#I kinda want to make either a short story or a comic of the full scene proper it was really good

[good-wine-and-cheese]

Draw from yesterday's vaesen campaign. Pictured: aftermath of attempting to kill your own son because you were possessed

[slowlysoluminary]

Still working on that chapter. Don't worry, it's coming along! Yesterday i was trapped at a party for 10 hours and, being the introvert i am, decided to take a break from drawing for an animatic by trying to draw for this au instead. don't know why i didn't just do artfight lol

FULL KING REFERENCE PACK + SIFFRIN DUO POSTGAME REFERENCES

Notes and details under the cut

sooooo howsabout postgame content?

the original post talking about postgame can be found here but it doesn't go into too much detail

So post-game resetfrin and gloop. they go with the party, kinda like a lot of twohats aus? resetfrin goes with the party because they know mirabelle and kinda know isabeau from when he would get apprenticed by the king (long story), but also because resetfrin acted so much like the old siffrin they used to know that it felt odd to leave him behind.

gloop, however, WAS the old siffrin! the party knows this, they found it out in the last loop, and they've formed such a bond with them that it's as natural as it is in the original game. the only issue is: gloop has changed SO much. physically, mentally, even a pronoun change - the party wants to help her out, but they want to explore who this New Siffrin is, too. Isn't it ironic that the new addition is the one you know far more of than the old addition?

resetfrin stays siffrin because... uh. because he's always been siffrin? there's no conflict there. gloop, after getting their memory back, ALSO goes back to siffrin, because that's who they really are and they acknowledge that loop is their own person. they don't want to be reminded of their time as gloop, either.

so... they're both Siffrin. And they're both technically the same person. do you see the issue?? the two of them didn't. the party did.

there's a comic I'm thinking about making to explore the processes and conversation that happened to initiate the name changes. the long and short of it is they can't BOTH be siffrin, but neither of them want to be siffrin if the other one can't also be siffrin, so they go on separate journeys to find a new name. they come back together with the party afterwords and they both ended up picking the same name so it's back to square one.

they talk to the party the second time and after a lot of brainstorming land on Orion for resetfrin and Lux for gloop. it helps the party distinguish between them and helps me establish the difference between postgame content and in-game content

(plug moment but these names were suggested by @the-bitter-ocean who gave me like. a whole list of things i could choose from. oh the life saver. i didn't even think about what names they would've picked until xe helped. and ohhh theyre so good. he also has some amazing aus including a miraloops au that you should go check out. pretty please)

the hair thing is SUPER IMPORTANT i originally only did it because they needed a way to separate themselves from eachother, but i realized they would also have done it to separate themselves from the old people they used to be. very poetic. 10/10 thank you brain for the excuse

the colors for orion's alt outfits are just a limited color pallete, they're not actually the colors afaik. (<- says the creator) but Lux's colors are 100% the colors, yes. their star body is different from loop's, where loop's body is solid black and lux's seems to glow on it's own. do you see where the name lux came from.

it's really dysphoric. imagine being turned into a ghost against your will and losing your memories, and them after gaining your memories back you turn into a completely different body AGAIN and it's STILL not the original body you had. i would cry.

gloop/lux's eye is still blind. even as a ghost they lacked depth perception. L. since resetfrin wasn't with the party to lose his eye they don't have any vision impairment

actually, about that. funny little thing. if siffrin wasn't there to protect bonnie, who did? haha hehe. hey why does odile have her arm in a cast...

KING TIME

okay i got a lot of questions about it so i double-checked on the original post and. yeah it DOES say the king's name. both in the text and on the image. but you'd be forgiven for missing it because it's pretty small on the image and there's a lot of text to read through

anyway pre-madness king's name is Lazare!! he originally looks like the lithe dude on the left. he's scholar-ish, came to vaugarde on vacation before losing his memory, yadda yadda... a lot of his information is on the original post so I won't repeat anything that's already been said

he picked Lazare a few days after losing his memory. he never told his name to anyone in the town he was staying so all he got was "travelling one" and he really genuinely thought that was his name for a hot second until he realized that Vaugarde really likes adding -one to titles

i made his hair curlier! after drawing the king for the chapter cg i realized i did NOT makw his hair curly enough when drawing Lazare. his hair type is almost exactly mine, though mine has more define curls, so drawing it is a BLAST!!

Defender arc Lazare! He bulked himself up to come off more physically and mentally strong. is this a trans allegory? is the King trans or was the body craft just to match his perception of himself? not sure. At this point in time he's already travelled with siffrin for a bit so i like to think he's a teensy bit protective. somewhere between friend snd father figure. cool guy

you know who's not cool? this guy vvv

this is where the King becomes the King :3 his hair is OBNOXIOUSLY long, almost rapunzel-like but nowhere near as bad. it always covers one eye but it doesn't really matter which one.

the crown happens like... VERY shortly before he makes the wish and starts freezing people in time. hes lonely and isolated and its something like coping with his delusions about everyone being out to get him

that's not the way he thought in the original loop, but after the reset his descent is much faster and harder than the last. when Siffrin starts climbing the tower, yearning becomes animosity as he thinks Siffrin finally betrayed him like he "always knew they would." or something.

hey 16yo sif jumpscare!!! wasn't he on the original post too?

.

anyway!!! that's it! that's all! i swear it's all. inevitably I'll have to make gloop and resetfrin full references but I'm happy with the ones i drew in the original post which I'll probably end up pointing people to if they want to draw either of them. the king was the one i worried about most because he's so different from canon, and same goes for the postgame designs. even coming up with new names was worrying because they're practically not even the same person from canon anymore

but that's the fun thing with aus, isn't it? lol

cya

[rockybloo]

Your stories names are so fitting, simple and unique. So I have a few questions about your two current comics.

- How long did it take you to come up with the names?

- Why’d you go with those names?

- Did you have any other names that just didn’t stick?

- Are they full plotted out rn or are you more of a build the stories as you go kinda cryptid?

I really like dissecting comics especially love I love as much as Beanstalked and Glitter and Guilt.

Thank you! I'm gonna copy and past your questions with each response just to make sure I don't accidentally skip one because I really like answering questions about working on comics (for a hobby of course)

- How long did it take you to come up with the names?

Typically, a title comes after the plot for me, and I try to make it fit the general theme of the story itself. For Beanstalked, it was actually a placeholder title but it was a pretty fast one since it was just wordplay.

For Glitter and Guilt, it took a little longer just because I didn't want something cheesy since this story wasn't JUST about magical girls.

- Why’d you go with those names?

Beanstalked winded up being too catchy of a title, and fit too well, compared to all the other names I was trying to come up with. Fairy Tale forcused stories tend to suffer from similar name syndrome where many will feature or play on the phrases of "Happily Ever After", "Happy Ending", or "Grimm [insert anything]", etc. So I wanted something different that stuck out more.

Glitter and Guilt are two words that describe the story well. There's a lot of glitter, sparkles, and optimism but there's also underlying themes of guilt, tragedy, and secrecy.

- Did you have any other names that just didn’t stick?

I sadly cannot remember the original titles I was trying to come up with for either story as I never really wrote them down. Once I figure out a name, all others are deleted from my mind. I do know I prefer short and to the point titles. If I can nail a title in just one word, I feel so smart and victorious.

- Are they full plotted out rn or are you more of a build the stories as you go kinda cryptid?

When it comes to comics, I tend to take a "road trip" approach. I know where I want to begin, where I want to end, and some of the major points I want to reach in between, but I don't know yet what the road itself will contain specifically. I just follow the flow of it and typically ideas will slam into my windshield.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Short replies today! A couple of them are related to yesterday’s hc post…

Anonymous asked:

Silver is so cute, how could Lilia get away without shutting him up with his lips!!

Hehe thank youuu~! <3

I’m sure Lilia will give him a kiss afterwards… but sometimes a man just wants to see his adorable son all surprised and sparkly-eyed!

Anonymous asked:

I love your artstyle so much, and I hope you have a great day/night!

Anon, this is so sweet, thank you thank you!

I hope you have a great day/night too! <3

Anonymous asked:

New couples activity: Getting tested for herpes together!

The entirety of the college going on a field trip to the clinic

Oh god, when is that event going to drop? The shenanigans would be even worse than in the pee preferences comic… Imagine the dialogue?? “- I am so ashamed of all of you. – Well YOU’RE HERE TOO!” 😭

Anonymous asked:

i dunno, i kinda wanna make like a herpes chain now... like who infected who until it comes full circle and everyone has it

And THIS would be the mystery of the event. It’d be a detective story and the guys would have to try to reconstruct the chain to figure out what’s happened… but it would be so difficult with everyone trying to save face and not wanting to confess that they had unprotected flings, all of them would fight so loudly and viciously. I want to say that the only ones who would not be affected are Riddle, Idia and Ortho, but nah, they’re here too somehow LOL Well, Ortho just wants to be involved, so of course he’s here.

Jack gets it from Deuce, Deuce from Ace, Ace from??? Riddle?? And Riddle  either from Trey or Floyd… Floyd probably infected multiple people in fact, including Jamil, who never has sex, but somehow ended up infecting both Kalim and Azul, which would give it to Idia, and maybe somehow it would travel to Lilia, and then Silver and Malleus and therefore Sebek…

Wait, how someone like Leona would get it? Rook..?? Who’d also give it to both Vil and Epel…

Damn… so many heads will roll lol

I think after fighting about it for hours and maybe a couple extra overblots, they’ll collectively decide to gaslight themselves that it was initially caused by some nasty magic, and that there is no one to blame, and in fact all of them are victims. These boys could get surprisingly cooperative when it’s ignoring the collective embarrassing elephant in the room.

[magicalgirlmascot]

May or may not have been inspired to create the KNPS Toa in Hero Forge. Probably also gonna do the Turaga. I’m def curious as to your thoughts on everyone’s appearances, wanna see how what I have so far compares.

I am in TEARS please please please show me when you're done!!!

I've been kind of deliberately vague about their appearances in the fic itself because last time I wrote a big long human!Bionicle fic where I was more specific about their appearances I. wound up hating it later lol. I will say though that my Bionicle Sports Anime designs aren't necessarily what I have in mind when writing! (Those are mostly just for drawing Bionicle fanart without having to draw robots and possible eventual comic reasons.)

I do have some stuff in mind, though! I'm putting it under a readmore because it wound up getting fairly long lol

Tahu: redhead, toned and fairly beefy on account of the MMA but not like dehydrated about it, jeans, t-shirts, and button-downs with the sleeves rolled up kinda guy

Kopaka: my brother thinks he should be albino but I'm on the fence there, either way he does have blue eyes and light hair cut pretty short, glasses, tall and thin

Gali: petite, curly hair usually pulled back from her face, wears a lot of long, flowy clothes (cardigans, skirts, etc.)

