#Finally going to actually be a scientist like I've always wanted <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[illithilit]

Another, much better update: I just need to get my brain to focus on writing, and then I'll be back to what I was doing before bc I'm doing much better.

Not dropping threads or asks, so everyone knows.

If you'd like to, hit me up for plotting or my discord.

[vampirecatprince]

Rewatching S1 and S2 right next to each other bc I wanted to recenter my read on Robotnik and Stone after months in the fanon mines and remembering what I do of S3 and....

WOW- his time on the mushroom planet REALLY fucked with Robotnik, huh.

Like... there is a notable characterization difference between him in the first movie and him in 2 and 3 that I've never noticed before. Like- Stone has the biggest shift between 2 and 3, but is still pretty consistent compared to Rob in a way that makes the shift in behavior feel more intentional? There really is an extra mania and desperation to S2/S3 Rob that really isn't that present in the first movie and I always misremember being there.

And yes- a hell of a lot of what happens in Sonic 2 is motivated by decisions he's making and are objectively bad decisions to make, but bro is clearly not all together anymore after living in complete isolation while handling survival conditions for as long as he did.

But- I've never sat back and really pulled apart that in the first movie despite being widely disliked, he is still a successful scientist with a lot of authority and resources behind him. He's in a stable, respected role and clearly enjoying what he's doing.... Then he abruptly gets thrown onto another planet not even days after discovering that aliens actually exist, finally returns to earth after months of being completely isolated from other people to the point that he made a stand-in to talk to, absorbs a borderline eldritch form power source, loses said power to the teenage alien that started this whole going to begin with, and then nearly fucking dies and is so badly injured he's essentially in hospice care for at least a year.

Like- I'm not surprised that between 2 and 3 and decides that he wants absolutely nothing to do with Sonic and gets depressed. He lost his entire career and the ability to do something he loved easily and was hurt a lot in the process. And he's CLEARLY been unpacking a lot of his trauma in S3 with how he randomly trauma dumps to Sonic right before Gerald shows up?

And I also think that Gerald's manipulation of him in Sonic 3 wouldn't have been as easy or as possible with the Sonic 1 version of him? I really feel like a lot of what he went through damaged a lot of his confidence in a way that he's never going to acknowledge or admit to or even notice, but he probably subconsciously missed having an external authority figure in some way. I mean, he did contract work for the government. It's implied that he's been in the military industrial complex is entire life.

And especially after NEARLY DYING because of his own impulsive decisions AND his canon family issues already being a soft spot? It all just made him more vulnerable to being manipulated.

I just... Ohhhhh, his character arc in the movies so far is so fascinating to me, guys.

[legobiwan]

We need to talk about this. And I'm going to start right off with a contentious claim:

Ford was willing to gamble the fate of his entire dimension to feed his ego and insecurities and Bill had him pegged from Square One.

This sounds like a harsh statement. It kind of is. When we first meet Ford in the show, all we end up learning from him is that restarting the Portal was dangerous and could (and did) create a rift that would open the door for Bill and his gang to end the world. And Ford pins this entirely on Stanley, excoriating him for not listening to his warnings in the journals and doing whatever he wanted, like a set of monkeys flinging shit at walls until he happened to get it correct.

Ford is a highly unreliable narrator. After all, as Stan rightfully said, who built the portal in the first place?

But we need to go deeper.

In Journal 3, Ford speaks to the necessity of hiding his journals, which he - to be quite honest - does a crappy job of. Why keep two out of the three journals in Gravity Falls, a mere hair's breath from the actual Portal, which for some mysterious reason, Ford has declined to - you know - actually destroy? Why bury the Journals near an elementary school with children - children who tend to be curious creatures and can and will find a way to discover what they shouldn't? Why call on your estranged brother who you claim to despise as an absolute last resort? Ford's narrative, if you really start to analyze it, makes zero sense. And it makes zero sense because it's an edifice, a personal mythology meant to be a bulwark against the horrible truth of Ford's motivations.

"I've stared at the fire, journals in hand, for hours. I just can't do it. The knowledge in here could be a gift to mankind, the portal's potential limitless. Am I really going to destroy it all just out of spite? No, I won't give HIM the satisfaction. Instead of destroying my work, I'll find a way to DESTROY BILL INSTEAD. If Cipher has a weakness, I'll find it. I'll outsmart the devil yet! He may be a god, but I am a scientist."

Ford could have ended this thirty years ago if his ego hadn't gotten in the way. All he had to do was burn the journals and destroy the portal, just like every other human Bill tried to con over the years. How much did Ford actually care about the end of the world as much as he cared about Bill's betrayal and losing his earth-shattering (quite literally) research?

He didn't. And given this, is it a surprise that Bill, when he finally was able to breach dimensions and start Weirdmaggedon, still placed bets that Ford would join him in the end? The man who said, "Fuck the universe, I need everyone to know I was right."

This isn't about the possible apocalypse. Ford doesn't make one, single mention of that here, doesn't seem to give one fuck if the world burns, as long as he can prove himself to be better than Bill and better than everyone who doubted him for all his life.

And this is why, I am certain, that when Bill perused Ford's possible futures, a large majority ended up with Ford turning to the dark side, as it were.

There's a reason Ford pulled these journal pages. They don't fit his self-constructed narrative of the heroic martyr who wants to save the world. Ford edits his own story again and again, pushing everyone away so they won't see just how insecure and absolutely desperate for validation he is.

Sound like someone we know? Maybe a yellow triangle who literally outlines the steps to denial in his teenage angst journal?

Bill, in essence, promised Ford the universe. Yes, literally, but also the universe in terms of what Ford always wanted - recognition and revenge. Ford, by not destroying the Portal or his journals, didn't 100% reject this proposal, even if that equivocation was subconscious. It's why - I think - Bill feels Ford's just put him "on read" after he fell through the Portal (according to Alex Hirsch).

Ford's going to have to come to terms with this. Maybe he did during his time in the Portal. We have no idea how much Ford did or didn't mellow while being stuck on the other side of the universe, although we do know a) he still holds a massive grudge against his brother and b) Bill is still able to play him like a lyre when he asks about the equation to pop the bubble around Gravity Falls. (And I do not for one second believe that Ford was trying to buy time when he admits that "Of course, a simple equation could collapse the barrier," when Bill questions him about it. Ford needs to prove that he knows the answer, that he figured it out, that he's a scientist and outsmarted a god. Again, if the kids and Stan hadn't come to Ford's rescue, it's very hard to say where Ford would have landed in the end).

The thing is, there's a part of Ford that realizes he's being an ass, that he needs someone. We see this with Bill, obviously, with Fiddleford in the ways Ford runs so incredibly hot and cold with the man (I need you, no I don't need you) - with Stan, who is a last resort but the only person Ford trusts enough to summon to Oregon. Because Ford didn't need Stan to destroy the journals or the portal - but he needed someone, maybe he needed a dollar-store Bill in his life, maybe he just needed someone to reach out like that. Ford fucks it up, wildly, as he can't let his ego go and allow Stan (who is being extremely practical, if bitter) to burn the journals like Ford should have weeks previous.

And well, we all know how that turned out.

What I'm curious about - and what I think needs to be covered more in fandom - is how Ford deals with all of this post-Weirdmaggedon. He's obviously in contrition mode at this point, swinging wildly to this penitent, self-abusing figure who will claim fault for the tiniest infraction.

That's not going to last him long. The type of change and self-reflection Ford needs is not going to come overnight. At some point, his uglier tendencies are going to rear their head on the Stan O'War and Stan is going to have to weather the blowback (or just throw his brother overboard). One might say Ford himself needs a little time the Theraprism, as he nearly consigned his own reality to damnation just like Bill did.

I love Ford. I adore Ford. He is so, so, so complicated. But ohhh boi, Fordsy, do you have issues with a Capital "I".

[kodared]

✰ Stanford & Borrower/Anomaly Reader ✰

fears not enough they have to tear him apart.

Chapter 2/?

Wordcount: 2,684 / 4,741

➤ Summary Based on the borrowers of many universes! I hope you enjoy it, and if you don't know about borrowers, let me be your guide into a world I've loved since I was young. ✰Written because I saw the severe lack of borrower content in Gravity Falls fanfic, i hope you enjoy <3 ✰ - ★Updates irregularly! I write when I want ★ ★ - Also on AO3! - ★

You had spent the better half of that night scheming of ways actually to put your plan into motion. Sure the basic idea sounded easy enough, but you were only about 6 inches tall. His journal might even be taller than you. You tried not to let that thought bother you. 

You had even turned the string lights in your makeshift home on. If you were to think of ways to get the page you needed a comfortable space. You never liked sitting in the dark. 

The only sound in your room was your feet hitting the wooden plank you used as a floor while you paced in a circle. It had to be late at this point, and you could check and see if Ford was still awake, but you knew he’d still be up. 

Once he was enamored by something he stayed up studying, it felt weird for you to be that something, but here you were. 

If you were to take the page out of his journal, you needed something sharp to rip it out. Your needle wouldn’t work, it would take too long to rip the paper. You weren’t too keen on the idea of being caught by the scientist. 

You needed something more similar to a knife a human would use. You knew better than to think of making your own. You weren’t much of a blacksmith or crafter, you tinkered with a lot of things sure, but nothing extravagant. 

Finally getting bored of the scenery of your room, you decided that if you were going to brainstorm anything it would help to look around first. 

You clicked your string lights off and set off into the walls. Your hand fidgets with the needle on your hip anxiously. 

You always had a problem with twiddling with things. Your mother even had to put poison ivy on your nails once so you’d stop picking them and the skin around them. …You still had small scars but you tried not to pick them as bad. 

Absentmindedly walking the dark corridors of the inner walls wasn’t bad now and again. The cottage didn't have any mice, so you didn't have to worry about predators or bugs for that matter.

You wouldn’t have minded befriending a pill bug though, those little critters were always friendly as long as you had a treat for them. 

Your dreams of settling down with a bug friend though would have to wait. Reminding yourself why you came here, you finally felt along the wall for anything that could help. 

You were on the first floor. Meaning you were on the right track to the perfect spot to go looking for scraps the human wouldn’t miss. 

Not that it mattered if he noticed items going missing anymore, he already knew you were here. It was always best to avoid confrontation though.

Gently tapping on the wall as you went, you felt your body stiffening and halting right as you passed the humans room. 

If that was the noise you thought you heard, maybe the plan would be put in action sooner than expected. 

Halting in your tapping you gently pressed your body against the wall, hearing the faint whispers of a snore from beyond the wood. 

Deciding to bite the bullet you pressed harder, feeling the thin wood bend so you could peek. 

True to what you heard, you could see the human, Ford. Passed out at his desk, and even better, the Journal. 

Unguarded and open on his desk next to his hand. He must have been taking notes and fallen asleep. 

If there was any time to waste you weren’t going to be the one to waste it. Quickly pushing off the wall you took off towards the storage room he kept full of random items. 

Usually just rubbish of whatever he was working on at the time, sometimes wires, and more than often boxes full of who knows what. But that didn't matter, because you knew what you were after. 

Cramming yourself against the wall once more you operated quickly. Squeezing through the small crack made by pushing you landed on a box. Quickly you brought your sleeved arm up to stifle your coughing from the sheer amount of dust. 

Would it kill him to dust now and again or was he only interested in studying???

