#Having a Very Regular Art Fight

[mathematicats]

can't stop thinking about @noodles-and-tea's spiderman au

aka katsuki saving izuku in every universe

[pillars-of-alt]

I am not immune to sharp teeth tall buff cool hair pirate captain 😔

[animentality]

You know that scene in John Wick 2 where he (John Wick) gets hit by a car and then he immediately fights the assassin driving that car, Cassian, and then they battle for like sixty minutes on the streets of Rome, shooting over cars, knife fighting, falling down a whole flight of stairs, and then grappling and grabbing each other on the cobblestones, yelling and grunting like a bunch of dudes having good old fashioned fun, and then finally they end up smashing right through a window and coincidentally landing in the assassin hotel "safe area" where they're not allowed to fight anymore...

and then they go and have a drink together?

I thought they should've fucked.

So I wrote a book about assassins who do that sort of thing regularly. Check it out here.

But I added what the scene was lacking, besides the fucking part...

Demons.

The scene for anyone who doesn't remember or doesn't know it.

This book has:

an improbable amount of badass, LGBT, demon summoning assassins (the absolute best of the best being transgender).

a scott pilgrim style plot, involving one pansexual demon summoner having to fight all 7 of his exes for the sake of his newest contract.

a nonbinary weather controlling demon, trapped on earth. also, one of the exes.

a blind smartass with a nasty mouth and nastier eye-related powers.

a city on the brink of annihilation, trapped by forces unseen and unheard and unknowable.

the most bombastic and ridiculous magic system ever constructed by man.

and maybe...just maybe...an angsty gay time loop romance (the best narrative trope) but you didn't hear that from me.

It's dark, it's humorous, it's romantic, it's riddled with absolutely insane fight scenes, and most importantly...

It's unabashedly queer and unrealistic and silly and yearn-y.

And I'd really appreciate if you'd help an indie author out, with a sale or a reblog! Agents and publishers told me that it was too queer for regular audiences...and that the concept was just not very compelling.

They might be right, but it still had to exist. I still had to make it, anyway. You know. You have to make the art that you want to see in the world.

Anyway.

Sorry for the long post...you can check out my website for future releases.

And last thing: Character commission of the MC, our lovably slutty pansexual assassin Sebastián Monterey:

And cheers! Sorry for the long post. Have a good night.

[buckyalpine]

His Tags

18+ minors dni

Bucky x civilian reader 

@imagine-all-the-fandoms Love this so much. John Walker is actually NOT awful here, he’s actually quite nice. Sharon on the other hand..eh. I’m sure sure you would have pieced together by now, I have a thing for mirrors, I’m so sorry. 

Warnings: Floooof, Bucky is so in love with you, smut, a lil angsty but Bucky makes it all better

Word count: 3.7k

You sipped on your tea, anxiously waiting for the Quinn jet to land; Bucky had been gone for nearly a month and you missed your boyfriend more and more each day. You ran to the hangar as soon as you heard the low rumble of the jet, bouncing on your heels when you saw a very tired but hardly injured Bucky making his way towards you.

“Hey babydoll” Bucky kissed your lips, his arm easily lifting you up and carrying you on his hip as he made his way through the compound, straight to your shared bedroom. “Missed you so much”

“I missed you Bucky” You buried your face into his neck, inhaling his scent, peppering his face with kisses while he set his things down, still keeping you in his arms. He carried you off into the bathroom, stripping both of your clothes off before hopping into the shower. He held you close to him; the hot water soothing his sore muscles, all the stresses of the mission washing away when he was finally home again with you. His lips found yours, his hands roaming to feel every inch of your body that he’d craved to touch again.

“Welcome home soldier”

A few days later

You noticed Bucky had left his water bottle behind, making your way to the gym to give it to him. You entered the large room, scanning the space for your handsome super soldier boyfriend; you saw the rest of the team there before your eyes finally landed on him. Nat and Steve were sparring on the mats. Clint and Sam were hitting weights. Bruce and Tony were attempting to update the AI system. Your boyfriend was in his happy place by the punching bags.

“Hey y/n!” Steve waved at you from the mat while you made your way to Bucky, the rest of the team also greeting as you walked to the gym. Bucky had his music on and you knew better than to tap his shoulder from behind without warning. Your heart raced seeing him; watching him train was one of your greatest weaknesses. His hoodie had been thrown onto the floor, sweat glistening off his skin, his muscles tensed with each blow to the bag. You shamelessly admired him for a good while before realizing he’d look for his water eventually. You carefully stepped around so he could see you, placing his water bottle near him before leaving him to continue.

“You’re welcome to keep me company doll” Bucky smirked, knowing you were quietly watching him from behind.  You happily sat by his hoodie, giggling when he came over to give you a quick kiss on your head before slipping his headphones back on and continuing his workout.

You admired the swiftness and talent each person on the team displayed while they went through their routines. It left you mesmerized; the strength, precision and coordination it took to fight as an avenger was incredible. You silenced the tiny insecurity that started to gnaw at you; you’d never be as skilled as- shut up y/n.  

You shook your head, going back to looking at your beautiful boyfriend who was in his own world, focused on his hits, mind completely focused. He really did look like a work of art; muscles sculpted and flexed, his dark vibrainium shining under the light, his dark hair sticking to his forehead, pink lips parted as he panted. He was beautiful and his skill set was something you couldn’t even begin to comprehend and then there was you- just stop.

*****

The team had gathered together for dinner, which was a regular occurrence though today there were a few others that had joined the table. John Walker and his friend Lemar Hoskins had joined Sharon, who was visiting the compound, bringing in potential agents for her department.

“I know most of us know each other but maybe we can just go around and introduce ourselves? This is John Walker and Lemar Hoskins, they’re going to be joining the new recruits soon”

The team introduced themselves, while Sharon eyed you curiously; waiting for you to explain what you did since she’d never met you before. Her eyes were trained on how Bucky’s hand rested protectively over your thigh; he’d been touching you one way or another all night. Not that it bothered her. At all. She waited for Bucky to get up to use the bathroom before turning to you, giving you the sweetest smile she could muster.

“What exactly do you do y/n?”  

“Oh, I’m a teacher” you smiled, feeling a little out of place though no one else seemed to notice your shift in mood.

“What are you doing here then?” She scoffed, trying to hide her slip in attitude with a fake cough. Nat cocked an eyebrow while Tony’s face scrunched watching Sharon poorly cover her absurd question with a fake smile.  

“I-I’m dating Bucky”

“Right, didn’t think you were an avenger” She gave you a pointed look, before continuing to eat. You bit you lip, sitting back in your chair, wishing you could run off to your room. You knew you were not the best catch, Bucky deserved better. Someone he could train with, who understood his line of work better. He would have been better off if he was dating someone else but he was stuck with you instead. You could feel tears threatening to spill, John’s voice breaking you from your spiral.

“Y/n, I think I saw you in the paper before, they did an article about a program you started right?” he smiled at you, while Lemar nodded.

“I knew I’d seen you before, what you did was incredible. It’s a tough school too, so you must be incredible. You helped those kids a lot”

You smiled, not trusting yourself to speak. You squeezed your fingers into your palms to keep from crying at the table. You quickly excused yourself to the bathroom, wiping your tears and touching up your makeup as best as you could before returning to the table where Bucky was looking for you.

“Hi baby” Bucky smiled as soon as you sat down, kissing your cheek softly. He was a sweet heart. He deserved the world. He deserved more than you.

*****

You watched Bucky pack for quick mission, putting away a few things in his bag while you sat on the couch in the shared living room. He suited up in his gear, doing a quick pat down of his weapons before grabbing his bag.

“Baby, do you need me to do anything?” You always made him coffee before he left but recently even that had been taken over by Sharon, who decided to extend her stay. Fantastic.

“Don’t worry doll, I think Sharon already made some for everyone”

“You don’t need me to do anything?” Your heart sank a little, it was the one thing you were able to do for him but it was fine. You just wanted him to have everything he needed; that mattered more.  

“Just a kiss from my best girl” Bucky smiled, wrapping his arms around you and lifting you off your feet. He gave you the sweetest, longest kiss he could before he had to break away for air, placing you back down carefully on the couch. “Be right here when I’m back?”

He looked at you like an excited puppy, running off to the jet, hoping the sooner he left, the sooner he could get back.

“I’ll be here when you’re back” You gave Bucky a small smile, before walking off to your shared bedroom and slipping under the covers. He was off to save the world. You were here. You couldn’t silence the thoughts that crept up on you, your mind beginning to wonder why Bucky was even with you in the first place.

*****  

Bucky wandered around the living room looking for you; you had never missed his arrival after missions. He frowned when he couldn’t find you, making his way through the compound before finally checking the bedroom. He breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing a small lump under a pile of blankets, though he found it odd; you never slept this early.

“Doll? Are you okay?”

You shuffled from under the covers, poking your head out. The bed dipped as Bucky sat down, happily wrapping his arms around you when you crawled into his lap.

