#He is also so dang realistic

[nanaarchy]

Hey. So. Reblogging this post again. I may or may not have spent the night doing... research.

Here's a list of every canonical Mr. Lancer fact.

And yes, I did re-watch the show for this. And re-read the comics.

No canonical first name. He's just Mr Lancer. Surname comes from a café near Nickelodeon HQ.

Crossdresses for fun, and then uses a photo on his desk of him crossdressing as emotional blackmail. Wore a red wig and a pink sparkly dress.

Owns a green tuxedo suit with a blue undershirt that he wears for prom events. Honestly pretty cute.

Huge fan of Shakespeare, and organizes the Casper High theater performances. Quotes plays a lot. Thinks Danny is a surprisingly good actor (when given a script. Danny can't improvise for the half-life of him).

Has both striped-pink and Shakespeare-themed underwear.

Super close to Jazz. She trusts him more than any other teacher, and he supported her every step of her education. She comes to him to talk about Danny. 10/10

"Ahh, everybody's mood has lifted, as though some gloomy malevolence has been shooed away. Your disappearing act worked marvelously," is an actual quote from the show. He unironically talks like this.

Despite being bald, he’s so hairy it's concerning. So much back hair. Shaves constantly.

Good friends (and silly rivals) with Tetslaff.

Has a Casper High Ravens coffee mug.

The staff alternates hosting the Halloween Haunted House every year. He thus has a very high tolerance to jumpscare horrors.

Hates pop music.

Literally suspended everyone who skipped class to go to Ember's show.

His license plate is “LNCR.” He drives an old blue car.

His biggest fear is not understanding basic math. Hates the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

Teaches English and History (and occasionally Maths). Also taught Astronomy as an elective. Might be an overall course coordinator? He's also the Vice Principal, right under Ishiyama.

Also, one of Lancer's main staff offices has security cameras, apparently? It's a very pink office with a globe and a few chairs. It shows up every few episodes in season 1 as a surprisingly consistent background. It's where he does his PTA meetings.

Was stuck in a closet for a whole weekend. RIP

Was the one that initiated school-wide ghost drills and actual ghost protection (even if the safety measures started off a little lame).

Collects tiny trains in his basement, and has a blue train conductor outfit to match. Calls the model town “Lancerville.”

The first male cheerleader at Casper High, and possibly the district. Main organizer of Spirit Week, and full of school spirit.

Loves meat, and made a BBQ for the teachers when Sam insisted on the vegan menus. This was, I might note, right before ghosts first showed up.

Handcuffed C.A.T test answers to his wrist.

Was honestly really disrespectful towards minimal wage jobs, especially those that worked at the Nasty Burger. Not cool, Lancer.

In the TUE timeline, was forgotten after he died :(

Swears in book titles. All books are context-relevant, so that the themes, characters, or double meanings of the title apply to the situation.

Buys his own Christmas gifts. Also, he has a fireplace, and his living room is so brown.

Horrible reputation amongst students, mostly because they think he's very lame. Really bad at addressing bullying, somewhat because he also suffers it. He's constantly busy with students calling him for stuff.

Has a metal plate with his name to make his desk look fancy. Also has a framed photo with three rebel students, which might imply he used to be a foster parent or something of sort.

Commits tax fraud! All adults in Amity Park do. I'm led to believe it's to cover up the financial costs of ghost disasters, but the reason is never confirmed. Also openly refuses to cooperate with the feds (GIW) until they threaten him with his tax crimes. Love that he's anti-fed. Good for him.

Canonically a pro gamer. Loves old sci-fi and talks to himself while gaming. Beat the main trio. Goes to the arcade when he can.

Honestly pretty biased at first; especially towards the jocks, because of aforementioned hyper school spirit. He also gave the worst detentions, including physical labor. Behavior improved as the series progressed, thank goodness.

Happiest when he sees his students succeed. He is so proud of them, he wants nothing but the best for them in life. He actively tries to help them study and gives them so many chances. Amazing.

Led the school trip with Tetslaff. She made him wear a bear costume "to keep the kids happy and take their minds off the disappearances." He did it without hesitation. He was SO concerned for students when they started disappearing :(

Reads books on teenage behavior and teen jargon, such as "How to Sound Hip for the Unhip." That's very skibidi rizz, no cap.

Loved dry white toast. Of course he does.

Genuinely concerned Danny wasn't eating enough. Also went out of his way to make sure that Danny got to the safe area during a ghost attack.

Tried to roll a boulder up a hill like Sisyphus and almost succeeded.

Uses a fire extinguisher to protect his students from a monster. Hell yeah.

Also used to be paid per grade, which is in itself a terrible system. Thus sees his students' failures as a measurable reflection of his own.

Has a very nice bathroom at home, actually. It's teal with some checkered patterns and a deconstructed flower painting. Good design.

Helped run Dora's beauty pageant, which went horribly wrong in every way. Has three lines in that episode and he speaks Old English the entire time??

Also tried to start a school radio, which also went horribly wrong.

Used to like the Fenton parents, but not as much now, both for letting Danny "slack off" and repeatedly targeting him with ghost weapons.

Surprisingly, almost as tall as Jack Fenton.

Take this, use it for any blorbo reasons.

I'm so obsessed with canon Mr. Lancer. He's a gamer. He dresses in drag. He's fat with lots of body hair. He has a vanity plate of his own last name. He was Casper High's first male cheerleader. He's committed tax fraud

[hislittleraincloud]

It was in the eye of awe that I saw her, her smile a litote of a simile, assimilating me like the quietest white Northern Light; far less ruined, but instead as whole as the sky allowed.

— Jonathan Miller, 11/2023

[py-dreamer]

@dynamicsimp hope ya like it!

EYESHOT AU DITY

I literally did this in one day- help.

So yeah, I tried out the gosh-dang challenge and honestly?

Quite happy with how it came out! It was very interesting and actually very fun working on a piece with a monochrome pink palette!

Gosh, I haven't gotten to use my REAL lineless style (I use it for stickers but I haven't done any stickers in forever) where all the cel shading is real harsh and as it says in the title: no outline.

Lately, I've been more focused on lighting and texture in my digital works and just making everything 'softer' and more 'realistic' but dang, I forgot how much I missed just using my harsh and more cartoony style.

But because it looked good, here's the one with some light:

I am very happy especially since I do believe there is some improvement in the style.

(In that it doesn't look as amateur as when I first started out. But I think that's mostly cause I used monochrome here)

Does anyone else get that struggle? Feeling like you're not advancing then keep pushing yourself to change and improve but also really missing the original style?

Anyways some of y'all might be wondering where I've been for pride month....

I PROMISE IT'S NOT CAUSE I HATE PRIDE MONTH OR LGBTQ+ PLEASE PUT YOUR PITCHFORKS DOWN!!!!!

Mainly it has mostly been art block and just demotivation especially since I'm STILL WORKING ON THAT BIG PROJECT UGHHGHHHGGGHHGG.

(I'm not blaming y'all I'm just feral)

And just general procrastination.

BUT.

I do have another project in the works. So to any of my lovely marshiemallows who have seen my previous posts,

you'd know that I'm very...opinionated about Macaque. More specifically his attitude in canon and how the fandom treats him.

(Keep in mind the thing was planned before s5)

DISCLAIMER: Again, I do enjoy Mac's character. I just think he's a bit of a d!ck and kinda hates how a lot of the fandom (not all) brushes that over and throws the bucket of Wukong's sins down on the king's head.

(I also would not hesitate to wack him with a stop sign on the chopping block if given the chance /hj)

But without further ado I decided to do something other than complain and present you guys this:

Yay! So if you're into Macaca bullying, join the Mac bullying train! CHOO CHOO!

(also big thanks to @furornocturna for beta reading and helping with characterizations and stuff. There will be another post just detailing bout the fic later but yea go check them out, their work's great)

AND HAPPY ANIVERSARY TO DYNAMICSIMP FOR THE AU!