Pushing past your internal cussing you scanned the floor for what you came for to begin with. A small black screw lay on the floor exactly where you recognized it being. Still sharp at the end from disuse, overlooked on the floor for weeks. 

Bingo.

You jumped off of the box, ignoring the protests from your still sprained ankle as you speed walked over to the screw. 

Picking it up it felt cool in your hands. A comforting feeling in the stuffy and still dark room. The only light was from the moonlight that drifted from the window up high. 

Sometimes you wondered if your family was still okay in the woods. If sometimes when you looked at the moon, they where looking at it too. 

You began the long trek back to the humans room, debating whether or not it would be worth it to go back through the walls or just walk on foot. 

Eventually, you decided to just go back through the vent. Climbing back up the box and weaseling your way into the wall would be too much work. Plus the vents usually were easy enough to navigate. 

You used the screw to pry the grate up ever so slightly before using your hands to pull it up the rest of the way. Your wrist also protesting from where you fell on it. You seriously needed to take better care of yourself once this was all over. 

Dropping down into the vents you made sure to pull the grate shut behind you before crawling through the cramped space. Even for you, it was a bit uncomfortable but the cold on your stomach was oddly comforting. 

You oddly preferred a cold room over a warm one, even better if you had a warm piece of cloth. Even as a kid you much liked it better in the early months of fall than in the middle of summer. 

Finally, you could hear the humans' faint snoring from above you, confirming the vents were a pretty straightforward path to his room. 

Taking a deep breath you pushed the grate up. Timing it with his deep snores to make sure he stayed fast asleep.

Clambering up into the open space you could see Ford sleeping at his desk still. His body was uncomfortably curled around and resting on his desk. 

You were no fool. You made sure to plan an escape route just in case he did wake up, quickly scanning the room you could see a small hole in the floorboard. Probably made by the natural cut of the wood, but perfect for you to drop into at a moment's notice. 

You then looked at his desk. Trying to figure out a safe way to travel up it without your fishhook and thread. When something caught your eye. 

The bastard had kept your fishhook. There it lay on his workspace, just barely discernable from your angle on the floor as it glinted in the moonlight. Almost as if it was taunting you. 

Suddenly all the nerves you had were ebbing away into frustration. Who gave him the right to keep your things. You worked hard on getting the proper supplies, and he never noticed. So what gave him the right to pocket it like he made it? 

You made quick work of walking across the floor and getting your footing on the desk leg. The unpolished wood was rough enough to support your hands and feet as you climbed. 

If you could get your fishhook back on top of taking the page you would be ecstatic. Then you could move without worry and find a new place to move into. This would all be behind you and you could talk about it like it was all some bad dream. 

Now was a time for the present though as you neared the top of his desk. You had almost forgotten the human was resting just beside you, frightening yourself as you pulled yourself onto the desk and saw his arm right next to you. 

…You almost forgot how large this guy was. 

He was tall by human standards, you saw him standing next to his assistant before. 

Pushing down your curiosity you peeled your eyes away from the human. 

Quickly scooping up the fishhook and thread that was so rightfully yours. You took one more glance at him to make sure he was asleep. 

By human standards he was attractive. Hell, even by borrower standards he was mildly satisfying. You weren't one of those borrowers who actively sought out humans, but you could admit when someone was pleasing to the eyes. 

He had short brown hair that slightly curled at the ends. His glasses were now crooked with how he pressed his face on top of his arm as a makeshift pillow. You allowed your eyes to scan over him a bit longer. 

Taking in his outfit as well, a simple brown sweater with a collared shirt poking from above it. His usual trenchcoat was hung on the chair he sat on. 

His hands rested on top of his forearms, which- 

… Don't humans usually only have five fingers? 

You could've sworn they had only five. Raising your own you looked back and forth at it. 

You remembered your mother mentioning humans were genetically very similar to borrowers. The only difference is the height, which should mean he would have only five fingers. Not the six he seemed to have on both hands. 

You were getting sidetracked. Soon you wouldn't even be living with this weird scientist, so why did it matter if he had an extra finger? 

Finally focusing on what you came for, you turned your attention to the journal. That cursed, stupid, red journal. The cause of all your anxiety for the past few days. 

He's lucky you're not just burning the entire thing. You weren't above arson, but you didn't want to kill him if the fire got too big. Despite how much you loathed humans. 

You walked over to the journal and skimmed over the page it was open to. To no one's shock, it was open on the page you despised the most. 

Over the top of the pristine white paper was the name he had given you and your species. 

‘Parva persona’. Whatever that meant you didn't care. 

Below it was a crude sketch of what you could only assume was your shadowy figure slinking off into the wall. You thought you dressed better than that in all honesty. He could have atleast drawn you in detail. 

Whatever. Didnt matter as long as the page was gone. He could always rewrite it but you doubt he would remember everything. 

And the more that was lost to time the better in your opinion. 

You placed your foot on the page to hold it down as you positioned the screw at the top of the page. Pressing your whole body weight on it as you dragged it down, it worked beautifully. Leaving a messy tear in its wake. 

You almost forgot about the snoring behind you. 

Until it stopped. 

About halfway through slicing into the cursed paper you heard it. The slight intake of breath. The stutter was all you needed to whip around just in time to catch the human sitting up slightly. 

His eyes were wide as he looked down at you, the holds of sleep still gripping him tightly as he moved sluggishly. 

Screw the page. You dropped the screw and took off to the side of the desk. Already planning on using the hook to drop off the desk and disappear back into the walls before promptly packing your bags and going back to your parents. 

As you were about to drop your hook and use it to swing off the desk, you felt the warmth of his hand on your back once more before those damned fingers curled around your entire being. 

The human wasnt speaking yet but you didn't want to wait to hear him. Thrashing as hard as you could you tried desperately to grab your needle on your hip, but his hand was quick to squish your arms to your sides. 

The dizzying feeling of being lifted off the desk was the next thing you felt. You felt nauseous at the mental image of being manhandled. 

The human was stunned into silence as you screwed your eyes shut, still desperately kicking at his pinkie that held your thighs down. His thumb pressed against your neck and shoulders, almost as if he was examining you. 

Finally, you opened your eyes, and you wished you hadnt. His other hand held his glasses up, pressing them firmly against the bridge of his nose, as if he was afraid he wasnt seeing right. 

His hair messily framed his face as his mouth hung open just a bit. Clearly in awe at what he was seeing. Your heart hammered quickly against your chest as you feared you might die from shock and horror. 

You were stuck. Trapped by a scientist. The most dangerous human to exist to your kind. 

His grip tightened ever so slightly as he tilted you to the left, looking at the items you had on your hip as he lifted his middle finger. Your thighs and shoulder are still pinned to his palm. 

His palm was uncomfortably warm against your back. You hated the feeling of his skin against your clothes. Absentmindedly he used his other hand to poke at the needle on your hip. You contemplated trying to bite him. 

Your blood was rushing past your ears as the effects of vertigo hit your body in full swing once more as he moved. His head tilted to look somewhere beside the desk before you heard him rummaging. 

It was a wonder you weren't passed out at this point as his hand swayed. The motion was natural to him, but entirely foreign to the small sentient being he held in the palm of his hand. 

His eyes focused back on your form as you felt him press something against your side, it was cold and plastic. 

Craning your neck you could see him pressing what appeared to be a ruler to your side. His thumb pressed against your shoulder moving to press against your neck as he held you straight. 

“...6 and a half inches.. That should be impossible..” 

His voice boomed in your ears as you felt the beginnings of a headache nagging at the back of your eyes. In all reality, he was probably whispering. It didn't matter though combined with the closeness he held you at. 

His thumb was beginning to press a bit too hard into your neck and you saw spots forming in your vision. Your body kicked up in squirms as you desperately tried to squeeze in another full breath of air. 

He was quick to notice as he moved his thumb back to your shoulder. 

“Sorry!- I didn't realize, maybe I could..” 

He sat down the ruler before taking a few quick notes. Your vision cleared as you sucked in precious oxygen again. 

Your vision was just starting to clear fully as your brain caught up with his rummaging. He was once again rifling beside his desk. When you saw him pull a jar up into your vision you felt your blood run cold. 

You did not want to be put in a jar. Going into a jar meant transporting you. Which meant you where going down into that lab. 

   “Stop!-” 

The frantic words left your mouth before you could stop them, and you felt the human practically completely freeze. His calculating eyes pierced into your very soul as you felt him grip you ever so slightly tighter.  “You can talk!”

-- --- - - - --

Hope you enjoyed!! Will ford be nicer next chapter? Who knows!! I sure dont!!! ✰ Let me know if you enjoyed in the comments!!! I love reading them :)!!! Feel free to send me any asks in my askbox if you want as well! ✰

╱|、♡ (` - 7 |、⁻〵 じしˍ,)ノ

[politemenacephd]

Arachnophilia: (Part Nineteen)

Drider!Miguel O'Hara x Reader (+18)

Chapter Masterlist 🕷️

Content: Plot time! Some fluffy conversation, Action, Some spider peril, aphrodisiac influence.

Word count: 4100 Notes: Ok so I've had extra time off w being ill to re-cooperate and I've actually got chapters 20 and 21 done so hopefully those will be up sooner! Thanks for waiting <3

‘You ready?’

You were milling about the HQ entrance with Mig at your side, preparing for your first mission together. You’d got into your hazmat suit just fine but Mig was struggling with his. They usually came with attached leg parts and he didn’t exactly have legs to fit into one, so his had been hastily made to order.

‘Argh—I hate this, clothing, thing—how did I ever wear this every day?’

You snorted at Mig’s quiet grumbles as you helped pull the thick plastic material over his stocky belly.

‘I’ve brought up the possibility of making an exception for you, with the- clothing, thing, but they’re being weird about it’ you mumbled.

‘I don’t- want you to go through any trouble for me’ Mig said. His voice kept catching as he squirmed. You noted how tight his suit was compared to yours, how it clung to his enormous shoulders like latex. Clearly whoever had made it hadn’t paid close enough attention to how big Mig was.

‘What was it you used to say to me? Oh no, arañita, I like doing things for you—that’s me. That’s also me. I like doing things for you, it’s why I am—’ you paused to give his suit one final tug. ‘In a relationship with you!’

Mig totally ignored that his suit was on, instead doing a little wiggle with his abdomen to the word ‘relationship’. Hearing it made him so happy.

‘Mm. Yes, well- okay.’ He bent down and reached out his hand, baying you to give him yours. You did, and he gingerly kissed your fingers before squeezing them between his claws. ‘I suppose I don’t mind you doing a little for me. If it makes you happy.’

‘You’re so silly’ you chided gently. For just a moment, you got to stand and look up into his big red eyes without worrying about anything or anyone else around you. His eyes creased as he smiled.

‘Mi arañita’ he whispered.

 It was simple, short, sweet. To you, it was an affirmation. To him, it was a confession of love he just wasn’t strong enough to make overtly quite yet. You bumped foreheads, since the suits stopped you being able to kiss, before withdrawing from each other.

‘May I, make a confession to you, arañita?’

‘Yeah, of course. Go ahead.’

‘I… I am certainly, excited, to see a new universe again. I used to dream about this when I was human, and while I gave up on my dreams when I changed it has been… exhilarating, to feel like a scientist again. I just…’ Mig paused and gently rubbed his jaw. ‘I’m, nervous.’

‘About what?’

‘About… You’ he said, his voice dipping. ‘About, putting you in danger.’