“M’okay, just tired” You lied, snuggling into his hold, freezing immediately when you remembered why you’d gone to bed so early in the first place.  

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” Bucky could feel your body tense up, your eyes focused on your hands, which you were anxiously fidgeting with.

“Nothing” You forced a smile onto your face, doing your best to swallow the lump that was forming in your throat, “I had a really bad headache” Bucky didn’t believe you but he didn’t want to prod until you were ready to talk either.

You insisted on staying in bed, claiming you’d already eaten. Bucky reluctantly ate his dinner quickly, dashing back upstairs so he could cuddle you and fall asleep. While he softly snored, little whimpers slipped from your lips as you tried to keep your sobs in. Your mind sucked you in deeper.

You loved your boyfriend.  You loved the team. They all loved you more than you’d ever know. Still, you couldn’t help but feel like you weren’t good enough for him. You knew you’d never measure up to what Bucky deserved. He was a part of a different world. They all cared for you in a way that you’d never be able to return. You’d never be able to help them the same way. You carefully slipped out of Bucky’s hold, deciding to go to the living room instead, not wanting to wake him up with your cries, the least you could do was let him get a decent night’s sleep.

*****

You were curled up on the couch, hidden under your blanket, quickly wiping away your tears feeling the seat dip as someone sat beside you. You peeked up to see a grumpy Bucky with bed head, looking down at you, sleep still evident on his face. You looked over at the clock; 1:09 AM.

“You okay bubba?” You’d managed to get yourself together; your heart worrying that Bucky could have had a nightmare when you went missing. Bucky shook his head, pouting down at you while you shifted so he could sit with you under the blanket.

“Couldn’t find my teddy bear” He whispered, wrapping his arm around you to pull you into his lap. “Can’t sleep without her” You rested your head onto his chest, fresh tears spilling from your eyes. There was no point stopping them, more took their place each time Bucky swiped his thumb across your cheek. “Please tell me what’s bothering you baby, did someone say something to you?”

“Bucky no, it’s just- I don’t- us” You struggled to find the words, not realizing you were about to send Bucky down a spiral of his own. Of course you didn’t think you were a good match, he was a monster and you were an angel and-

“I’m not good enough for you”

Bucky’s spiral came to a full stop, his ears perking up at your quiet confession.

“Sweet heart?”

“I-I’m not good enough for you Bucky, you deserve more than just me. You deserve someone who-”

“Stop. Please stop” You blinked up at Bucky, who looked at you with broken, glassy eyes. There was no way, of all people, his little angel thought of herself like that. Never.

“Y/n. You deserve the world. Every single day, I can’t believe someone like you would want to be with someone like me”

Bucky carefully scooped you in his arms, making his way back to your bedroom, gently setting you on the bed before crawling on top of you. His fingers carded through your hair, while he gazed down at you, he was so in love with you, there was not a single doubt there.

“You’re so pure and sweet and kind, please baby tell me, in what way am I not the luckiest person in the world. I get to call you mine, I get to show you off, I have the best girl in the world always excited to see me when I get back home”

You swallowed thickly shaking your head; of course he was the sweetest and wanted to comfort you but you were just holding him down.

“Bucky, I make it so much harder for you. You always worry about me, I can’t even protect myself-

“I’m here to protect you baby”

“But I can’t even fight-

“I can fight”

“Bubba, you don’t understand-

“Y/n, you don’t understand. For years, I didn’t even have control over my own mind; I’m finally free to make my own choices. Baby, I promise you, no matter what, I always chose you. I can finally make choices and decide what I want. It’s you baby girl. I love you. I want you. I want my y/n. Exactly as you are”

Tears spilled down your cheeks, while Bucky’s forehead rested on yours. He’d meant every word he said; he finally knew what freedom felt like and that included loving you.

“I love that you work outside of the compound. The best part of my day getting to come home to the sweetest girl in the world, and hearing all about her day, please don’t tell me to leave you doll, I don’t want anyone else”

“You know you’re mine baby, my best girl, my only girl” He kissed your forehead while you whimpered under him, holding back your sobs. Your hands slipped under his shirt, desperate to feel him closer.

“I want to feel you angel” Bucky whispered, taking his shirt off, before tossing yours aside. “Let me show you just how much I adore you”

The rest of your clothes were thrown off within seconds, leaving you both bare and wrapped up in each other. His hands rubbed up and down your body, gripping and caressing your skin till he came to your thighs, spreading them apart. You felt your heart face as he trailed kisses down your body before stopping right before you needed him most, his lips just barely brushing over your clit.

“Bucky…” You squirmed on the bed while he arms wrapped around your thighs, holding you still. He nipped on the soft flesh of your inner thighs, before kissing and gently licking the area after each bite.

“Shh, just relax for me baby, let me take care of you”

Your breath itched in your throat feeling his tongue dip into your entrance, your slick coating his tongue and making a mess on his face. He groaned, drinking up every bit of your arousal, pushing his tongue in as far as he could, his nose teasingly nudging your clit. The taste of you was enough to make his cock leak along with the sinful sounds leaving your lips; Bucky could barely keep himself from rolling his hips against the mattress.

“You taste so good angel, I love when my baby makes a mess on my face” he pressed a soft kiss onto your clit, feeling it pulse against his lips.

“Baby please…” You whined out, your clit swollen and throbbing, needing more friction. Bucky hummed, taking his time to savour you before letting you fall off the edge. His lips started to move slowly around your clit, his tongue flicking and swirling around the sensitive nub. He was practically making out with your clit, giving it gentle little sucks and kisses, making your orgasm climb higher and higher, pulling away just before you could let go.

“Baby please, m’so close” You looked down at him, your lip caught in your teeth, your hand going down to card through his hair, grazing his scalp. Bucky moaned, kissing your clit once more before coming up and pressing his lips onto yours. His tongue slipped into your mouth, letting you taste yourself, while his hands roamed down to rub his cock through your folds.

“I know you’re close angel, want to feel you around my cock when you cum” The blunt tip of his cock teased your entrance, nudging against it, loving the way you whined and squirmed under him.

“Bucky, need you” Your thighs were wrapped tightly around his waist, trying to buck your hips up to push his cock in. Bucky’s hand cupped your cheek while the other lined his cock up.

“I know baby, I know, I got you” You moaned into his neck, your arms clinging onto him as he pushed himself all the way in, hissing at the way your pussy squeezed around him. “That’s it baby; you make me feel so good sweet heart”

Bucky started off with a slow pace; neither of you were desperate to cum. There were no chasing highs, he just wanted to feel you and you just wanted to feel all of him. His hips rocked gently, hardly pulling his cock out, staying pressed against you while kissing you softly.

“I love you y/n” He whispered against your neck, his hands lacing with yours “love you more than anyone else”

“I love you James”

Bucky pulled out of you to turn you onto your side, facing the large mirror that was to the side of the bed. He spooned you from behind, his arm hooking under your leg to hitch it up as he pushed his cock into you. You nearly sobbed, watching his cock thrust in and out of you, covered in your creamy slick. He groaned as his eyes locked with yours, trailing down to watch the way your pussy swallowed his cock, your tits bouncing each time he fucked into you. His cock was hitting a deeper angle, your belly bulging each time he pushed in further.

“You feel that baby, that’s all me princess” Bucky took your hand in his, pressing it against your tummy, rocking his hips faster, making your eyes roll back.

“Please James” Your hands clung onto him, your head thrown back against his shoulder as he nipped your ear lobe, gazing at you through he reflection.

“Just wanna look at you, you’re so pretty baby” Bucky cooed, kissing your temple, trailing kisses down to your cheek. He slipped his dog tags off, putting them on you; the cool metal gave you goose bumps as he continues to thrust into you.

“See babygirl? You’re all mine” The sight of you in his dog tags unleashed something in Bucky. His gorgeous girl, bare, the feeling of your warm skin on his, the gorgeous sounds you made just for him, hair tousled from your love making, his name around your neck. Because you were his. His girl. His princess. His absolute everything. You were more than enough for him and he’d remind you of that every damn day if he had to. He picked up his pace, unable to hold off the way he balls started to throb, his sensitive tip leaking and stroking your g-spot.

“Y/n, you feel so good babydoll, m’gonna fill you up sweet heart, cum with me baby, please”

“James, fuck baby m’gonna cum” You whined, your face buried in the pillow as he slammed his cock into you faster. You could feel his balls tap your clit, his cock growing harder each time you squeezed and clenched around him. “Fuckfuck, I- JAMES please, oh- fuck-

You could feel your body throb, pleasure and warmth spreading throughout your body. Your orgasm immediately set off Bucky’s’ your moans and cries paired with the way you were clenching around him sent him over the edge.

“All mine angel, you’re all fucking mine” He moaned into your neck, stilling as his cock throbbed spilling ropes of cum into you. He continued to gently roll his hips, making sure he filled you till he was empty, your mixed arousal covering his thighs and your ass.