[wc-confessions]

I think it's still fucked up that Alderheart was forced into being a Med. Cat because he needed more time and training than most apprentices.

I know that's not the whole story, but damn does this whole situation make me mad. When Bramblestar breaks the news to him that he MUST be a Medicine Cat, he literally says "Oh yeah it's the will of God, kiddo!!!!!" and then refuses to elaborate while he expects him to just. Not get upset by that?

And then when he does realistically get upset, Molewhisker, the person who should be advocating for him, reaffirms that yeah actually you really suck Alderpaw!! You are worthless because you can't hunt or fight despite only being in training for a month now!!! Now shut up and get into the Medicine Den you worthless fuck

And Leafpool and Jayfeather? Oh yeah they don't care that this child is being forced into this job because his dad is going on a powertrip. Oh yeah we definitely got a vision from God and it was definitely about you, despite the fact that there are so many cats with white tail tips that it could be about literally anyone else in the world.

And this is presented as a good thing, apparently. Ignoring the fact that he gets a prophecy/quest later on, I don't think it's good to tell anyone that oh yeah you need to change professions because you're taking too long to learn. Yeah you really suck at your job right now, so I am going to force you into a new job you don't want and there's nothing you can do about it because I said so. Improvement? Working hard and learning? What's that? Yeah I can't hear you, it's the will of God, sorry buddy :(((

Like. It just makes me so mad to think that Alderpaw was essentially punished for needing more help than most cats. Like come on, would it really be so hard to monitor his progress a little more and give him more time without judging or scolding him? And would it be so difficult to not shame him every time he misses an "easy" catch, or scream at him whenever he gets lost in a daydream, or fuck up his self-esteem by not even offering him praise when he succeeds?

And why didn't anyone stick up for him at all, considering that Bramblestar & Co. confronted him publicly with this? Squirrelflight? Lionblaze? Sparkpaw? Jayfeather, who was also forced to be a Med. Cat? Why didn't anyone push back against this? The whole prophecy/vision is sketchy as hell considering that the only hint they got was a white tail tipped cat. Somebody should've questioned this more.

Oh dang this is getting long. Umm. So. That's the end, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk guys!! And thank you to Alderheart for simply existing in this world, love you dude :)

ㅤ

[factual-fantasy]

19 Asks! :00 Thank you! :DD 🧁

And now you see my frustration and lack of patience. <XDD

Its the easiest to follow boundary that I can think of. Yet people still wanna fuss about it and send me horrible messages and run me down. Calling me selfish, ungrateful, spoiled.. Its exhausting. :( 💔

Sorry, I don't take requests. :/

Do beasts like that exist in the game?? :00 Dang, that's spooky-

Well, I imagine that Seafoam, Octo, Louis and any other tough guy on the ship would go down there and weed it out. Dragging it up onto the deck so that Blue Beauty could snatch it and dispose if it however she needed to <XDD 💀

I must specify that my cookie run characters are not in "my version" of the world- <:0 as in I didn't create the world they live in and how it works-

These cookie characters are fan OCs for an existing game! And note, its a game that I know next to nothing about! <:( I only researched enough to make characters that might fit into that universe somewhat realistically,, other than that, I've got nothing! :(

So about a pirate community being led by a King or Queen of some other chocolate brands..?.. aaaaaa I have no idea! <:0 Its not my world! Does it fit? I don't know.. Sorry.. :(((

@yourstrulylightstar283

Thank you <:) but hey, I have high hopes that this trial will end within the next few weeks! :D ..I really hope it will :')

@neo-metalscottic

:DD No problem! While I am spending an unfortunate amount of my time just lounging around trying to feel better.. I at least want to get around to answering asks! Its darn near my favorite part of running this blog after all! <XDD

When it comes to the Commander, he is not meant to have any fancy powers like in the movie or from Kamek. Magic in my universe is meant to be a very complicated practice. Something that would take years of studying and training to perfect. At least to the level where it can be used reliably in combat.. What I mean by this, is I don't think there's any magic related tricks that the Commander could "pick up" or be taught.. Magic also has everything to do with a magikoopa's gem staff thing, soo... <://

Though I suppose that the "superspeed flight" and the "self destruct" aspect could be incorporated into the Blue Parakoopa species somehow.. Perhaps due to the shape of their winds and flying styles, they could be incredibly fast. And Since they are so big and sturdy, perhaps they have been known to rocket towards their enemy and come crashing down onto/into them with all their might. Completely obliterating what ever they happen to hit. Like an explosion! XD Hmm.. I might just adopt that XDD Thanks for the idea!

Also he might make for a decent sparring partner if he was asked to do so! :0 though that's not his primary job..

As for Larry, unfortunately I've thought about him the least amongst the Koopalings. :((( Though I do intend to keep his star mark somehow.. and I didn't know about the music thing! :0 My Larry definitely wouldn't be a DJ, but I could certainly add an interest in music into his character! :0 Sounds like you kind'a built a bit of Larry for me! XD

@kaylee4509

Thank you so much!! I'm glad to hear it! :DD And "like spam", XDD there's no such thing on my blog! I consider it a huge compliment! :DD

@ripchaos69

:DD Thank you very much!! I'm glad you like what I've made!! :}} ✨💖✨

Me neither man, me neither. If someone else had set a boundary like that I would just drop it no questions asked. I don't get why its so hard for others to do the same.. and its such a small and simple boundary at that. It just baffles me, it really does. :'((

@petra-creat0r

I always knew/assumed that's why people harp on me so much about it. "All other artists like it. So why don't you like it? You make no sense."

I understand how everyone else sees it, but even then I wish people would get the message and just leave me alone about it. You know?

When I set a boundary, don't come into my ask box and question me about it. Don't start criticizing me or send me death threats or call me selfish and ungrateful. As has happened before..

Just read the boundary, "please do not make fanart of any kind for me" and then leave it/me alone. Its all I ask. :( I promise I would/will do the same for you, 💖

Thank you for the kind message and support, it really means a lot <:}

I'm doing by best every day to heal and work on myself as much as I can. I'm hoping to see improvements soon! <:}

@jennifergacha

Sorry, I don't take requests. But it sounds like you already have a good idea goin. Why not give it a go yourself? :0

:DDD Thank you so much!! That means the world!! :}} 💖

I have not :( I've seen and heard wonderful things about it though! No doubt its an awesome show :}}

@littlelightfish

WAAHAHAGG THANK YOU!! :DDD Nothing means more to me than to see people so passionate about my original characters! My ORIGINAL! CHARACTERS!! 😭😭💖💖💖 IM SO HONORED!!

XDD No no don't worry! You're fine! :}

Now, I do advise that people don't shove headcannons onto my charaters- BUT! I say this because in the past people have shipped my original characters together and have put mental illness and sexuality headcannons on themm.. which is just not ok. It made me super uncomfortable and should be a no brainer. Don't do that with peoples personal characters unless they say they are ok with it-

But this is a bit different, taking what I've already established and just gushing about it/digging into it a little deeper is alright! Honestly its such an honor! :DD It makes me very happi :}}} 💖💖

@jayden-for-now

@komikudikentalendo

:(( I been goin through it ngl. But I'm sure in a few weeks and maybe after I get a couple good rainy days under my belt? I'll be back to my old squiggly self :}

@beryl-shade (First link/video in question) (Second link/video in question)

I like to look at my cookie crew through more "serious" glasses. I don't think they ever would be involved in a coordinated musical number..

But even if they were, I'm not too sure how they'd react/feel.. :( I know Octo and Spidercrab wouldn't be having a good time though, that's for sure! XDD

[shepherds-of-haven]

I love the thought of the MC telling the RO's that they kissed Guard kun and offered to meet them later to gain entry into the city and Chase just going "Nice" while Blade on the other side of the spectrum just being absolutely appalled that the MC had to go through such lengths lol.