‘Oh Miggy- I’ve been a spider a lot longer than you have!’ you insisted.

‘Yes. And on your first mission, you met me. Because you—got hurt’ he said bluntly. Your teasing smile turned to an awkward frown.

‘Oh… Ohh. Right. Yeah. Well… Look at it this way.’ You turned and gestured to yourself, lightly tapping your chest as you stared up at him. ‘I completed my first mission specifically because I had your help. So, now you’re here with me, it’ll be even better! And I promise, I won’t get headstrong and try to go around you. I will accept your help.’

Mig still looked perturbed but he seemed comforted at the memory of helping you. ‘Yes… Yes, you are, correct.’

‘As always.’

‘Mm. Very humorous. Regardless, you are right. I helped you then, and, I can help now. I appreciate you understanding my concern, arañita. I also, as a show of good faith, will not stand in the way of you doing this mission. I trust you.’

You beamed up at him, and he beamed back.

‘I’m just rather surprised we got put on it at all. I was quite prepared for my, other half to get in the way’ Mig mused as he shook himself off. Immediately your face fell.

‘Ah... yeah. Me too. Me too’ you said quietly.

You’d been surprised Miguel had even okayed the idea of you both going out. He’d been so weird about Mig joining at all, and then out of nowhere he was giving you both a mission right after Mig passed? When you joined it took months to get any mission at all. Deep down, this whole thing had you a little on edge.

You were trying to keep your feelings to yourself, though, since you didn’t want to upset or worry Mig. He was settling in so well and you’d hate to cause him discomfort for no reason. You liked seeing him happy. You liked seeing him thrive.

‘Mi arañita?’

You blinked and glanced upward, only to find Mig staring at you. You must have gotten lost in your thoughts.

‘Ah- hey, what’s up now pretty boy?’ you asked, forcing a smile. His lips didn’t return the same softness. Instead, his face remained serious.

‘You’re worried. Yes? About my counterpart, and how quickly this mission was given to us. You’re worried that he has some ulterior motive. You’re worried he might be, setting us up, rather than stepping back.’

You sighed. God damn it. While you appreciated how in-tune you were, it also made hiding anything a little awkward. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I—was.’

‘I... Yes. I, feel the same, though I do want to believe he’s actually gotten better’ Mig murmured sadly.

‘I’d like to believe it, but I’m also not stupid’ you snorted. The two of you briefly went quiet as a gaggle of spiders webbed past you down the lobby, before slowly drifting closer again.

‘We- are, very similar, you know’ Mig explained. ‘I told you, once, how our paths only diverged in life when we changed. He became, him, and I became… this. But before that we were… so, so similar. Almost identical.’

‘That change was a long time ago, though, right? Like, so long that you forgot what clothes feel like.'

Mig chuckled at your light teasing, but his brows remained tightly knotted. ‘Mm. Yes. But, it doesn’t change that we are, in many ways, the same person. He used that very fact to convince me that I’m a monster, to convince me to hide.’

You pursed your lips at the reminder.

‘So… If I don’t believe he can change, then, it… means he was right about me, too' he said. His voice was deeply sombre. 

‘Mig, that isn’t—I mean that isn’t entirely fair’ you said with an unsure shrug. ‘Like… Look, Miguel is a different person to you. I can see the argument that you were given the same, basic components at the start, right? But you're so different now. He's a.... dick, and you're... you! You're YOU! My Mig! The, most, perfect thing!' 

Mig chuckled again, looking almost shy at your praise. ‘Just- humour me, please. It is for my own benefit, not just for his. I have to believe I am not doomed to be a bad person, and, I want to believe he isn’t either’ Mig insisted.

You weren’t convinced, sadly, but you did relent. You held up your hands and smiled as you slapped them down on his furry abdomen. ‘Okay. I mean I’d like for him to get better too, believe me, God it would save me SO much hassle!’

Mig purred, and at last a smile broke out onto his face. His cheeks lifted as he chuckled. ‘Yes. Me too. He—’

‘You ready to go?!’

You and Mig turned in unison as Jess called from the other side of the lobby. She was waving one arm over her head with the other cupped her mouth to make the sound carry. You could see that she was standing beside an open portal. 

‘Shit… alright, time to go’ you said. You straightened out your suit and straightened his too, a motion he tried to return until you shooed him off.

‘No, no—I don’t need petting down, shh—I love you too. Right. You ready, Mig?’

He fixed his posture and nervously raised his claws. ‘Ah… yes. Yes. I am- ready to do, heroic activities. Yes’ he blurted in a fully monotone voice.

You buried your face in your palm. ‘Oh my god I love you so much you’re such a god damn dork—OKAY, lets go!’  

You tried to strike a pose like you were trained to do but almost immediately tripped, so instead you went straight into climbing Mig’s back so he could take the lead. It was easy to look majestic while riding your enormous spider partner.

You clung tight to his fur as he scurried forward, and dragged you both through the open portal into this new and unknown world.

…

On the other side you thankfully landed safely, with Miguel angling his paws to slow the impact. As you eyes adjusted you realized quickly that you were on the top of some enormous building, and so you hopped down from Mig’s back to see the view.

This world was strange, far stranger than either Miguel’s or Mig’s or your's. Before you was the full, shining vista of New York, but this one had been entirely drowned in enormous neon plants. You could see flower heads in the distance that looks like normal flower heads up close, implying that they must be the size of a house in their own right, blooming and fluttering on the side of a high rise building that'd broken in half and was now leaning on another. 

The sky above was also strange; it was red, darker on top and lighter as it drifted down towards the horizon, ending in a dull and foreboding pink beyond what the eye could see.

There was no sound. No cars, no people. Just the rustling of leaves in the wind.

You breathed in through your suit mask and turned to Mig. He was fixated on the red sky, his hand held out in front of his face.

‘You okay?’ you called up.

Mig nodded. ‘Yes… You- do you see these, particles, too?’ he asked. You followed his eyes and squinted at the air in front of your face. He was right. There were tiny, pink dots floating in the air, like dust particles, just barely viewable. You waved your hand and watched them bounce and dance as your fingers disrupted them.

‘Huh. Oh, weird. Yeah they um- they mentioned the pollen, it has... Like an overwhelming effect on anything with hormones. Aphrodisiac. Makes you lose it. It's why this worlds deserted now.’

‘Yes. I- believe we should leave here as soon as possible’ Mig said slowly. You didn’t argue.

You turned and leapt back up onto his back, digging your hands into his fur. You held on tight as he turned and descended the building via the stairway.

On a monitor in a dark and distant room, Miguel watched the blurry little figure of you and Mig strolled through the abandoned city. His eyes narrowed. ‘Go on’ he said, almost purring. ‘Go ahead. Fail, and then let me watch you get dragged out by your necks in a pathetic heap.’

The building was entirely empty, which made the sounds you heard all the more unnerving. You realized pretty quickly that the oversized plants filling the area would occasionally move, slithering across cracked windows and floors like great, fleshy, neon green snakes. The floors would creak like footsteps when no one was there, and occasionally you’d hear a low groaning as if the building itself was alive.

Mig began to walk slower so he could step over the vines. They hadn’t done anything violent, but, he’d rather be safe.

As you emerged out into the city from the ground the size of it became far more imposing. Seeing those giant flower buds from the top made them seem almost normal, but from the floor the shadow of that gaping botanical maw filling the sky made you feel utterly miniscule.

You drew your watch to your mouth and whispered into it. ‘Lyla- Lyla, have you got a hold on the guy who escaped?’

‘Yeeeppp.’

The little AI flashed up beside your head as Mig cautiously began to walk down the empty street. ‘You hopped in close. He’s been still for a while.’

‘Do you think he’s hurt?' 

‘Nah, I mean- maybe. But I doubt it’ Lyla said with a yawn.

‘Why do you doubt it?’ Mig asked. She flickered over to glance him up and down as he walked.

‘My god you’re big, it always surprises me- uhhh I said I DOUBT it because he was wearing his suit when he jumped in which should keep him safe from the pollen.’

‘Okay. What are we dealing with then? A vulture, a symbiote, a prowler?’

‘Prowler. He’ll be wearing his suit but I think we removed his weapons when we brought him in, so, should be easy.’

‘Huh… I wonder if Miguel gave us an easy one deliberately’ you pondered to yourself. It seemed unlikely, but, maybe it was intentional? Maybe he was changing. ‘Okay, uh- thanks Lyla, we’ll call if we need anything else.’

You shut your watch and gently tapped for Mig’s attention. You didn’t speak, but you silently gestured for where he needed to go. He nodded and crept towards the building Lyla had pointed at.

As you approached the bottom floor it was empty, with broken windows allowing easy access to the inner rooms. It was unnervingly dark inside. The sun was too high overheard to reach inside, leaving nothing but a faint red glow broaching the edge of the dirty, vines covered concrete before it descended into shadow.

You tapped your watch to create a small beam of light. You carefully scanned the room from side to side, your eyes squinting to see through the gloom.

It was quiet. Too quiet. You could hear water dripping somewhere but couldn’t find the source. As Mig went to enter the dark he rustled his abdomen, signalling for you to jump. You hopped to the floor and in unison you both ducked. Together, you began to do a wide circle of the space.

‘Hello?’ you called, your voice echoing. You faintly saw Mig rustle with discomfort at you speaking, so you gestured for him to continue instead.

‘Sir! We’re from the society’ Mig cried. ‘I know that you were- reluctant, to come with us, but you were at far more risk here.’

You were about halfway in now. You were descending into the thick of the vines.

‘This universe is abandoned. There is no way home without us. If you come quietly, we can—’

Midway through speaking the vines were suddenly cut right above your head, and in a flurry of chaotic movement and sound you were thrown across the room.

‘SHIT—HEY!’

The unseen opposition dived forward and pinned your newly downed body to the floor, choking it out against one of the vines. You squirmed and kicked but you’d been taken off guard too fast.

‘GIVE ME THE WATCH!’

A deep voice echoed from behind the attackers mask. Shit, you thought, this must be the guy.

‘GIVE ME THE—’

Just as he’d tackled you the Prowler variant was tackled by Mig. In a blur of red and black fur your partner barrelled across the room and hooked the smaller man by the nape, and with nothing more than the strength of his neck he threw him up into the ceiling and then back down to the floor.

A low moan filled the air as you scrambled to stand.

‘Oh…. Fuck.’ You coughed and spluttered as Mig prowled towards the downed man. His venom was glowing where it’d leaked down his jaw, its viscosity appearing neon green in the dark. He had his claws raised.

Back in Nueva, Miguel continued to watch. He had his arms folded, his body stiff and unmoving, his eyes unblinking.

He was waiting for it.

‘Fuck… urgh, okay, um—you got the light cage, babe?’ you asked. You were wheezing hard from being pinned, and while Mig should have focused on containing the man on the floor he couldn’t help but be drawn to you.

‘Mi arañita? Are you okay?’

As Mig turned you raised your hand. You were about to say yes, you were fine. You were about to comfort him and remind him of what you had to do.

You didn’t get the chance, though.

The Prowler collected himself too quickly, and in a blind panic he leapt up and released the claws on his suit. He dove at Mig, the most obvious threat, hoping to get in a stab from behind, but luckily his claws weren’t strong enough to pierce.

He latched onto Mig’s back and he instantly began rustling and bucking, his size allowing him to quickly detach the attacker. You hastily threw a web out to pin him down to the floor again.