Bucky carefully pulled out of you, quickly grabbing a warm damp towel to wipe you down before wrapping his arms to cuddle you again. You snuggled into his chest, your hand going down to play with his dogtags as you always did, realizing he’d put them on you.

“Baby your tags…” You looked up at him, wondering if he’d want them back. He pulled you close to him, his hand brushing your hair away from your face.  

“They’re yours now doll, I want you to have a piece of me wherever you go. I’m always yours baby, just like you’re always mine”

He pressed a soft kiss to your lips while you nodded, tears welling in your eyes as you buried yourself into him. Bucky pulled the covers over you both, wrapping his arms tightly around you. He never wanted you to forget just how much you meant to him.

“Come here, my little teddy bear”

*****

Sharon seethed, seeing Bucky’s tags clink around your neck as you made your way to the kitchen. You hardly noticed her, your body still buzzing from the night before, not even realizing the little bites on your skin hadn’t faded away yet.

“This was the same man that almost said no to life saving surgery because he didn’t want to take off the tags” Sam snorted. “Gotta say, they look good on you y/n”

“Cause I didn’t want to lose them bird brain” Bucky countered but everyone knew it was so much more than that. He never took them off, keeping them close to him.His tags were the one thing that had reminded him of who he was. Of where he came from. It reminded him that his heart had always wanted to do the right thing. Of the choices he made when he was free.

“You gave her your tags?” Sharon questioned, struggling to keep her voice neutral. Bucky nodded, smiling when he saw you gazing down at them with heart eyes, your hand toying with the chain. There was no doubt; you’d never take them off.

“He’d give her his arm if she asked” Steve grinned, watching his best friend deeply in love with you.

“Sure” Sharon rolled her eyes, catching herself before scoffing again. Steve and Sam giggled to themselves like school children, watching Bucky shrug, coming over to hold you from behind while resting his head against you.

“My angel can have anything she wants”

-

Tags: @glxwingrxse @hungryyeyes @sebsgirl71479 @beabutterfly9877 @teambarnes722 @witchy-whoree @jamesbuckybarneswify @slutforsexyseabass @chrisdrysdale @littlemarvelmenfan @buggy14 @whimsyplaty92 @sergntbarness @inkedaztec @pono-pura-vida @moonlightreader649 @brooklynscherry-z  @elle14-blog1 @littlelightnings @psychomanniac-blog @happyt0exist @emmabarnes @bethyruth   @matchat3a @cjand10 @getwellsoontana @cherryschaos @lokisasgardianvampirequeen   @ashenc-blog   @buckybarnessimpp  @potatothots @goldylions   @high-functioning-lokipath  @morganemorgane @peaches1958 @kingfleury @spiderman-stilinski @peaceinourtime82   @gublur @wintersmelodie @geeky-politics-46 @lolawassad @almosttoopizza @a-poor-gryffindork @alternativeprincess @buckycallsmeaslut @kamaria-sweet-writes​

[gallusrostromegalus]

oh my god I am frothing at the mouth PLEASE tell us about how Unohana is SO WEIRD ACTUALLY

(her reveal is my favorite thing in the whole series and I was obsessed with Bleach for a good long time)

I love Unohana. She's magnificently insane and deliciously fun to write so far.

My take on AEIWAM Unohana is that fundamentally, she just wants to be happy.

Oh, that doesn't sound too nuts. I hear you say.

Yeah, but I also headcanon that she has ADHD. We joke a lot about it on this site, but if you have the good fortune to have functioning dopamine factories, allow me to explain the worst part of it, for me.

There's no passive happiness.

Most people, as I understand it, if left to their own devices without undue stressors like capitalism or any particular stimulation, tend to be able to feel pretty okay most of the time. Which fascinates me because if I am left alone without undue stressors but no stimulation, my malfunctioning dopamine factories will shut down and I will rapidly develop a terrible black depression and paranoia that life is cruel and I will never experience happiness again and also my appetite vanishes and sleep cycle collapses and I will end up mentally and physically distraught, sometimes in less than an hour.

So I've always got to be doing something, or The Horrors get me.

So imagine Unohana, and with a brain that wants to die if she gets bored... living in fantasy magical ancient japan. Not much to do, out in the early days of the soul society, besides being attatcked by monsters, or participating in warfare, or starving to death. the first two, at least, get the blood pumping, but the first is difficult to come by regularly, so as a young woman, the most interesting thing that happens to her on the regular is Mortal Combat.

And how exciting it is! Adrenaline! Dopamine! And on the rare occasions she meets a fellow combat enthusiast, she also gets one of the best things about ADHD- Recognition Responsive Euphoria. You know that great feeling you get at Con or meeting another person with your special interest and you guys just VIBE and it feels like you've been best friends for life in less than five minutes? Yeah, apparently Non-ADHD people don't get that.

So naturally, she develops her skill in combat, not in pursuit of Honor or The Art or something nebulous like, that, but in the simple Pursuit of Happiness. She gets very good at it, and a lot of people die.

But she starts getting... too good at it. The fights don't last, there's nobody willing- let alone able, to meet her on her level and the previous joy she felt fades and fades until she is once again left in the darkness.

Then, a Miracle happens! Some punk stabs her in the lung :)

Man, what an evening for her. Kills a hundred men with barely a stroke and there's no more joy in the world for her when suddenly some barely-legal scarecrow looking bastard with a raggedy sword he pulled out of someone else's corpse appears at the top of the pile of bodies and then goes Ape. Fucking. Shit. on her.

It's the most fun she's had in ages! He's strong and fast and his moves are inefficient but delightfully unpredictable and by the GODS the STAMINA! Alright, she might be 1,000 years his senior but in the soul society age really is just a number and she can't help but be charmed.

So she flirts back by nearly cutting his face off. This DELIGHTS him!

And there it is again, that sudden feeling of intimacy between like-minded individuals, only these two ships aren't passing in the night, there' here to make Titanic 2: Electric Boogaloo. They make eye contact, and know-they're just like me.

True Love is a wonderful thing.

It's also a great opportunity for a surprise thrust and she only sort of manages to block it, and despite the feeling of blood pooling in her lung, she returns the blow full across his chest.

She staggers back, coughing.

He, miraculously, sits up, coughing. He won't die if he can crawl off somewhere to lick his wounds, but he can't continue the fight either.

She stands up, teeth gritted through the pain, and sheathes Minazuki. "What's your name?" She asks. "So I may find you to fight again."

"Don't have one." he wheezes. "But I'll never forget yours."

She's had men spit that as a threat to her before. It sounds very different as a declaration of love.

"Yachiru." she says, trying to not cough up blood. "Unohana Yachiru."

*

A Year later, there's a problem.

Soul Society has a bit of a problem with lungs. They can make entire fake bodies for shinigami to travel the living world, but individual organs, especially lungs... never seem to transplant well. Perhaps it's the fact they're already dead.

Her left lung is "healed" in the sense that it no longer has extraneous holes in it, but... Godsdammit, she still has all the power but none of the stamina. Barely 10 minutes into a fight and she's wheezing worse than The Old Man. 20 minutes and her hands are starting to shake and she's seeing spots in her eyes because she can't breathe well enough to keep the oxygen in her veins. Her fights usually last seconds so functionally she's still one of the most powerful people in the afterlife but it's a far cry from where she was before.

She can no longer be the 11th division's Kenpachi. Hell, she can no longer be the woman she was before.

"Unless you figure out some new medical miracles, this is as healed as it's going to get." Explains the chief medical officer after yet another frustrating checkup.

"...If that's what it takes." She decides.

The next morning she re-enrolls in the Shinigami Academy, under the name Unohana Retsu. The sole change she makes to her appearence is to braid her hair down the front of her chest because people WILL ask about the scar, and she doesn't want to think about how badly she's letting down that warrior with no name.

Either she needs to learn how to get back to his level, or find a new rival and learn to heal them to actually last the 20 minutes she has, or she'll die.

She studies.

To her vast surprise, bodies are actually fascinating. She'd previously seen that there were lots of interesting organs inside people but now learning what they are and how they work and the fact that the human body is already astonishingly death-resistant compared to most animals AND a carefully balanced meat sculpture minutes away from catastrophic failure at all times delights. She learns about the extreme ways humans can survive and the bizarrely mundane ways they can die, and she starts to form an idea- not an image, not a philosophy per se- but a working theory of how to keep someone alive and moving for as long and far as they will go, and what they need to stay upright.

This idea shines so brightly that it can keep that terrible darkness away.

The century practically flies by, and one night she stays up manually pumping the mechanism on a device used to keep the also-failing lungs of a young boy going after the power goes out. He's been blessed by A God that he's lived as long as he has, but even Gods can fuck up sometimes and she effectively has to breathe for him for twelve hours until the God gets its shit back together and he can breathe under his own power again.

"Hell of a fight you put in, keeping him alive." says one of her colleagues, collapsing beside her out in the 4th division medical garden where all the doctors go to smoke.