Onua: short af, fat, muscular, hairy, I've made Gimli jokes before but I honestly do picture him looking like Senshi DungeonMeshi with less beard, almost exclusively wears black jeans, glasses are not prescription but to help with his light sensitivity

Pohatu: tall, runner's build (muscular legs, kind of average weight distribution tbh), thick brown hair that he's been growing out, tends towards muted colours and earth tones

Lewa: fucking beanpole, tall, thin, and gangly, hair is a bird's nest 99% of the time and he has given up trying, wears green almost to the complete exclusion of other colours, loves himself some good cargo pants

Vakama: glasses and tidy beard, greying hair, middling height, wears a lot of old man sweaters/cardigans

Nokama: taller than Matau but shorter than Vakama, hair is going grey but she dyes it, carries herself with grace and poise, it's. I do picture Lucretia Adventurezone a little bit while writing her ngl

Matau: short!!! absolute manlet and either mad about it or chill with it depending on which is funnier in context, wears loud shirts

Onewa: was not a cane user at the start of the story but is one now on account of his bad back, growing his beard out, worst case of resting bitch face you've ever seen, decently tall

Whenua: tallest Turaga, thick glasses, has worn a dress shirt and tie to work every day for the last 20+ years and isn't going to stop now even if his husband makes fun of him for it >:(

Nuju: average height, long fingers, went white by age 35 (claims it's from stress but it just runs in the family, Kualus was also fully white by 35 and Matoro probably will be too), dresses nicely but not a full shirt and tie like some people

Also you didn't mention them but bonus characters bc I've been thinking about them:

Takua: built like Lewa (tall and gangling), dyes his hair blue, fashion choices are "the colours gave me a headache so I bought it immediately"

Jaller: short king, blonde, probably the most athletic kid in the class

Hahli: shorter than Takua but still pretty tall, wears jeans and sturdy clothes, solidly built

Krahka: I mean sometimes she's a fox and sometimes she's got six arms and tits the size of her head, she can look however she wants

Again please please show me when you're done!!!! I would like to see it

[erigold13261]

I like the necromancer band! Is Derey a skeleton? Also is Neil blind? And is Adder a part snake? I want to hear about them!

I'm making a small comic about them so more info to come soon about their relationship to other characters (at least with Ex-Jay)! But I can definitely answer these and would love to just ramble!

Daray is technically an organic/living puppet. Similar to how Matvey and Quida are made of metal, and Matvey has more organically machanical parts to him, Daray is made out of a kinda of wood like how I think Mama would be made of.

He has a skin condition that is advanced by his powers where his bones show through his body in an abstract way. His powers (which are kinda like Eve's in an illusionary sense) advance this and cause his markings to show up on thin and tight clothes. Thicker or loose clothes don't get his bone markings on them. (His skull doesn't show up on his face other than his mandible because he's spent years practicing his powers to hide it, but now he lets it show during some of his shows to look cool).

Also technically it's just Daray who is making music. So I wouldn't call the three together a "band" but Daray CAN make illusionary skeleton puppets to play holo-instruments. Similar to how Eve can make her arms real for a short period of time, Daray can make puppet real enough to play actual music, though he has to be in full control of them. He is very good at multitasking musical instruments but can only really do 5 max at a time. So he usually sticks to 4 puppets playing holo-instruments (cello/double bass, trumpet/sax/trombone, drums, and piano/keyboard) while he is on his computer/dj deck.

Neil has significant vision loss and is declared legally blind, but he is not 100% blind. He has some vision and if he's in a place he knows (like his hometown or something) then instead of using a long cane he tends to either use a guide or symbol cane. However, he always carries his long cane with him in his bag or back pocket in case he's going somewhere new.

He can play a few instruments but doesn't really make music. He used to have a different job, I don't know what, but I feel like he helped teach people, maybe a teacher's assistant or something. Honestly, I can actually see him teaching people how to play music, especially non conventional methods like how to play by ear instead of reading sheet music. But once Daray started growing with his music, Neil became a full time manager for him. Obviously Daray is paying him.

And yes, Adder is part snake! I like to think very little of his snake shows up in his appearance compared to the rest of his family, which is why he got the snakebite piercings and leans heavily into snake themes with his chains.

Speaking of his chains, he has control over metal, allowing him to change the shape and strength of metal as he works with it. Because of this, he works as a jewelry making custom body jewelry in lots of different shapes and animals. He is seen as a really high end jewelry for the alt scene as his works are super durable, sometimes seem impossible to make, and are pretty affordable, making him really well known. Bunny actually wants to try and do a collab with him or at least get one of his pieces

He can play music by ear but literally cannot read sheet music for the life of him. He is basically musically dyslexic so if Neil never taught him to play by ear, then Adder wouldn't be able to play music at all. Though he doesn't want to make a career out of music mainly because it is really hard for him to keep whole songs in his head as obviously trying to write it down won't help him at all. Instead he stays close to the music scene through Daray and helps him with his finances as he is already good at that with his own business he's got going on.

I'm already loving these three idiots so much and I do have plans for them to hang around my stories, even if they are not directly hanging out with Megastars, they will at least be a good way for me to bring in Hydrar and Timbre into my head more.

Also fun fact! In my Failed Revolution AU, the person to take DJSS's place as the Cast Tech charter is going to be Necropolis! So at least I no longer have to be vague about the new charter whenever I talk about that AU now lol

[hazmatazz]

i saw your post abt rambling abt stories and stuff and that is my absolute favorite thing to do so <33

i’m on anon bc we haven’t interacted a lot yet and idk if you even like me in the slightest so uh yeah. but if it turns out you don’t hate me i’ll gladly reveal myself and talk to you more if you want <3 no pressure ofc i just get really excited talking about this aaah alhskabskanka

SO i have two main ocs, floryn and rory (both she/her) they’re both queer and to keep it veryyyy short: floryn is very creative, extroverted and wild and rory is very athletic/physically strong, introverted and cool & collected (the one with a braincell out of the duo) ofc they’re a lot more complex than that but i don’t wanna keep this too long kabdjsksal

at the start of the story theyre friends and they start crushing on eachother, it’s not really slowburn i think but it’s not very quickly either

i also wanna make more friends for them but i haven’t done that yet aljskajs

the only other character i have is a boy and he’s an asshole. basically he has a crush on floryn and somehow finds out that rory has a crush on her too, that makes him upset because he was just about to go on a date with flo and he kinda sees rory as a threat bc he knows they’re close friends (and maybe he also has a past bullying rory so he knows it would ruin his chances with floryn if she found out abt him being mean to rory). so he locks rory into a locker (but don’t worry - the person who the locker belongs to gets her out pretty quickly and they become besties) to prevent her from talking to flo. then he goes on what he thought was a date with floryn and she tells him she just likes him as friend. a bit later floryn finds out that he was an asshole to rory and slaps him in the face <3 and then he’s upset and does a dramatic reveal that rory has a crush on floryn, expecting her to be disgusted bc it turns out he’s homophobic as well, but plot twist: floryn is actually very openly and confidently lesbian/bi (haven’t decided yet) and is super excited because she has a crush on rory too. then she slaps him in the face again for being homophobic <3 and rory and floryn go on a date or something cute and end up in a relationship :DD it might be kinda boring and weird and basic and i don’t even know but i just want some simple drama that ends up with a wlw romance <33 and that’s only a very basic outline anyways, there’s probably a lot that’ll happen before and afterwards :D

and to get bonus points, my main inspirations are 1. heartstopper (that made me realise how much i crave a cute wlw story, i know there are a lot but i just wanted to make my own i guess) 2. (the most recent one that lead me to actually come up with this) jackson’s diary, it’s also a webcomic and there’s always a lot going on and it’s dramatic but not too dramatic and idk i’ve just been feeling very inspired by it, also in terms of art so MAYBE i’m gonna make a comic out of this but probably not because that requires sooo much work akshkajs. anyways, inspo numero 3. sleeping beauty, kinda but not really? at the start i wanted it to be an entirely different story as a wlw modern retelling of sleeping beauty but then i began adding a lot of own twists and it got so chaotic i’m kinda scrapping it for now and came up with something completely different (one thing that remains though is that rorys full name is actually aurora :0 but everyone calls her rory so it doesn’t matter that much, but still a little easter egg for myself <3)

not sure if any of this makes sense, it’s very chaotic akjdksjjd and it got way longer than expected wow i’m sorry abt that oops

✨

hell yeah so glad i made that i love stories...

but AKSBDKDB oh!!!! i love them, esp their names!!! floryn and aurora...flo and rory... two little sillies

i am rather intrigued by like...rory and that boy's history. like thinking of rory seeing that the boy and flo get along and being both worried for flo (because she knows the boy is grosss) and jealous or something. then like ooo the cool and collected character hiding struggling to hide her concern and shit because she doesn't want to ruin that friendship because like what if the boy has changed or like not wanting to reveal the old shit rory had gone through

then ohhh thinking like maybe flo and rory weren't as close as kids so rory never told her about the bullying and she doesn't want to now because what if flo feels guilty about not noticing orr

ohhh the sillies...def gave me some thoughts tysm ur guys are so little to me ❤️❤️❤️

[whining-ylthin]

I kinda screwed up as Tumblr won't apply the "keep reading" edit to the 1st post in this chain but fuck it, we ball.

3. Darksiders: Warmastered Edition (Steam version, THQ Nordic/KAIKO 2016, original THQ/VIgil Games 2010)

It's a video game I sincerely wanted to like since I first played it at 14, and now that I've beaten it close to my 30s... yeah, I'd love to like it more than I actually do.

Darksiders gets dragged down by two things: the scale and ambitions of its creators, and their relative inexperience with game design. On paper it's a competent, if derivative 3D Zelda clone with DMC/God of War-inspired combat and gritty, hyperbolic fantasy aesthetic straight out of a late 90s comic book, but in practice it's plagued by a host of small but increasingly jarring design issues, bad number balancing and severely bloated runtime.

Maybe a fifth of the 20-ish hours you're going to spend with it are dedicated to overly weighty and overall kind of shallow combat where two of your weapons are nearly useless (they either don't deal enough damage or just don't work within this combat system, and the hit-based leveling up system is... uh, bad) and your dodge will usually get you locked into an enemy combo instead of taking you to safety. The rest is mostly decent, if occasionally a little janky or tedious platforming, puzzle-solving or (mercifully short) TPS/rail shooter sections... and unfortunately all of it tends to overstay its welcome due to the stages simply being too long and too big to traverse.

Yes, you get a horse. Three dungeons and TWELVE STAGES into the game. That can't be used in half the areas (I assume due to either weird load zone shenanigans or developer oversight bordering on active malice) and for some godforsaken reason the damn thing can't jump even over the tiniest of ledges, making it officially just as bad as Kaithes in Warframe, my go-to example of bad steeds in video games. For those of you who haven't played Warframe - they're basically one step above being the Mass Effect 1 Mako of video game horses, and that's only because they have marginally more weight and you can't flip them upside down on a slightly more steep hillside.

This game also had the misfortune of coming out after Devil May Cry 4 and Bayonetta, both games that not only featured shorter, snappier (if not necessarily great all the time, I'll readily admit there're Some Fucking Bullshit-tier stages) levels with less dragged out metro tunnels and ruined highways to run across, but also a truly revolutionary feature: a way to make your character haul ass faster. In DMC4 you can buy an upgrade that makes your run speed increase after X seconds of going forward, and Bayonetta unlocks a fast-running animal transformation early within story progress. Darksiders, meanwhile, effectively leaves you stuck with War's dainty tippy-toes, unchainable dashes with slow-as-balls recovery and very limited vertically crippled horse for its full runtime.

