northwest Mansion Mystery and especially how Dipper's attitude has evolved towards Pacifica. In the episode, he is still very wary of her and makes it clear multiple times that he dislikes her.

Now he says this:

This is basically the Dipcifica equivalent of "I once considered him the center of my life, the sun in my galaxy", only with less toxic old men yaoi and more wholesomeness

it shows how Dipper's attitude is more mature

it implies he can and will develop romantic feelings for her. I mean, look at it: "I've noticed another side of you", "I see the real one and you're more than a pretty face"... gosh, if Pacifica hadn't fallen in love before, she definitely did after that.

it also shows Dipper's growth regarding women: my boy went from making huge, complex plans to talk to them, to lying to get random girls, to saying the truth in such a smooth way. He's great with girls when he doesn't try, he makes me so proud <3

4) Now I know what you think: great points, Bea, but does this couple have Mabel's approval stamp? Billford got it with Mabel calling Bill a clingy ex and telling him to get a crush on someone else's Grunkle. Does Dipcifica have Mabel's approval?

The answer is yes:

Do I have to say anything else? I think Mabel already said anything. Dipper and Pacifica are. A. Thing.

And yes, I know what you might say: they are kids! Sure they are, but that doesn't mean there can't be anything in the future. There is time for them to grow and for these feelings to develop. What we saw in the series and in Lost Legends are the crumbs, the foundation of something bigger that can evolve in the future.

And this is a great foundation because it's plausible and stable. Dipper and Pacifica's interactions never sound forced or out of character: on the contrary, they are built in a way that conciliates both personalities and justifies their changes and evolution.

If we can easily imagine a future for them, it's because their change is organic, it works in the long run - Pacifica can easily become better and better, while she works out her issue and shows the beautiful person she is. And Dipper can easily become more and more aware of what a great girl she is and start to develop deeper feelings for her. It's not impossible to imagine. It works.

And yes, this proves again how well Hirsch developed Gravity Falls and its characters, if we can easily imagine a future for them just out of a few, well-built interactions.

[daily-odile]

Odile patting Molly Epithet Erased on the head, you know why

have two bc i care them

[thekittyokat]

Hi! Please please please, could you tell me more about your coffin chain ideas?/nf

I am obsessed but barely anybody has jumped onto the ship yet and I am VERY new to the fandom so I wanna wait with making it myself until I know more lol. You are lowkey fueling this entire operations and I wanna thank you for that either way.

(rubs my paws together) you have no idea what you've unleashed anon i've been holding onto this ask specifically bc i've been sapping dopamine from it like a little leech waiting until i had time to hastily doodle up a little dynamics timeline for different stages of the ot4

i REALLY hope this makes sense . i feel the need to say this every time i post abt coffinchain but my ideas are rly specific and i've had time for them to infect my brain like mold so i'm defo ready to accept this all being rly niche and really just for me and like 3 other people

buuut if this little peek into my mind speaks to ANY of y'all i absolutely encourage implore and beg you to send me asks and ideas and whatnot about these 4 bastards literally whenever you want!!

TL;DR one half of the trauma bonded couple reaches out and forms an immediate kinship with the big scary guy that no one likes & convinces his petty boyfriend to let him fw them. then he starts bringing his deranged fbi otter around they start double-dating only for it to become a situationship and then the worst polycule ever

[thelonelyshore-if]

piggy backing off the ask about an au where mc escapes at the end of ch 2, if mc were to try to go back in, would the fog accept them back if they tried to return to Easthaven (also for Ravi and Jay since they're residents) or reject them? Esp since it wasn't fond of mc being there to begin with

The fog didn't want MC because it didn't ask for them, but the moment they opened their eyes the fog...I don't want to say changed its mind, because that implies a level of sentience that doesn't fully apply. More like...the fog claimed MC as one of its own.

And that means the fog wants to keep them.

Coming back would be a dangerous move. The fog is something of a possessive lover, and it will do anything in its power to keep its citizens inside. It would be bad for Jay. It would be worse for MC.

But for Ravi? Leaving and coming back would have the potential to be catastrophic.

[nomattertheoceans]

Would you mind expanding on the comment about Qimir being reluctant to strike down Jecki? I didn’t pick up on that myself so I’m just curious (from the post about Sol and Qimir)

Hi!! Of course I can explain what I meant 😁

So, here's how I interpreted things going down in that episode (sorry no gifs as I am getting ready for work so I don't have time, I'll try to explain as best I can without visual aid ^^). Sorry this got kind of long!!

Episode 5 starts, and Osha wakes up to a dead Jedi. She then watches as the masked figure we know to be Qimir fights head on three master Jedis at the same time, and wins rather easily against them. We see how deadly he is very early on.

His primary goal of the whole sequence is to get to Mae and kill her for her betrayal. If anything, I think the Jedi are anecdotal to him, they're in the way of his goal and he doesn't hesitate to kill them but they're not why he's here.

Then comes the fight with Jecki.

His actions with Jecki are way less deadly. And I'm not saying she's not fighting well because she is!! We saw her overpower Mae after all, she's definitely a strong Jedi and the duel between her and Qimir is intense!!