Retsu slowly exhales the smoke, fatigued but still coming down from the high of success. She cocks her head. Her body aches and her mind races and her heart thrills, just like- "I guess it was. " she realizes. "Interesting fight, going 12 hours in the ring with a dying child and winning because he walked away at the end." She laughs, and hands him the cigarette to share.

"You weirdo." he colleague laughs. He's far too young to remember when she was Yachiru. Most of them are these days, and it's a weird sort of peaceful anonymity and personal joke. "You weren't fighting the kid. If we were actually allowed to fight patients, I'd've stabbed the Kuchki hypochondriac decades ago." he grumbles, taking his own drag.

She snorts. "Who was I fighting then?"

"Death?" smoke billows out as he laughs, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

She freezes. Oh. Oh. That's why she likes this so much. She's gone from fighting mere men to the one opponent she knows she can win battles with, but never the war, and who will defeat her personally someday.

"Are. Are you crying?" he asks, a little worried.

"I- yes." She laughs, tears streaming down her face. "I just fell in love all over again."

"Ouch." he nods sympathetically, offering her the cigarette back. "Who with?"

"Death's own Angel, apparently." She giggles, feeling positively prepubescent with this crush.

And thus she goes on, for centuries, learning everything there is to know about bodies and minds and how the two keep each other going and the ways she can help. She gets very good at it, and a many more people do not die.

But there is a special, secret place in her heart for that nameless warrior that defeated her in battle, and made her stronger than every before.

*

Nearly 1,000 years after she stopped being Kenpachi, she is supervising the annual "see if you can kill the captain" tournament. Her colleague Kaname is there, a walking anxiety disorder with undoubtedly real but strangely hard to diagnose phantom pains, but he's still easily in her top 10 coworkers of all time because he made her a new medical record filing system so functional they were actually able to recataloge three millennia of medical records into a usable format in under a decade. He can come twitching into her office any time he likes, especially if it gets her that mass vaccination process for the Rukongai he's been biting The Old Man's heels for.

Then

as suddenly as he had appeared the first time,

He's back.

He's older now and larger, having matured into a spectacular bastard, but there's no mistaking that cutting edge on his reiatsu (which, oh, that has gotten much, much stronger since last time) or that scar running down his face as he turns from where he had just cleft the previous Kenpachi in twain, and stares out into the crowd in the shower of blood, challenging anyone to do something about it. Hell, even when Yamamoto appears to congratulate him on his promotion, Death's own angel's first reaction is to turn to fight the old man without hesitation.

He then promptly picks three different fights with four captains in under five minutes, tells Yamamoto to shove the job up his ass, imply he's had a WILD collection of vocations in the last millennium and furthermore, he has to get home to his daughter.

...Named Yachiru.

Hilariously, Unohana is only having the second weirdest time about this here, because Kaname and Kenpachi are, somehow, even weirder than she is.

[bruciemilf]

I honestly think that for Gotham criminals—regular criminals, drug lords, pedos, abusers, etc—getting caught by a vigilante with Bat in their name is the best case scenario at this point. Like, at least with Batman, Batwoman and Black Bat, you at least know you're making it out of it alive. If they've had a bad day, maybe you'll end up with a few broken bones or be sore for a month or two, but you'll recover.

If you're caught by Red Hood when he's had a bad day? Say goodbye to your life. If Red Robin hasn't made a singular smart comment during your fight and you want to get out of this without lifelong injuries, just turn yourself in right then and there. Robin chooses violence on the regular, you never know if he's going to be normal or downright vicious, and it's best not to take the risk without a reasonable vigilante there. If you're fighting an angry Nightwing and there's nobody to hold him back, it's best you start saying your prayers so maybe someone will show up and pull him off you at some point .

For Rogues, see, there's safe Rogues. If you're one of the Sirens and catch a Bird having a bad day, the worst they'll do is break down crying when faced with the prospect of having to fight you. Selina has been faced with countless of these breakdowns over the years and is the most equipped to handle them, Harley can distract and knows calming techniques, Ivy's easy to rant to. If you're Harvey, or Oswald, or even just a generally harmless Rogue, as long as you aren't doing something horrible, they'll leave you be. If you're literally any other Rogue—Bane, Black Mask, Riddler, Scarecrow, the Joker, etc, be thankful if you make it back to Arkham with more than eight bones intact.

ESPECIALLY if they let you have the first hit. That means they can claim provocation when they're standing over your barely-breathing body. They don't get into as much trouble with Batman if they can claim self defense.

Bruce, Cass, and Kate are the only ones with defined no-kill rules. The rest abide by it for peace sake for the most part, but there are always exceptions, and you don't want to be one of them.

OH GOSH YESSSSS

Let's be honest, - the rogues? Family friends. The Sirens are family PERIOD, and Harvey's their second honorary father after Clark, courtesy to Bruce. Also, kids tend to assimilate traits from people they look up to/love.

Robins and Rogues, tale as old as time.

When he's sad, Tim will flop himself over Bruce like a bunny. " Tell me a joke, Brucie," and of course a tired but fond sigh leaves Bruce's lips. " What do you call a vegan BBQ?"

" What?"

" A funeral."

Tim rolls his eyes like Harley, too.

Cass learns the sophisticated art of tantrums and pouting from Selina; Crossed arms, bratty eye roll, so much sass she's sizzling. Bruce has a Sigh jar, now.

Damian picks up an interest in plan and promptly transforms the manor in his very own botanical garden.

Alfred doesn't mind. The air is fresher, smells cleaner, they look beautiful againts their monochromatic palette, and everyone must take care of them. No exceptions.

A breath of relief unlocks Damian's stiff frame. " Persephone smiles upon us."

" Persephone? Where did you learn that, habibi?"

" Aunt Pamela said Greek Mythology belongs to lesbians, so I can't divulge."

Caught between " Jason hits Bruce with every single legal technicality Harvey thought him to evade getting benched" and " Jason accidentally calls Bruce pet names Spanish or Italian when he's distracted."

" My alma can yo- SHIT,"

" GUYS, HE DID IT AGAIN!"

Also, there's a difference between murder and killing; Bruce won't weep after monsters, that's for damn sure. Which gets him questioning gazes from the GCPD.

" Do you know how many people your buddies kill?"

" Do YOU?"

[cerastes]

why exactly is jaye not just a normal guy? are his fish filleting skills actually signs of being a genetic freak and i'm not normal or something?

Jaye has connections to the deep criminal underbelly of Lungmen, and by deep I mean almost familial, but the thing is, he doesn't really know it. He is the disciple-slash-adopted son of Uncle Tung, a famous chef who happens to also be deeply involved with several of the most powerful figures of Lungmen's criminal world. Tung taught him how to cook, particularly sushi, but also taught him how to fight, just in case, which Jaye considers "oh, you know, the basics, just in case someone tries to start something, to defend myself" when in fact Tung taught him Ultimate Knifefighting 30000 and built his already naturally strong and sturdy Ursus body into a machine of pure shredded muscle, which is why he can just actually shove his arm up the ass of pretty much anybody and wear them like Kermit the Frog if he wants. But as far as he's concerned, he's just "good for self-defense". He has no idea he's as strong and skilled as he is.

Through Uncle Tung he is also close to Lin Kojui AKA the Rat Freaking King, the giant rat that makes all of the rules in said criminal underworld, except he doesn't know that his kind, nice, old uncle Kojui is actually the Rat King, just that he is an old friend and frequent customer of Tung's.

On the other side of the coin, he is also related to Lee's Detective Agency, as he is good friends with Waai Fu and apparently also friend or at least close enough to the agency as a whole (his own Files state that Lee's agency are regulars of his) that it was due to Jaye "disappearing" from his usual spot in Lungmen for three days in a row that got Mr. Lee himself curious about where he could've gone, getting concerned that something might have happened to him. It's THIS event that directly resulted, as per Lee's Files, in Lee calling up the Rat freaking King himself, asking "hey man, where's our collective son?" and Kojui pointing at Rhodes Island. So, it is directly because of Jaye's connection to Lee that the agency's partnership with Rhodes Island exists in the first place, after Lee went to check with his own eyes if he was alright.

Besides all of this, because of his extremely intimidating appearance -- mean looking resting face, ripped, skilled with knives -- people often mistook him for a triad, which got him in trouble here and there when other triads thought he was an outsider trying to stir up trouble, or simply, with normal citizens who simply thought he was a bad guy to be avoided. Jaye is apparently notorious enough that Hoshiguma looked into him, and what did Hoshiguma find? Well, that Jaye really, really is just a normal ass guy who happens to have every underworld connection ever, but is not even remotely aware of it. His friend, Waai Fu, being an actual vigilante that beats the shit out of triads on sight at night on Lungmen, being seen with him, only reinforces people's judgment of him, as apparently many people think he is the leader of maybe several gangs and that Waai Fu is a martial arts master under his employ, when the reality is, Waai Fu is just bros with this dude and happens to enjoy one inch punching criminals in her free time. All he knows is that she's a vigilante but that's fine.