You know what DMC games also had? And since the PS2 days at that? Better checkpointing/store placement and healing mechanics! A game series that emphasizes not dying or getting hit gives you: special powerup mode that heals you, better access to Statues of Time (they are both checkpoints and store in which you buy moveset/character upgrades and items), as well as doing this little convenient thing of converting excess healing orbs to currency - compared to Darksiders' Chaos Mode doing nothing for your health, life-leech weapon augments being downright useless, Abyssal Armor being a late-game upgrade that (for a change) absolutely trivializes the combat, and several dungeons locking you out of Vulgrim's little emporium for most if not all of their duration which forces you to rely on manually placed chests (the devs must have noticed this was an issue in testing - but it was probably too late to implement extra spots for Vulgrim's store with fast-travel option disabled), as well as green/yellow souls getting completely wasted if your health/Wrath bar is already full. Also, while some upgrades could be grindy to get, DMC games from at least 3 onwards gave you the convenience of freely replaying missions on one save, which allowed you to get that 20.000 Red Orbs (or however many Proud Souls it was in 4-- 2000, I think? And Special Edition massively boosted all currency gains just to make the catchup faster) for that optional double-jump within maybe 10-20 minutes of rerunning one short mission. By comparison grinding in Darksiders is a slog, with enemies dropping absolutely pitiful amounts of souls (from 3 to 400) compared to how much is required to upgrade your moves or buy items (cheapest healing item is 500 souls if you already have an empty vessel for it, otherwise it's 2000+500; weapon moves stay below the 3 thousand souls mark but some optional upgrades required for a 100% run charge you for as much as 10-12,5 THOUSAND souls), and the best (and by that I mean "the only one that won't make you crumble to dust and waste hours of your life") soul farming technique being a goddamn exploit taking advantage of unrestricted enemy spawn and bad AI/limited enemy moveset.

Also, I hope you don't intend to 100% the game without using a guide - the number of collectibles, combined with the slow traversal and vast maps that you'll have to return to several times to grab everything, makes it a genuine chore even with the modern convenience of YouTube playlists and numerous written guides. In case you do go insane (like I did), keep in mind that the game lies to you a little - the only points of no return are two of five boss rooms (Tiamat's and Strega's) which contain nothing of value anyway, Azrael is full of shit and you can return to the endgame location he tells you you can't come back to.

Speaking of - the story! The writing is honestly middling - pompous and trying (but failing) to come across as something more profound - and the cutscene direction is noticeably rough around the edges, with awkward camera angles and shot transitions. While the core idea for the setting is yet another very 90s "loose Bible fanfic", I'm willing to give it a shot and not immediately knock it for unoriginality - shame that there's not much going for it in this game. The characters are hardly memorable, mostly acting to move the pieces of the story and not much more, and the story itself sways from "go to a place and kill some goon" to "guys, I think you forgot to write these characters enough for this big twist to make sense in the game's own context (and make me give a damn)". Its decisive-yet-cliffhangery ending sure didn't help with writing the sequels.

The voice performances are baseline-good across the board, but they often fit into a specific, repetetive mold of "raspy, drawn out and 'epic-sounding'" (think the delivery style of Dawn of War games, but with weaker script and less Scott McNeill, for better or worse). Liam O'Brien certainly did get his fair share of aggressive grunts, to the point that I'm genuinely worried if he didn't strain his vocal chords with his role as War. Mark Hamill is unfortunately wasted on The Watcher - good performance for a nothing-character. Phil LaMarr's Vulgrim is fun to listen to, but could use a better variety of barks and voicelines, and for what little Samael I got to hear, Vernon Welles' voice is definitely on point. Sadly the direction for the bosses is just "generic demon voice", with Tiamat and Silitha sounding almost the same to my ear. Straga isn't much different to larger demon mooks, and two of the bosses (Griever and Stygian) don't even talk.

Moving onto the bosses - they're a low point, unfortunately. Most of them are either gimmicks, poorly designed or some combination of both, with Stygian taking the cake (why yes, I'd love to run in circles around a large arena waiting for the boss to expose its weakpoint so I can deal a tiny amount of damage to it with my plinky peashooter of a handgun instead of hitting it with my sword in the SWORD SWINGING GAME), and Destroyer earning the developers a retroactive slap on the wrist for introducing two annoying button-mashing QTEs in a game that previously featured them only once (for mashing out of a this game's Barnacle stand-in's grab). Tiamat is annoying as she relies on this game's jank aiming mechanics against a fast-moving target, Griever is a forgettable damage sponge, Silitha is a tedious wait-and-dodge game which often makes you feel like you're playing the game wrong, Straga is an easier gimmick fight than the PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT ASS FUCK THIS SHIT FUCK OFF golem minibosses in his dungeon, and Destroyer is hardly a fight if you figured out how to ride the horse (then dodge/block his decently telegraphed attacks).

Other enemies aren't really shining points, either - most of them end up being forgettable demon fodder or mildly annoying range-based Angels who get trivialized by AoE attacks and the Abyssal Chain. I genuinely despise two mook types, though - the overly tanky, uninterruptible armored undead types and the big titty ghost enemies who keep phasing in and out of reality while ignoring half of your own attacks, making them needlessly obnoxious to kill. This kind of enemy design sucked when DMC3 did it in 2005, and it sucked just as much five years later.

Is there something I can praise? Well, the visuals are neat, even without the Warmastered upscaling the textures and bumping some graphics options up. The 3D models hold up really well, and while a chunk of the game is spent in gray- or sepia-colored tunnels and wastelands, the level of detail is still impressive even in the most boring of location and there are some absolute standouts - Anvil's Ford is an absolute treat even if the location itself first holds a rather annoying enemy gauntlet setpiece, then becomes an abridged shortcut to a dungeon you should have little reason to revisit. The aforementioned dungeon, The Hollows, also stands out to me as surprisingly pleasant despite large amounts of overlong tunnel exploration, train cart puzzles and the middling boss at the end of it all - better than the mega-corridor of Ashlands, sepia-and-orange dungeons of Twilight Cathedral, samey-looking spiderweb maze of Iron Canopy or dark and obnoxious Black Throne.

Overall Darksiders is... okay. It has a solid enough foundation, but it's also stretched too far and too thin. It tries to swing for some really tall fences while doing the run-up on legs that are clearly too short to make the jump. It takes clear inspiration from some really big names, but fails to learn all their lessons. And all of it comes together to form a game that will embody "seven out of ten on a good day" in my memory. Now I'm obviously a bit jaded and overly negative from 100%-ing it in one go (because if I drop a game for even a little bit, I'll forget most of it, lose the muscle memory and ultimately won't be coming back to it), but talking to other people who'd played it closer to recent memory, it seems to be a shared sentiment - the game is just a good few hours too long and merely "okay" at best even without tedious treasure-hunting and soul grind.

Ylthin's Media Thread thingy for the tail-end of 2023 and 2024:

Normally I'd do it on Twitter but I fully expect that site to collapse in 6 months.

Glen Cook, "Czarna Kompania"/"Cień w ukryciu" ("Black Company"/"Shadows Linger") (Rebis, 2009 Polish edition, 2022 reprint)

I'm starting this list somewhat off the curb - I've finished the 2nd novel from this omnibus release just now, but I've also read the first one earlier this year... and I don't have much to say about either, honestly. The prose is kind of clunky and awkward in a way that takes a moment to adjust to, and without directly comparing the Polish translation to the English original I can't tell how much of this unwieldiness is due to poor translation job and how much of it is just inherent to Cook's style. You're not reading this book for its characters, either - most of them are memorable only because of constant exposure, as names that you eventually learn to map to a broad role in the story or one, maybe two vague personality/appearance traits. What carried me through was what I can broadly describe as "vibes" and long-term significance of Black Company books - or maybe the wave of genre-fiction they were a part of. It certainly wasn't the first grim and gritty fantasy series out there, and the backside blurb's boasts about how Cook "brought the fantasy genre down to the level of common men" are very overblown (the books are literally about an evil sorceress' plan for world domination clashing against her messy divorce with her Dark Lord husband and a prophecy about the "divine savior" figure coming back further pissing into her breakfast), but I can still notice the seeds of interesting ideas being planted here and there (thank you MandaloreGaming for making me aware of Myth games, shame that they're downright impossible to legally obtain anymore), and the grit (while going for a very predictable "everyone is utterly miserable and the whores will give you all the STDs" route, and feeling more like catnip for 14-year-old boys rather than genuine "maturity") fortunately doesn't cross the line into unbearable edgelord territories yet. It was a part of the same wave of dark fantasy that either molded me directly (through Sapkowski's The Witcher novels and "Berserk"), indirectly (through a thousand imitators years down the line, from local fantasy authors of the 2000s to video games - Heroes of Might & Magic 5 in particular was retrospectively very blatantly inspired by Warhammer Fantasy), or infected me with sudden-onset brainrot in my mid-20s (Warhammer 40.000), and I can definitely feel and appreciate it even if I find these books to be rather mediocre so far.

I just wish I could get my hands on Moorcock's Elric books without going through a dozen hoops, but I guess I'll make do with Cook, Erikson and the odd Warhammer novel for the time being.

Oh, and this cover art? That tattered "dashing rogue" look, that borderline fractal leather-and-cloth patterning, the random spiky structures in the background? The long bob hair and goatee look straight out of the music video for "Imperium" by Machine Head? A cover that makes you think not even of actual early 2000s buttrock, but of Stuart Chatwood emulating it for Prince of Persia: Warrior Within's soundtrack? Hillariously mismatched with the actual novels. I haven't seen a choice this baffling since reading my dad's faded mid-90s pulp booklet edition of Ursula LeGuin's "Rocannon's World" paired up with either Vallejo or Frazetta sword-and-sandals artwork.

[goodluckdetective]

But What’s the Punchline: Why the Joker is Being Written all Wrong and Why.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the circus. Yes, I am going to talk about the Joker at length here, making me the biggest clown, but listen, I promise, I have points to make. Just sit down and hear me out. 

So a lot of comic book fans, myself included, loathe seeing the Joker because when he appears, it’s usually a sign some bad writing will commence. The Joker is less than a character these days than a “stakes are raised” flag that a writer throws in to let us know “shit is serious now” like we didn’t just see the Joker a month ago in the same way. In general, his actions follow whatever the plot needs from him, plus a joke or two in a wavy font, but otherwise, there’s not much depth to him. He’s a bit like the “sexy lamp” trope except instead he’s more of a street sign that says “danger” and that street sign is in front of like the smallest pot hole to a full on burning building.

But I digress. So the Joker now kinda of sucks, but he has been good in the past. We’ve all read a story where he is actually interesting. So what happened? Well, long story short, the Joker got a bit lost in translation. 

What does the Joker actually represent? A lot of folks say society but that’s not it. Some say he’s chaos for chaos sake, which isn’t entirely wrong, and some interpretations have written him that way, but I’d argue they’re not good ones. 

I think Moore is a little closer with the idea of one bad day but I think people also really simplify what he was getting at.  Because Moore’s point in the Killing Joke (derogatory, problematic) was that the Joker is wrong. Jim proves him wrong, that’s the point. So it’s not that either.

So let’s take a step back. I think the best way to view the Joker is to start with Batman because the Joker is supposed to be his natural foil, his true nemesis. So to foil properly, you first have to decide what you’re foiling. Batman is an idea, the idea Bruce had a very very bad day and then decided to try to stop bad things like it from ever happening again. He’s not a defense of the “system” per say because Bruce goes against the system a lot because it’s corrupt and doesn’t work. But it’s an idea of justice, that those who are hurt can feel safe and that people can be better. 

It’s the idea that “the world sucks and is unfair and bad things happen, but we get up and try to make it better anyway because it’s worth it” Which fits Gotham thematically: things are terrible and dark but no one gives up, they keep pushing towards that light.

Okay so with this in mind, the Joker is easier to define. He’s not pure chaos. The Joker is destructive nihilism, the idea that “everyone sucks and the world is unfair and bad things happen and because of that, I should burn it all down until everyone else realizes it too, because we will never truly win.” A lot of the things the Joker does when written well come back to this mission statement: futility and despair. There’s no hope to be had so fuck it, let’s commit some arson and laugh because none of this means anything, might as well have fun as the world falls apart. And that fits with his character. Why is he a clown? Tragic comedy duality. Why is his backstory always changing and never concrete? Because nothing matters so who he is doesn’t matter, the city will still burn. Why does he shift tactics so often? Because he doesn’t care about consistency, he sees the world as a doomed sim city and he’s happy to destroy it regardless of what tools he has in the hot bar.