‘SHIT- Shit, baby, did he get you?! Did he—’

You froze. Mig had turned in an attempt to feel the back of his suit, and now he was facing the opposite direction to you. He was showing you his back. He was showing you, clear as day, the enormous cut marks in the plastic hide.

Slowly, Mig stopped. His arms fell to his sides, and he rolled his head to stare at you over his shoulder. His eyes were glowing the most unnatural pink.

‘Mig?’ you stammered.

He grunted, hard, and suddenly seemed to go down. His legs began to shake as his hands flew to his head. ‘MM—MM—’

You felt your whole body go cold. You knew what the air in this universe did. You quickly rushed to try and grapple him, hoping to either pin him with your webs or patch up the suit, anything your frazzled mind could think of, but Mig was quickly losing control.

‘MIG! Mig, hey! Stay down—let me help—’

‘AH—’ His body rustled violently as he panted. It burned. It was the most unbearable heat he’d ever felt, seeping through his veins like literal fire. His started drooling venom into the inside of the suit, coating the seethrough plastic on the front. ‘RRH—’

On the other side of the multi-universe, Miguel snorted. He didn’t smile, nor did he show any kind of outward joy. He just snorted.

What a shame that Lyla hadn’t been told about that prowler’s suit still had its claws intact when it was taken in. Claws that, while not deadly, were capable of still ripping an important piece of fabric. A suit, perhaps.  

Now you’d let the man escape into a dangerous universe. You’d have to crawl back with your out of control boyfriend. He went to turn when a cry drew his attention back to the screen.

Mig, in his panic, had pushed you back across the room.

‘DON’T—DON’T COME NEAR ME’ he cried, ‘I CAN’T- HURT YOU—ARGH!’

Miguel frowned.

You were carefully shifting yourself up from the debris. You weren’t hurt, it hadn’t been a hard push, but just like the Prowler he hadn’t accounted for his own claws. They were painfully extended, viciously sharp on every end, and in just lightly pushing you with the last of his strength he’d ripped three big holes in your own suit.

You felt your heart thundering.

In a whimpering panic you tried to block the holes with your hand but it was too late. All too soon you felt the pollen in your nose, your brain, your blood, your body heating into overdrive. You were doubled over as if in physical pain as the urge curdled inside you.

‘MM—’

Miguel stared at the screen, his eye twitching just a little. No, wait, he’d planned for one person to be able to call for back up. He’d planned this out perfectly, hadn’t he? Why was this happening?

‘Argh… Mig…’

You mewled pathetically as you crawled across the floor. You were throbbing everywhere, lightheaded from the blood flowing where it wasn’t supposed to, your insides clenching and pulsing and squeezing around nothing to a point that left you breathless.

Mig was no better. He was digging his claws directly into the concrete in an attempt to stay sane, to stay alert, but it wasn’t working. He drooled pools of spit and venom onto the floor as he ripped his suit aside completely. He had to bite. He had to pin. He had to unload. He could think of nothing rational in that moment. ‘AH—AH---’

In the panic your target had also cut himself free from the web. Still suited, still sober, he watched you writhe with narrowed eyes. He approached, curious, and delivered one kick to your exposed gut. You went down hard but didn’t have the strength to get back up off the floor.

‘YOU-- ARGH!’

Mig dove at the man and nearly clawed him to pieces, but the impact of the sweet, thick, dizzying scent was making it hard to see or focus. He swung blindly, teeth snapping, as Prowler backed away.

On the floor you whimpered, unable to move an inch from the multi-faceted pain. 

‘Wait, wait, no—’  

As he watched Miguel felt his confidence beginning to slip. You’d call for backup, right? You would. Yo had to. 

He thought about rushing in, but, if he did that, you’d know he’d been watching. Wouldn’t that look suspicious? Plus, it would ruin his plan.

His plan… What, exactly, was that plan anyway, some little niggling part of his brain asked?

‘FUCK!’

Your cry drew Miguel back to the screen.

You were writhing on the floor as you struggled to breathe. You and Mig couldn’t even reach each other. He was now consumed by the primal, lustful urge to protect his mate, to fight an opponent, which was keeping him in the thralls of trying to spear your assailant on his claws.

No one had time to pull either of you out, and that Prowler was still hellbent on killing you both to protect himself.

‘No, no, no—’

The blurry image of your body on the floor began to distort. Miguel slammed the monitor but it just continued to fade.

He began to pant hard. He hadn’t wanted this. Not this. He just wanted Mig to fail his first mission, he never wanted anyone to get hurt. He’d just wanted an excuse to remove him. He didn’t want this. He didn’t. He’d planned it perfectly. This was supposed to work. It HAD to work. He was doing the right thing. He was smart, he was capable, he was rational—

Right?

The more he thought about it, the more his stomach turned. Wait, but, he’d released that symbiote, hadn’t he? He’d jumped in the way, yes, but it could have caused Mig real harm. It could have caused you real harm.

‘Oh no’ he whispered. ‘No, no, no…’

One final, horrible thought filled his head: What was wrong with him?

‘Every day I have to fight to be good.’

His words to Peter rang in his head as he paced back and forth. How had he forgotten that? The simple reason, that he really hated his variant? Because he was broken. They were both broken. Both of them.

He swung back to the screen. He had to go, right? He had to go, he had to go and extract you and Mig.

All that anger, that resentment that he’d made righteous, it was fighting the one part of him that he clung to. The part that wanted to save you, no matter the cost. The part that was still good.

He told himself that this self-sacrificial nature, that was him. The REAL him. That was who he was beneath the dirt and the dust and the bitterness. But, no. As he stared at you clutching the floor, struggling to breathe, he knew it wasn’t.

It was all him.

‘Shit.’

Without wasting a second, without even grabbing a suit, Miguel pulled up a portal to that universe and dove in headfirst.

The pollen hit him like a physical punch to the gut. He felt it coiling around every hormone in his touch-starved body, pushing his brain into override. As he hit the road right before the store you were in he had to curl in on himself just to regain the ability to breath.

‘MM—Argh, fuck—come on—you’ve dealt with this before!’ he seethed.

With fangs dripping he clawed his way into the building. To his utmost relief he saw you almost instantly, still curled up on the floor.

‘COME ON!’ he barked. Miguel grabbed you under the arm and began to drag, though it was slow progress. He kept having to pause and bite his own hands in order to temper the unnatural urges filling his brain.

You were utterly useless at this point. Your body was limp in his grip, moaning and whimpering and shaking. ‘Mig.... My Mig—’

‘He’s… fuck—MIGUEL!’ He turned and screamed into the dark as the plants whipped and writhed.

Mig burst through the wall with a violent crack, his paws skidding on the ground. The person you’d been chasing was frantically scrambling to avoid his open seething maw and swinging claws, like a rabbit fleeing a wolf. With the last of his strength Miguel threw a light cage at the panicking Prowler before depoying a web at Mig’s legs, helping to at least stun him into stopping.

‘Ah… Okay, HERE! OVERE HERE! EXTRACTION!’ Miguel cried.

Mig jerked his head up so fast it snapped. He saw him holding your limp body and immediately his eyes dilated into slits. He hissed, spraying venom across the tiles.

‘I’M GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE!’

Miguel pulled up a portal and threw you into it before returning to grab the downed Prowler. He used it like a toy, lurning Mig up. The enormous man broke the webs around his legs with terrifying ease, and once back on his spider legs he stormed towards him.

Miguel led him straight through the portal at his back.

With a soft, otherworldly thwap, the portal disappeared. The world of plants was plunged into silence once more, and whatever chaos ensued, would ensue in Miguel’s office, back where it had all started.

Link to next part

[baxterstockmanisthecenterfold]

Do you prefer Baxter mutated 🪰 a cyborg 🤖 or just plain human? 👨🏿‍🔬

My answer has changed since the last time I've thought about it. Originally like most people I liked his mutant fly fate. But now honestly. I prefer Baxter be a regular human. I don't hate either of his fates anymore I still love them & am fascinated by them. But when it comes to new takes on them. Nobody seems to actually DO anything with them. Nowadays when Baxter's a mutant it's only just for the sake of fanservice to the 87 cultists. DC's 2 portrayals of him being the biggest example of this

Because I want you to genuinely answer me this: what PURPOSE did him getting mutated, even serve? In literally BOTH adaptations he was just. There. Aside from fanservice what was literally the point in him being a fly? I'll tell you: Jack shit. They literally could have kept him human & I promise you nothing would have changed. Hell they could have easily replaced him with a random scientist and nothing would have changed! That's how little him being there or a fly mattered! And every version that has him go this route always make that same exact mistake. It's honestly crazy how Baxter becoming a fly in the first place was because of a horror movie yet nobody ever bothers to.. ya know, DO THE HORROR part?! A giant killer fly is seriously giant fucking potential especially in these darker TMNT adaptations. 2012 was even CLOSE to getting that mark when their Baxter mutated

Bro was fully ready to catch bodies in the most disturbing way possible. Yet the only time they cooked with him in this was this & that scene of him taking out the foot bots. The rest of the episode they just still have him get easily beaten by everyone and it's the same status quo for the rest of the series, he just buzzes now. *Sighs* honestly I just want at least ONE version of mutant Baxter to do this to somebody

At least ONE version of mutant Baxter just going full fly on niggas and & being seen as a legitimate threat to look out for & not just "heheheh, goofy fly just like the 87 series" Like is that seriously too much to ask for?

Cyborg Baxter isn't safe from this either. Even though it's a much more rare fate, only happening a total of 3 times btw. Yeah. Only 3 times was he turned into a cyborg. And only ONE of them was actually a really cool & dangerous concept. That of course being his ORIGINAL Counterpart

The man broke into a military base, killed 2 guards, cut out his own brain & put it inside a killer robot and wasted ZERO time fucking around. A lot of people really don't seem to know Baxter canonically has a bodycount

He killed over 6 people because he possessed the body of a giant robot. He basically pulled a sci-fi Chucky & I don't think anybody seems to realize how terrifying & cool that concept alone is! The second time this happened was 2003 & I'm honestly a little disappointed it wasn't used in a more dangerous way. Granted I'm aware that version of Baxter is more of a victim than his original self & mostly just used his robot bodies as just. Bodies in place of his old one. He didn't actively choose this, but you would still think he'd try to make himself more stronger & capable of defending himself like he did when he betrayed Shredder in season one. But alas. That never became the case. The final time we got a cyborg Baxter was the Roninverse who is another rare Baxter to do his original counterpart justice in more ways than one.

Still, we didn't get to see this one in much action. Aside from punching the shit outta April, this Cyborg Baxter was another case of "just there" ism. Don't get me wrong he had an actual purpose of being in the story & why he's a cyborg, but they just didn't have him do much in this form. And it is a really big shame ngl.

Both of these fates are honestly amazing & fun to explore if you genuinely put your creativity caps in it, & it's honestly frustrating that they're just never put into true fruition. It's honestly one of the main 2 reasons I just rather he just be human now honestly.

The wasted potential with either one & the complete lack to bother trying to do something with them

Like with his race, fans seem to think that that's (mainly being a fly) his only character trait that matters & he's less of a Stockman if he's not which is.. beyond stupid honestly.