All of this made Hoshiguma think "holy shit" and referred him to Rhodes Island not because she thought he'd make a good combatant, but rather, out of concern for the guy.

There's a bit more to him as a whole, but to summarize:

Jaye has deep, personal connections to the Rat King.

Jaye has deep, personal connections to Lee's Detective Agency.

Jaye has connections to the Lungmen Guard Department.

Jaye was taught to fight (and cook) by a personal friend and enforcer of the Rat King.

Jaye does not realize any of this.

Unlike Mr. Nothing or Shalem, who are very well aware of how very not normal they are, Jaye really thinks he's just an average cook and sushi chef, and has no idea that his incredible fighting skill (rated "Excellent" by Rhodes Island standards) is not normal citizen-grade, nor that he actually can get in contact, if he so wished and knew, with virtually the highest echelons of power on both ends of the table in Lungmen as a whole. Jaye could potentially literally just call up the Rat King if he wanted, he just doesn't know he can, and even if he did, it's likely he wouldn't, as his Files and Waai Fu both state that despite looking the way he does, he's actually a really nice guy who likes to read books and practice his cooking, and who really thinks he's just doing his 9 to 5 nowadays, except for some reason Hoshiguma referred him to a god damn Private Military Company that cosplays as a pharmaceuticals company, so now he has less time to cook in between clashing blades with Sarkaz Swordmasters and soloing Big Bob in the creepy fucked up castle that Phantom decided to go crazy inside of.

[zattis]

Gentle Giants Can Do So Much

I think I've been fascinated by the concept of giants since I was about seven years old or so. I don't exactly know why, but it means that ever since I was little I've consumed a fair amount of content about them, most of it sfw, some of it... less so.

And it seems to me that the vast majority of content revolving around giants is violent. Perhaps that's to be expected. Maybe being so big means all that power has to go to your head.

But every time I see art of a giant character just crushing stuff without a care, it’s not hard to think of the casualties. That’s pretty typical for any Kaiju-oriented media, but it’s just sad to see a giant act like a regular old monster when they could be so much more.

The gentle giant is a much more appealing concept to me personally because they have room in their big heart for many. The gentle giant loves his small friends and is loved by them in return.

Imagine a giant in the winter or during a freeze. It's very cold outside, and though the giant is unaffected, there are many tiny people that are not so lucky. But the giant's body radiates warmth due to its overabundance of body heat and its clothes, so it has a solution. That night, many people struggling to find warmth cuddle up against the body of the giant and feel no ill effects of the cold despite sleeping outside.

Picture a giant working alongside a construction crew, helping them to move around raw materials and set the foundations of a new building in place. They do the heavy lifting while the tinies specialize in precision. Buildings that typically take months or even years to build are finished in a quarter of the time, and any dangers normal sized people may face working against gravity or heavy weights are mitigated when a giant is able to catch them if they fall or carry the weight for them.

Envision the aftermath of a natural disaster. A city is leveled. Casualties are unknown, but many are grieving. In response, a relief organization sends a group of giants and tinies alike to the disaster zone. Some of the giants come transporting enormous amounts of food and relief supplies in enormous refrigerators and containers they can wear like backpacks before they set them down in the cleared city center. Some work to clear out all the stray rubble, occasionally saving a person trapped underneath and reuniting them with their families and friends. A couple are simply there for emotional support, to hold the distraught in their large arms or to let them rest in their fluffy hair.

And even in those sci-fi or fantasy settings, imagine the protective giants fighting against the beasts or monsters only they can hold back, doing what they can to keep any monster from entering a populated area because the giants don't want their friends to be in danger. Perhaps they are helped by normal-sized soldiers or heroes, and both giants and tinies alike work together to protect their home.

Because the gentle giant is still human, even if they're a lot bigger. They choose to love humans, to care about them. And that's a powerful thing, just as powerful as being dozens of feet tall (or taller) and having the strength of hundreds of men (or more). The gentle giant has a heart that can hold many and arms that can hold many more. With that strength, they can lift up the world around them.

I don’t think that’s explored enough.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: SNOW POKEY

Debut: Super Mario 3D World

Usually we do not write the name of the character in all capitals in the beginning of the post. But I am just so excited about Snow Pokey! A few days ago, the little creature in my brain knocked on the door and said, “Hey! Snow Pokey?” And yeah! I have never agreed with something so much!

Snow Pokey is a perfect design! Literally nothing could make this better. Maybe black dot buttons on the body segments would be cute, but the mouth is already a black dot, so it would make things a little weird! So, Snokey is a snowman Pokey, of course, a concept that lends itself to the body plan BETTER than the original. Big snowballs are made to be stacked! Its body segments have ice spikes, which is perfect, so perfect that it baffles me when those spikes are depicted as just snow. That would not be painful! I have not personally been stabbed by snow, but I do not believe it would be painful or possible. I sincerely apologize if it has ever happened to you.

Enough rambling about that though! It is time for the best part, Snow Pokey’s darling head and face! It has the cool white-pupiled eyes of regular Pokeys, but instead of their smile, a cute surprised expression, and of course, a carrot nose! The cherry on top of the cutie pie a la mode is the bucket it wears as an off-center hat! The go-to hat for Japanese snowmen, rather than a top hat. It is not only more casual, but more implies it is not exactly a natural creature, but one intentionally created! Who created it? I don’t know, but I will kiss them on the mouth.

Since it is alive, I can only assume there is some Magic involved here. Maybe the bucket granted it life, maybe a wizard did, maybe a Christmas miracle did! Maybe it was a wish made by the carrot, its one organic component. Being made of snow, these can’t be BIOLOGICALLY related to standard Pokeys, but maybe this is snow being inhabited by the soul of a Pokey! A Pokey who always wanted a nose, and is constantly in awe at all the scents the world has to offer!

Snocchi replaces Pokeys in the snow themes of Super Mario Maker 2, and that means we get to see it in three new styles, for which they made entirely new designs! What a treat! In Super Mario Bros., they wear yellow hard hats, perhaps for protection during a snowball fight, and have a big, cheeky smile! In Super Mario Bros. 3, they now have a red knit cap, which seems counterintuitive for a snow creature, like a sun wearing sunglasses, but it is really all about style. This one has a simple little smile, it’s just happy! Finally, in Super Mario World, Snow Pokey is VERY happy, no doubt because of its new hat! This one has a pompom! I like to think this is the same one from SMB3, but someone very kindly enhanced it. Snow Pokey wanted a pompom hat, but it did love its plain knit hat dearly, and now it gets to have both!

Snow Pokey appears in the art for December 2017′s LINE calendar, and what a cozy scene this is! Oh, to be so cozy in a warm snow house with some funny friends both inside and outside! Even if it wants to stay cold and you want to stay warm, you are never too far from each other! Also, this one is so small. Baby!

Finally, good news! There is a toy of Snow Pokey! It is real in our world! It is physically among us! I love Snow Pokey so dearly!

[comicaurora]

So far, has there been any sort of art technique or process you've tried that made you go "that was surprisingly easier/harder than I expected"?

Oh man, yea. So many things. Doing this comic has been a learning experience and a half because of all the textures and effects I have to do, most of which I figure out on the fly because I've either never done them before or I've never done them that many times before.

The first "surprisingly easy" effect I'd never succeeded at before was the scales on the Storm Drake in the interlude after chapter 6:

It's a Droplet particle brush used on two layers, one set to Multiply and the other to Screen. It produces a very easy texturing effect that works on everything from scales to sand to rock, making the surface look like it's catching the light in complicated ways. I used it again in Dainix's desert flashback in chapter 19 to make the sand look like it was catching the light.

I actually used a similar method to draw the background in the arena fight in chapter 12 - using a rounder particle brush, but the same combo of Multiply and Screen to produce a chaotic pattern that gave the illusion of a massive background crowd without making me hand-draw ten thousand tiny people.

This one was an effect that didn't surprise me and that I sadly had very little cause to replicate, but I LOVED the multicolored highlighting effect in Erin's chapter 6 flashback in the heart of the Storm. It ended up being very simple to do and it just looked SO pretty.

Changing the highlighting colors to just the cool-tones for this page just made me like it more.

When we hit Falst's intro arc and I had to draw about a million forested backgrounds, I decided to refine the process I'd used in the first few chapters, because I wasn't happy with those results:

Starting in chapter 8 I tried a lineless style for forested backgrounds, and it worked out better than I'd hoped. Not only did it produce a feeling of depth and shadow, I didn't even need to plug in my drawing tablet to do it - I could literally do these backgrounds with my trackpad and mouse, which was a huge timesave. Combined with a little experimental sunbeam stuff and these forest backgrounds ended up both shockingly simple to make and VERY nice to look at.

I used a similar technique for the soulcrystal in The Collector's lair - stacked Multiply and Add layers with nested rough shading patterns similar to the ones I used for foliage, but with more overlap to produce the effect of chaotically scattering light.

This was another no-drawing-tablet one, and I liked this texture so much that I willingly redrew it for the stinger in chapter 18 rather than copying the texture from the earlier chapter.