Blade: *immediately stewing on how he can use his power to get Guard-kun fired for corruption and abuse of power... ironically as he kind of abuses his power to do so LOL* *in other words seething with hate and jealousy and annoyance but channeling that into professional career-based murder*

Trouble: I don't think he would register right away that "MC offered to fuck a guy to get something out of it," his brain would just get stuck on "that guy was not nice to MC/put them in a position they shouldn't have to be in" and he'd just blankly looking over his shoulder while his brain went must put the beat down on that man now... Like his feet would automatically already be redirecting him back towards Guard-kun! MC: "waIT--"

Tallys: she's silent on the surface but inside she wants to tear Guard-kun to pieces with her teeth

Shery: I think she'd be quite shocked by this revelation, especially by MC's hypothetically-casual delivery of it! It'd make her wonder how often this sort of thing happens and it would make her feel very naive and sheltered about the way the world works... Overall she'd feel bad that MC was put in the position where they felt like they had to offer sex just to get into the city, but because they said it so lightly, she wouldn't be sure if she should remark on it or offer any sympathy or indignation and would just awkwardly let the moment pass without comment!

Riel: he wouldn't really give any outward reaction, like he'd just be like "oh. interesting." but he's probably getting that guy fired IMMEDIATELY lol what if he's doing the same thing to other people!! this cannot stand!! Also he'd be giving MC just a little bit of a side eye for so casually offering sex to a stranger, but also that'd be commingled with a little bit of respect for their resourcefulness and cunning!

Chase: "oh yeah the old 'I'll have sex with you if you give me what I want' trick. I am familiar"

Red: I think he wouldn't really know what to make of that information at first... I think he'd be mostly appalled that Guard-kun did that and would judge him for being an overall gross scumbag, but also he'd be like, yeah it's MC, realistically who wouldn't fall for that

Ayla: unfazed. "oh dang. so did you do it or... no? yeah, I don't blame you, you could do better. that mustache is fucked up"

Briony: she'd be righteously indignant on MC's behalf and would loudly be asking if she should go fight the guy. she'd also be a bit jealous, so her desire to fight him would partially be moral outrage because he tried to take advantage of MC and also "you bastard, why did MC offer to sleep with you and not with meee 😭 I'll kill you!!! 😭" (In a crushing stage!)

Lavinet: if they're just friends, Lavinet actually respects this as a baller move LOL but if they're on a romance route, Lavinet is simultaneously SHOOK that this happened, jealous, huffy, annoyed by her own jealousy and huffiness, and just generally would not take this very well! She'd be stewing but she'd try to let it pass, mostly just out of pride and desire to show that it didn't affect her!

[lennsart]

Hey hey hey you should talk about your blorbos

Should I ? :0 don't mind if I do !

So. LEGEND LEGEND LEGEND—

Sorry. But uh. Headcanons time !

I'm gonna talk about headcanons I have for him and the way I write him, so. If it sounds ooc, no it doesn't. He personally told these things to me

- And this warning is mostly for this one, but Legend is like a cat to me, in the sense that : he loves affection. He will melt into any hug. He sleeps better when he's held. Will he ask for it, though ? Fuck no, he'd rather die, get away from him (please pat his head)

- I think he started adventuring really young. I often put him at 9 or 10 in Alttp, mostly for drama value ngl, but also so that he can realistically be the veteran without needing for him to do one quest after the other without breaks. Get this poor guy some time to process a little... Not nearly enough, but still, a little !

- His uncle did come back after he wished for it with the Triforce, but... I don't think you can come back from the dead without consequences. I think he'll be ill and die either before Link's Awakening or Triforce Heroes— games where we see Link going on a quest by his own design. He needed to get away from his home for a while.

It's not all bad, though, and they had time to say goodbye at least ! And Uncle was glad to come back, not going to make it a 'came back wrong' horror story lmao—

- Ok, a funnier : ever since the dark world, bunnies actually follow Legend wherever he goes. I do have a one shot idea on this one, but to summarize : he can't say he likes this quirk because the bunnies do remind him of his dark world form, but also... They're bunny rabbits. They're adorable. He cuddles them in secret. No one must know

- On that note, I like to think that bunnies are Ravio's special interest. Like, there aren't any in Lorule anymore, but there were books about it and he read them all... and when he came to Hyrule, he absolutely lost his shit.

If you add this to the 'bunnies follow Legend' previous thing, he absolutely abuses from this ability to pet bunnies. He gave names to the regular visitors. He's living his dream !

...Dang, I'm sure I have more but my brain is kinda fried, so that's all I got for now. Hope you liked it ? Thank you so much for the ask, such a nice surprise ! :D

[pseudoartistpostsstuff]

Hello. Can I request scenario of yan Leon getting arrested for kidnapped his "love" for at least a year and Reader visiting him in jail for the first time in months? Be it headcanons or fic is your choice.

Also please don't use daddy kink. I'm sorry but I'm just... not into it.

I hope you had a nice day 💚

I hope you have an awesome day as well, thank you! Also, I hope this will be to your liking, thank you for the request!

Notes: I may have written too much more than requested, sorry I really don't know what came over me (I wish I knew because dang)

This is most likely an older Leon, since cellphones and all, but you can imagine him up to Leon from RE4!

You didn't specify if you wanted NSFW or not, so I didn't put it, just to be sure, however if you did want it, do request! Be as specific as you want, I'll try to meet your expectations.

Realistically, Leon could have stuff like PTSD and/or panic attacks, but a yandere version of him would totally use it to guilt trip the reader.

I did my research on prison visitation, keyword, my, it may be wrong, I've never visited anyone in prison, or in the US, for that matter.

TWs: Yanderism, Probably unrealistic lock picking, Kidnapping, Financial dependence, Implied NSFW, Guilt tripping, Implied stalking, Off Screen panic attacks, Stockholm syndrome.

Yandere!Leon S Kennedy x Reader

I may be late for Christmas

Yours and Leon's relationship was troubled, to say the least. Of course, you weren't surprised when it came tumbling down.

From the start, Leon had problems, however you had rose colored glasses on. From the start, you should have expected an end to the relationship, one that probably wouldn't be calm and pacific like anyone would hope for.

Leon was full of secrets, Leon was clingy, Leon was a manipulator, Leon was possessive, Leon was controlling and on top of all, he was obsessed with you. Only, you took too long to notice it.

Leon let you know from the start that he hardly had any free time, his job was time-consuming as it had him go away on long work trips, and that was okay, it was his job and the way he went about his life was none of your business. You didn't mind, in the very start, that is.

The fact he never disclosed anything about his job to you, besides that he worked for the government, was only a small part of the process that was you wanting to give up your relationship.

Because of his lack of time, whenever he did have free time, it was spent smothering you, and it's not that you minded the attention, but it got suffocating when you could barely do your own stuff, like go to your job, visit your parents, spend time with your friends and things like that. There was a wide list of things that Leon would complain about and try to coax you out of doing just to spend more time with him. At the start, you did push aside your basic responsibilities out of guilt for not spending enough time with him, letting him be your priority, like he always said you were his.

When you were away doing said responsibilities, however, Leon found other ways to make himself present, even if not physically.

That is, if you ignore the fact he was present, just not somewhere you could notice him.

Your phone was constantly blowing up, forcing you to make use of the silent option in your phone much more than you used to, having to deal with his grumpy mood when you got home, your phone full of missed phone calls and another fifty messages of "I love you", "miss you", "let me know when I can go get you" and "pick up the phone".

From time to time you checked your phone to see if there were no emergencies, sometimes having to excuse yourself to the bathroom to go and comfort him, soothe him out of his panic attacks. When those happened, his messages sounded more distressed through small changes one could easily pick up on, like "please pick up the phone" or "I need to hear your voice". Those times, when you did pick up the phone, he sounded like he was breathing too much, but at the same time out of breath, you could barely understand his words over the phone, something about him thinking you were dead just because he couldn't feel you in his hold.

As a result of those times, when he was finally calm enough to let you go back to what you were doing before, you were left pondering. You even considered the possibility that he could have been in a war. After all, what could possibly have caused him to have these types of attacks? You may not know much about panic attacks, but something told you that whatever he didn't tell you was just the missing piece of the puzzle, the one you desperately needed to be able to truly understand him, to be able to love him completely, the way that he so desperately needed, and the way you so desperately wished you could.

