#I love putting symbolism in my art and I love when people tell me what it makes them think abt and how they interpret it

[anniflamma]

Hello!! I could never put into words how much I love your god Games animatic. Especially the memory where Athena is some sort of eldritch serpent and Odysseus looks at her with so much love and trust! Really beautiful.

Here comes my question. You used some lesser known symbolic animals for some gods, like the ox for Zeus and the snake for Athena and Ares. I know of Athena's association with gorgons because of her Aegis, and the Medusa story (according to Ovid 😒), but I don't know anything about a connection between snakes and her or Ares. I was wondering if you could tell me why you went with these animals specifically? Zeus's design in particular is all ox in his base form.

When working on my designs of the Greek gods, I take a lot of inspiration from ancient art, like pottery and statues, and how they were portrayed. Without initially knowing why Athena and Ares were associated with snakes, I noticed a lot of snake imagery connected to them.

A big inspiration for Athena getting angry in the animatic, with small snakes slithering out, comes from her Aegis cape. From what I understand, her Aegis cape and shield are “kind of the same thing.” In this post’s comments, people were super kind in explaining why snakes are associated with war and medicine!

Ares also sometimes has a serpent-emblazoned shield. Additionally, he had what I like to call his "snake pets," the Colchian Dragon and Ismenian Dragon, both serpent-like dragons.

Ares being linked to snakes follows the same reasoning I used for Athena—old art depicting him with snakes.

[chosok-amo]

Sukuna that has a big fat crush on his lil bro Yuuji's upperclassmen friend that tutors him🤭💞

SHAPESHIFTED: RYOMEN SUKUNA

she was there, sitting beautifully and started filling the room, it was hard not to notice her glisten, when all the lights in the room— even the moon that peaks from the creek of the window darted like a spotlight on her, ‘your eyes might not be the color of the ocean but I get drown just by taking a secret glance, how do you do that? shapeshited and makes me fall in love with you?’

content warning: fluff, nothing else

sorry it takes me a lot of time to write this, I'm busy working on my thesis right now, and sorry I don't make exactly like your request but I hope you enjoy it 😊

THIS WAS FROM SUKUNA'S POV

UH OH, I'M FALLING IN LOVE

the moon is bright and the day is still young, i was just walking downstairs when i heard my brother's voice alongside a soft, feminine unfamiliar one. i kept my feet moving until i was able to see who the voice belonged to. she is sitting there with her small back facing me, body so tiny i'm afraid her friends had to lose her every time they were walking in the crowd. i keep on looking at her small frame until the brother of mine snaps me out of my own thought.

“sukuna.”

and just like that, she turned around, finally showing me how pretty someone could get with a honey voice like that. and suddenly, our eyes locked and if this is what people tell you about love at first sight i think they're having no idea what they were talking about. it doesn't make my head fuzzy and the world doesn't stop moving and the noise isn't running faded into the background like the movie show, but this? i feel hurt inside my chest like my heart alone wants to run and give it to her by itself.

she stands, showing me the biggest and the brightest someone could ever smile, it's beautiful, it's like a symbol of happiness, she looks happy, she looks like art even. and art was supposed to make you feel something, maybe that could explain why my heart is trembling. a quiet curiosity was planted into my chest, brain and I knew it was only a matter of time before she sunk beneath my bones, nurtured this deep-seated unfamiliarity into love so fierce, yet blithering, carefree and unconcerned, hopefully— that I would question if I had ever been in love before.

my hand becomes one with her, skin to skin as she takes my hand for her to hold— wishing it could stay longer after the void of nothingness hugging my hand back. she introduced herself to me but all I could hear was just the thunder underneath my flesh, underneath my ribs. yuji looking at me weirdly, doesn't get used to the way I reacted, i can feel his brown big eyes practically narrowing at me, but I choose not to pay him attention.

“she's going to tutor me, please don't do anything stupid or make too much noise,” he warned me. i flutter my eyes before catching a sight of him with his eyebrows up to his forehead. I rolled my eyes before waving my hand, and dismissed him off as if it meant nothing— well, It is, indeed. I'm a quiet person, unlike him, I'm not a menace to society. “yeah, yeah, whatever,” in boredom, i said to him and brought my feet to walk away from the living room to go to the kitchen.

i take a pack of cheese out of the fridge and slam it lightly on the counter. put pressure on the counter with my two palms before letting out a sigh. looking at the invisible living room, hoping my eyes suddenly had an x-ray superpower to take a glimpse of her again but to fail. “of course, what the fuck was I thinking?” a mumble under my breath could be heard. dramatically, I put my hand to my chest— hesitation felt in my blood. as I was feeling the thunder in my heart, I wail.

my knee abruptly turns into jelly, no longer having the ability to support my body as I slide down to the floor, back sticking to the wall of the counter. “what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck— what the fuck?!” I yell in whispered, finger pointing at my heart with narrowed eyes. “what the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked, hoping there was some machine error inside of me that's gonna be the cause of whatever was happening inside.