In terms of effects that took longer than I anticipated, Dainix's fully-realized Crucible form has been giving me trouble for literally as long as I've conceived of the comic. Drawing fire is already hard enough, but giving that fire a semi-solid, tangible form that was clearly readable as a humanoid figure was a HUGE pain in the ass. The head and arms were easy to design, but what to do with the bottom half was always a struggle, and beyond that I wasn't always sure how opaque to make him - real fire is a semi-translucent light source in constant motion with no clearly delineated edges, and if you draw it in a way that deviates from that too much it can make it feel less like fire. It took a while before I was happy with the color balance on him to make him suitably glowy without losing the internal detailing that made his expression readable.

Similarly time-consuming, working out how to do Vash's "nova mode" took some trial and error. I wanted to make it clearly visually distinct from Paladin light magic and regular fire magic, so I focused on trying to replicate the texture of the surface of a star, with sunspots and flares rather than licks of fire or sharp-edged lightsaber vibes. I'm happy with how it ended up, but if I recall correctly it took upwards of two days just getting all those glowy effects sorted out.

Then drawing the actual starfire blast was an even bigger pain, because again I didn't want it so glowy that it was completely unreadable. To be honest I'm still not sure if it worked.

This is a very recent one, but it took me a while to figure out an effect I was happy for to communicate "this place is really, really dark." I didn't settle on a blanket dusty purple desaturation layer until quite late, to sort of replicate what night vision supposedly looks like for animals that can see decently well in the dark. Lights and darks are preserved, but color isn't so much, and this way I wasn't way-overshadowing everything and making it impossible for US to see. And conveniently the actual effect is quite simple to do - it's just a universally gray layer at 50% opacity set to the "Saturation" combine mode, stacked with a universally dusty purple layer at 70% set to the "Color" combine mode. Very easy to add quickly and copy/paste across different pages.

There's probably more, but yea. Almost all of the "that was surprisingly difficult" effects either get easier with time or I figure out ways to simplify them and make them work in fewer layers. This is the really fun thing about a longform project like this - I keep finding new ways to challenge myself I'd never even thought of before.

[cirque-dhomosexual]

My own personal Scooby-Doo re-imagining canon includes:

-out and proud lesbian Dominican/Puerto Rican Velma (yes I'm projecting, leave me alone)

-Velma has audhd

- velmaphne happens eventually

-sapphic/unlabeled daphne

-ace/homoromantic and autistic Fred Jones

-he's dating Shaggy who is a pan Trans man

- they are adhd/autism boyfriends

-fuck it, they're all autistic and you can fight me

-Velma and Fred have a shared special interest in machines and will talk about it with each other. They love to share what they know or what they learned and talk about improvements to designs and the like.

-daph and Fred grew up together. Daph's family works in politics and Fred's dad is running for governor or some other government role. Maybe daph's dad is a congressman.

-Daphne is very romantic and tried to liken their relationship to that of a fairytale with Fred being her prince charming but it didn't work out that way

-the two are fs soul mates just not the ones Daphne wanted originally

-she did play match maker to shaggy and Fred and it was a feat. Although, she couldn't clock velms would practically break her back bending over backwards for her.

- they meet in college where velms is majoring in forensic science , Daph is double majoring in business and hospitality (because of her parents) but she switches to journalism where she is much happier, Fred is in Mechanical engineering (idk it makes sense imo) and shaggy is majoring in veterinary science or culinary arts.

-they met in a creative writing class for their humanities credit where they find out they have a shared love of horror movies and mysteries. They did seriously debate on creating a Vincent Van Ghoul fanclub.

- they don't become an actual mystery solving group until they find out about a missing person's case for a student in their class and decided to take matters into their own hands

-found family™ they understand each other like no one else

-besties shaggy and daphne! Daph is a huge foodie and runs a vlogging channel with him! They love romantic comedies and this one novella in particular and will have frequent sleepovers where they do each other's nails and hair and gossip and fan tf out

- Fred joins in on occasion. He loves it even though he doesn't know what's going on. He does engage when he can though and somehow becomes very versed in the relationship dynamics of the show

-shaggy plays wingman for velms and daph and will listen to both of them pine over the other. He is tired.

-velma is fluent in 5 languages and uses them frequently, even to flirt.

-Daph can speak 3 but mostly just to talk business.

-daphne tries so fucking hard to live up to the expectations that her parents has for her and she does but they are never completely satisfied. Her whole arc is finding her own sense of self outside of her family.

-she's head of the cheer team, debate club, and the fashion column in the school's newspaper and graduated saludatorian at her high school

-Velms is also a journalist and she will try and work with daph when she can

-Supernatural occurances does happen. Eventually at least. In the beginning it's their regular whodunit shtick until they meet cosmic horrors that even Lovecraft couldn't imagine and cults (gasp)

-there will be stakes! It will be mature and dark but bc the plot calls for it

-daph was a part of the hex girls as she roadie and backup to Thorne, she did use this fact to flirt with velms.

-They are their brujas on speed dial.

-The gang doesn't know how Daph did it or for how long and they'll never get a straight answer. One day daph will say she found them practicing in an abandoned space and the next she might say they met at a commune. Her favorite thing to say is "oh. You know." as cryptically as she can and just stare off into the distance, just for kicks. Shaggy is convinced Thorne is Daphs twin sister or clone and they won't try and convince him otherwise.

-the hex girls are a polyam couple

-Scooby is young dog instead of having grown up with shaggy. Great Danes only have like an 8-10 year life span where 6 is average. Shaggy found him a injured and wandering on the edge of the woods that's next to the school.

I do plan on writing out this fic but idk if it has any merit. If I do write it would anyone be interested in reading?

[padawansuggest]

Okay but so one of the Clone Empire AUs (AU where the clones take charge of the republic, usually from the seat of Mandalore and take over the galaxy but keep the Jedi but sorta… like pets??? But spoiled pets, not like the senate kept them) but told from the POV of the Jedi being currently kept inside the temple. They’re not really allowed out of the temple, NOT because they’ll run, but because the clones are paranoid af of them getting hurt (90% of the reason the clones took over was cause they were horrified at the senate treating THEIR Jedi like that) but they’re letting certain senators stay to help pick up the pieces of the galaxy (Anakin is in a pretty bad depression in the temple because Padme is allowed to leave to go to the senate but he isn’t allowed to leave without escorts and usually Rex basically putting a child leash on him and it’s giving him some bad feelings about it all) and the Jedi being nervous about it all.

Thing is. The force is CONSTANTLY telling them this is the correct thing to do. They’re supposed to give control to the clones. Clone empire will save the galaxy. But also, they’ve started talking in Dai Bendu around the temple almost constantly, shiftily walking away when the clones come over to talk to them if they’re in groups, just nervous stuff, like skittish cats.

Cody had to get Alpha 17 to come by to talk to Obi-Wan and Anakin before either of them would stop hiding in Obi-Wan’s apartments all day. Obi-Wan hasn’t cuddled with Cody in a month and that’s VERY concerning. Not that they’re together, it’s just that Obi-Wan likes using Cody as a bed and Cody is addicted to seeing Obi-Wan sleep for once. Alpha had to come by like a concerned dad and gently coax them out of hiding and back to being regular temple inhabitants.

Rex, in a move of desperation, drags them off to the temple salon (beauty, not tea in this case, the temple does and should function as it’s own city which means food and clothing production as well as other things like that) and makes them both get massaged till they’re purring piles of Jedi Goop and is pleased with his babysitting duties. A new haircut and getting rid of tension does wonders. They’re fairly normal after that. Obi-Wan goes back to teaching an Alderaanian poetry class (and supervising kiddo art classes) and Anakin is building a new security system that he’ll integrate soon, and Rex is smug to have gotten them the most normal so far.

The Jedi are skittish tookas who want to hide after this blow to their safety and lifestyles, but the newly instated council (which involves doubling the numbers so the clones can discuss the changes and how things will work with the Jedi) is working on a way to get them back to their true calling: peace keeping.

Basically, the clones start their own empire and use a very firm hand on the Jedi to get them to stop being attack dogs and start accepting love and help now. They are never forced to go on a mission with less than 20 clones from then on.