And it’s why he hates Batman so much. The Joker views the world as a bird with two broken wings from hitting the window:it hasn’t quite died yet but will never get better. Meanwhile Batman is the person still trying to bandage each wing, like birds doesn’t break wings every day, like the window isn’t going to cause this problem again, like trying to fix this one doomed bird matters. And the Joker hates him for it. He wants him to stop fighting, admit you can’t fix things and laugh. And yet Batman keeps trying to save every broken bird he can find like that will change anything. Hell, he even tries to fix the fucking window, even though some other asshole will put up another one as soon as he convinces this property owner to replace it. Batman looks at this problem and keeps railing against it, even when the chance of him saving ever bird and replacing every too opaque window is impossible. And the Joker finds that attempt to work against what he views as a hopeless situation the most frustrating thing in the world. 

(This viewpoint of the Joker also helps explain why Harley and others so easily fell for the line: cause chaos cus it’s fun is a harder sell then “we’re all doomed, might as well watch it burn and laugh knowing it was doomed to begin with). 

But instead everyone writes him as their first chaotic evil character in dnd and it’s lazy. It’s boring. It’s a plot device in clown make-up. Use a character who makes sense for your plotline. Save the Joker for what he’s meant for. 

[astaroth1357]

"Hi kinda new. I don't know if this is where requests go, but if you haven't done it yet can I request an MC sneaking into the boys beds?" ~irenethehotdog

The MC Sneaks Into the Brothers' Beds While They're Asleep

@irenethehotdog don’t worry, I found ya anyway. 😁 Sooo there was a kind of tender way I could have played this… but then there was a funny way. I hope you're alright that I went with the funny way. 😅 I got two bed requests that are kind of similar-ish but how I’m interpreting them makes them just different enough to warrant two different asks. Here's the first one!

Check out my Masterlist for more!

Warning: Comical nudity? Is that NSFW-ish?

Intro:

Sometimes everybody needs a little comfort, especially in the middle of the night. Any number of things could have drawn the MC out of their bed: bad dreams, nagging thoughts, just general fear of the darkness of Hell that surrounded them, but they decided to try to soothe their unease with the company of their demonic housemates! Wonder how that turned out for them..?

Lucifer

I mean, if you’re feeling a little alone at night, maybe a little scared, it would only be natural to want to seek solace with the strongest person in the nearest vicinity, right? ...Right?

To say it was maybe ill-advised to just climb into bed with Lucifer would be an understatement… Frankly, if the enchantments he had on his door weren’t specifically meant for Mammon then they might have ended up in a very compromised position. But somehow, they managed to infiltrate the demon’s private sanctuary and get right up to his bed.

Now, Lucifer is not a heavy sleeper. Not at all. He’s grown pretty accustomed to waking up at all hours of the night because of his brother’s antics, so he felt the shifting weight on his mattress almost instantly.

They probably weren’t expecting him to suddenly jerk upright and spin towards them, fireball in hand ready to lob at their face... but that’s what they got.

After realizing that it was just the human and not Mammon coming in to take his stuff again, he made them sit down in front of his fireplace while he gave them a looong lecture about personal boundaries and how it’s really not smart to sneak up on demons like that… 

But he was still sympathetic to their sleep-deprived state so he offered them some tea and Devildom sleep remedies in hopes of getting them back to bed. ...Just not his. Back to your bed with you, MC.

Mammon

Mammon was their “babysitter.” Their protector. Their guardian. So why wouldn’t they want to go to him on a difficult night?

Getting into Mammon’s bed was hardly a challenge, sure they had to tiptoe through the garbage heap that made up his bedroom floor but it wasn’t Mission Impossible or anything…

What did catch them off guard was just how… not clothed he felt after they slid in under his covers. Like, pretty much wearing nothing at all. Not even a pair of courtesy boxers. 😓

It was their squeal as they flung themselves out of the bed that actually woke Mammon up. They had him ripping the covers off, ready to leap into action and everything, which definitely didn’t help matters. (Or maybe it did, depending on your point of view 🤷‍♀️).

Both parties pretty much turned into a cursing/blushing mess as he shot them embarrassed, rapid-fire questions while desperately trying to pull on some sweats. Meanwhile the MC stayed plastered up against the wall of his bedroom, answering him in equally defensive shouts.

Eventually, their fuss woke up Lucifer who was quick to send both of them back to their respective beds. The House teased them mercilessly for weeks… How were they supposed to know Mammon slept naked??

Leviathan

Levi might be a… strange choice for bedmate at first glance (he doesn’t really even sleep in bed, but a tub hardly meant for two people). However, there’s a certain level of approachability to him, isn’t there? Considering his own struggles with anxiety, maybe they thought he could relate…?

They tried knocking on his door first, thinking he might have been gaming, but there was no answer. When they walked in and found the otaku actually asleep for once, it seemed like their wishes might have actually been granted!

...But then came the actual trouble of trying to get into bed with Levi to start with. There wasn’t really an easy way to squeeze their body in past his because the tub was so dang narrow…

Any rational person might have just given up on the venture, but not MC. Whatever's possessed them to want to sleep with this awkward shut-in has a pretty good hold on them yet.

Lack of sleep might have been what gave them the bright idea to just try and lay on top of Levi veeerrry sooooftlllly…. Which is how the poor demon woke up to them halfway straddling his waist in the middle of the night.

His remarkably high-pitched scream woke up the whole dang House and the sheer amount of force he used when trying to jerk out of the tub toppled it over… Even after many apologies (and a trip to go buy a new tub), Levi still double locks his door at night to this day… 😓

Satan

Really an odd choice there, not going to lie. They’re well aware of the possibility that they could accidentally wake him and he maaaay not be the best waker (what being Wrath and all) but if it’s irrational worries that got you down, why not go to the most rational person in the House? Sounds like a perfectly logical decision, right?

That might have been what their half-baked disillusions were telling them on the way to Satan's bedroom but actually standing in front of the sleeping man was a whole other story. They felt crazy, genuinely crazy… But they still slipped in under the covers anyway.

Satan stirred almost immediately and turned to face them… but his eyes could hardly keep focus and the look of dopey confusion on his face could have honestly made the perfect screen background. "Huuuuuh…? MC…? What're you doin' 'ere…?"

They kind of had to hold in a laugh while they explained that they just wanted to sleep next to him that night. Satan beamed them an oddly serene smile and just nodded. "Okaaay…" With that he seemed to roll over to go back to sleep… but his mind caught back up with him before his drowsiness did.

"Wait a minute..." Ah shit….

 Like Lucifer, Satan ended up giving them a pretty good lecture on boundaries and the like when he finally snapped out of his stupor. Thankfully he wasn't mad, just a little embarrassed that they had seen him like that. He offered them a good book or two to pass the time if they couldn't sleep, but sent them back to bed all the same.

Asmodeus

Asmo probably doesn’t get people coming into his bed with completely chaste intentions very often, but he’s by far the most emotionally in-tuned demon in the House. If they're after a little sympathy, best just go to Asmo right?

They weren't really sure what to expect when they walked into his room... Does Asmo sleep like a Disney Princess, hair and makeup done perfectly in defiance of all laws of beauty?

Does he sleep like a '60s housewife, with curlers in his hair and leftover chips of mud mask on his face?

Does he sleep like the god of all sex that he is, sculpted chest for the eyes to see and everything underneath laid bare like a honeypot of temptation??

The MC doesn't really get to know, because when they pulled back the covers to climb inside they were met by the sight of someone else's very naked ass taking up the spot where they thought Asmo should be.

They go back to their room willingly, dejected and maybe a little scarred... Apparently they were just too late to the party...

Beelzebub

Okay, everything about Beel screams “Hello! I’m a warm comforting teddy bear!”...aside from the hungry parts. It’s really not hard to see why they’d want to go to him if they’re feeling a little vulnerable.

They didn't worry too much about being quiet when they walked into the twins' room. Belphie could sleep through a rock concert and Beel wasn't too far behind him (as long as he wasn't hungry).

They figured that the tall twin wouldn't mind too much if they just crawled into bed with him… He had make a similar request of them before, it was only fair right?

As they were preparing their tired body for a good night's sleep, they gently pulled the covers back next to Beel but they probably weren't expecting to find so many food wrappers surrounding him… or bags of chips… or packages of cookies… or-

Apparently Beel had yet another sleep-eating run and this time he seemed to have brought the whole kitchen back with him. There was hardly enough room left for Beel anymore, let alone the MC!

Considering their options were to either wedge themselves between a havoc roast and a bag of jerky or just brave one more night on their own, they cut their losses early and went back to their own bed...

Belphegor

They didn’t have to know Belphie since Day One of being there to pick up on how hard he slept. The man was pretty much in a coma for most of the day and that included his nightly rests too. Would he even notice if they… per say… slipped into bed with him to get a little comfort from their nightmares? Surely, he’d stay asleep, right?

When they didn't see his sleeping form in the room he shared with Beel, the MC eventually found Belphie up in the attic room. His little hideaway with a plush-ass bed to boot.

They didn’t bother being quiet at all. They figured that Belphie could have stayed under for anything short of banging pots and pans in his ears so why try to mask their footsteps?

They never expected him to be awake. 😰

The moment they lifted the covers, Belphie struck like some kind of blanket crocodile! He grabbed them by the waist and dragged them into the spot of the bed right under him with a impish grin on his face.

Turns out they weren't the only ones having sleeping problems that night and as they felt the full weight of his worn out body settle in nicely up against theirs they knew that maybe, finally, they'd get a good night's sleep… 🤭

[batarangsoundsdumb]

guess fucking what? my inbox is so fucking full right now i'm unloading all of this shit in one post.

For the 11th gotham memes: gothamites react to bruce being jacked in a tiktok he made with kids, like super yoked, ripped as hell

fucking hilarious thanks. i think i did it in one meme post, but i genuinely don't remember which one

i dunno which of the batfam would do this but one time i was sleeping over at a friends house and ended up on the floor bc the bed was so very small and i just stayed there because the rug was soft

that's a drunk jason move i don't know what to tell you

tim and jason are "i listen to pop punk" solidarity. whenever jason highjacks the batmobile theyll go on long ass car rides blaring mcr and paramore and then never talk about it again

as they should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tim: no jason it's my turn using the aux cord i gotta put on my jams jason: don't you dare put on weird shit tim: don't worry, you're gonna love this *plays fearless (taylor's version)

hear me out hear me out, red hood stans 🤝 nightwing stans t h i g h s

holy shit yes.

SNL au: Bruce breaks character when pretending to superman and says something like "I'm not superman! You've seen his gps!! It's from 2001!!!" @sabeanybabe

superman flies past the snl building the next day just to say 'actually it's from 2005, i'm not a heathen'

does your back hurt from carrying the batfam fandom

it hurts more from the exotic rock collection i keep in my backpack, but thanks for the concern.