Besides arriving late at your appointments since Leon insisted on keeping you with him longer, distracting you with one thing or another until you were almost an hour late to stuff, most of the times you also had to drive to his apartment sooner than it was expected of you, even having to leave your job earlier just because Leon insisted there was an "emergency".

There were also those days when he basically made you skip what you had to do, calling your boss, friends or even parents to give some kind of excuse for why you wouldn't be able to be where you were supposed to while pressing your face deeper into the mattress to muffle your sounds underneath him.

Honestly, at the start, those were your favorite days. But you can only skip so many days in your job to get fired, and do so many things before your friends get sick of it and your parents grow concerned and distant.

You decided to talk with your trusted friends and see what they thought about it, and it wasn't very hard to understand that you had to reinforce your boundaries if you wanted to get your life back on track.

And you thought Leon would understand, you thought he'd be okay with it, that the conversation would flow smoothly and in the end, you'd both get what you wanted in a healthy way.

Sadly, you weren't exactly a lucky person, and neither was Leon understanding like you hoped he'd be.

The conversation was fruitless, in the end, Leon managed to make you feel guilty. Like you were in the wrong. You didn't press on, noticing that what was supposed to be just a peaceful conversation was now bordering on a discussion, one you didn't want to have, afraid you'd lose, even if you were so sure you had a fair point just hours ago.

However, Leon pressed on. He grew suspicious you didn't think about confronting him all by yourself, and he wanted to know who exactly convinced you to try and get your point across to him. He began listing your acquaintances, friends and family members until he mentioned one of your closest friend's name and your expression shifted for a moment, he scoffed.

"So that's who, huh? You really talked shit about me to them?" He shook his head and walked away with heavy footsteps while your guilt ate away at you, you betrayed his trust, even if you didn't really talk shit about him, only saying the truth while having a necessary talk with a friend who was beginning to grow more and more concerned about your well-being and safety.

But he managed to get you to feel like you needed to apologize and make it up to him. For that, he couldn't help but smirk in amusement once you weren't looking.

By making it up to him, one of the things he hinted on, was the fact you needed to put more distance between you and this friend that clearly didn't like him. Soon, more friends met that same fate.

Because of your lack of a job and inability to look for another one since Leon gobbled up all the time with you he could get, you were growing short on funds. Rent, food and other basic necessities starting to seem like they required a lot more money than they used to, when you were actually employed.

Even if you didn't express your needs to him, he started to notice how you seemed constantly anxious, and of course, even an idiot would catch on the fact that, if you didn't have a job, you didn't have money.

So he convinced you to live with him, which meant being a homemaker, basically.

Leon didn't ask you to do anything, but it felt fair, since he was taking care of all your needs you could at least do what you could to pay him back. He furrowed his eyebrows, tenderness shining in his gaze when you told him that, he pressed a sweet kiss to your lips before muttering important words against your lips. Ones you should have found alarming and not sweet.

"Love, I'm your boyfriend, not your boss. All I need from you is to stay with me and to love me."

He needed you to stay with him. Love was a second thought, a bonus. Not as important as just staying with him, he needed you, more than anything else.

His love was more than enough for the both of you, anyways.

You started to feel better, even better than how you were before, your's and other's concerns about Leon being swept under the rug. As a product of that, you felt like you should use the rest of the money you had from your job that you didn't need anymore to buy a Christmas gift to your parents, since the end of the year was approaching and you wanted to make up for the lack of visits and phone calls over the course of the last few months. That included spending Christmas at their house.

When Leon got home from another of his long work trips and initiated a long cuddling moment with you, asking you to rant about whatever you were up to during the time he was gone, as he always did, you thought that was the best time to mention to him about your little planned visit to your parents for the holiday.

You seemed so excited, wanting to bring him over as well, if only to enlighten the view your parents had of him, to show them he wasn't as bad as they made him out to be, and of course to make sure he wouldn't be left alone, since he hated being away from you so much.

He wasn't happy, of course not. Even if he was there with you, being in a completely different setting and place he wasn't used to and didn't assure was safe for you meant he had less possibilities of keeping you safe. And there was also the fact your parents didn't like him, even if you didn't tell him directly, knowing it could upset him, he heard your conversations with them and saw their texts on your phone. If even your friends were able to make you doubt him, your parents could easily put the wrong ideas in your mind about him, convincing you to leave him, the mere thought of it made his blood boil.

But as much as he wanted to express that to you, try to coax you into giving up about going, he knew better, he knew that could bring at least a sliver of suspicion into your mind, and given the previous circumstances, he couldn't risk it. He had already made it so far into the relationship, you were basically already in his grasp, only one step was left to ensure you'd stay with him till the end.

Taking away your chance of getting away from him.

Disguising that as moving you from his apartment to a whole new house at the outskirts of the city.

You didn't really question his sudden urge to move, or the location, but you should have, since one day, you just woke up with your keys and phone completely vanished.

Leon made a half assed excuse when you finally decided to confront him, but this time you didn't buy it, of course. Not even his pouty expression that normally made you cave in worked to make you change your mind about going against his wishes this time.

For the next few months, you both seemed to be in your personal hells. You made his life harder as much as you could, while he took away the last bit of freedom you had, finally and accidentally making you see how that freedom was merely an illusion, since he had been controlling your life from the start of your relationship. This made you angry, angry at him since he had no right to do this to you, and angry at yourself for putting up with this for so long and not standing up for yourself, for not listening to your friends or even your own family when they tried to warn you.

Screaming didn't work, apparently, not only his house had thick walls but he didn't have many neighbors to hear you scream, either.

Breaking windows wasn't a possibility, one strong shove of a chair was enough for you to find out about the armored glass Leon made sure to add in case you even thought about the idea of breaking through them. Of course, that didn't keep you completely from breaking the windows, the glass could be bulletproof, but at some point it had to shatter, right? But there was the fact that Leon would undoubtedly restrain you in some way from doing so before you could even get close to achieving it, so that alternative would have to stay as a last resort.

Then again, you could always pick the lock.

Common sense told you picking a lock wouldn't be as easy as it seemed in movies, but since Leon was away in another of his long ass work trips you had a lot of time to figure it out. More than enough, actually, since after using the bobby pins in many different ways you were finally able to get the door unlocked.

You didn't know if you wanted more to celebrate or cry out of happiness, so your body made the decision for you, running as quickly as your legs could take you to the nearest person, house, anything. You could even scream until someone heard and came to help you, any previous embarrassment that would have been taken in this situation was forgotten.

Safety was at fingers grasp, but to really be safe, you needed to file a police report.

At first, you hesitated to do so. Even after finally being in a safe space, at your parents house and away from the captivity Leon called a house, a home for the two of you, the one you spent a year in, maybe a few months more, since you were celebrating Christmas with your parents, as you wanted to do one year ago.

You were kind of one year late for the holiday, still, both you and your parents were happy you were alive and safe.

The whole police report filing was a hard process. You were reporting a government worker, one trusted and of importance apparently, their negative reactions made that really clear.

At the end everything went well, the reality surprising you by going against your nightmares and constant worries. The fact your parents had filed a report because of your disappearance last year having played a big part in it.

Leon was brought into prison. Finally letting you and everyone that cared about you rest.

For months, you didn't hear from him, nor did he hear from you. It was maddening for the man to stay in his cell, unaware of how you were and if he'd ever be able to hold you again.

He would, he told himself he would, everyday, that was the only thing keeping him sane. If he could even still consider himself sane.

He barely slept without you, spending his nights only being able to think, think and think some more about how and when he'd get out of that confinement to see and feel you close to him. He missed you too much, he basically only did stuff during the days because he had to, if he didn't, he wouldn't get to see you again, and he'd be damned if he didn't get to see you again.