Bly and Aayla get married in the Room of a Thousand Fountains and Quinlan was delighted to give his baby girl away. Here, take her, she’s very annoying. Obi-Wan and Anakin finally get into a long awaited fight about how Ani got married but never invited his master and Obi-Wan is still hurting from it. Rude. Yoda is terrorizing the frog population with Initiate Grogu. Yaddle has more class than those idiots. Qui-Gon’s force ghost shows up and Fives is the only clone in the room that can see him and won’t stop staring at him with big dumb tooka eyes and Qui-Gon is gonna make him shit his pants he just knows it. Rex and Cody are trying to placate their idiot Jetii (Ahsoka was dragged back to the temple and dropped in Anakin’s lap and it was the most normal he’d been in years and they are inseparable now but Ahsoka ain’t getting in the middle of that lmao) with cuddles and hair pets. Padme is throwing up in a bush because she doesn’t know she’s pregnant and this is the start of a lovely bought of forever sickness. Ugh. Anakin and Obi-Wan finally settle their differences when the clones decide they’ll have another ceremony next month for Ani and Padme. Fox is drunk and dosing on a bed of flowers with a fully grown nexu guarding him, having decided he’s his cub now. That’ll be an interesting relationship. Alpha finally picks Obi-Wan up under his armpits like a cat and says if he can’t stop being grumpy it’ll be naptime. It’s very annoying. One of Bly’s troopers shows up with his foundling he got on Concordia when they were raiding a Death Watch camp, named Din, who has managed to catch Grogu and is cuddling and kissing him into submission. Grogu is delighted, and has found his soulmate.

[borkthemork]

So the episode Newts in Tights gives us a glimpse at the very end of its episode to a new revealed portion of the Plantar basement, and at first the contents of the room seems very barren and desolate, but actually based on what we currently know about the series implies a lot more than what it lets on.

Because in looking through the room we see a few specific things. One, being that there is a bed, that there is a door that can only be opened by a tome, and that Leif’s insignia had been revealed on her cloak.

From what we know about Leif, she had to go into hiding after the kingdom started a search for her whereabouts, and of course, logically, someone who is on the run would not go to her original home due to the connections regarding that.

So you would have Leif being hidden in a new area underground for a long time. She would sleep underground, possibly create more tunnels as a result of her navigating the earth, but at some point, one would know that a person couldn’t just live underground forever.

So my lovely partner @bloop-arts​ noticed this during our rewatch that there were specific scuff markings from the insignia of the Plantar family being moved.

It seemed like a weird detail at first, but when we look back at the original insignia of Leif.

It becomes apparent that what happened was that, at some point, Leif had to change their alias. They weren’t Leif anymore, but a Plantar, just a regular farmer in the outstretches of lands that Andrias would probably never ever think of searching.

And because of the tome-shaped entrance, it makes sense that she would keep this portion of her old life secret and only to herself.

And with the implications of what Marcy had said (and that she stopped herself before remarking about the fall of the Empire), it does sound like it took awhile for Leif’s legacy to be able to create the Plantar community that we see in the show today.

But her exploits and creativity lead to something very apparent, being that a lot of her more daring and adventurous descendants used the basement as a way to explore, dabble, and create as the castes began to form, solidify, and the concepts of doing more extraordinary things became dangerous due to political warfare and tensions.

You have Great Uncle Skip Plantar with his many biological experiments.

PolliAnna’s armory and fighting simulation that helped during many series of political intrigues and strife.

And in Emma the Newt, who was not only an honorary Plantar, but kept many of her curiosities and trinkets safe and sound and preserved for the many generations afterwards.

Leif may have wanted to keep a low-profile, but there is something so heartwarming in knowing that the Plantar family used her previous attempts of escape from captivity as something more than just a moment of survival.

They created new levels of the basement. They stored different treasures, memorabilia, memories with the passing times. Years introduced makeshift pathways, storage units, galleries, hidden doors, and as time aged the history beneath the house became more rich, plentiful, and full of life as a refuge.

A refuge for ingenuity, curiosity, and a sliver of hope when everything fell down around them in conflict.

And now it’s doing the same thing, a thousand years later.

[silvery-orchid]

pearl.

YAN! DOTTORE X READER

synopsis: your relationship with the second fatui harbinger is odd in more ways than one. but, you refuse to let him lie about your own humanity. warnings: yan! but not traditional captivity, mentions of scalpels and knives + experiments, very suggestive at parts, toxic relationship, reader is gn! but mentions of wearing hospital gowns, 1.4k.

for exactly three years now this has been going on. for exactly three years ever since dottore found you the two of you have been at a standstill. dottore keeps insisting how you are not human and you, with all of your might, keep claiming differently. dottore cannot be right and you won’t allow him to be. you are human completely and you have to be – only humans are this adaptable for their survival.  

dottore still disagrees. he reminds you how yes, humans can get lost in the time of it all, but the only reason you know that it has indeed been 3 years is because he lets you mark a calendar. you do it diligently. he provided you your own room – grander than the ones for his regular....‘experiments’ you call them as such instead of fellow humans because it makes you feel more distant.   he lets you use whatever ink you wish to cross out the days passing but he reminds you that, if by some chance, he was interested in your perception of time – he would find ways to mess with it easily.   he also says someone truly human wouldn’t create that distance by calling others he uses only experiments but you claim it is a natural defence mechanism humans create to subdue the trauma. dottore rolls his eyes and carries on with whatever he was doing to you prior.  

you couldn’t help but ask him one day about his own humanity. it was raining outside; the impactful sound of the rain drops made you more curious while he was emptying a syringe and taking off his white gloves.  

‘do you consider yourself human, dottore?’   he let you address him without the title. in your mind, he did so because humans crave to be called by their names. egotistical but meaningful amongst many human habits.  

‘oh, are you unable to cope with you not being one so now you are starting to question my own humanity?’  ‘i am a human. that should be clear to you after 3 years. but what about you?’  ‘i am a human that traded his humanity. that is all.’  

and he said it so nonchalantly before he left the room that it caused you to shiver. it wasn’t the hospital gown or the cold room that led to that; deep down you knew.  

your situation was quite odd. you were living in a better and cleaner room than the rest, you were able to go outside and take walks and enjoy food or art that you wanted and with it all; you still were not free. he was the second fatui harbinger, the source of your main grieving – emotional and physical – and you still did not even think about leaving.  

something deeper inside of you made you stay. it wasn’t love or anything as foolish as that, you were not attached to him – some deep part of you wanted to prove that man just how wrong he was. he traded in his humanity for knowledge – just imagined how he would fall to his knees after making that wrong assumption about you.  

you were human and the heretic doctor was wrong. he had to be. you didn’t fight back when he took your blood or when he told you to participate in his experiments. you didn’t fight back when he would feed you from his own hand or by making your tongue curl up around the fork. you didn’t fight back when he would use a scalpel or the kitchen knife to open up your shirt and proceed to fuck you.  

why? there was no need to. his ultimate demise would be being wrong about you. treating him nonchalantly and not resisting would cause him more pain in your mind. it doesn’t matter what others thought of you. in your humanity, you would persist.  

but truly, you knew just how wrong some things were. you do not remember your life prior to the fatui. capitano was the one who found you wandering around in a forest (of which nation? you do not know). he was the one to take you in and train you at first. dottore just showed up one day, whispered something into capitano’s ear and within the next hour you were transferred into the hands of this man who claimed to have a fascination with you.  

the first thing he ever told you was that you were not a human. something about delusions and the power that accelerates aging and how you should have showed symptoms but never did. in all honesty, you couldn’t find it important enough to care. he also made comments about your pain tolerance and just how resilient to were. something told you he was the one who wanted to inflict unimaginable things upon every fascination he had – it was just too bad you were one of them. serving under capitano was easier – he never made you question your humanity.  

for 3 years now dottore has been trying to prove you were an anomaly. but it didn’t matter how many blood tests he ran, how many concoctions you’ve had to swallow, how many of his touches you’ve felt – he has failed to provide concrete evidence. you were just a human, unaffected by delusions – a stronger human than the rest – and you continue to believe so.  

in reality, dottore does not know what you are. are you a doll created by some technology so advanced he cannot recognize? are you a remnant of a past time that has taken on a human form? perhaps you are a homunculus or a segment of someone? you wish all those questions would drive him crazy, you wish they would make him desperate and hasty – but he continues on with it time after time. like he has all the leisure of this world – like he isn’t an egotistical bastard who tortures you just to prove a wrong hypothesis.  

3 years and 12 days was marked on the calendar today. you are once again in his lab, wearing a see-through hospital gown. you’ve read a new book – it makes you think of a comment.  

‘well, doctor...’ is how you start and dottore resists the urge to jab the needle in harsher because he knows you deliberately used his title to create a reaction.   ‘i’ve read a book last night’ , you continue and dottore throws the needle into the bin ‘that would describe this situation as me being a diamond in the rough.’  

you look so proud of yourself, so amused at your own comment that dottore simply has to laugh. it makes you roll your eyes and you want to get off the table onto your own feet but his hands on your hips keep you in place.  

‘a diamond? really? is that truly how you see yourself?’  ‘yes. i do not see why you felt the need to laugh.’   ‘hmm, tell me, do you know how pearls come to be?’ his hands have started to rub circles into your hips now.  

you bite your tongue. the truth is, you don’t know. you know where they are found, how expensive they are and how people kill for them. but you don’t know how they come to be.  