I love your posts by why would you always leave the best parts in the tags?

as a treat for the people that check the tags ;) (and also because i'm committed to the short post aesthetic)

somehow your playlist was everything i never knew i needed. i mean it. this is my new favorite playlist.

and don't you dare get a new favourite playlist!

babe ur stoner tim playlist is exactly too perfect, earth is literally blessed by ur existence

babe thanks so much! i love my stoner tim playlist because it's just my usual playlist but people think it's an artistic choice that i put taylor swift and britney spears in there, when it's just what i unironically like listening to

JANDKSKDK BILLY RAY CYRUS ON THE STONER TIM PLAYLIST I LOVE IT IT

again it's not even an ironic choice, i know every single word and i genuinely like the song

The last chapter of Fundamentals of Casework has me crying at work. Thanks I love it @dudelookitsalesbian

oh babe, i'm sorry, but also, not sorry i love chapter 4 so much it's my lovechild with the 'mental illness' tag

soooo....stumbled on your tumblr by some stroke of fate??? read your DC fanfic first. which is PHENOMENAL btw. then found all the batmemes; the funniest thing EVER bc everyone forgets about regular old gothamites. kept scrolling and your blog pops up as recommended. clicked on the ao3 for shits and giggles and waddaya know?!?!? it's YOU!!! you're LEGEND!!!! ever seen that meme? it's a video of a cat that got into a baseball field and the two announcers get really invested in his escape attempt and start giving a play by play of the cat instead of the game. memeable moment: "GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!"

i seriously think about this ask every single day and it's so fucking funny to me that i've never seen the meme you're referencing, but i still find myself going 'GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!' whenever i see something funny. but wow i'm glad you liked this steaming pile of garbage

Fav dc character overall? And fav batfamily character?

don't ask me to pick between the loves of my life, but i can tell you i've cried about every single batfamily member and also wally west (my beloved)

What's your opinion on fans having a problem with batfam being "too big"? And some even claim that batfam is just "Bruce Alfred Dick Damian" and the rest of them are just "friends and allies" (source: reddit) Personally, I like batfam because of this reason but idk

stupid. a family can never be too big. i'm not that big a fan of like huge batfam stuff with everybody from every single universe, because as much as it's funny for bruce to have like 30 kids, it just feels a little too OOC for me.

This is the best tag I've seen involving the batfam, thanks for thinking of it

This is canon now @nctxrejects

lmao yeah i think at that point alfred has had to sit through like at least a dozen coming out talks and just has a pride flag collection in the attic that he pulls out whenever a kid comes out

idk why batfam hits different as compared to any other superhero family

bc it's found family and usually the other superhero families are almost all genetically related in one way or another

I don't know if you watch the umbrella academy but I saw your last post about batcest and saw the similarities. But the thing is (although I think it's weird) in TUA, they addressed it by saying "they were raised as weapons, not siblings" or something along those lines, which is simply not the case with batfam.

yeah i watched tua but i also thought it was ridiculous and they still treated each other as siblings so i didn't like the luthor/allison thing, and am glad they stopped doing that shit bc it fucking sucked.

Hot take: Batcest shippers are the same people who believe adopted siblings are not actual siblings

smoking hot take: batcest shippers are the people who watch 'my sister got stuck in the washing machine' porn

Duke was adopted by Bruce?

not technically no, but do i, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb, look like i care?

True story but I had to change my freaking name because it used to be "Damien" and most people would go "OH LIKE DAMIAN WAYNE" like please I'm just tryna live

true story, but i don't actually think of damian when i hear the name damian, literally the first thing that pops up is damian darkh like bruh what?

apparently dc comics company supported comic stores by giving out new titles and stuff during the beginning of the pandemic to help them run and I just think that's wholesome

ah yeah that's so fucking cool, still don't like dc, the company, because this world is a capitalist hellhole and we're all owned by warner brothers or disney with no in between.

ayo looking at tumblr head canons and finding out bruce is actually a terrible father is a punch in the gut

lmao yes, in like 50% of comics bruce is a terrible father and it gives me whiplash

oooh I just saw the jason todd vs winter soldier post and the real question is: batman vs iron man

while iron man has like hundreds of cases of armor, batman could throw out an emp and have the guy dropping out of the sky in 2 seconds.

dickfast = fastdick = quickdick = quickie

magnum hot take

hey bata(?) just thought I'd let you know I have copied the obnoxious emoji and Billy Ray post for use on simping men going forth

thank you 😘🌷 (@spacebarsidecar)

why would you do that to your followers???? i get why i did it, but why would you???

what is scarecrow made the nightwing funko pop himself, like those diy-ers that paint over other ones

oh god no, horrible take, horrible take, that's a disgusting thought oh no

I see your HC that Bruce and Oliver fucked and raise you this: Dick and Roy ALSO fucked

yes they did and it was a horrible moment for jason to find out dick has fucked both of his best friends

"at this rate bruce adds like 1 child to his family every decade or so" Duke is introduced in 2013, Damian as Damian, not as an unnamed child, in 2006. And he is already 14 years old, Robins rarely remain Robins after 16 😬 It looks like a new Robin and Batkid will appear in a couple of years

i mean i can't wait? but somebody will probably die first tho, we're due for another major character death. my money's on either cass or duke this time.

BRO you're so right all of your Bruce's ex headcanons are amazing but they aren't ships, that's kinda wild. Like I don't want any peeks into how their relationship was I just want to see everyone make fun of them

lmao YES it's just i love bruce being a slut, like good for him.

I am in love with your posts your honour thank you

omg thanks are we like,, gonna kiss now?

The justice league needs to have a meeting to discuss how many of their members/partners have slept with bruce. Because through a combination of cannon & fannon (if DC wasn’t homophobic) we have AT LEAST: 1) clark 2) lois 3) oliver 4) dinah 5) john

Thats not counting villains or random civilians @dudelookitsalesbian

yes yes yes, they'll have a yearly meeting about how many of their collective exes could be out for revenge and batman's list just keeps getting longer.

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

and what about it?

when steph's fighting livewire and she zaps her with lighting and nothing happens and then they both just. stand there awkwardly for a second and talk. yeah i couldn't stop laughing at that batgirl steph is the BEST

oh yeah that was fucking hilarious and i think it would be so cool and sexy of dc to give steph a little comic series,,, as a treat

Hi I absolutely adore all of yours "Bruce and Oliver very badly pretending they didn't fuck each other" memes

lmao i do too

I need you to know that “Bruce Wayne had frosted tips” is one of my favorite Bruce takes of all time it’s so galaxy brained. you’re right and you should say it

he also painted his hair blonde once when he was travelling and in conclusion, this is why he's being blackmailed by the gotham gazette.

you know my thing about gordon being branded as the only good cop in gotham is its a load of shit like arguably he's a good person and not working to screw people over or anything but the fact that he also works w. batman makes him a shit cop. like yea batman is better than the mob but its still illegal its still an abuse of power he just not making bank

babe, all cops are bad cops. (but yeah youre absolutely right, working with vigilantes makes you a shit cop, but also working against vigilantes just makes you an asshole cop yanno?)

ruh roh i think i’m about to add “so not yeehaw” every time i don’t like something

that's a very good vocabulary upgrade

somehow i feel like steph already knew. like babs obviously knew but i feel like bruce got high/drunk in front of steph and started telling his boarding school stories and steph was just like “oh you fucked up i’m never gonna forget this”

steph and bruce have weird uncle/rebellious niece dynamic and they just hang out sometimes and bruce will be like 'i once broke my arm when i tripped over a hedge when i was drunk so oliver drove me to the hospital on an electric scooter' and steph will just have to sit there with that knowledge in her head.

Hello I just wanted to tell you you are So right in all your steph opinions bc she is, in fact amazing and I think that's very sexy of you. Ps. Your Bruce/Oliver fic is hilarious

babe, thank you so much and yes steph is amazing and i love her and she deserves the world and she's the best member of the batfam hands down. also thanks

In Supersons we see a couple of kids that are implied to be Damian and Jon's children and the boy has laser eyes and can fly, so I asume he's not adopted. The girl, who calls Bruce grandpa, can also fly, btw. So it's canon (probably by accident) that Jon can have kids and he must have married one of Bruce's kids. (I'm hoping for Damian, mostly because any other of his children would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old.) @artemisa97

lmao that was probably an accident seeing as jon is a 17 year old superhero in the year 3000 (by the jonas brothers)

You know, I'm a die hard fan of your memes, but I gotta say one thing: if Gothamites actually took gas mask everywhere with them, then the Scarecrow would just be a weird dude in a weird costume, and not a villain oh so scary. DC really should just takes notes from you.

bold of you to assume there's no gothamite anti-maskers

How does it feel being the funniest person on this app?

horrible, next question.

I can't listen to Green Day or Billy Joel without thinking of your post about how Bruce got arrested at a Billy Joel concert @nightwings-kid

yeah that's your mistake, i on the other hand can't enjoy billy joel without thinking about the glee rendition of 'uptown girl'

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

superman: so what do you do in your free time? batman, thinking about the superman fanfiction he's writing on the batcomputer: i have no free time

bruce and oliver be like boyfriends to co-workers 401k (do the justice leagues get 401ks??? not that bruce and ollie would need them, but-)

lmao yes just 400 thousand words of bruce realising 'oh dip oliver is such a fucking dumbass' (also i don't know what a 401 k is but i assume they don't?)

Gothamites would totally boo superman as he saves Gotham while batman is out. @meenje

he's like 'okay think about that next time you want to be saved from an alien octopus'

I just took long break from dc comics and I come back to see ric grayson ??

i think it's very cool and sexy of dc to see dick and just think 'you know what? let's just give him a traumatic brain injury' and then didn't develop his character in any real way

SPEAKING OF RIC GRAYSON, gothamites making confused memes out of ric grayson is much needed

'dick grayson is my taxi driver? can anyone explain what the fuck happened he looks like an italian plumber?'

i hate to say it but batfam are def "marvel characters" in that sense they are characters who are human but become superheroes unlike most dc characters who are gods trying to be human maybe this is why I like batfam

fair enough

[lucemferto]

Niki Nihachu & Barbara Kean

Gonna drop something controversial real quick.

Niki Nihachu is the most tragic character on the Dream SMP – and I don’t mean in the sense of her having a tragic story (though she is up there), but in the sense that she is tragically mishandled.

I want to start out by saying that this essay is by no means an attack on the content creator Niki Nihachu or her abilities as a performer. She is frequently one of the strongest actors on the SMP and I have no idea how much of her character writing was within her power. How much of it was improv, how much pre-planned, how much something she genuinely wanted to do and how much stuff she just stumbled into or – in the worst-case scenario – was forced upon her. I don’t know.

The Dream SMP is not very transparent when it comes to their creative process. As such I can only judge it as a discerning viewer and English major dropout, who retained some half-remembered stuff about narratology.

So, a few weeks ago, I tumbled on here that Niki’s character journey reminded me a lot of the character Barbara Kean from the hit TV-show Gotham. Then I got an ask asking me to elaborate. This is the elaboration.

Barbara Kean

So, a quick crash course for people who haven’t seen Gotham (the greatest comic book show on Television, seriously, what are you doing with your life?!): Barbara Kean was a major female character throughout all five seasons of Gotham – and not once during those five seasons did the writers ever figure out what they wanted to do with her.

Every 10-12 episodes or so, Barbara’s role shifted completely. She started out as cop-protagonist Jim Gordon’s girlfriend at home and moral compass, then became part of a bisexual love triangle, then a hard-drinking jealous party girl with a backstory as repressed, lonely rich kid, before being kidnapped by a serial killer and ultimately making her perfect metamorphosis into the psychotic ex-girlfriend trope.

And that was Season 1.

Since then, she became the pseudo-Harley Quinn to the pseudo-Joker, a whip-wielding dominatrix, the obligatory female member in a supervillain squad, some sort of information broker, a mafia kingpin, the leader of a girl-power posse and – my favourite – the reincarnated wife of an ancient immortal who also controls all of Gotham and transferred that control over to her before that plot-point was dropped harder than a half-dead Oswald Cobblepot of the Gotham piers.

Also, she’s Batgirl’s mom.

