#I hope you do.

[chiefcroissantdeanbanana]

[SPOILERS] A Date with Death Bad Ending 1 - A "What if" Scenario

I really really liked Every Single Bad End ADWD gave us, but I was super heartbroken to see that we barely got Casper's reaction in Bad Ending 1 (Untrustworthy), so I decided to write more to it... yes I am starved and yes I cook my own food but also because I need more pain in my bad endings (and because I suddenly got an idea and wanted to hurt more people drex and aya I am targeting you please read this /hj /j) I mean what who said that?? + The people who would've listened to my brainrot are busy right now so. womp womp for me boohoo :((

Bad ending 1 (Untrustworthy) spoilers.

DISCLAIMER!! bad writing. yep. and spoilers but mainly bad writing. and bad english too... also, I do not claim this as canon or real to the game, it's just me making silly stories :3

-> What if after MC dies, Casper comes to their apartment immediately but found that MC had already been possessed by a demon? He kills it, hesitating for a bit because it's his sunshine's body. But he knows it's what you would've wanted, to not let a demon tarnish your name, so he kills "you". And then, for the first time in his Grim Reaper life, he feels regret. Regret? How? He shouldn't feel like this- Especially not for a human he was supposed to kill! And he did it, didn't he? He won! So... So why does he feel so... empty? His vision is turning blurry, he feels something warm on his cheeks, are these tears? Is he crying? Oh nine hells, he's about to choke on his own sobs. Why is he feeling like this? Is he sick? Did the soul sickness finally taint his soul, for better or for worse? Who knows!

He'd be like Bad Ending 2 Casper too, depressed, lonely, and no one to ever truly connect to. And he regrets it so so so so much. The multiple "What if's" in his head drives him crazy every single night. "If only I was friendlier..." "If only I was more trustworthy..." "If only I didn't push to make that stupid bridge...!" haunts him, he can barely even open his laptop, because looking at it reminds him of the broken trust you placed on him.

Sometimes though... he feels something, something that doesn't truly feel like 'him'. It's strange, he feels like you're still here somehow, even though you aren't. Like... a part of you was on him. Protecting him, shouldering his burdens, and that wrecks him more than anything could ever do. Why him? Why would you do this? HE'S the reason YOU'RE dead, so... So why are you trying so hard to let him live on? Is this karma? Do you want him to forever remember his mistake? His loss? He would gladly do it too, as repayment, as justice, for fairness (and that he also feels guilty, immense guilt, it's confusing, conflicting emotions swallow him up whole) He's supposed to feel happy for your death, right? It's what he's been doing for years, trying to kill you over and over again, failing time and time until his patience grew thin. But now? He wished you could've avoided death once more, just a couple of minutes more, to be with you for a second longer... He'd give up anything for that.

(+ the section above is the ending for that, an aimless Grim Reaper searching for the light that saved him, but I also had another ending in mind, I just didn't know where to put it so I'll add it as an extra!!

-> His regret and grief couldn't be contained, it was too hard for him to keep it covered, and he got caught. He got caught having feelings, having MORTAL feelings. Something a grim reaper, especially someone of his rank, should never have. He knew it was soon, he knew from the start what he was doing was illegal. He accepted it long ago, but now, he finally had a reason to be terminated. Maybe grim reapers also had an afterlife too? If they did, he wishes it could be the same as them. Would their afterlife be as soft as them? As warm as them? As perfect, and wonderful as them? No, actually. He wants THEM. He wants YOU. Not just your afterlife- but your whole being, he hopes he could see you, waiting for him, along with azrael and your pet. "Ah, my home..." he thinks blissfully, as his whole being gets erased, and not a single trace of him remains.)

[bixels]

As gen-AI becomes more normalized (Chappell Roan encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use gen-AI because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by tech companies. I draw not because I want a drawing but because I love the process of drawing. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I love you Safety Wizard.

(Inspired by @keroascrazy)

[chiptrillino-art]

(ID in ALT text)

"got your nose"

[pangur-and-grim]

one thing that took me embarrassingly long to learn is "sometimes when people say things, they will not be true."

I used to tell people about this revelation and they'd be like yeah.....duh.....but like, why wouldn't my base assumption be that you're communicating to me in a straightforward manner. anyway, I get scammed a lot.

[junkworldusa]

you make me want to draw again

here you go! this is also for my future self.

[starfalcon555]

[martyfive]

a sword to forge, a cross to carry, a lucky star to share

[badolmen]

WARNING 18+

19

[smoosie]

(Which arm, Viktor, huh ? Which one ??)

They were not a couple so, Jayce (who had a very bad day and just wanted to hug it out) proceeded to freak out, backed out of the lab and never mentioned it again but, Astral Viktor, that mf ? He'd be delighted to remind Jayce of that moment in time, of that missed call and watch him die from embarrassment and resentment over himself

(I'm glad they've never beaten the gay allegations and never will)

[aluminumneedles]

I'm knitting in the corner at a party

and guys my age stop by to tell me I remind them of their aunt, of their grandmother. This is a compliment and I take it as such. They confess to having tried crochet once, and I smile. They get back in line for the bathroom.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and a queer woman sits on the floor next to me, arranges her skirt, and smiles up at me. (I try not to blush.) She asks me all the questions on her mind about my craft and I answer them, hands still moving. We swap yarn sources. She doesn't stay, but she knows where to find me.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and everyone knows where to find me when they need a minute, when socializing is too much and the music is too loud and they need to catch their breath. They pretend to be checking in on me, which is sweet, but I can see the relief in their eyes the moment they stop performing for a house full of people. They sit down and tell me things and all the while they never take their eyes off my hands.

The party has wound down and I'm still knitting and the hosts, two guys in their twenties, thank me for "helping to curate the vibe." I had no idea that's what I was doing. I leave the party having forgotten to drink anything and without that woman's number but with many rows added to my top-down raglan sweater. I call it a night, and a good one.

[isjasz]

[mob killing noises] BAM!!!!1111!!

[gongyussy]

(✿◕‿◕) die (ꈍ ꒳ ꈍ✿)

[valtsv]

btw it truly is incredible how you can say "weaponising social power dynamics to isolate and ostracise people from any form of community is cruel and fucked up and doesn't meaningfully protect anyone or achieve anything" as articulately and eloquently as you like and people will still be like okay except when you do it to Bad People. who we will identify and protect ourselves from by weaponising social power dynamics to isolate and ostracise them from any form of community.