‘i suppose you will enlighten me.’  ‘they are formed from a single grain of sand or a wayward food particle. just a single grain can get trapped in the oyster and when it does it gets wrapped upon strings of saliva and through that process – a pearl comes to exist.’  ‘so instead of a diamond, i am a pearl to you?’  ‘utter nonsense.’ his fingernails are digging into your hips now and his smirk stretches out.   ‘you are an oyster. what i have been trying to find for these three years is the pearl inside of you.’  

it makes you mad. you can feel the anger flushing all the way to your fingertips.  

‘then what are you dottore? huh?’  this time dottore doesn’t laugh. instead, he pushes you down onto the table again completely, before he gets on top of you. with all of his messed-up nature, he finds this the perfect time to kiss your lips. he continues to trail kisses down your neck and just when he gets to your collarbone, he stops to look down at you.    ‘isn’t it obvious?’ his red eyes were never this deep of a color.   ‘i am the knife that will break you open to find that pearl.’  

a/n: you do not understand how feral my dreams about this man actually are !!

[gofancyninjaworld]

Hands

I'm no artist, but I do appreciate good art when I see it. A little love then for Murata's portrayal of hands. I first wrote this sometime in 2016, one of my first posts on the OPM subreddit. I think it it’s still good!

I may tend to dig into different aspects of OPM, but it's only to consider the aspects that the writing or art actually cares about. For example, I'm yet to consider the geopolitics of OPM -- it's not important to ONE and I leave it there.

I like looking at hands in general, but my gateway drug were Genos's. Something was naggingly familiar about them, and then I realised: they're Jack Kirby hands, big, beautiful Kirby hands! Anyone who considers affordances in a mechanical rendering is my friend -- they look like they might almost work. For example he doesn't have the equivalent of metacarpals (the bones in the palm of your hand) as the palm needs to be a solid piece for the incineration cannon exhausts. It means that the width of his hand is fixed and he can’t reshape his hand for many of the precision grips we take for granted. So Murata has taken it into account, for example, when you realise that he has a telescoping thumb in some arm sets to compensate. We wouldn't have minded if Murata didn't consider such detail so consistently, but when someone works that hard to to get the trifles right, I have to care too. And then I started to look at other characters' hands too.

drawn like some thought has gone into how to engineer a functional hand rather than metal textures drawn over a regular hand -- I just fell in love with Murata’s art over this.

By and large Murata has given regular characters their own hands, rather than generic ones (which again we wouldn't have noticed or cared about). My other favourites then:

Saitama's hands have surprisingly long fingers. One almost doubts that they belong on a fighter... and then they curl into that fist. All part of the character everyone loves to underestimate.

doesn’t it look like he should be a pianist?

Garou has some of the longest fingers I've seen on a non-deformed character -- when he flips you off, you stay flipped off. But they don't create a sense of delicacy: while they're long and thin, they look as hard as bone. They fit so well with his fighting style -- when he spears them into his opponent, their devastating impact is utterly believable.

At the opposite end to delicate are Tank Top Master's. Again, without being deformed, his are these giant meat hooks that form into wrecking ball fists. The brutality of those hands contrasts so clearly with the kind face he has.

Sometimes it's not the look of the hands that's notable, but what the characters do with them instead. In that respect, Metal Bat is particularly noteworthy. He has hungry hands: they seemingly cannot hang at his side but must be touching something, holding a bat, stuck in his pockets, his sister's hand, his own hands, something. It adds a sense of restless energy to his character that you notice, but don't realise that you do.

this is as still as you’ll ever find Metal Bat

A very different kind of restlessness comes across in Dr. Genus's hands: he has bitten his fingernails to the quick, which go so well with the haunted look he wears.

Hands I was curious about then:

Dr. Kuseno. I hadn't noticed until I was compiling this list, but I've not seen them at all. They're only ever tightly locked behind his back. Everything he does is effected through robots. Now I'm curious. Well the years pass and chapter 89 rolls round and we get to see the doctor’s hands: they’re tiny, in keeping with the rest of his dimunitive self. And they’re not afraid to touch Genos. But next day comes round and they’re right back behind his back.

needless to say, this is one of my favourite panels: the care that’s gone into every character’s hands is excellent. I especially like the detail of Bang being left-handed, and notice that Genos’s fingers swivel from the knuckle to allow him to grip the chopsticks precisely. 

Looking at hands, can I draw attention to King’s for a moment?  I thought they looked a bit familiar. And then I realised that Murata has referenced his own hands to give to King. It just gives me the biggest smile.

Even in something so small, Murata has taken care to make sure it speaks to who characters are.

[new-revenant]

Mirror World of Mine AU art hoopla! It’s the Lunch Lady scene but it’s uh different. Danny’s basically saying that only he has the capability to defeat the Lunch Lady. I have a story bit under the cut. This is making me want to write a whole fic for this AU. Anyways, if you don’t know anything about this AU, just look at my previous posts about it under the MWofM AU tag. This is a magic AU. Neil is this AU Danny. Regular Danny also exists in this AU. Possession ieskai. You read that right.

After Neil had darted to the bathroom after the “garbage fight” he managed to start, Sam and Tucker barely had a moment to settle down before the temperature in the cafeteria started to plummet.

“Brr, since when did it get so cold?” Sam asked, shivering. Tucker shrugged, shivering as well.

“Maybe some garbage got in the AC?” Tucker suggested.

“It’s not garbage-“ Sam started before being abruptly cut off by a screech coming from the kitchen. Everyone in the cafeteria started looking over toward the noise, and promptly started panicking. Did they even notice the wind that came from nowhere? And that it started to swirl over to the kitchen? Sam and Tucker noticed.

“Sam, I think we might have a,” -Tucker leaned closer to Sam to whisper- “we might have a ghost problem.”

“Hopefully the ghost doesn’t show up psychically,” Sam whispered back.

Then the ghost appeared. A sweet looking lunch lady, clad with pink clothes and a white apron, seeming rather confused.

“Hello dearies, I’ve noticed that there isn’t any meatloaf, even though it was supposed to be served today, according to the menu,” the Lunch Lady asked quite calmly.

“Well it was going to be served until someone changed the menu,” Tucker glared at Sam, who responded with a huff.

Then the ghost’s appearance shifted. She got bigger, and her white hair outside of her cap burst into flames.

Green flames surrounded her body as she yelled, “WHO CHANGED THE MENU?!”

“You just had to tell her didn’t you?” Sam hissed through gritted teeth.

“What was I supposed to say?” Tucker asked.

“Nothing! Say nothing!”

“THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR 50 YEARS!” The Lunch Lady continued. She growled as a green vortex appeared above her.

“We’re done for!” Someone yelled. Sam and Tucker could only agree with that sentiment-they had no idea how to deal with a ghost. Maybe if Sam actually bothered to learn more about her psychic powers, and if Tucker knew anything about supernatural creatures that aren’t vampires or werebeasts, maybe, just maybe they could’ve done something. And it looked like Sam was going to be the Lunch Lady’s first target, as the ghost pointed a fist of green at her.

“WERE YOU THE ONE TO CHANGE THE MENU?!” The Lunch Lady questioned.

“Um, maybe?” Sam smiled nervously. That was apparently a good enough answer for the Lunch Lady to lift one of nearby tables to throw at her.

A haunting laughter sounded out from every corner of the room. The Lunch Lady paused, lowering the table. The air seemed to still for a moment, returning to the same calm of before. Sam gave a sigh of relief before remembering the laughter.

A figure phased up through the middle of the floor. Another ghost, a boy that looked around her age. His lower face was covered by a white cloak that enveloped his entire body, only the toes of his white boots poking out from under it.

“It isn’t very professional to attack students lady,” the new ghost told the Lunch Lady with much more confidence in his voice then anyone else would have in this situation.

“Well someone changed the menu,” the Lunch Lady responded.

“The same menu that was in place for 50 years? How awful.” The new ghost seemed to know about the menu then. Or he was just listening in.

“Yes! You understand me then!”

“Oh I understand. I understand that you’re putting your anger onto innocent students!”

The oppressive air returned with the Lunch Lady’s anger, “LUNCH IS SACRED, LUNCH HAS RULES, HOW DARE YOU DEFILE IT’S IMPORTANCE!”

The new ghost just laughed. He clasped his hands together, and shaped a giant, odd looking scythe out of ice in mear seconds.

“I don’t think I’m defiling lunch’s importance, I’m just standing up for these kids.” The new ghost said. He stuck the end of his scythe into the floor and floated to stand on top of tip of it. He looked over to Sam and Tucker specifically, looking between the two before his bright green eyes settled on Sam. Sam looked back, but couldn’t bare to look him in the eyes. She focused on his white hair, which had a golden sheen on the tips of it.

“I think we’re all aware that without me, Danny Phantom,“ -the ghost-Danny Phantom-threw his hands out flamboyantly, unveiling the green coloring of the inside of the cloak- “You wouldn’t have a GHOST of a chance~“ He cackled after saying that, whether it because of his pun of for some other reason.

“Now let’s get this haunt on the road!” Danny pulled out the ice scythe from the floor and launched himself at the Lunch Lady, and the fight began.

Both Sam and Tucker wished they went to bathroom like Neil did.