In short, it’s a mess – but that’s what makes Gotham kinda fun.

Character Cohesion

Now, obviously, Niki’s character journey has not been quite as extreme. But it falls into the same traps, I find. Namely, that there’s just a distinct lack of character cohesion or character continuity.

Now, character cohesion or character continuity doesn’t mean that the arcs these characters undertake can’t be explained in a logical way. Barbara’s character journey is logical in the sense that you can explain it all with in-universe logic – but it’s not logical from a narratological sense now, is it?

Character Cohesion basically means that a character’s journey is reflected in their personal conflict – their Want vs. Need. Their arc is the natural continuation of what was set-up in previous sequences. Everything falls into a whole with Set-up, Confrontation, Resolution – we set up the character’s Want, their Want and Need are conflicting, the Want vs. Need is resolved. Ideally this coincides with the plot beats of the large conflict surrounding the cast.

When you look at Barbara in Season 1 of Gotham, you’re not thinking “This one right here – she’s the reincarnated wife of Ra’s Al Ghul”. Because why would you? There was no set-up; it’s not part of what her character was about in this moment – or any moment before that concept was introduced. It’s not needed for her character conflict (or any thematic conflicts for that matter).

It’s quite transparently just something that is affixed to her so that she has something until the writers come up with the next at which that first thing will dropped, underdeveloped.

Niki in Season 1

Niki follows the same route, unfortunately. She’s set-up as the resistance in L’Manburg, allies herself with Eret and HBomb until – oops – it doesn’t end mattering, because that entire side of the “plot” is completely underdeveloped. Just be a damsel until Wilbur can swoop in and save you, Niki.

Okay, but now she has a big moment with Tommy and Tubbo just after the pit-scene. “We’ll figure something out”, she says. “We need L’Manburg back”. This is all before the backdrop of Wilbur completely giving in to his role as a villain and Techno’s apparent “betrayal”.

So, now, surely, Niki is gonna affect change in Pogtopia and will have some influence on either Tommy or Wilbur, the two people she’s closest to. What’s this? Her biggest contribution is holding a birthday party where Quackity convinces Wilbur to hold off on his TNT-plan? And after that … she’s just gonna be part of the Pogtopia-masses?

Now, I like Wilbur’s writing and Season 1 generally, but when it comes to Niki (and Eret) something went terribly wrong. Both of them provided many a set-up – none of which were taken advantage of, unfortunately.

And, just to be clear, I’m not putting the blame on Niki here (or at least not most of it). Season 1 was pretty firmly in Wilbur’s hand … and Season 2 was a train wreck.

Niki in Season 2

Niki is – for the most part of Season 2 – a nothing character. She has no real conflict, no character beats, no arc. This is because through some unfortunate writing decisions, Season 2 is pretty squarely focused on a specific set of characters – and even fewer of those characters are granted a fully explored, completed character arc.

It all culminates in her Doomsday villain arc – a moment that can be logically explained from both an in-character perspective and a meta-perspective, but unfortunately, it’s not justified from a technical writing point of view.

Niki burning down the L’Mantree is her “Ra’s Al Ghul’s reincarnated wife”-moment. It’s a big statement that put her character on the map for a large part of the audience again. It was a striking visual. It could not be ignored.

Most of that was because it was a stark departure from her characterization in Season 1. Now, such a departure doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. The problem comes in when

a.) The full potential of the character in their previous narrative role had not yet been fully or even partly exhausted

b.) It cuts into an on-going character arc and drastically changes its course

c.) It’s not foreshadowed or developed properly.

And most of those are true for Niki’s character. She was not necessarily underdeveloped but underexplored in Season 1 and had no consistent storyline going on in Season 2. She was a witness to Tommy’s trial, but that was never worked into an on-going storyline for her. No matter how much we retroactively pretend like this turn to villainy, this breakdown, was brewing deep inside of her – there was no foreshadowing.

The reason, why I said it’s understandable from a meta-perspective, is that the content creator Niki Nihachu had a self-admittedly hard time getting her foot in in Season 2 – because Season 2, for as much love as I will heap upon Tommy’s and Dream’s storyline, was a pretty messy.

So, the villain arc was not well foreshadowed and Niki’s turn was developed, but what happened after she was in it?

Niki in Season 3

Well, unfortunately that problem of an inconsistent storyline never really went away for her. In the beginning of Season 3, she hatched her wagons with Jack Manifold, which was a pretty big tonal shift – from darkly tragic to cartoonish villainy.

But as Jack kept developing his character in that lane and following up on big plot development with corresponding character moments, Niki again just … vanished. She then changed gears again, joining the Syndicate – a great idea if only the Syndicate actually streamed together and developed a storyline and group cohesion.

As it stands right now, Niki’s character exists in the negative space of the fandom imaginations. We are given some scraps and good character moments – her sleeping in a jail cell, “I started baking again”, her secret city – but those moments never coalesce into a full-fledged storyline.

Her character’s journey is still as fragmented and underexplored as it ever was. I really hope that – with Wilbur’s revival and the new character conflict that seems to arise from that for her – she manages to finally get the foot in and get the storyline and dynamic arc she deserves.

[createandconstruct]

can i ask about amarant coral? the monk in red himself~

Can you ask about Amarant Coral? *cracks fingers* Oh I insist that you do. Welcome to my Amarant Appreciation Post:

favorite thing about them: First off best thing about Amarant? His theme. The percussion and the guitar. It’s great and it captures him so well. People out here like “take Amarant out of the game he adds nothing.” EXCUSE ME? You remove the Amarant you remove the Amarant Theme my friend and that is something I do NOT vibe with. 

least favorite thing about them: I wanna know more about him. Now Amarant doesn’t need a backstory or history in the game. In a sense, he already has one that connects him to Zidane and explains his motives and actions and eventual arc. But my issue is, Square never gave him anything else. If you look at Ultimania there’s additional lore about other characters, like Steiner for instance. You learn Steiner was a war orphan who was saved by the Pluto Knights - explaining his devotion to them. Amarant though? Square was like “uh... yeah he was born....? And then he uh got famous...? Idk then he met Zidane. You figure it out.” Square. I hate you. 18 years from his birth until he became “well known”. WHAT WAS HE DOING. WHY’D HE BECOME A SECURITY GUARD. WHAT WAS ON HIS RESUME. TELL MEEEE. Like, okay, what the actual in-game canon gives us on Amarant is sort of enough. He’s a purposely written mysterious “cool-guy” character so we’re given scraps to make him unknown but come on. In the published after-game canon, like Ultimania, we could have been given a bit more. He says he doesn’t remember anything about his origins or parents, but why. Was he another victim of Gaia’s wars? Probably. Was he born on a battlefield? Fighting for his life, living without comrades, taking scraps whenever he could? Was he betrayed when he was young? Is he a supposed to be a version of Zidane had he not been adopted into Tantalus by Baku??? These are questions I deserve answers to, Square.

favorite line: “’I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature...’ You're a real simpleton. Forget it, guys. There's no stopping this fool." I love this. Amarant figures Zidane out pretty quickly after Ipsen’s Castle. Zidane is hardheaded and also an actor. He acts cool and pretends his reasons for doing things are loose but when he’s decided something it’s always for a reason. You don’t need a reason to help people, but Zidane has his reasons for helping Kuja and while Amarant doesn’t give two shits what they are he knows Zidane won’t be stopped because, despite everything, Zidane saved a loser like him. Also this line “Tell me! Why didn't you kill me!?" Because I quote it all the time and it makes myself laugh. Amarant is such a drama queen and Zidane knows it. Zidane’s like “dude... what is your damage, it’s 5 pm on Tuesday in Madain Sari. I ain’t getting blood on my gloves cause you’re having a temper tantrum.” And then Amarant runs away to have an existential crisis. He’s 26 but compared to Zidane, he’s the real teenager with angst.  

brOTP: I could talk about Zidane or Freya with Amarant but instead I’m gonna say the underrated dynamic of Amarant and Eiko (and also Vivi).  Amarant with the kids is truly the greatest gift given by his presence in the game. Amarant has never known true suffering until he became a designated legal guardian of a group of minors. It also kills me how he’s the one to volunteer to carry Eiko and Vivi up the Iifa tree. He looks at Zidane and is like “you have seriously been the ‘adult’ of this group???”

OTP: Gotta say the Freya and Amarant dynamic. I really enjoyed their unlikely friendship in the game but then the content. The fan content. The Freya x Amarant fans out there, you win. Ya got me. You captured me and I am now imprisoned by their banter and begruntled allies to lovers story. Even if they’re not romantic I love them together and really wish the game gave us more of them. But even Lani and Amarant together are valid, though I prefer them as butting head bros. Not much content for my girl Lani out there either, she deserves more.

nOTP: Nothing I can think of. I tend to like platonic pairings for Amarant. The dude needs friends because he can barely define the word friendship.

random headcanon: Before Zidane returns at the end of the game Amarant wanders around a bit, unsure of what to do. He doesn’t feel any place with the others in Alexandria, Burmecia, or Lindblum. I imagine he goes off on his own for a bit like before but this time he’s not after Zidane or a fight. Instead he’s got no particular destination. Yet he somehow always finds himself running into people just like him - or the old him - friendless lonely people who are looking for a fight. He doesn’t go out his way to find these folks he simply runs into them and decides he might as well knock some sense into them. He does however make it his business to go after any murmur of people hatching any ideas of going after the far off little village on the Lost Continent. The home of the genomes and black mages. They were so helpless, so weak that anyone who’d want to mess with them is pathetic in Amarant’s book. Until Zidane returns, no one has the chance to even look at the Black Mage Village the wrong way because in the shadows Amarant lurks, making damn well sure of that.

unpopular opinion: I kinda love that he’s just there for most of the game? While I agree he gets the short end of the stick in the same way as Freya, not receiving additional individual character spotlight (which could have very well been supplied through discoverable lore in the world/npcs or through sidequests) I never considered his “standing off to the side” as a detriment to his character. 

Many would probably agree that Amarant always felt like a bit of a parody of the loner character, or at least the stereotype of the loner character. Amarant is so easily paralleled with Squall and Cloud’s surface-level attitudes because his dialogue always felt like something to poke fun at. As the player we’re supposed to align with Zidane’s way of thinking and how he views Amarant. When Amarant loses to Zidane and pretty much grits his teeth and goes “KILL ME,” along with Zidane we’re supposed to kinda raise our brow at him and go “...really, dude?”

 Amarant’s a character introduced as an antagonist who has more in common with the power hungry villains of the game. Like many of the characters in FFIX, Amarant is in search of purpose in life, which he has never found, because he was always looking in the wrong places - in places of violence and power. Very toxic-masculinity of him. Amarant is “cool” on an aesthetic level but in reality he’s the polar opposite of cool in terms of what FFIX states about the need for others to be intertwined in your experiences so that you can live a full life. 

I sort of love that he’s like a grumpy pitball following a 16 year old and his friends around. Then he sits in the corner when they all meet up and discuss current events acting like he doesn’t care (not to mention he casually walks as everyone is running as fast as they can to escape Terra - made me laugh cry on my first playthrough) He is “just there” but that’s because he has no where else to be, no where else to go, he’s a man without a home. And until Zidane offers his hand, at the point where Amarant is most willing to take it at Ipsen’s Castle, he’s not truly a party member. He IS an outsider for almost the entire game but at Ipsen Castle he joins the party, becomes a comrade, and decides he’ll allow himself to change paths and start a life where he has friends and lives, as well as fights for them. Which is why after that moment, Amarant finally has a victory pose.

song i associate with them: I was scratching my head for so long trying to think of a song or track that had Amarant vibes until it hit me. Outskirt Stand by Tsukasa Tawada (from Pokemon Colosseum). Amarant is so chill, he’s not a bombastic guy, so he needs a theme that drops me in the rocky open desert of the Lost Continent like I’m just lumbering around looking for a monkey-tailed menace. Some other Amarant tunes:  Pyrite Town, The Under, Snagem Hideout tracks from Pokemon Colosseum. This post is just an elaborate call to action for everyone to listen to the Pokemon Colosseum soundtrack. Tsukasa Tawada is so great and he has a YouTube. Check him out.

favorite picture of them:

Yoshitaka Amano’s Salamander Coral. I love him. He had too much power. 