Baxter doesn't have to be a mutant or not human in general to be a great character, there're tons of villains in TMNT that are humans that still do the fans & themselves justice without always losing their humanities, why should Baxter be any different? Because he's a scientist? There's literally hundreds of evil human scientists in Superhero media that are still threatening. Doctor Octopus, Dr. Eggman/Robotnik, Lex Luthor, Hugo Strange, Gizmo, the list goes on! With the right writing a regular human evil scientist is a major good threat! And Baxter Stockman should NOT be any different from this category! Especially when IDW showed us you can literally do something even better with his fates.

IDW being the best Stockman he is showed us that he can literally have fly themed technology (his Flyborgs of all forms) as his personal minions and things to do his bidding aside from his Mousers! Even the 87 cartoon showed us that he has the power to control flies! Have him be a fly themed evil scientist. Matter fact. Have him built like this

This absolutely AMAZING 2-for-one that is basically giving him a fly themed mech suit. I literally can't explain into words just HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS CONCEPT & I'm so happy I've seen other fans draw their own takes on this too because literally why not go this route?! It has both fates, he's still human & he's still a big threat! I say THIS is my ideal Baxter Stockman fate honestly and I need it to be a real reality someday 💖🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

[cheriafreya]

Amphoreus characters and how much I regret skipping each of them bc I'm bored this Sunday~

3.0 - Aglaea: regretted it quite a bit at first. Aglaea was the one character I wanted to pull for from the beginning, she was supposed to be my only Remebrance character until Fate but a lot of things happened and I ended up switching her for The Herta. The things that happened in question: she was an insanely premium, non-F2P friendly character, I did own Sunday for her but she would still need her E1 or LC to work the way she should and the relics I kept getting for her were absolute dogshit. Her element being lightning made her not the best choice either between her and Therta as I already own Acheron and she's miles better, then there's also the fact that I did not own a single Ice DPS. So yeah, I also had awesome relics to build Therta and she looked like she would last a lot more in meta, so the rest is history. I don't regret my decision at all now, as Therta has been carrying me all this time and she ended up being definitely the stronger one of the two.

3.1 - Tribbie: mmm lowkey? just a little bit but not much, she's super fun to play and gives very strong buffs, but I am not a fan of chibi characters and I'll always prefer using my precious Halovian Siblings over anyone. The bad thing about skipping Tribbie really is the fact that she's the most meta character right now for almost if not all the Amphoreus characters, but since I've skipped them all anyway it's not that big of a deal, like I don't feel like my account has been bricked or anything. She's powerful, but I'm fine skipping her.

3.1 - Mydei: yes lowkey too, same as Tribbie. I don't like the fact that his gameplay is Auto but he's super strong and I actually loved the character so it feels way more personal, having to let him go and all. Still, I'm not sure I would pull for him on a rerun...? maybe if he had been an Erudition character I would, but right now I'm full on copium waiting for Screwllum to eventually drop and take his place tbh. If I was able to let go of JY and IL every single time, I can live without Mydei too.

3.2 - Castorice: SORRY CASTORICE but... no, not really. I like her but I expected to like her more, her dragon is cool but the gameplay feels boring to me (unpopular opinion, I know), and at the end of the day I would only want her for her Global Passive and that's it. In fact I did pull for her just for that, and I lost the 50/50 to Seele which made me happier than getting her and that says a lot. I don't regret skipping her, but I might consider grabbing her on her rerun for that Passive, not gonna lie... it's too broken, man, I am not immune to having an advantage on my account.

3.2 - Anaxa: yes I regret it a lot actually, finally we get one character who I truly regret in this list. Loved the character and his mad scientist vibe, Stephen Fu killed it with his performance, he's fun to play and can implant all weaknesses which is crazy? works both as a Therta battery and as an Hypercarry, in which he's insanely strong like this character is ridiculous. So yeah, he's really cool and I'm really sad. Will grab him on his rerun if I can, for sure.

3.3 - Hyacine: she's so adorable and Fat Fuck is cute too, but no, I don't regret skipping her. She's made to be supporting very specific characters that I don't own anyway, so really it would be a luxury pull if anything. The only reason why I would pull for her is because my poor Gallagher can't do all the healing alone, but as long as this game doesn't demand 3 teams in end-game, I'm fine with it. If it comes to that, well... then we'll talk, but for now I'm not considering her at all.

3.3 Cipher: I don't regret skipping her either, looks like she'll just be another good option for Acheron / Ratio teams and I'm fine with the teammates I own now. Had she been a major upgrade for them then yeah I might have regretted it, but for what I've seen I can live without her. Also, I feel like I've already invested too much on these teams and I'm tired of doing it tbh, as much as I love them there's so much I can do. This is as far as I go.

____________________________________________________________________________

Okay that's it :3 now we're entering an era where I won't be skipping Amphoreus characters anymore as I'll be pulling for both Phainon and Cerydra! Finally, war is over... I can't wait to get them, skipping characters can be such a pain, especially since I was used to have so many from Penacony... I went from 100 to 0 and it's very, VERY boring. Just a little bit more of patience...

[sweet-hearts-and-destiny-knots]

While outlining the Kalos arc, I fell into a new Leaf ship by accident 😭 It made me think about your quote about Pokemon being an otome game, which is funny bc I don't often meet people who are so chill with shipping as a concept lol, I'm not even a shipper in writing, more of a ship teaser but sometimes its just fun to discuss and imagine you know? I remember you saying you had multiple routes, but the guys we know were the "main boys" I'm curious to know what other rare pairs you like! And then while catching up on your blog, I saw you listed some out, "a vast assortment" 👀 are there more you're holding back on sharing? It's no trouble, we'd be happy hear them out! What kind of ships did you have the honor of bestowing a name upon :D My newest Leaf ship is x Alain. Still looking, but I've considered ship names like...BlueLuster, Solstice, Equinox...trying to go for that subtle symbolism. Steven references him in ORAS as an easter egg if you show him a shiny Beldum I think, so I'm like...lmao, what if I give game!Leaf her Kalosian boyfriend too (joke joke, but 👀) funniest thing to text the Kantrio gc. The boys will flip. There's not a lot of eligible bachelors in Kanto huh? I've only seen Leaf ships with Brock and Bill for the guys, Misty and Erika for the girls. Been slowly finding out how much ship teasing is in ScarVio, how lucky for the self-shippers XD they should do that more :3 Also aw man 😔 yeah the girls and the region locked Pokemon. I've seen someone HC that Galar has a rule banning entry of certain Pokemon into the region to explain the lack of a National Dex. Does your AU have anything like that? If they'd given us Alolan Leaf </3 she'd at least see something...I also saw what you said about naming Gloria's Intelion "Julian" and lol, I feel that, before their names came out I was thinking OOOH TINKATON. I'll customize the player as Steven's lil sister <3 and name her Josee <3 but before that, I was like, if regular custom, then maybe Julie? So her canon name was a surprise XD Ooh, and about Silver. While nostalgia might definitely play a role, the Silver fans I know like him bc of the plot potential of him being Giovanni's son and the subtle character arc he goes through. He never abandons his Pokemon despite calling them weak, gets the classic Golbat friendship evolution, his arrogance reads more like trying to prove a point to himself bc of Gio literally leaving him in a random parking lot at age 8-9. A lot of his speech actually mirrors what Rocket grunt NPCs tell you in-game. The switch from saying "I" to "we." The Dragon's Den, Dad Lance adoption speedrun everybody likes. I suppose there's also the potential "Red/Leaf are related to Gio" theory with the Scientist Gideon mistaking us for Gio's kid, until remembering the red hair bit. I always assumed it was bc we shared those facial features, or the eye color. Another possibility is that Silver was on that island and we were the only kid the scientist ran into, which raises the theory that he's been watching the player hiding in Gio's office somewhere the whole time. If you're a Chikorita!Silver truther, its evolutions pokedex mimics him too. Meganium, the final evo, releases a soothing scent. Bayleef, the midway journey, releases a scent that makes you want to fight. I know there's a lot of analysis ppl have done, but this is all I can remember off the top of my head. Now I'm wondering how the relationship between the KanJoh generation is written, how does their story play out? Is it just like the games, with Green going @/Lyra like he did with Red, "you look kind of like her...just a bit."

Oh, what a detailed message! But I believe the reason why I seem so "chill" with shipping as a concept is due to the fact I haven't forgotten this is meant to be a fun activity. Certainly there are some pairings as well as dynamics I deeply despise, however I prefer to place my focus on what brings me happiness.

All the pairings I've accumulated thus far involving the protagonists are listed in a past post, which you seem to have read. The ones I've bestowed a name to are:

LeafStoneshipping (Brock x Leaf) Barriershipping (Avery x Gloria) Wieldershipping (Volo x Akari) BrilliantDiamondshipping (Adaman x Akari) CandyTruffleshipping (Melli x Akari) Tracksuitshipping (Drayton x Juliana) SnowQuartzshipping (Grusha x Juliana)

Additionally, no, there is no such rule in place which prohibits certain Pokémon not native to Galar or Paldea. At some point Akari, or rather Hikari, visits the latter with Sariel, her Alpha Togekiss, who very much enjoys the vast varieties of food available!

I personally perceive Silver as a fascinating character for all the above reasons and more. Nostalgia also doesn't exactly affect my view of him since I didn't have the opportunity to play HeartGold and SoulSilver until relatively recently.

But with how strangely members of the fanbase behaved towards Kieran before the release of The Indigo Disk, as well as Volo in ways I don't even want to discuss here, I couldn't help wondering if Silver is lucky enough to escape that sort of discourse simply due to the time period he was introduced to the series.

It's actually interesting you ask about the relationship between the Kanto and Johto characters in Sisterhood, because I wrote a post just the other night involving Leaf, Green, Kotone, and Silver which I intend to share sometime soon.

Thank you for showing such interest!

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

Number 10 for Marigold :3c <- Guy who totally doesnt know how it ends and def isnt writing anything related to it 2 for Elias becase i always love to hear about the process... and 7!

10: What is their main character arc in the story? Where do they start and how do they develop? Do they get a happy ending or is their story a tragic one?

ohhhhh marigold ;) Their main arc is going to be them slowly coming to shake off the Princess' abuse. That they've lived through so many tragedies, and unfortunatly they must live through another. Finally finding a real bright spot in their life and feeling the warmth it emminates, and the stolen joy they get from it, and realizing their other bright spot is cold and dim in comparision, and that while neither light can sustain them forever, they must make a choice about which light they want to feed, which light they want to die with. When we first meet Marigold they are fully under her thumb, actively enjoying her torturing them without consent. Over time... well. for a long few year they're still unable to find fault in her, but in those last few months, they turn more towards "damning with faint praise". Eventually, they'll leave, but they'll never be fully rid of her influence, and they'll bear the marks of her abuse for the rest of their days, from their tattoos, to the loss of their vision and memories, to the ways they flinch when a voice is raised near them. Marigold's ending is bittersweet.