Their first spat ends with him kicking her in the stomach to throw her away and get to Mae. He even turns off his lightsaber because that's how little of a threat he considers Jecki to be (after all, the only one to actually overpower him at any point is Sol). He taunts Mae about Jecki being more loyal than she ever was and doesn't attack Jecki again until she comes back into the fight. If his goal was simply to kill all the Jedis that stand in his way, he would have killed her while she was on the ground like he tried to do to Yord earlier (when Osha stops him with her gun, you know?)

So anyway Jecki attacks again, she fights him with the two lightsabers (insanely good fight by the way omggggg) and Mae takes this time to try and run away. And when she does, Qimir just.... leaves the fights 😂 He breaks one of Jecki's sabers to distract her and then he's just gone!! he could not give less of a fuck lmao but again, he could have finished her off before going and he doesn't.

So, up until then I think you could interpret his actions as just caring more about killing Mae, but I think what comes after is the kicker.

When Jecki breaks his helmet and she sees his face, he reveals his second saber and she is dead in seconds. As he says after : "they see my face, they die."

The other Jedis he killed quite easily, they were an obstacle and he destroyed them. But for Jecki, he waited until he had what he considers to be no choice until he killed her. There's a clear difference.

And also there's a last detail that makes me think his perceived aloofness around her death is merely a facade.

He mentions Jecki three times to other people. Once to Mae when he still has his helmet, and twice to Sol when he just killed her.

"she's a loyal pupil"

"was that its name?"

"you brought her here"

Why would he suddenly use "it" to refer to her when he doesn't do it before or after? I argue that it's him dealing with his anger at having to have killed her. She forced him to reveal his face and I think he's trying to appear more monstrous than life by dehumanizing her in that moment, trying to make it seem like he was always going to kill her without a second thought (that shrug he does omg??). But we know he didn't actually kill her without a second thought or she'd have been dead when he disarmed her the first time.

The only thing that differentiates Jecki from the other Jedis is the fact that she's still a Padawan, so that's why I interpreted his reluctance to kill her as maybe a way to show us that he's reluctant to kill padawans in general, probably due to his own past.

I could obviously be wrong about all this! But that's how I interpreted his actions, anyway.

[starryaike]

i know they're a little old, but i wanted to tell you that i ABSOLUTELY LOVED your undertale + fnaf dca art posts and lil comics, like not only is the way you drew all those characters (like especially chara oh my god they're so shaped and all the colors are so delightful) but also seeing all the interactions legit brought a big ol smile to my face (for like all of them!!! they all made me so happy!!!)

so ah in short, thank you!!! they brought so much joy and i loved them a bunch and thank you for drawing and sharing them :D!!

This is so sweet! One of the reasons I decided to stop caring about something being "cringe" and just started to draw and post whatever the hell I wanted was because, whenever I saw people indulge in the stuff they wanted (making silly crossovers, selfshipping and whatnot) it made and still makes me so happy!

Even if it's silly or it doesn't make sense literally who cares. I have written like 7k words of "chara undertale goes to the universe of [spin the wheel] crow country!" and it's made me so happy! So to know others also enjoy my silly ideas and my playing with metaphorical dolls in the fandom space, it warms my heart! Thank you and have an awesome day!

[dailynakaharachuuya]

6. Yokai AU

[allthecastlesonclouds]

sometimes your mutual tags you in an ask game and you look at it and go “oh my god this looks SO fun. however i don’t know how to answer this”

[kwillow]

Not sure if I'm using the word correctly, but you have "head cannon" voices for your characters?

I’ve answered questions similar to this a couple times already, buuuut it has been almost a year since and I’m always game to ramble on about my characters in ways similar but ever-so-slightly different to what I’ve done before!

Theo has a voice on the higher end for a man (his singing voice would be in the tenor range). He typically speaks in a posh, refined, almost theatrical accent, but that drops away almost completely when he gets riled up. His words are always slightly corrupted by some vocal imperfection, be it a sibilant hiss, nasal whine, throaty growl or a bout of stuttering.

Similar vibes: Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, this particular Doc Ock

In contrast to Theo, Jocosa has a deeper voice for a woman. Her posh accent never breaks, and she can could count the times she's raised her voice to a yell on one hand. Her tone is steely, cold, low and haughty. Every word is pronounced precisely and distinctly, as if it slipped off the pages of a dictionary instead of her tongue.

Similar vibes: Maleficent, Michelle Dockery

Ambroys speaks differently depending on his surroundings. While his voice could be generally described as youthful, clear and far from baritone, but he changes his tones and pitch readily depending on how he wants to come off. He'll speak in deeper, flatter tones around men his age, more boyishly and chirpy around older authority figures, and in a dreadfully sugary manner around women he wants to look "cute" to. He tends to have a sing-songy intonation to his words, which ramps up when he's being "adorable." His voice cuts through even the noise of a lively party, which at least gives people the chance to escape before he targets them for a very one-sided "conversation."

Similar vibes: Hulce's Mozart, this anime lad

When Ambroys is older, his voice matures a little, and he doesn't try to be "cutesy" anymore. Instead, he speaks in delicate, soothing, mellifluous tones, and uses the lower end of his register more often.

I don't have an idea for a character who speaks like how I imagine Older!Ambroys does off the top of my head (though if anyone has a suggestion for him or anyone else here I'd like to hear it)!