Also everything drawn by @crispy-ghee. Everything. I will think of this Comic forever until I die. Tattoo it on my flesh. The banter, the dynamics, the post-game content, the Zidane prince-consort outfit, the new Amarant outfit, the stuck-in-the-same-place relationship him and Freya have. Perfect. Go read it and consume Crisipy’s stuff. And also check them and their current art out, they just consistently get better and better. Here’s a first panel preview of my fav comic. Read it.

 @hannahlady​‘s Amarant art and their Freya/Amarant art is just ugh. *Chef’s Kiss* Here is another preview because you should go look at it.

Here’s a piece that deserves so much more love by @snackage. I LOVE how they drew Amarant. Here’s a little preview. It’s SO GOOD

Anyway TL;DR: Amarant is love and life and you’ll have to pull him from my little gremlin hands.

[starsfic]

Niú Mówáng R. Boy and Qi Xiaotian

Summary: Writer Red's summer of peace is broken one morning when his new neighbor moves in.

AO3

-_-

A loud crash was what Red woke up to.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes, still not quite awake and very confused. Loud yelling and the beep of a moving truck was what made him wake up enough to growl and pull a pillow over his head.

The plan had been peace and quiet. His therapist had encouraged this summer of serenity to give him time off from writing and time to think over who he wanted to be without his parents’ expectations. He had thought the country would be nice and peaceful.

Except he was wrong.

Another blaring honk broke the silence and Red growled, glancing over at the clock. It was six, way too early to deal with this. He dropped the pillow and grabbed his slippers and bathrobe. He stalked to the door, throwing it open.

“-wake up the entire neighborhood! Just-just leave it by the curb!”

The sun wasn’t even up yet and all he could see was a thick blanket of fog. The streetlight managed to break it a bit. As well as the headlights of the moving truck. He slammed the door shut and stalked towards it. Whoever was making that noise was going to get an earful.

Before he could do that, something rammed into him. There was a yelp from him and whomever, as well as the sound of things falling into the gravel at his feet. “Sorry!” Red turned at the voice, clearly the person yelling.

And blinked.

The first thing he noticed about the noise complaint was the bright orange jacket that contrasted vibrantly against the fog. Then they looked up, revealing a pretty young man, a red headband pushing back dark hair. His mouth was pressed in a firm line and dark eyes were annoyed. “Sorry,” he repeated before turning back to the ground. He was holding a box that was full of books and art supplies, several books and a drawing tablet on the ground.

“I didn’t mean to bump into you,” the man explained, grabbing the books and stacking them in. “This fog is really thick and- this isn’t even my yard. Sorry about the noise!”

Red found himself kneeling, helping him stack the books in. “It’s no issue,” he said, his anger extinguished and mouth dry at the sight of the handsome man. He grabbed the tablet and the last book and stood, watching as the man stood. Something about the book caught his eye.

Stars of the West.

Hey, he had written this! It was his very first novel, a sci-fi version of the Journey to the West and the stepping stone to the literary power he had today. Nowadays, he was more known for business articles or his research into how much influence the economy had in politics. He ran his thumb over name indented into the glossy cover: Niú Mówáng R. Boy. He hadn’t been able to help it. Red Boy had been his favorite character in the Journey to the West.

He hadn’t seen it in years.

“Have you read it?” The man said, having noticed his gaze. “You can borrow if you haven’t.”

“I’ve read it.” Red said. He should’ve told him it was him that had written it. He had done it to several people before and he had always enjoyed the reactions. But he stayed his tongue. “One of his older ones, right?” Maybe he could hear an honest critique.

“Yep!” The man took the book and tablet and managed to stack them in the box. Steadying it on his knee, he managed to get a grip with both hands on the box. “Nice to meet you!” And just like that, he was walking past him and to the house next door. Red managed a wave.

So, that was his new neighbor.

He stood there in the fog and his pajamas, feeling the latter getting damp from the former. The thought rolled through and he looked around. It seemed like the driver wasn’t interested in helping, so…

He sighed and turned back to his house.

Once he was inside, he headed up to his bedroom. He got dressed, ignoring his stomach’s desire for breakfast, finding himself choosing casual but flattering clothes. He headed back out and to the moving truck, finding his neighbor was at the back, grabbing another box and nearly falling out of the truck.

“Do you need help, Noodle Boy?” The nickname came in a flash, stemming from the white shirt he wore that read Pigsy’s Noodles. He resisted the warmth that wanted to rise up when he squeaked, eyes tracing his arms.

“Uh, yeah! That would be great.” He passed him the box, turning back to the truck to grab another. “I’m MK, by the way.”

“Red.” he said simply.

The two worked together to bring in boxes. Much to his pride, Red noticed a few more of his novels, but he held off on asking. Soon enough, the last thing was the couch. Together, the two managed to heft it up and lug it to the door.

Then a problem presented itself.

The door was too small.

“Maybe if we turn it sideways…” MK eyed him, sweat making his hair stick to his face. Sweat started to form, but it was more due to the low boiling heat coursing through Red than any of the work. It was a bit before he realized the other was speaking. “- a shot.”

Then he was distracted by moving the couch.

“Turn it a little to the left- My left!”

“Yeah, that’s right!”

“No, my left!”

“That’s my right!”

After a few minutes of arguing and shoving, the couch popped through the doorway. The two managed to set it in place and Red collapsed on it, sighing with relief. He heard MK moving around, but he didn’t open his eyes, not even when the door closed and he could hear the moving truck move away.

Then something warm rested on him. He opened his eyes and bit back a yelp when he saw MK leaning against him. His new neighbor seemed to not notice, busy typing. “So, it’s a bit late for breakfast,” he said, looking up with a smile that made Red’s heart flutter. He was cute. And charming. And read his books. It was hard not to like him. “But can I treat you to brunch?”

“Absolutely.”

After that, MK hopped off the couch and set to work opening boxes. Red followed, placing things where they were supposed to go. Another novel of his caught his eye. The Blueprints of the Star Chaser was another sci-fi, this one a short story and reminding him. “So...what do you think of Niú Mówáng R. Boy?”

There was a chuckle. “I like his older stuff.”

He blinked, caught off-guard. Most people he had spoken to preferred his more current stuff. (The fact that most people were his parents was something he ignored.) “Really? Don’t you think it’s kinda… childish?”

“Yeah, they’re amateur, but that’s what I like. He clearly enjoyed what he was writing back then. Nowadays it’s either articles or political dramas. I can understand why people like his more polished stuff, but at least it didn’t read like every word was a rotten tooth being dragged out by a dentist.”

That was… graphic. But his parents had told him that he needed to get serious to be respected, and his sci-fi novels and different analyzes of the Journey to the West weren’t serious. Before he could spiral into these thoughts, MK’s voice broke his thoughts. “What about you? What do you like?”

“Qi Xiaotian.” It was immediate. The name brought up the memory of beautiful art. “His comic version of the Journey to the West , to be specific.”

“Really?”

Red shrugged, unable to resist his smile. “I love his artwork. It’s so colorful and… wow. You can really feel his passion on every page. And that doesn’t describe his blog posts and short stories! I mean, on some of his analysis I don’t agree with. But the amount of research shows.” When he looked up, MK was flushed, a pleased smile on his face. Before he could continue or ask, there was a knock on the door.

They both hopped to their feet and scrambled to their feet, eager for food. When Red opened the door the delivery boy yelped. “Ah! Mr. Niú Mówáng! Are you- I mean, I have an order for a Qi Xiaotian?”

Red froze.

“That’s me!” MK said, reaching forward with cash in his hand. “I’m paying for all of it.” Soon enough, money and canvas bag full of food had exchanged hands and he was shutting the door. Now alone, the two blinked at each other.

“So…” MK said, breaking the silence, tapping his fingers together. “Can we forget the part where I compared your writing to rotten teeth?” Red burst into laughter and he smiled, moving past Red to the kitchen. “But, seriously, I’m sorry for whining about you not writing sci-fi anymore.”

Red chuckled, leaning over to grab the set of paper plates and plastic utensils Mk had set. “Well, I’ll forgive you, Noodle Boy, if you tell me what you’re working on now if you forgive me for my dislike of your analyzes.”

“Deal.”

Yeah, this was gonna be great.

[veryreallyfuckinbad]

FIRE AND MOSS // Daryl Dixon X Reader// CHAPTER 3

His words hit you like a truck, one going full speed at that. You opened and closed your mouth, trying to process and understand what he meant. Your dizziness didn’t help you put the pieces together. What did he mean he recognized Jake? Was he watching you? You were sure you looked like a complete idiot, but that didn’t matter. ‘Better be careful than be dead’, after all. You tensed and grabbed Jake, pulling him closer to you defensively, glaring at the man in front of you. He must have noticed your confusion because he decided to speak up, albeit with a sigh.

“Remember the bag?”

Then it hit you. This was the stranger that left the gifts for you and Jake. Why would he do that? He certainly didn’t look like the kind of man to help someone who he doesn’t know. Resources were few and far between, the nearest stores were looted and scavenged long ago, and those that weren’t were overrun.

“Was it from you?” You shifted slightly, sitting up properly.

“Yeah” he said lowly, his eyes not leaving you. He didn’t trust you, and he had every reason not to. A few seconds passed before he spoke again, “Found ya in the woods when I was looking for a lost lil’ girl. Ya seen one?” He spoke matter of factly, as if watching a girl from the shadows was a completely normal thing to do.

“No, I haven’t. I’m sorry“ As soon as the words left your mouth, the man’s gaze hardened. He looked at the floor and back up at you, as if afraid that you would spring up and attack him in the few seconds he wasn’t looking at you. You looked into his eyes, squinting a little as you did so. You saw sadness, disappointment and guilt. His eyes were the only expressive part of this man- his body language was unreadable. Suddenly, you felt a pang of guilt hit you, it felt like a slap in the face. He probably only helped you because he hoped you’d have known something about the missing kid. Before you could think, you opened your mouth and spoke.

“I haven’t seen any kids around but…” you trailed off, once again petting Jake and catching the man’s attention “Jake here is quite the tracker” you smiled warmly at him, all of your defensiveness and fear washing away. A group so dedicated to finding a lost child couldn’t hurt you. Somehow, you felt they were good people, even after only meeting one of them.

But the man didn’t say anything, only looking at you with a mix of worry and confusion. You took it as a sign, one that told you that they neither wanted nor needed your help.

“Sorry” you sighed, “I should get going. Thank you for saving my life” you offered him your best smile and politely bowed your head.

Before you could stand up, the door suddenly open and three more people coming in. Two men and one girl. One of the men was clearly older, with white hair, wearing a white button up shirt with suspenders. The other man was younger, but still older than you. He was wearing a sheriffs outfit, you had to bite your tongue as not to yell out a “yeehaw!”. The girl was pretty- with short hair and an olive green tank top. They looked kind, but intimidating. The man who you graciously dubbed ‘cowboy dude’ in your mind walked up to you with a small smile.