What mostly kept you both apart were the joint efforts of both your friends and family along with the ones in the police department that knew about your story with Leon. After all, as much as you tried to rid yourself of your love for him, the one you knew wasn't natural but Stockholm syndrome, Leon wasn't, he wasn't trying at all to rid himself of the absolute love and obsession devotion he had for you. No, he was actually actively seeking you out, putting a whole lot of effort of his own into getting people to keep him updated on you, getting help from the ones that weren't trying to keep you away from him.

If he wasn't insane before, he was certainly growing closer to it now, being kept physically away from you for so long like that.

After months of Leon being kept in prison, you finally decided to visit him. Your friends and parents being firmly against it, but you were stubborn and they couldn't really deny you from doing anything, you were a free adult, you could do whatever you wanted, even if what you wanted was to go and visit your captor in prison, under the possibility that he could have changed, somehow.

They all knew you were lying to yourself. You knew you were lying to yourself.

There was a bit of hesitation in your step as you walked into the building.

Eventually, after you stated simple things as the likes of who you were visiting and who you were, along with proving what relationship you had with the inmate, receiving a quite weirded out look from the receptionist when you mentioned you were the one kidnapped by him, you finally got in, following after the guard guiding you into the visitation room.

You settled on one of the chairs inside the room, in front of a small table, another chair positioned across from you. Your eyes nervously wandered across the room, focusing more on the door you supposed Leon would soon come out of, your foot tapping against the floor rhythmically.

After what felt like a long time, but at the same time, not long enough, Leon walked inside the room, eyes finding your own quickly, his footsteps almost faltered, expression staying strong, firm, despite his glassy eyes and the slight quivering of his lip, small tells of his real reaction upon seeing again in so long. You were only able to catch onto those because of the amount of time you spent with him, he let his walls down for you, and only you.

You stood up on shaky legs, seeing him approach you with almost slowed down steps. Your worries about him being mad or having an explosive reaction upon seeing you again were discarded when he pulled you into a hug, not saying a word as his arms gently enveloped your form, his head buried against your neck, just feeling you. Your skin, your scent, your warmth, your existence.

The embrace lasted little, way less than what he really wanted. He held your hands firmly as you two stood in front of each other. You were still at a loss for words, should you apologize? Say you missed him? You were feeling a lot of emotions, most of them you were unable to even explain.

"I missed you."

You were almost scared when he opened his mouth, taking a short breath before speaking, his words sounding soft, almost like a whisper, his eyes still twinkling with unshed tears he was trying desperately to keep in.

He didn't say anything else. He knew what he did, and he knew why you reacted the way you did as well, he couldn't blame you for having done what you did, but he wasn't regretful for what he did, either.

The words stuck in your throat, you wanted to say the same thing back to him, but after opening and closing your mouth a few times he got the hint, moving on with the conversation, you had a time limit, and he wanted to make the most out of it.

"Are you okay? How are things going?" Leon gently pushed you to sit down on your chair, going and taking his as well, his hand not letting go from yours, positioning positioning your linked hands on top of the table.

He didn't want to ask if you had moved on, he didn't want to know, he wanted to entertain the thought you still loved him as much as he loved you.

"Things are okay, I have a better job now, better apartment…" Better life... The words went by unsaid, but he caught onto the hint. Your voice almost didn't register to you as you spoke, your attention being kept on your joined hands on top of the table, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of your hand. "My friends contacted me again. At least, most of them did."

You wondered if you should also ask him how things are for him in prison, but you didn't know if you wanted to know, you didn't want to feel guilty again, you already felt it enough just by thinking of him, confined in this place.

You couldn't help but feel like you had done something bad. Leon wasn't a bad man, he just… Loved you too much.

Sometimes, it was hard for you to remember that said thought wasn't one of your own, but rather one that came as a result from the time you spent in the toxic relationship you had with Leon.

"I'm happy you're okay." He didn't, but there were guards watching the two of you. He doubted he would get out of prison early if he said everything he was thinking at the moment, everything he wanted to do, everything he needed to do. If he did, his hard efforts to behave over the course of the months there would go to waste, your trust in him would be beyond salvageable, probably.

The rest of the hour went just like that, with Leon letting you talk about anything and everything going on with your life, like he did when you two cuddled once he came back from one of his long work trios. He noticed as the tension seemed to leave your body, the familiarity in the action bringing you the comfort you had missed for quite some time. It seemed your trust in him would take a while to rebuild, but not as long as he expected, or you, in fact.

When your visitation hour ended and the guard called out to you both to go back to your respective paths, Leon hugged you again, not resisting to pull you into a kiss, one he missed way too much. You didn't resist against him either, thankfully, making him smile in the brief kiss.

"I love you." He said as you pulled back, him letting you do so, unwillingly. "So much, too much."

"I love you too." The words came out smoothly, naturally. It had been so long since you last said those words to him, it felt weird, like you weren't even supposed to say that.

He smiled in response, walking away from you slowly, glancing back every now and then as you also parted.

His plan was in action, you still loved him, that would make everything so much easier, you'd be back in his arms soon enough, then he'd be able to indulge in you and give you everything he hadn't been able to in so long.

He'd make sure there were no loopholes this time, this time, you wouldn't even want to leave.

Just you wait.

[the-bigger-fish]

You know, I'm not normally the type of guy to post this sort of thing but I really want to get it off my chest....

I really enjoy Viv's shows and general works. Like, for some weird reason Helluva Boss (and to a lesser extent, Viv's body of work as a whole) has become a show i hyper fixate on the likes of which haven't been seen since I was a Transformers Prime and MLP fan back in 2010.... BUT that being said, I also find myself also very critical of her works for a lot of reasons as well. (Not as a hater, but as someone who loves the show and wants to see it improve.)

Which then leads to the reason why I wanted to get this off my chest... Stolas is a good character, heck he might even be a GREAT character..... On paper, that is.... Like, he has all the elements for what could be a really interesting and nuanced character and antagonist of the show (Antagonist meaning "Someone who contends with or opposes the Protagonist, not necessarily meaning he's evil...) Like, having a well meaning, but sheltered, privileged, and ignorant man make a mistake in the throws of passion that causes not just turmoil in his family whom he loves dearly, but also with his friends and many others as well and thus tries to make things up to everyone? That's genuinely an incredibly arc for a guy to go through and honestly quite fitting for a show that aspires to ape plays and theater so much, too. It's just that... The show never really seems to be interested/able to show him going through this arc it seems? Like, I'm not sure if it's a production issue given that animation is hard, a monthly-ish web animation is probably even harder and you can't cover everything you would want to realistically in the show proper. (Which honestly makes me wish we had side comics or prose to compliment the episodes and shorts as well, because it genuinely feels that we missed a chapter or three at times...) But like, it feels like we're told Stolas is one thing (Kind, loving father, ignorant and delusional yes, but does try his best to make things up when he realizes he's screwed up.) and then shown an entirely different character instead. (Coercive, airheaded and easily distracted to the point of forgetting important things like his daughter and the like, classist, and more than a bit obsessive towards Blitzo and way to stuck in his own world to actually be able to right his own wrongs.) And as we all know what Rule 1 of storytelling is, ESPECIALLY visual storytelling like animation:

SHOW, DON'T TELL

Now, I'm not saying Stolas has to be perfect (in all honesty, the fact he's so deeply flawed makes him farm ore engaging in a "Greek Tragedy/Shakespearian type of way fittingly enough) it's just, it feels like the show wants us to view characters and plots in general as one way, while showing us something completely different from what we've been told. (And honestly, that just might be the result of general teething issues regarding the show's hard switch from "Dark comedy where Logic and consistency need not matter as long as the joke lands" to "More serious character drama where actions do have consequences, no matter how far fetched they might be.")

Which isn't to say I'm blindly bashing the show or hating on Stolas or Viv, I think both the show and him has a lot going for it and that some of the more vocal critics take things way too far when it comes to criticizing Stolas and the show, it's just I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart as a fan what my biggest problem with some of my favorite aspects of the show are and hope they can be improved upon because dang it, I really wanna see this show be as great as i know it can be! Same with my birdy boi, too!