“you like her,” there's a whisper.

I laugh humourless, forcing myself. “yeah, bless her delusional heart,” I scoff while rolling my eyes. I do not like her, in fact, I despise her. her weirdly bright smile does not give me a whole damn zoo, her honeyed voice does not calm my nerves. she's not gonna be something I be thinking about for a whole week. she's just my brother's friend. just looking at her I can tell she's gonna be an annoying person and weird. “right, she must be a bitch,” I mumble, talking gibberish just so I can convince myself.

“she's beautiful, doesn't she?” that whisper again.

I went quiet for a moment, getting pulled by nostalgia back to a moment ago. my red eyes stared at nothingness dreamingly without I realized. the smile she gave kept replaying inside my head like a broken record, “yeah, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.” the whisper could be heard, over and over again, hypnotising me to keep thinking about her.

“you like her, don't you?”

“do I?”

the whispered whispering in my ear as I felt a hot wind clouding my ear. and that time I realized that it wasn't my head tricking me, that wasn't some demon or angel like you see in movies whispering to someone. “oh you sure do,” again with the whispering. quickly I snap my neck to the side only to find yuji with his ugly ass face close to me. “what the fuck— Yuji!” he laughed as I jumped in surprise.

he stands straight as he puts both hands inside his pocket. “you look stupid, what are you doing sitting there?” he asks, smiling knowingly while his eyebrows arise. I cleared my throat before shrugging my shoulder, “just chilling,” I mumbled. he just kept looking at me for a while before rolling his eyes. “man, you're so weird when you're in love, so fucking weird,” he sight and walk away. i stand in second, “what the fuck do you mean?” I asked, feeling offended obviously. he just waved his hands nonchalantly without looking back.

“uh oh, am I falling in love?”

OH NO, I'M FALLING IN LOVE

“is that blood?”

she looked up at me blankly, no thought behind those eyes, looking dumbfounded as she battled her eyelashes like she was trying to process the information. “y/n, is that blood?” I asked again. “no?” she answered with another question. I rolled my eyes, “that's not a question you were supposed to answer with another question,” I told her, seeing her white skirt got stained with something red. she pulled her skirt, showing me a quite big scar on her knee, “i fell,” she whimpered as if she was about to cry. her big doe eyes looking at me with quiver lips. I bit my lower lip, trying to contain myself from laughing and cooing at how cute she looked right now.

“wait here.”

I patted her head before going to the kitchen and coming back with a box of first aid kits in hand. I sit myself next to her and pull her closer by her under the knee. “you're so clumsy,” I mumble— treating her wounds. I took a glimpse of her before looking down at her knee. a light chuckle left me without I realized. there she is, eyes shut tightly, one hand covers her mouth while the other one knead with eyebrows narrowed— oh god, she's so cute.

“don't laugh,” she wailed, hitting my shoulder lightly.

again, I laugh, “sorry y/n, you're just too cute— alright, I'm done.”

after, I brought my face to look at her only to find her face changed into bright red as if all of her blood was rushing to her head. “are you okay?” I asked, worried if her wounds might be the cause of her state. “—your face is red, are you feeling hurt?” I asked again. my backhand touched her forehead, “you're burning, should we go to the doctor? I think yuji—”

“you shouldn't say something like that so casually,” she finally opened her mouth but her voice came out nearly whispering. I feel my forehead frown when the confusion consumes me. “huh? what?” she stared at me for a while, and I never knew that ‘for a while’ could bring so many things to my veins. they're doing it again, the hurt in my chest, the adrenaline rushing through my blood. my heart beating so fast it's literally banging on my flesh, so loud I'm afraid she can hear it.

she smiles, “I'm fine.”

I cleared my throat as I looked away for a second before pointing at her skirt. “go change your skirt, it's dirty. yuji might take a while to come home and I refuse to let you ride your stupid bike again after the stunt you pulled,” I said. she's open her mouth, about to protest before I look at her with a stern look, making her change her mind in a split second without me even realising. so without saying anything I went to my room and came back with a black shorts. “thanks,” she mumbled softly as her hand reached the shorts before going to the bathroom. I wait for her to change and sit in the living room, switching the tv on.

for a few minutes, I sat there in silence until she was slowly sitting back at the end of the sofa. my mind went blank with the tv noise as a background sound while pleasing her with a glance one to two— she looked straight to the tv but I know she watched nothing. pretty little hands fiddling with the fabric of my shorts that she's wearing. and maybe that's not gonna stay mine any longer since she looked better in it than me. would it be weird if I wanted her to keep the short? especially when I'm not her boyfriend.