2: How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

OH GOSH OKAY UH so Elias started as a vampire character with their partner, @the-insouciant-scientist's mad scientist! that is. about the only resemblance dfjvkdsjbdkvbk they were originally turn of the century edwardians, or just getting into the roaring 20s? we played around with the time period somewhat. this was back in, i believe, 2019, long before i got into TMA and heard how brits Actually pronounce 'Elias'. Elias' whole thing was they were a vampire who had turned recently, but not too recently. like a few months ago, so they're kinda used to it but also still working out a lot of the kinks ;P then i had my accident, and whenever i became a (basically) full-time wheelchair user, so did elias after that, Rye got into TMA and heard The Ad, and we decided to put our funny little victorians in the game!!! this was also whenever i started playing with elias' gender and presentation and made them very femme (as i was figuring out my own stuff) the first year/year and a half Elias was mostly a name and incredibly loose concept, i was just exploring things i thought were fun and cool! it's only within the past two and a half years that i would say elias has become Elias Leroux, chemist, dubious royal, Gonfaloniere, and sweetheart of half the city!!! once i transferred from the reddit side of the fandom to the tumblr side, and got over my anti fears, accepted that i like gothic horror, gothic romance, and gothic tropes, they really kind of bloomed into what they are now!!! my early concepts for them were a lot fluffier and sweeter which... is nice, but not so much my thing all the time, ya know? i wanted elias to go through difficult horrors and make choices from fear and i really wanted to do stuff with blood and giant monsterous bats (especially after heavily playing sskies and seeing the chiropterous hoarder <3) and that's what i've been focusing on mostly!!! a lot of it what honestly kicked off when i went "hey, i wonder what the consequences of this would be" for abandoning light fingers, and also there was a huge turning point for elias becoming their own character whenever i played the Swan Bride ES and they became gonfaloniere, and i got the chance to dive into toxins and- so... about 3 years!! 7: another favorite appearance aspect: okay, i'll finally let myself gush about it a little: ELIAS' WHEELCHAIR!!!!!! it's so fucking prtty if i say so myself!!!! the wood color is gorgeous, the heart back (based on that historical example) is inspired, the way it also kinda looks like a throne? how comfortable elias is in it? the fact that i can have their spokes decorated in flowers of ribbons, or all the scientific add-ons they can have for it? the secret compartments? it's such a fantastic chair, and every day i am so jealous that elias gets to have a HEART SHAPED wheelchair!!!!!!! i love their chair so much!!!!!! and it being a possessive and manipulative gifts from happles where it can easily control their chair? ough j'adore!!! it's a fantastic chair and it makes me so happy to draw and write about :} ask game here

[armandyke]

May/June 2025 Reading Wrap Up

Much to my chagrin, I've had very little to complain about for the last two months

1) Voyage of the Damned by Frances White (4.5⭐)

Gonna keep this review very short because I don’t want to spoil it, just know this is probably the first time a twist in a book has ever hit me so solidly in my chest to the point that I had to sit on the floor and cry for a bit. 

This is a fantasy story set in a land split into twelve provinces, each with an assigned animal. Each province has an heir who is set to inherit a unique blessing from the goddess, and now that all twelve heirs have received their blessing they must embark on a twelve day voyage to honour the goddess. The main character Ganymedes (Dee) thinks his biggest problem will be hiding the fact that he never actually received his blessing, but then dead bodies start piling up, and stuck on a boat in the middle of an ocean with no way to contact the mainland, he’s faced with the task of rooting out the murderer before it’s too late. 

Don’t get it twisted, this book has issues. It’s marketed as an adult book but reads very much as young adult. The diversity of the characters is done in a very race blind way which, in a book focused a lot on class divide and oppression, can sometimes come across as very ignorant when race is not brought up at all in the discussion. Unfortunately there are a lot of times where a white character has to stand up for themselves against members of the “upper” provinces, most of whom are people of colour, and it just doesn’t read well. That’s the main reason I couldn’t in good faith give it a full five stars, but the characters and the twist got to me so good that I also couldn’t give it a low rating. 

2) The Dark Between the Trees by Fiona Barnett (3.5⭐)

This book was very much a tale of two halves. I really enjoyed it all the way up until maybe 70% of the way through, where the book just completely failed to stick the landing. 

The story is based around a mysterious forest, and goes back and forth between two timelines. One set in 1643, following a group of soldiers who are forced to seek shelter within the forest, and the other set in the present day following five women who are investigating the soldiers’ disappearance. One by one, members of each party start to go missing, and the forest appears to be changing before their very eyes, pulling them deeper and deeper towards the center. 

The setting is great, and for the most part the book has a very Blair Witch feel to it which I really enjoyed. Spooky woods always give me the creeps and the atmosphere and tense pacing of the book genuinely had me feeling spooked, but all of that fell flat with the final climax of the book which just overall started to feel kind of goofy. I think the concept was interesting and I’ve seen similar ideas done well in other books, but this one just didn’t do it for me at all. 

3) Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (5⭐)

This is a classic so I don’t think I need to say too much about the book itself, plus there’s a level of ambiguity and unreality to the whole plot that makes it quite a difficult thing to put into words. In short, a group of scientists are sent to observe and study a quarantined piece of land known as Area X, and it turns out there’s some really fucked up things occurring in there. 

I loved this book. I’ve been wanting to read it for a long time, and have been putting off watching the movie adaptation specifically because I wanted to read the book first, and it didn’t disappoint. The surreal atmosphere, disorientation, and body horror are all done incredibly well and I ended up sitting and devouring the entire thing in an afternoon. 

4) In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane (3⭐)

I picked this book up mostly because dark academia is a genre that I know very little about but sounds like it should appeal to me, so I figured the best way to really get an idea of what it’s all about is through a collection of short stories. 

To be honest, of all the short story collections I’ve read this is definitely at the lower end. The stories weren’t necessarily bad, but a lot of them felt very anticlimactic or just generally lacking in any real plot. There were a couple of authors in here that I recognised from other longer books I’ve read and enjoyed, but their stories in here didn’t do it for me at all. Maybe dark academia just isn’t really for me, I don’t know. 

There was one story that I really enjoyed, probably because it veered a lot more into horror territory, and that was The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant. Definitely the stand out story of the collection for me. 

5) The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (5⭐)

I’m not gonna write a lot for this because I’m already five years late hopping back onto this bandwagon but yeah, it really was as good as everybody said and I’m really glad I finally read it. I promise it won’t take me another five years to read the next one. 

6) Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen (4.5⭐)

If you’ve read my reviews from earlier in the year you’ll know I absolutely adored My Darling Dreadful Thing, so my expectations for the author’s second book were pretty high, especially since this one sounded very much like it would also involve vampires. 

The story follows Lucy, who has travelled to be with her twin sister during an extreme illness that has apparently been causing her to lose her mind ever since a mysterious body was dredged from the nearby bog. With a history of insanity running in the family, Lucy has to unravel the mystery of her sister’s illness before she is committed to an asylum. 

Like I said, my expectations were very high for this book, and it absolutely did not disappoint. This author is wonderful at capturing the atmosphere of gothic settings with really vivid and unique prose, and I love the strong but slightly toxic and codependent dynamics she creates between characters. The only reason this wasn’t a full five star book was because the ending fell a little flat for me. The last three chapters or so became a bit muddled, with a few brand new elements being introduced that then had no bearing on anything. And ultimately while I was trying not to compare the two, I much preferred her first book over this one. 

7) Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin (3⭐)

This should have been an absolute winner for me. Sapphic plant horror is basically my personality at this point, but this just… didn’t really hit. 

The premise is pretty simple: A woman named Shell is at rock bottom but sees a help wanted sign in a florist window, but gets more than she bargained for when she finds out that the florist, Neve, is under the influence of a morally and ethically ambiguous sentient plant. The plant wants Neve all to himself (yes, the plant has pronouns), and intends to use Shell to finally get his wishes. The story is also told almost entirely from the perspective of said sentient plant, which is pretty cool. 

Like I said, this really should have been a hit for me, and I did enjoy a lot about it, but when I finished it I just felt unsatisfied. It felt like the book was a whole lot of set up with very little payoff. About halfway through the focus seemed to suddenly shift onto an entirely new character who had very little actual development, and from there the story just fizzled out. 

8) A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (4⭐)

If T. Kingfisher is publishing a book you better believe I’ll be reading it. 

This is another of her retellings which I always enjoy (although from what I’ve read it’s a very loose retelling). The story follows Cordelia, the daughter of a sorceress who is set on marrying a squire. She moves herself and her daughter into his home where they also meet Hester, the squire’s sister, who suspects that Cordelia may need help. 

That wasn’t a very good summary because there’s a lot going on, but for me the best part of this book was the relationship between Cordelia and her mother. This author never shies away from themes of abuse in her books but this was by far her most brutal depiction and I think it was done really well. In terms of the story itself, it was good. Definitely not my favourite of hers, it kept switching directions a few times and I feel like some of the pacing wasn’t great. I do tend to prefer her horror stories over her fantasies, but this still had some of the horror elements I enjoy from her, and I just generally enjoy her writing and her characters so much that it’s hard for me to rate anything particularly low. 

9) The Book of Witching by C.J. Cooke (4⭐)

Another newish release from another of my favourite authors. As with all of her books, this story focuses predominantly on two women in two different periods of time, this time connected by a strange book. 

In 1594, Allison Balfour is accused of attempting to use witchcraft to end the life of a ruthless Earl, while in 2024, single mother Clem gets a call that her teenage daughter has been brutally injured in a fire, and appears to have no memory of who she is anymore. 

As always, C.J. Cooke does a great job at tackling dark themes, in this case the brutality of the witch trials, and weaving both storylines together over the course of the book. As with a couple of her other books, I think this was let down a little by the addition of too many character povs, which ultimately didn’t add anything to the story and made things feel a little jumbled. But besides that, this author continues to consistently deliver great books, and I will continue to eat them up. 

Honourable mentions: 

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice: it was alright 

[spoonsandsporks]

HI <3 polite invitation to talk about your godtier and land thoughts for your characters if you want to!! i am sitting and listening intently :3 <3

Oh my god asfdgdgifgdb you don't know what you've done,,,,,

Long post incoming!!

So quick plug of an old blog that established a lot of my HS godtier opinions early on dahniwitchoflight so you can see a lot of where my context originates (esp. the godtier aspect masterpost) but with that out the way here we go

In terms of godtier opinions, I don't believe in gendered classes. I think that, socially, there may be a bias certain genders may have to certain classes (Muse and Lord, for example). But I don't believe that's an absolute. For one, there are more genders than the binary and people don't always identify as one forever. Secondly, I think to say that, for example, Lord is always aggressive and therefore only men can be Lords is uhhhhhhh,,, very stereotypical and simply doesn't encapsulate the range of human expression. Besides, isn't it more fun for the classes to be non-gendered using gendered human words? Who's to say the game mechanics of SBURB/sgrub are in english? There's gotta be some kind of translation errors or approximations going on in lore lmao

Related to this is that a godtier is meant to be a culmination of a character arc, the end reward of the 'ideal self' a character can be. This is not referring to 'ultimate' selves (i sincerely don't want to touch that concept at all) or even 'morally correct' selves - merely the best kind of self a character would want to be. The best you that you wanna be! Whether that means embracing your flaws or overcoming them, the godtier is the symbol of your growth as a person. Hence why to 'go godtier' you have to fuse your dreamself and awake self together, finally bringing together the two separate experiences you've lived as a player before this; your 'normal' life and your SBURB life. This also follows why death is a consistent theme and in fact needed for godtier ascension. You are killing or accepting the death of your former self in order to ascend into your new self, via combining everything you've learned into everything you'll be. It's supposed to be a positive, if traumatic, experience. Like changing and growing in life already is! Just faster lol

On a brief design point, I do think godtier outfits should also therefore change to fit the wearer and what they're comfortable with. I don't necessarily think that it should be like, witch skirt for girls but trousers for boys, I think that if a godtier outfit is your ideal self it should automatically change into whatever you'd be comfortable wearing. So if someone is a Witch, but doesn't mind wearing a skirt, then they'd ascend into the default Witch outfit. If they then wanted to change it they could through a thought. But if a Witch ascends and they hate skirts or maybe just cannot imagine wearing one then maybe it changes into shorts or something lol. I've actually done some alternate designs of godtiers along this line as it happens which you'll see in this post.