(P.S. Stolas totally got his fortune paving the entirety of Hell's roads with his good intentions. That's just facts right there.)

(P.P.S. If this does well enough, maybe I might write more writing critiques and general thoughts as a whole. Let me know what you guys think.)

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Bang

First posted: October 4, 2019

Focuses on: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne

Favorite bookmark: "No spoilers, but if OP doesnt write a sequel I will literally die."

Second favorite bookmark: "The noises that came from me when I reached the end of that countdown were, um, violent. 😭"

Tier: Middle of the pack

This is my “behind the scenes” series where I indulge myself horribly by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

I am so friggin' proud of this fic, I can't lie. It's such a powerful little one-shot, and I'm pleased with how I did it, and I'm pleased with the reaction it received. Gold star, me.

There was a bomb in the school. And the rec center. The Grove Street bank. The post office on Utica. The Nockaphee Building. The newly opened inner city hospital.

Once again, my dreaded foe, logistics. I knew what I wanted the crux of the story to be with Jason and Damian, so then I had to backtrack and figure out the scenario that best fit. Not one bomb but multiple, to scatter the family around (because there are so dang MANY and they're always RIGHT THERE in the city), and where a villain might be most inclined to stash them. I know where I got the names for the bank and the post office, but no idea for the Nockaphee Building. Google shrugs at me.

Bombs all over Gotham, embedded in the spines of community spaces and corporate structures like ticking tumors.

This inversion still tickles me.

Batman and Black Bat had bypassed evacuation to head straight to the source. Stop the bomber, stop the bomb. The rest of them were merely backup, protection in case the caped pair failed. Their job was evacuation. Get everyone out and keep them away. Every time they were given a new location, a segment of the core broke off until their forces were scattered wide across the city.

Again, friggin logistics. I duck and dodge plot as much as I can, because I don't care, there is so little actual plot to my fics. But I am as careful as I can be about seeding in realistic barriers into my story. I don't want to stop the whole story to say "Well, you see, they couldn't do XYZ because" or handwave away the most obvious solution to the problem at hand. I want it to make sense why each person is doing what they're doing (or not doing.)

Jason wasn’t normally a keep-tabs person, but explosions made him nervous.

Again, weaving plausible explanations and justifications in a way that also tells a little bit more about what relations are like between Jason and the fam right now.

The one moment of potential disaster—the bomb tucked into the belly of the rec center had malfunctioned and gone off on its own—had resulted only in property damage and no loss of life. The bomb maker hadn’t even set them all to run independently but instead had retained control via a mechanism that turned deliberate detonation into an all-or-nothing deal. All Batman had to do was incapacitate the bomb maker and turn off the controls.

Ugh, this bit of seeding was so tricky. A lot of partially started mental dead ends before I figured out these two pieces: setting up the rec center and the all-or-nothing bomb.

Jason wasn’t fluent in all of them—and had done his best to forget most of them—but he knew that a “hrnn,” unlike a “hnn” or a “mm,” was not a good sign.

This was plucked directly from the group chat. Certain members have a habit of reacting with typed out grunts like Bruce, so I've had time to appreciate the nuance.

Normally, it would be Nightwing’s job to nudge Batman into using his big boy words, but Officer Grayson had been on duty when the emergency alarm rang.

More logistical justification loaded and ready to go.

Jason leaped to the next building and ducked down, pressing his back against the low retention wall.

I don't know, I just like this. If this were a visual medium like a movie, you'd be able to see Jason deliberately blocking out the world so he can focus on whatever horrible thing is about to happen.

Okay. Okay. He was expecting worse. Jason scowled.

The double okay is a very me thing. There are two different tones involved but that's hard to invoke in writing.

Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. This was why Jason refused to be affiliated with these people. They were all idiots. “I didn’t want Batman to worry.” Yeah, because Batman wasn’t a grown adult who couldn’t handle his own crap. Obviously. So the little gremlin had lied about where he was, concealed an injury, and now was calling Hood like his own personal Uber. And Jason was going to let him, because he was also an idiot, apparently. “You’re a brat, you know that?” Jason growled as he hauled himself to his feet again. “Fine. Fine! Where are you?”

I personally l o v e this because right now Jason doesn't actually know what's going on, he just thinks he does, so you get to see his reaction to the assumed situation of "The baby of the family did something stupid and got hurt so I get to be mad about that but obviously I'm still going to help and then I'm probably going to make his life miserable for worrying me retroactively."

“The shelving units fell on me. I extricated myself, but something is blocking the doors. I can’t—I am—I made it to the supply closet.”

Damian is being amazingly patient through all this, if you think about it. But I guess he doesn't want to have to say it all out loud yet, so maybe he's just procrastinating. Once Jason understands, then it's real.

“I wanted to know if it hurt.”

That was my cornerstone line, right there. That's the whole reason I wrote the fic. I wanted someone to say this to Jason, because they needed to know. Please picture me dabbing.

This wasn’t happening. He’d just seen the kid a couple hours ago. They’d nodded while passing to their own teams. He’d left a movie about a dog on Jason’s windowsill last week.

It's such a little piece, but I wanted to hint at the utter disorientation of traumatic tragedy, how quickly the day can change and the swooping sensation a person might feel amid that change. Also, even as Jason has spent this entire fic being like "We don't talk!" I did want to seed in that they still interact. Damian trades movies he likes with Jason. He knows where Jason's safe house is. Jaosn is upset that he's about to die.

I would go back and change all those contractions, though. And having two different he pronouns back to back without tying them to a proper noun is just bad form.

Jason couldn’t lie, not even to a little kid.

This appears to be a tiny bit of Ronan Lynch seeping into Jason. Huh. @audreycritter are you seeing this

It had hurt to the point beyond pain, like every cell, every molecule, every atom had been lit up like a Christmas tree.

That "like a Christmas tree" is from something and for the life of me I can't remember what.

Don’t say please to me. Don’t say thank you. Don’t say things that you only say because you think you’re about to die.

I write this kind of thought pattern a lot to exemplify stress and grief. I don't know how I feel about this realization.

“No.” No matter how Jason tried, it was impossible to miss the tears in the boy’s voice now. “It would kill him, having to listen. And he’ll be so angry. I cannot—I-I cannot die knowing he’s angry with me. Please don’t call Richard.”

This was where my throat started to hurt. I don't remember where exactly I started to actually cry while writing.

“You understand. You can tell them. Tell them I-I’m sorry. And that I was brave?”

It was definitely by here, though.

Jason cleared the stairwell, slowing only slightly to duck under the sagging ceiling and pick his way through the debris-strewn hallway.

Oh hey. I don't use any details here but rereading reminded me that I based the rec center on parts of a real place so that I could visualize what Jason would have to get through to get to Damian. Totally forgot.

Ten seconds. Jason lunged at the barrier, roaring as he tore aside mountains with his hands. Nine.

I think building in the countdown itself helped with the tension. It definitely helped with the writing. Generally speaking, the length of sentences should match the pacing of the action itself. For tense writing, you really want short, snappy sentences, but I am a wordy bird who loves long multi-part sentences. See: this paragraph. So hacking up the action into short sentences bracketed by a single digit countdown really helped with the vibe.

“Jason?” Damian gasped over the earpiece. “I don’t want it to hurt. I don’t want it to hurt.”

That would be me. Dying is scary, but the pain before it is scarier.

Jason threw himself into the closet and shut the door.

Sometimes a lack of closure is fun, actually.

Funny story: I didn't actually consider that readers would think I set the bomb off and killed them both. I was new, hadn't done any sad-ending fics before, and also it's comics. Even when characters die, they come back in a few months, so it doesn't really count.

So my notifications start blowing up in the middle of a football game and I had to figure out if I wanted to continue the story...