“Don’t go yet.” He smiled softly, “I’m Rick, this is Hershel” he gestured over to the older man “and this is Maggie” he added, pointing to the girl. “You remember how you got here?”

You looked over at the man whose name you still didn’t know, as if wordlessly asking whether you should respond or not. Of course, he didn’t understand and simply stared back. You looked at Rick again, deciding to respond.

“Uh… All I remember is old cabin, walker, glass, ouch” you said with a sheepish smile, not really remembering much other than that. There were some flashes of you wandering through the woods aimlessly but you didn’t think you needed to add that.

Maggie chuckled a bit at your simple response, causing you to give her an apologetic grin. Hershel walked closer, almost touching the bed you were laying on with his knees.

“I’m a doctor. I just need to check up on your thigh; your back is mostly okay, although you needed a couple of the wounds stitched. Your thigh is a different story, you were impaled” he sighed and looked at you. His eyes were kind and warm, he reminded you of your grandfather.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it but I really don’t want to waste your stuff or time” you dipped your head and looked up at him, but he insisted.

“Listen, how about this- I’ll let Rick talk to you and then I’ll check up on you.” The man said, motioning over to Rick. You simply nodded. You were nervous. Usually when people wanted to talk to you, it was either important or you were fucke-

“Yeah. Thanks” Rick’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts. Hershel and Maggie made their way to the door, both of them nodding at you as they left.

Jake looked around, clearly confused. You didn’t blame him, you were the only living human he’s met so far, he didn’t know what to do or whether you were in danger or not.

“So...” Rick began and waited, taking a seat on a spare chair in the meantime. Now Rick sat on your right and the other man on your left, causing you to feel surrounded and uncomfortable. You instinctively glanced at the door, looking for potential escape routes, in case one was needed.

“(Y/N)” you finished his sentence.

“Right, (Y/N).” He stuck out his hand and smiled warmly. Before you could extend your arm to shake his hand, Jake snarled and snapped his teeth at Rick. Letting out a small gasp, you touched Jake gently but it didn’t calm him down. He was protecting you from this stranger and while you were grateful to Jake for defending you, you began apologizing to Rick. He let out a small chuckle and retracted his hand.

“It’s okay, really” he assured, “We got used to it, when you passed out and Daryl had to carry you to the house, he almost killed us all. Little guy clearly doesn’t like us touching you. When Hershel was patching you up he kinda calmed down but as soon as someone else tried to touch you, they almost got their hand bitten off” he chuckled, his body less tense than it was before.

“Yeah, he’s smart.” You let out a quiet laugh and continued “I suppose he knew Hershel was trying to help” Rick nodded, “But still, I’m sorry.” You ruffled Jake’s fur, the fox arching his body up into your hand. Rick cleared his throat and leaned over, resting his elbows on his knees. You took note of the fact that the man, Daryl, as Rick called him, still didn’t say anything.

“Daryl found you when we were looking for a lost girl, Sophia. He said you spared your last resources on this fox so he brought you some of ours. Said you got really pissed when he snapped a twig” he laughed under his breath, licking his teeth.

You looked at Daryl and smirked, catching him off guard. You apologized quickly and he mumbled something you couldn’t quite make out. You still wanted to help find the girl but didn’t want to impose yourself.

“I already told Daryl that my friend here is a great tracker, we could help look for the girl- Sophia” you corrected yourself and met Rick’s eyes. “I can also give you my map and show you where I was and be on my way, if you would prefer that” you added. You really didn’t want to go. The group looked really well stocked, they were kind and seemed trustworthy. This seemed like a perfect place to stay.

“Rick” Daryl finally spoke up, “Seen ‘er fight. She’s good. Helped a wild animal too” He added the last part quietly, as if afraid of saying something wrong. You figured Daryl wasn’t really a talker, hardly speaking in full sentences. You glanced up at him with nothing but gratitude and didn’t miss the tiniest, almost unnoticeable smile pulling at the corners of his lips. They looked at each other, as if having a wordless conversation that only they could hear. Jake looked at Daryl, then Rick, trying to figure out what was happening. You did the same. The sight was quite comical, you both looked like confused puppies. Finally, Rick nodded and Daryl relaxed in his chair a little.

“Would you like to join us?”

Your eyes glistened, you couldn’t believe it. You were on your own for so long, always having to look over your shoulder, having no one to look out for you. You became quite good at surviving on your own but having a group again was a dream come true. Unable to speak, you just nodded your head and grinned at the man in front of you.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” he laughed and extracted his hand, about to put it on your shoulder. Before Jake could snap at him, you placed your hand on his head, telling him that it was okay, that he wasn’t going to hurt either of you. The animal seemed to understand as all he did was look at Rick cautiously, never letting the man out of his sight. Rick placed his hand on your shoulder and smiled at you, then at Jake.

“Welcome” he whispered gently. You felt your eyes water a bit, it still felt unreal. Sniffling, you put your hand over the one Rick had on your shoulder.

“Before you can go out to meet everyone, I need Hershel to see if you’re in any condition to walk around, alright?” he asked, his eyes warm. You looked at Daryl, your big smile never leaving your face.

“Of course!” you exclaimed, louder than you wanted “Thank you so, so much”

Hershel deemed you fit to go out, and while you didn’t want to leave the comfort of the soft bed, you would dearly miss it, you knew you couldn’t overstay your welcome. Daryl was by your side the whole time, when Hershel left he offered you a hand and helped you up, not without a growl from Jake.

When you stepped out of the house the sky was already dark. Stars glowed above the beautiful farmhouse- it looked like something out of a dream. The moonlight lit the entire farm, it shone above the old mansion, a barn, the big, tranquil fields.

You noticed tents were set up on the grass, some distance between them and the house. You heard the chatter of people- a sound you didn’t know you missed. People were sitting around a campfire, their smiling faces illuminated by the flames.

You walked up to them, Jake and Daryl by your side. You suddenly felt nervous and a little self-conscious, wanting to make the best possible impression on your new friends. Suddenly, you stopped in your tracks. Daryl quickly stopped and walked up to you with a confused expression on his face, his icy blue eyes piercing through yours.

“I never introduced myself to you” you smiled and extended your hand “I’m (Y/N)”

Daryl looked at you, puzzled. He tried to understand, he already knew your name. Still, he decided to play along.

“Daryl” he said, giving you another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it smile

After you were done introducing yourself to the man, you kept walking to the group, not waiting for him to follow. He watched you, still puzzled. He already couldn’t figure you out.

The people around the campfire turned to look at you, most of them smiling, some looking at Jake with curiosity in their eyes.

“Well hello there!” a woman chirped, she had long dark hair and wore a plaid shirt. She stood up to take a closer look and shake your hand. Jake puffed his fur up and growled but stood back when you signaled him that it’s okay. “I’m Lori. I’m guessing you’re (Y/N)?” she grinned. When you cheerfully confirmed, she spoke again, “Rick told us. Come on, take a seat”

Daryl sat on the grass next to an empty seat which you presumed was for you. You motioned for Daryl to sit on the chair while you flopped down on the grass so Jake could lay his head on your lap. Daryl didn’t sit on the chair you offered him, he just shook his head and stayed put. You looked at the people around you. After they all introduced themselves, you took mental notes of their names- T-Dog, Dale, Carl, Carol, Shane, Andrea, Beth and Glenn.

“So? Tell us about yourself! Don’t keep us waiting, we have a little bet going on” Glenn shouted excitedly, causing you to perk up and smile at him.

“What’s the bet, and more importantly, what are the stakes?” you caused the group to burst out into laughter, even Daryl. Even though his laugh was quiet, as if he was trying to suppress it, afraid of anybody hearing it.

“Dale thinks you were a zookeeper,” he motioned towards Jake “but I think you tamed him by random chance”

You chuckled, “First of all, I didn’t ‘tame him’. He’s still wild, he just loves me, and I love him. He’s more of a companion than a pet.” You explained, earning nods from the group. “Second of all, nope, not a zookeeper.” You smiled as Dale groaned, digging around his pocket and pulling out a package of dried jerky and placing it in Glenn’s outstretched hand. Jake’s ears perked up, you smiled as his head jolted up.

“He’s a fan of those” you ruffled his fur affectionately. You looked over at Daryl and added “Not as good as your squirrel, though” you gave him your warmest smile. He stiffened a bit, clearly caught off guard but to your surprise, he didn’t brush you off.

“My squirrel’s the fuckin’ best”

You gave him a toothy smile, he gave you a small smirk in response.

“Anyway, I really wasn’t much before all this started. I went to art school, worked in fast food, the usual stuff you’d expect from someone” you said, your tone was matter of fact. You heard Daryl mumble something unintelligible. He really needed to work on speaking clearly, you thought with a smile.

“Woah, you draw?” Carl smiled and jumped up a bit “Can you teach me?”

“Sure! I’ll even draw you guys once I find a sketchbook” you chirped and laughed when Carol, Lori, Rick, Carl and Glenn began begging you to add them to your ‘to-draw’ list. They all smiled when you reassured them you’ll make portraits of everyone that wants one.

“What’s his name? I’ve never seen a fox up this close before!” Carl said quietly, looking at Jake with pure awe in his eyes.

“That’s Jake. I wouldn’t recommend you pet him just yet though, he’s a little nervous” you grinned when you saw him nod in understanding. A while of comfortable silence and the occasional hushed conversation passed before Rick spoke to you.

“We got you a tent. Tomorrow me and Daryl can go and get your stuff from the woods” you dipped your head with gratitude and thanked him with a huge smile on your face- you missed your knife.

When the campfire died out, so did the conversations. Everyone headed back to their tents, ready to sleep. Dale decided to take watch duty, sitting in a chair on top of his RV, a shotgun in hand. Your tent was close to the others, near Andrea’s. You were about to sit down in the small, grey, one-person tent but you noticed something. Jake was growling and pacing around the entrance, clearly uncomfortable with all the new people around while you both sleep. You sighed and walked out of the tent.

“I get it. Let’s move a little” you said and smiled at the fox. He panted and licked his nose in response, running over to a spot further away. Deciding that he can pick the place to set up your tent, you dragged it over to him. Before you set it down, you saw one stray tent, far away from the others. You immediately knew who it belonged to when you saw another, smaller campfire and some tripwire surrounding it and a man sitting on a log, looking at the flames. Daryl.

Hoping he wouldn’t mind, you dragged your tent near his. He looked up at you, tense but relaxed immediately as soon as he saw it was just you.

“Uh… Could we set up here? Jake really doesn’t want to be near the group for now, he needs time to adjust. He’s kinda like you that way” you blurted out, trying to explain your reasoning, the last part coming out of nowhere and surprising you, “he picked the spot”

“Do I got a choice?” his voice was low but his words carried no weight- he almost smiled, but you didn’t notice this time.

You smirked, “Nope!”

[erigold13261]

Loving the start of the Future Act I am coming up with. Like thanks to reading HS and watching JJK I want to get back into making comics, like really long comics and to tell a story!

It's fun because I think I have the basics of what the plot will be, at least at the start. At first there is an emphasis on NSR which then will either quickly or slowly progress to a more PN, JJK, and HS focused plotline with sprinkling of Spiderverse and HFR into it. (Possibly growing into a HFR focused plotline as well).

This is all just really big thinking and I have no idea if I will ever actually get to making a full comic about this. I like making short, one-off comics rather than bigger ones, but damn do I want to make a long one.

Maybe I can make short-ish comics of moments in time, kinda like what I am doing with my comics now. I wish I had the motivation to write in a more narrative sense instead of bullet points or academic writing, I feel it would be easier to do a hybrid comic and fanfic type of work but I am just not in for it.