I also like the Aspect counterparts, that each one has an opposite, and while in canon that doesn't have much of an effect on the godtier design beyond the kids, I actually like the accessories and shoes on godtiers taking on the colours of their opposite Aspect. I like that it symbolises that even their opposite has an affect on the Aspect in question.

Now, this is all some lovely prose but what am I going on about? So, like all great and real scientists, I'll use myself as an example first.

...

Me - Sylph of Heart

So I've gone through many, many iterations of godtier introspection (started in Hope, have moved to Heart, Sylph has stayed pretty consistent but I still have doubts) and, of course, being a real life person this is the one that's evolved and changed the most as I have evolved and changed throughout my teens and adult life. But for the sake of analysis, I'll give my 'sona' or 'self-insert' the godtier to separate myself from the analysis and come at this more honestly.

Heart as an Aspect is all about Emotion and the Soul. As the opposite counterpart to the Aspect Mind (which is concerned with the brain, reason and, y'know, the mind lol), Heart players are more impulsive and driven by personal goals. It's all about the Inner Self, the Individual, what makes You Unique as opposed to everyone else in the world. It's Passion, it's Empathy, it's Understanding - about people, mostly. It's about Knowing Yourself and what you like or dislike. Your Heart, in a lot of ways, is the emotional centre and Heart players follow it to a T - and often to the detriment of everything else. It's not inaccurate to say Heart players come across as self-obsessed b/c they are concerned with discovering themselves and their own identity. None of these things come without drawbacks of course and none of this means Heart players don't care about others. They simply assume everyone else is just as obsessed with Finding themselves as they are. I mean, at their best, Heart players are compassionate, imaginative and a steady presence in life. But, uh, at their worst they can come across as dismissive, rigid or nosy lol Personally, as someone very driven by emotion and with a tendancy for introspection, to the point of contantly overthinking my feelings and second guessing my impulses, I feel comfortable in the Heart Aspect.

So Sylphs are talkers. Chatterboxes you could say. They're also one of two 'healer' classes and the active counterpart to Maid. Which yeah I'm aware I have a tendency to ramble. Sylphs are known to love talking about their interests to an audience, whether the audience is interested or not lmao. For a Sylph of Heart, that's mostly concentrated into the subject of Love and Relationships. Sylphs are also nosy little meddlers and so one interpretation of Heart could be a cupid-like matchmaker of sorts. I don't personally see that for myself but it's a valid interpretation.

Personally, I see myself as a person obsessed with Connection and the Relationships that make these connections stable. Friendship, romantic, QPR, you name it, I'm interested in the dynamics. In fiction and in fandom, this makes me a prolific shipper yes haha but most of all I love character interactions. I love filler episodes! And beach episodes! And regency romance! And slice of life isekai anime! B/c all those things prioritise character interaction and personal character arcs over plot or action or whatever haha. I love gentle drama and harmless gossip, I love watching two people get to know each other and be forever changed for having met one another and! I!! Love!!! My!!!! Friends!!!!!!!

Also the sylph outfit is cool af actually. In this image I've actually redesigned it to be a little more gender neutral hence the billowing trousers but I love the no sleeves and the curled shoes and the ribbon-y capelet thing lol. And the bangles!!

I have some ideas for godtier powers but they're not fleshed out yet, but for Sylph of Heart I imagine they'd have to power to 'heal the soul/heart' so to speak. To keep emotions steady in the heat of battle and to help heal mental or emotional wounds. They sound like a support class, like a buffer or healer.

Oh god this got long, I have some ideas for lands but I'll be honest it's almost entirely based on this post from dahni years ago (literally 10 years ago oh gods how long have I been here) b/c i really vibe with it so I have nothing new to really add lol. Maybe there'd be like pink lakes or maybe i'd have a coastal type planet with rough seas that symbolise riding the waves of emotion or something lmao

Hope you enjoyed this brief foray! I'll probably reblog this with a breakdown of the godtiers I've assigned to 4 of my dnd characters I did for fun so you can see my opinions on the Space, Time, Mind and Heart (again) aspects as well as the Maid, Page, Mage and Knight classes too. But for now I need to cook dinner lol

[knickynoo]

Fic Author Self-Rec

Share five of your personal favorite works, then tag five authors to do the same. Thanks to @bg-sparrow for the tag!

Harborage

Harborage: shelter; refuge Marty spends the weekend with the Browns, who have settled permanently in early 1986. While there, he's forced to deal with the impact of his travels through time.

I have a feeling that no matter how many fics I write, this one will always be the most special to me. It started out with one scene I had stuck in my head (which was written out long before I worked out the actual plot and specifics) and turned into a ten-chapter story that garnered more attention and kind comments than I ever could have imagined. I loved crafting this little post-trilogy world and exploring the time-travel baggage Marty is left with after his adventures. I had a particularly fun time working Clara, Jules, and Verne into it.

2. Despite the Distance

On October 2nd, 1982, Doc entered his garage to find a trespasser who ended up becoming his best friend. But when a mishap with a new invention lands him in an altered 1986 where that meeting never occurred, he's faced not only with figuring out how to set the timeline right but also with the reality of the influence his friendship had on Marty.

A nearly 60,000 word, 17-chapter fic that spawned from this ask I'd gotten about how a BTTF version of "It's a Wonderful Life" would go. I didn't even have anything of value to say to that ask, but it caused the concept to stick in my head, where I continued to roll it around for several weeks. And while it ended up branching away from the initial "It's a Wonderful Life" concept, it did end up being a story where Doc gets to see what Marty's life is like without him.

Creating this altered, "tougher" version of Marty was my favorite part of the whole process, and getting to see him form a tentative friendship with Doc in such different circumstances was such a fun thing to tackle. I still have no idea who sent me that ask, but if you see this post: thank you. This story was challenging and emotional and a blast to write, and I'm so pleased at the way it's connected with people.

3. So, Your Brother's Befriended a Mad Scientist

Working as assistant for the town's most mysterious inventor isn't exactly a job Dave would've expected Marty to get, but it sure is an interesting one.

My most recent fic! Have you ever wanted to see a fic about Doc and Marty's friendship written entirely from Dave McFly's point of view? No? Well, I wrote it anyway. And I loved every second of it. Dave is a wonderful big brother, and I'm already looking forward to utilizing him more in the future.

4. In Case of Emergency

Who else is a kid supposed to call for a late-night rescue?

Perhaps my laziest summary, but one of my favorite one-shots. A little slice of life in which Marty decides to go to a party, immediately decides "this is bogus," and calls Doc to come pick him up. A lovely little look at their dynamic and the trust Marty places in his best friend. Also featuring: Doc having an entire conversation with his dog.

5. The Real You

Alex gets ready for a date with Ellen and, in typical fashion, is a nervous wreck. Good thing Mallory is there to provide some words of wisdom.

I really struggled with what to put in this final spot, but I'm going with my one and only (for now) Family Ties fic. Writing Alex is intimidating, but I enjoyed putting this together and being able to include some nice sibling relationship moments between him and Mallory. I've got a bunch of notes on additional FT one-shots that I want to write at some point. I'm so used to writing Doc and Marty at this point, and it's nice to have all these other characters to write about and Put In Situations.

I'm going to leave this open to anyone who wants to take the opportunity to talk about some of their favorite fics they've written :)

[idril-la-wiccan]

Status Update - November 2023

Finally ! I was not a disappointment to myself ! /light-hearted

Ok, on a more serious note, I'm always happy when I achieve my goals, because I have a track record of projects I've started and never finished for X or Y reasons. Probably because of my scatterbrain attitude that I suspect to be due to undiagnosed autism and ADHD.

But that's a me problem, you're not here for that. You're here for this :

Out of the Abyss

Status : in hiatus.

I can't believe I've started this AU in 2021. I've worked on the entirety of Act I for two years, can you believe it ?

No wonder my motivation had been dwindling near the end : I was running out of creative juice ! That and I got brainrots towards other media/fandoms.

But at least, I was able to complete a good full chunk of the story, even if it ended on a cliffhanger. (Weh he he he ! >=])

And, for now I can't tell when I'll get back to it, but it's gonna be a little while. I still love OMORI, but it's not as much on my mind as it was at first. I can still enjoy other's content about it, but I must take a break from making content of it myself.

(By the way, I won't say your name because I don't know if you want people to know what you're up to with your own project yet, but know I'm reading it ! I've read up to section 1.7 of your chapter. I'm just a very slow reader, sorry about that... ^^')

On another note, I'll soon make a Masterpost for an easier access to most of my content for the different fandoms I've made content for. I remember someone had asked me about doing something like that for my Cookie Run comics and stories so I'm actually going to try that.

Speaking of which :

Cookie Run

A thief can learn a lot from a magician : in hiatus/pending.

3 New Oneshots : pending.

3 New Longer Fanfics : pending.

Yeah, it's gonna be a mess for my Cookie Run content. You guys are just gonna have to wait and see for this one. I'll at least try to tackle back the one unfinished fic whenever I can.

Pikmin

Castaway Redesigns : work in progress.

1 Fanfiction : pending.

Eye-Sprout AU : pending.

This is more streamlined. These projects are in order of priority so you at least know what to expect.

I've had difficulties to find time for the castaways but I'll finish what I started !

Eye-Sprout however, while I have ideas, I don't know where to go with it. Just don't expect it to be a full fanfic like Out of the Abyss, just ideas thrown together as long as they make sense.

Now, for the fanfic I DO intend to write, it will be Rescue Corps focussed and set after Pikmin 4 (with the idea that the timeline goes 1, 2, 4 then 3).

This will also be set elsewhere than PNF-404 (so no pikmin, only aliens) with our rescue team on a nerve-racking mission to save people from the clutches of a renowned scientist gone mad with power.

Expect some savory angst. =)

*****

Now, for these projects I just talked about, they will all be second priority compared to my next long term project that I plan on working on until it's done.

Which is :

Sweet Nightmares

My Yume Nikki-like/Yume Nikki Fangame (whichever you prefer to call it) that I began to work on long ago but then neglected because I was unsitisfied with my middle-schooler skills.

But NOW, as of writing this post, I will soon be 27 years old and long gone is the teenager who kept doubting herself ! And I have been itching to get back to this project ever since my motivation for Out of the Abyss winded down.

However, I won't go into details about it now, I'll make a seperate post for it when the time comes.

TL;DR : My next big project and top priority will be a Yume Nikki-like game called Sweet Nightmares. My OMORI fanfic AU is in hiatus until further notice and my Cookie Run and Pikmin projects will be low priority on my "To do" list.

Cordially, Idril.

[suchusoid]

MHA oc's I like as ben 10 aliens

so...because I'm bored, I decided to pick 10 of my favorite mha oc's I've come across (Including one of my own) and choosing which ben 10 aliens match up best with them. Just doing this for funsies to cool off afyer seeing a mha take that made me want to slam my head into the wall. So shoutout to all these aritst, go check them out on instgram if you have the app, they have really cool aart and characters. Now, onto the 10.