[theultimatekamehamehavoc]

Bathrooms/Restrooms in THH (specifically THH)

The fact that no one ever needed to use the restroom ONCE during the trials is insane when you think about it. Those trials are for several hours, no sitting area, no break, just standing there to figure out who done it. So, the fact that none of these idiots accidently drank too much water at any point before the trial is a damn miracle. Hell, I think these punks weren't drinking as much water as they should honestly!! I bet they're all dehydrated and honestly haven't been taking good care of their bodies. For one, it's a killing game. Lotta stress, lotta murder, prime setting to have physical health to not be the biggest priority aside from ensuring one's heart was still beating. So, at the very least, the bare minimum was at least somewhat met to some extent for the cast. At the same time though, even the bare minimum can have it's holes. Which leads me to this whole ramble to begin with! Moreover, still on topic but a bit different, the more I think about it, I wonder if, after Chapter 1, Makoto would be using the restrooms outside of his dorm. Or, at the very least, for the majority of the killing game. Of course he's still attempting to use the shower's and all in the dorm room (gotta get clean somehow) but also, there IS a bath house that gets opened up. So, the more I think about it, kinda a missed opportunity in a way? Though that might just be me. Though, that restroom, that dorm restroom, that must have haunted his mind at least for a good while anyway! Not that Makoto isn't allowed to concur that. Of course he can! I do think it'd be an interesting angle though of Makoto's mini journey of going from the full on dismay of going back into that restroom to slowly taking it all head on. Who knows. Maybe him taking a shower before he and the rest confront the mastermind has it's own power to it. However, for both of these ideas of mine, I feel the realistic topic of these people in this killing game and their bodily needs isn't really something that's ever really brought up (which makes sense. not like there needed to be a pissing mechanic in the dang murder game). But, damn it! I just like thinking of the logistics of this stuff. At the end of the day, the cast still have those teen mentalities. They're all still people and vulnerable and prone to getting diarrhea like the rest of us! I refuse to believe that all of them were 100% treating their bodies right and eating enough fiber and in the right headspace to even be taking care of themselves right in the first place! Hell! Not all of them can even cook (talking to YOU specifically, Byakuya!!) Whether some were coping by using all their energy to work on finding the mastermind (cough cough Kyoko) or just getting by with the basics or even stress eating to gain some sort of comfort during the grueling times of the killing game, it had to have been effecting them all in some sort of a deeper level. Perhaps more than just a feeling of dread but one of the many side effects of despair.

[kindred-spirit-93]

the falcon and the flower

hear ye hear ye, im planning a short story lol and believe it or not storyboarding is significantly more entertaining of a process than actually having to actually write lmao. whodve thunk.

anyways this post exists for a few reasons, mostly so i can map things out in one place (i plan on posting it here eventually hehe) but also for context and references and insight from yall & general yapping so if ur interested take a seat :3

--

i. inspiration & background info: the idea came to me after watching this short about a painting that depicts the story of a king and a beggar maid who lived a quiet life together. and i think thats neat lol.

the ballad that inspired the painting is mentioned and was popularised in the works of shakespeare and alfred tennyson respectively among several others, old and new. the 2 paintings (1884 and 1898) belong to edward burne-jones.

the maid in the painting is said to resemble burne-jones' wife (dont be fooled he had an affair. also turns out its kinda his signature way to paint women) which made me realise that the way the ballad was interpreted (and therefore immortalised so to speak) was according to the views of the aforementioned vessels and the norms of the time.

and so it struck me and my 0 knowledge of art history as odd for the love interest to just so happen to appeal to the eurocentric beauty ideals of the time (she is described as having dark hair yet is painted in both as auburn?) and by extension the male gaze (esp in the 1884 painting where her clothes are somewhat translucent and she sports a neckline too scandalous for the era lol).

also the king being specifically described as 'african' (by the narrators? the ballad doesnt specify and i havent found any origin for the name) and then proceeding to ignore that completely. or worse. point is old dead white guys and their pesky world views probably thought slapping a single word last minute and calling it a day was a very progressive move. and i took that personally

--

ii. creative liberties taken: point is im giving this my own twist because i can. everyone is entitled to their own views and interpretations (mostly). the beauty of art to me lies in the many ways it can be seen and percieved, and i personally love seeing how ones culture and background reflects in that, so thats what im doing. kinda.

and at the end of the day maybe to someone else my interpretation completely misses the point is biased to what im familiar with. which is absolutely valid and they would be right lol. idk i just wanted to kinda add this as a heads up and a general fyi. we all know how repressed everyone was back then lol. so much so it became a name of a complex. moving on.

--

iii. symbolism and stuff: looked up a bunch of birds this morning loll and settled at first for a starling. i might keep the imagery idk i had a very specific idea for the king but then falcons popped into my head and i was like dang this is cooler. so it stuck!

the flower i first had in mind was rosa abyssinica, then the desert rose, finally i decided to switch to maybe my favouritest flower ever: and *cough* the national flower of jordan *cough* the black iris :D

its pretty and rare and not at all realistic to the events of the story but its mine so leave me be lol. if i can sprinkle some of my culture/ heritage and get away with it i will. sue me :p

anyway the cool and not at all pretentious title is a reference to the main characters; a king who loves birbs and the owner of a small flower stall in the marketplace (both of which are now specified)

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and now for the tragic backstory poll!

keeping this up for 3 days, since ill probably draft it out next weekend... if i get to it lol. i appreciate ur contribution in advance :3

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tysm if u read this far lol i didnt expect it to go on this long lol, sorry! will reblog and update this as i go (probably) so yeah. stick around if u want. take care and dont forget to dink ur oiter :)

[fruchtfleisch-art]

It's my cat's second birthday today! Happy birthday Morgan!! 🎉🎉🎂🙌🎁🎊🎉

I made a realistic portrait of him last year, so this year I decided to try something more cartoony, while still paying homage to my favorite traits of Morgan- his adventurous spirit, bravery, and love of play. This is a cat who runs towards fire alarms to see why they're making so much dang noise, so surely he would be a great space explorer!

I really am grateful I get to spend every day with this little guy, whether we're doing clicker training (he can fist bump on command now!), playing chase, or just hanging out quietly in the same room together. We're going to work on harness training and recall this summer while the weather is nice, so hopefully I'll be able to come back next year and say that he's had many more adventures!

Also, this piece was drawn/textured largely with the fantastic assets @tombofnull created-please check out their itch.io and throw some money at them! Their stipple brushes are incredible.

[dragiani2]

GRAH IM SO LATE TO IT BUT IM ASKING ABOUT THE BIOLOGY OF YOUR GORE FOUR DRAWING BECAUSE YOUR ART IS SO GOOD AND IM SO DANG CURIOUS!!!!!!!!!💥💥💥

HOLY FUCKING SHIT HI I'M A HUGE FAN OF THE SPECULATIVE BEHAVIOR AND BIOLOGY STUFF YOU'RE DOING!!!!

(I'm majoring in environmental science at the moment and plan to do a masters/phd in entomology I fucking love biology and shit man)

okay so first of all what I'm most excited about :]

(sorry for the shitty image quality I'm on my laptop so I had to do this in paint)

I'm going to explain stuff in case someone reading doesn't know what something is.

The area circled in red is a hydrostatic skeleton!! A hydrostatic skeleton is basically just a fluid filled cavity that acts as structural support for muscles and organs. Annelids, Platyhelminthes, and even Echinoderms have hydrostatic skeletons!

The bright blue ring I'm pointing to with green arrows are hearts! They're modeled after a worm's! hehehegahha he's such an invertebrate i swear

As for the brightly colored circles, that's really just based on that one cross section we got of Four when he was trying to eliminate Spongey in BFB 16. Realistically that would be muscles and more organs but I ain't drawing all that.

I didn't add this in but I also kind of have an idea that algebraliens breathe through spiracles just like insects, but theirs have evolved/developed way further and have become very efficient. (spiracles are the least efficient respiratory system irl)

I don't actually think his intestines would have growths like this (think of how little purpose they would serve, and hell they could probably puncture his other organs) but I wanted to pay tribute to the exit lol. I actually think he probably has a specialized organ for the pocket dimension that would rest somewhere in his abdomen. I think it would branch off from his throat much like how the windpipe does! So he does have an actual stomach, he just chooses where stuff goes!

So yeah that's my biology shit!! Abhinaoaju I've been debating starting my own algebralien speculative biology project but idk

[adobe-outdesign]

If you are still talking about neopets designs, plz review lutari? I always wanted one of them

Lutari are probably most well-known for being one of the limited pets on the site, only being able to be made on their pet day and previously connected to the long-defunct Neopets Mobile game from back in the flip phone days. It's to the extreme where you can't even put one up for adoption, with them just running away instead of going to the pound. (Side note: TNT should re-release Lutari Island as a main site feature and make it so you can always create a Lutari while visiting. But I digress.)

Lutari are mostly just otters, but their very distinct, mottled markings, huge claws, and fluffy, curly tails are pretty distinct and make them feel unique, even though they're otherwise pretty straightforward. I like the amount of detail present; they have just the right balance of color, with white underbellies, black claws and noses, and two shades of the main color for their bodies, all of which is carefully balanced as to not be too busy. Overall, they're pretty dang nice... though they do have one drawback.

Considering that Lutari were released only shortly before conversion happened, you would think that they wouldn't have changed much other than losing their swimming pose (which is a shame, but a necessary change for customization). But in actuality, they actually changed quite a bit in various subtle ways, ending up with completely different proportions, markings, facial structure, and more. Here's a really great redraw that's more accurate to the original design, which really highlights the differences between the two:

The eyes are a completely different shape and the pupils are smaller, the mouth is smaller, the ears a completely different shape, the feet are weirdly elongated, the tail is less swirly... and they're such weird changes, because none of them actually have to do with customization.

Another good example of the changes made is Mr. Chipper, who was, weirdly enough, released prior to the Lutari species as a whole. He stands bipedally, and thus shows what a converted Lutari should've looked like. Also of note is the markings, which for some reason became weirdly angular on converted Lutari and less organic than they were originally.

And don't get me wrong, converted Lutaris are still fine, and are by no means ruined or anything like that. It's just a shame that they're less cute than they used to be, and that seemingly little care was put in to convert them properly.

Favorite Colours:

Maraquan: I went over this already in my Maraquan colour review so I won't go into too much detail here, but this design (based off a user submission) is beautiful. I love the use of an axoltle as a base, the pink and cream colors are lovely, and the gill ears are just perfect.

Pirate: While this design is pretty good as a whole, with a nice grey base with a few bright red accents and a properly cutthroat expression, it's the way they managed to seamlessly and subtly work a skull into the tail markings that really earns it a spot on this list. 10/10 no notes.

Faerie: While a little on the busy side, the faerie Lutari is quite pretty. The light green, blue and pink color palette works perfectly, and the beautiful swirled body markings work off of the Lutari's default markings perfectly. The wings also compliment it will, matching both the body colors and the intricate designs.

As an added benefit, you can also get a very pretty, less busy design out of this by using wings-be-gone, which arguably looks even better than the full color. I appreciate that kind of versatility.

BONUS: Camouflage isn't anything crazy, and it's not even all that camouflage-ish, but honestly I just really like this design. The use of a neutral palette and gradients creates a lovely and distinct color that's quite appealing for those who want a more realistic otter look or those, like me, who just like subtle and simple designs.

[lace-coffin]

For when your requests open soon kinda like the child breaking in how do you think the collector would rect to like teens using the hotell as a smoke spot or something also jow that im thinking about it he would just kill them since the start of thr collection it starts by saying he kills anyone and doesn’t discriminate personally i say dang but also i hsve no idea i might be making up everything im typing as i go along hoping your like oh wow this fella this extremely homosexual fella is so right!!!! #guess whos drunk game!!!!!£!

How would Asa Emory react to teens breaking into the hotel to smoke?

I absolutely love this request lmao, from one homo to another u r absolutely so right. I hope u had a good night pookie < 3

Tw for violence and gore

The acrid ashy smell was a dead giveaway before he’d even stepped into the hotel. Teenagers using his hotel as a smoke spot, hadn’t they seen literally any trashy slasher movie? This was a perfect setup to get murdered by a hulking masked man with an axe or whatever the kids were watching these days.

It’s not like he could completely blame them, him having been a teenager once and not above bumming a smoke off other students when the stress got the best off him.

Groaning and dragging a gloved hand down his face, Asa enters the building, pulling the door with more force than necessary and effectively slamming it into the wall in annoyance. It’s not like it was worth being stealthy, these little fucks will be dead soon enough, not like it’s going to matter in the end.

Two hounds sit either side of the collector at his monitor, Allister on the left and Aster on the right, waiting at attention for orders but mostly soaking up the absent minded pats Asa has been giving them whilst focused on the screen.

A group of teenagers, maybe about college age, sit slumped against the filthy walls of the abandoned hotel room smoking, what, he’s not sure, but that’s not relevant. smashed beer bottles litter the floor, glittering under the barley there fluorescent lights.

Disgusting, spilling all that shit over his floors, don’t they know he has art pieces in here that are priceless? Not like they would understand the work that goes behind his beautiful collection.

A pissed off groan escapes Asa’s gritted teeth, the dog’s ears perking at this, shifting to sit slightly more alert. Asa looks down to his pups, tilting his head in thought. He has a good view of the room from here, he may be able to put on a show for himself in the future before finishing them off. Setting the camera’s to ‘record’ he stands, scraping his chair backwards.

Pulling the mask taught by the strings and tying himself in he double checks his hunting knife is where he left it and sets off. Aster and Allister follow happily down the halls, just happy to be included and by their masters side.

The door is slammed open before any of the teens can react, dogs ordered to dispose of the intruders with a shout and hand signal, realistically no matter how well trained his pets are they wouldn’t be able to take down 4 teenagers by themselves. knowing this Asa pulls his knife from his belt, the teens paying no attention to him, solely focused in attempting to either kick the dogs snouts away and detach the muscle deep bite they have lodged into them off or trying to tear the hounds off their screaming and struggling friends.

Grabbing one of the men by the throat the collector slams the stranger against the wall, knife raised at his jugular with intend to slash.

“Y-you don’t have to do this man, we’ll leave ok? We’ll even clean up, fuck just..just let us go and we won’t say shit I promise”

the fear is evident all over this kids face, the desperation gives Asa a sick kick, feelings of superiority and giddiness bubbling up in his chest. the masked man adds more pressure to the knife, enough to break skin and allow a few dribbles of crimson to run down the knife, watching the panic increase ten fold.

Apart from letting out an undignified squeak the teen stops reacting, bracing for the end. How dull. Realising his toy has stopped performing he rips the blade across the soft flesh under him, making it messy and careless. The gasping body slumps against him, no longer able to hold himself through the agony. Asa’s lip curls in disgust, shoving the bleeding body away from himself to crumple to the ground.

Glancing back over it seems the dogs have fatally wounded at least two of the intruders, they aren’t dead yet but regardless they won’t be rushing anywhere in a hurry. The injured strangers flinch in terror as he approaches, before anything can be said Asa’s heavy leather boot is smashing the teens head against the dirty floor as hard as he can, skull making a sickening crunch under the weight of it and sending a wave of euphoria over the killer. He notes his boots will need cleaning later, viscera caught on the laces.

Something about the display must have awakened something primal in the least injured victim, taking off down the hall clumsily, usually he would send a dog to give chase or do it himself but he knows this hotel inside out, there’s a range of traps lining the walls of just that hall, let alone the entire building. Regardless if Asa bothers to follow or not he won’t be making it out alive. As if on cue a guttural scream then groan can be heard. He made it atleast two corridors down, better than most.

Attention now back in the room Asa looks over the last victim, curled up and bleeding into the ratty carpet. Shock probably. No point in making a show of this one, his mind has already checked out. He might make good food for the projects in the basement…you can never be too prepared. Sighing Asa slings the man’s half conscious body over his shoulder without care, whistling for the dogs to follow as he makes the trek to the basement.