No.1: hachurui waniguchi/herpeton(made by me lol)-(chamalien/merlinisapien)

Surprising absolutely nobody, herpeton is in the list. Considering chamalien is based on both lizards and salamanders, I'd say he's the perfect fit for herpeton. Hell, chamalien was actually one the design inspirations for herpeton (I really should update my reference list.) Chamalien was always my favorite alien for obvious reason's and it sucks that he's so underutilized in the series.

No.2: yuri merei/duppy(made by pathosketch)-ghostfreak/ectonurite

One of my favorite oc's that isn't mine. Duppy's quirk revolves heavily around the deceased and the cocnept of ghosts and the afterlife, so ghostfreak seems like a perfect fit for her. Also, as a bonus, duppy's hair covering one eye would translate well into an ectonurite design. I always loved how creative the series could get with ectonurite designs.

No.3: tamashi karito/reaper(made by hypno_mha)-gutrot/unnamed species

I always get excited when I come across other vigilante oc's they're pretty uncommon. Reaper's quirk lets him emit radioactive smoke, and the only gas-themed alien in ben's playlist is gutrot (swampfire is a little gas-themed, but just not as much.) It kinda sucks that gutrot's species is unnamed tho.

No.4: ali motto/heart-monitor(made by almighty_motto)-frankenstrike/transylian

given that almighty_motto is a mutual of mine on instagram, of course his oc was gonna get featured! Ben has a lot of electric-themed aliens. But frankenstrike fits the best to me because of the green-color scheme and imposing and burly build. Not to mention mamy transylians are brilliant scientists and heart-monitor signed up for the medical course of ua highschool before becoming a vigilante.

No.5: james karlo(made by timeloardartist)-goop/polymorph

Given that timelordartist is an avid ben 10 fan, it would be a crime to not have his oc included. I was originally going to have a lenopan for the match, but since ben has nevered turned into a lenopan in the series, he wasn't a candidate. So I went with the next best option, goop!

No.6: yuriko hisakawa/kawayu(made by hisakawasensei)-waterhazard/orishan

alright, time for some pro-hero ocs! Starting with kawayu. Give how similar their powers are, kawayu and water hazard seem like a match made in heaven. I was originally gonna have overflow as the match due to having arguably better powers than water hazard. But water hazard has the better design sooooo...

No.7: ryuzo takamura/heat wave(made by jfl_artmotivates)-NRG/prypiatosian b

anothe pro hero oc, and one that has a grudge against the hpsc too! (Mad respect for that.) I picked NRG because heat wvae's quirk lets him absorb and weaponize heat, and NRG's whole schtick is feeding on and emitting radiation. Originally I was gonna pick atomix, but I don't really like atomix tbh. Not to mention NRG has a much more fitting color scheme to heat wave.

No.8: kamiyo kanon/paperback(made by kamiyokanon)-snare-oh/thep khufan

The final pro hero oc on this list. Kamiyo's quirk revolves around dexterous paper bodyparts, not unlike the bandage-like bodies of the thep khufan. Fr tho, paperback is a hella underrated mha oc.

No.9: kaipo kikumoto(made by dim.daze)-terraspin/geochelone-aerios

Back to the hero student ocs, we have kaipo kikumoto! Sadly, dim.daze hasn't made a hero name for her hero name yet. It should be no surprise that terraspin is a good match for her, given that both are based on sea turtles.

No.10: tsubaki akamatsu/blossom(made by baconbottles)-wildvine/florana

OMG, baconbottles' artstyle is super adorable! Anyways, back on topic, blossom's alien match is pretty obvious considering her quirk is plant based. Also I really love wildvine, so this was an excuse to talk about him.

...aaaaand that's the end. Just thought I'd have a little fun and show off a bunch of oc's I really like from artist's I think have really cool characters.

[sodiumlamp]

Picard

I built myself a new desktop PC, and I finally got around to setting it up and seeing what it could do. One of the reasons I wanted a new computer was because I watch a lot of DVDs using an external drive, but I've had a lot of trouble doing that, and I recently discovered that it's a power issue. My laptop can only operate the external drive properly when I unplug any other USB accessories.

So tonight I decided to see if my new rig could do better, and yeah, it works really well. No more VLC media crashing because the drive powered down while it was paused. To try it out, I put on Star Trek: Picard. After watching the first twenty minutes, I realized I was on Season 3, because CBS decided to make all their Star Trek DVDs with silver-on-grey labels, making them impossible to read. Then I put on Season 1 Episode 1, which sucks ass.

This show is so up its own ass that it's not even funny. I don't think it's going to get much better, because I saw part of Season 3 and I have some idea what I'm in for. But what really sticks in my craw is the scene where Picard goes to talk to a scientist about how to clone a robot, and she has all this dumb shit on her desk. Look at this.

I hate when TV shows do this. They need to make a lab look extra science-y, so they put some random glassware on the set and fill it with colored liquid. There's two beakers with green and purple, a Florence flask with orange, and a graduated cylinder with blue. Great. Also, on the far right are a couple of automatic pipetters. I think that blue box might be a case of pipette tips. I recognize all this stuff because I've seen it in various labs I've worked in my whole career. This show is supposed to be set three hundred seventy-five years in the future.

Now, let me pick apart any possible justifications for this. Maybe this is actually futuristic equipment for cybernetics research. Well, no, because in this show all of that has been banned. Picard openly laments that she's not allowed to make anything. Instead she can only run simulations. So this junk serves no practical purpose.

So maybe it's an aesthetic thing. She collects antique lab equipment to spruce up her workstation. No, I don't buy it. Picard keeps a bunch of old souvenirs, which is kept in a "quantum archive" that allows the producers to show off all the nifty special effects to make things appear and disappear. He can't just pull out an old painting from his attic, he has to teleport to San Francisco and have a hologram escort him to a secret vault where the painting emerges from a weird box or something. And it's a good painting, not "Dogs Playing Poker" or some cheap nonsense that would hold no meaning like a loose assortment of uninteresting glassware that tells you nothing about the character.

"Well, what do you expect? It's just a TV show--" No. I would let this slide, except everything in this episode is cluttered with special effects to remind you that we're in the world of the future. The reporter who interviews Picard has some floating holo-screen where the makeup artist can preview an exact hue of lipstick. When she interviews Picard there's floating robot cameras in the room. This laboratory is supposed to be a dilapidated shell of its former self, and yet it's still fancier than anything I'll ever work in, because in the future everything is just that fancy. Except the lab equipment, we'll just slap some random old glassware on a desk.

Here, let me offer this for comparison:

This is from TNG Season 1. For some reason, Sickbay always had these big glass jars of blue and red liquid. What were they? What was the liquid for? No one knows, because it's the future, and the equipment is supposed to be strange and unfamiliar to us. They didn't just leave a stethoscope lying around on a table. The sheets and pillows in this shot are pretty much like what you'd see in 1988, but they didn't tip their hand by using sheets with Snoopy prints on them. The prop master could have at least fabricated some unfamiliar looking glassware, but no.

This is what irritates me about this show. It's so determined to impress me with all this big budget prestige TV stuff, but they blow it little stuff like this. The dead boyfriend has cool alien eyes, and every smooth surface on this show is a secret computer, and Mars is on fire, but the story is about Picard having prophetic visions, and how you can clone robots with a single drop of robot blood, which... yeah, okay. That's what we're going with, huh? Neat.

[smaller-comfort]

day 2 reblob. and notes! sleep deprived rambling, mostly.

-Yes, technically I ought to write them in order, but I really don't care anymore. Everything sucks right now, I'm going to just post the goddamn porn.

The general outline for Staycation is theoretically:

Saturday- there actually is a scene for Saturday, but it's just a brief intro thing where they talk about stuff they want to do. Also Resh'an gets his ass eaten on the kitchen table.

Sunday- already posted; Aephorul dissociates and uses Resh'an as a chew toy. (I still really, really like that one as a character piece.)

Monday- petplay, Aephorul gets to wear his collar, and does not use Resh'an as a chew toy, because he's better trained than that.

Tuesday is supposed to be the needle play/play piercing scene, but it can be the suspension/rope play one instead.

Wednesday is this one.

Thursday, they aren't doing *anything* sexy because Resh'an's ass is going to hurt too much. (I guess Thursday could be watersports/omorashi if I actually want to take a crack at writing that, but really, they're just going to roll around in bed eating takeout and being useless.) (More useless, I mean.) (Resh'an: We're decorative.)

Friday is supposed to be the multiple orgasm extravaganza when Resh'an finally takes off the chastity cage.

I could push Friday out to Saturday, and maybe still squeeze the needle play in there. Hm. (This would not be the evil scientist roleplay- it's a play piercing scene, where Resh'an sketches out what he wants and Aephorul sticks him full of needles. They don't even have sex; its really just about soft feelings and giving Resh'an a corset piercing. Its challenging for me to write because I'm bad at visuals, and the visuals are kind of all that's going on. Structurally, it's also kind of identical to the rope scene, although maybe they do have sex in that one. I haven't written much of either of those yet.)

-All of these stories are kind of experimental in one way or another, but I'm really very pleased with the way their relationship dynamics play out on the page. I'm at the point where I'm not really feeling self conscious about it anymore, at least, so that's nice. My biggest fear is that I'm writing them in a way that feels generic, but I'm pretty sure I've made them too weird for that.

-This is my widly self indulgent feel-good sexy AU, and that's why Aephorul has piercings and Resh'an has a tattoo. (He probably has more than just the one, but the back piece is the main thing, and he gets it around the same time that Aephorul gets his piercings.)

(Honestly, he definitely should have more tattoos- probably nerdy ones. I'll have to think about it harder. Bad at visuals!)

-There are reasons that Resh'an likes to wear chastity devices that aren't just 'everybody thinks it's hot'- maybe I'll write a story that gets into those reasons at some point. It's more about Resh'an setting boundaries around how he wants to be touched than anything else. (But also, it's because everybody thinks they're hot.)

-How many kinks do they get into because Aephorul wants to practice something he learns in medical school? Probably an alarming number, actually; it's really for the best that he was always planning a research career path and not direct patient care.

-In my head, they live in a townhouse, but idk how they get away with not getting noise citations all the time if they're sharing walls with neighbors. Maybe there are attached garages between each unit. Either way, it's a single story, 3 bed 2 bath with an eat-in kitchen. The third bedroom is packed with junk that they keep saying they'll go through and clear out, but they never do.

-Again, because this is a feel-good AU, they also live in a magical place with robust public transportation and pedestrian infrastructure. Resh'an usually rides his bike to work; Aephorul takes the bus. They do probably have a car, and Aephorul still has a motorcycle, but they don't drive much.

Title: Staycation: Mid-Week Rating: E Paring: Aephorul/Resh'an Modern AU; part of the Staycation series

Aephorul is on vacation; he's going to enjoy himself.

This is pure pwp smut, featuring (in no particular order): bondage, nipple torture, cock cages, sounding, orgasm denial, caning, and Resh'an kind of just generally getting reduced to ground meat, sexually. Both characters are having a great time.

warnings/heads up: The sounding is not a focus and happens incidentally to the chastity cage, but it's there; there's also a very brief mention of needle play.

I keep being like "is this too derivative or too similar to other stories I've already written" and then I just have to remind myself that the two cakes philosophy is real and valid, and none of my other baked goods have involved caning, so that's at least a slightly different flavor.

...that metaphor may have gotten away from me. Anyway. Enjoy!