“did yuji know you're here?” I asked, not very fond of the silence that filled the room, also trying not to corrupt my mind with something I shouldn't think about. “yeah, but he hasn't replied yet, but we made a plan a week ago, so yeah..” I nodded. just like that we flew back again to where we were before— silences.

we stay like that for a good minute until I hear soft giggles, making me turn my head to look at where the sound comes from— her. her eyes were already looking at me, “why do you keep looking at me?” she asked. I was stunned, mouth shut as I realized I never looked away from her. “you staring, am I that beautiful for you to keep your eyes on me?” she jokingly said, another fit of soft giggles leave her pretty mouth, making me smile in return. I kept looking for a while then nodded, “yeah, you're that beautiful,” I breathe. and just like that her smile quickly faded into the void and faced the other way. I feel giddy seeing her shy state and this time, my turn to giggle.

“are you shy, y/n?” I asked.

she quickly hid her face with the palms of her hands, looking away. I move closer, “are you shy, y/n?” I asked again, teasingly as I poked her shoulder. a muffled voice of squealing could be heard. she moved her shoulder as I kept on poking her. I hold her wrist and pull it out of her face only for her to stiffen her hands and giggle. “oh come on, let me see that beautiful face of yours,” I laughed a little. she shook her head and again, tried to turn away. I kept on pulling her hands, and the moment I successfully pulled her hands away, it was already too late to realize that our face was an inch away.

her cheeks were crimson red, plump lips were slightly open as her hot breath touched my cheeks. and again, everything starts to blur, noise muffled to the background. I force my lips to put on a tight line for a moment as I look into her eyes to her lips, suddenly having the urge to kiss her. it's not like I don't have the urge to kiss her every time for nearly two months, but this time? I feel like I'm gonna die and regret the way I live for the rest of my life if I don't feel the softness of her lips in mine.

“can I kiss you?” so I asked, whispering.

“yes,” she whispered back.

I never realized a single word can mean so much to me. who knows an agreement from someone can make my heart beat so fast but this time I'm not afraid if she heard the beating, I want her to hear the beating, I want her to know that my heart already belonged to her way before I have the right to, as if it was hers in the first place. my eyes widened after the second I realized, oh no, I'm falling in love.

OH, I'M FALLING IN LOVE

“are you there?” a soft voice from the other side asks.

I let out a sigh, unintentionally making a cloud of smoke in the air while I hugged my body with one hand while the other one pressed the tiny technology in my ear. “physically yes, mentally is debatable,” I told her. shivering got nailed in my body, caused by the cold weather. I chew my lips, hoping it starts to warm soon. soft smile printed on my lips after I hear angelic giggles from the other side, “oh please, don't be party pooper, I'll be there with you in a second,” she said.

I waited a moment before my body got slammed into the tree by something tiny and soft. a hand pulled my neck before the warmness touched my lips. I let out a relief breath as I made a circle around the waist of her. my eyes closed, following the way her lips moved on mine. “that's not fair, y/n, you can't corrupt me with something like that,” I complained after the kisses broke. she smiles, “but you love it.” I rolled my eyes in annoyance before smiling back at her.

she opened her bag and pulled out something pink. my eyebrows instantly lifted as I caught her eyes sparkling. “what is it?” I ask, cautiously. she wrapped my neck with the ‘something pink’ that turns out to be a scarf. “It's cold, you should wear something to keep you warm,” she said, still smiling. “but it's pink,” again, I complained. this time, it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. “yeah, and?” she asked, looking confused as if I said something stupid with the oblivion. “i know it is pink,” she chuckled.

“i don't want to wear it, it's pink. I mean, did you even look at me? the tattoo on my face? the red in my eyes?”

she became more confused, “it doesn't match my vibe,” I told her, only for her to roll her eyes. “oh please, you look cute,” she sang happily, fixing the scarf around my neck. “but I don't want to look cute, please take this off,” I argued while trying to take the scarf off. she slap my hand in return, “but I made this for you,” she pouting, eyes almost looking like a dog. I was stunned, eyes wide open with her beautiful reflection in my iris. “you made this?” she nodded, still pouting. I let out a sigh, “fine.” out of thin air, the sparkle that was before lost in her eyes now bolting back, brightening it before I even realised.

under the cold weather, those eyes and all the sparkle made me feel warm. I could wear anything pink, from head to toe, I could do anything just so I could get to see those eyes simmering with the warmth of happiness. her and those eyes, I'm willing to kiss the ground she walked to, each step, if it means her eyes would be on me.

“kuna, come on, walk faster!”

she looked behind her— me, smiling with her hand that was covered with a thick glove waving at me. “be careful, it's slippery,” I told her. she stopped for a moment to hold my hand and softly dragged me to the fun fair. I watched her frame from behind, eyeing the way her body moved, gracefully like art in motion. her cheeks blended with crimson pomegranates as if all of the splendour of winter bent to her will. people say everything was a reflection of lights, and maybe that could explain her, she was the combination of all the prettiest light that exists.

she's beautiful and adorable and warm and everything in between. the first time you meet someone you're not gonna notice the waves of their hair, but the first I meet her I notice each wave, the way she stands, and speak, and smiles, her face becomes something I'll be thinking about next week, and five months ago I don't even know she exists but now i don't know if I'll still exist if she's not here.

she's more beautiful than any flower, she's like gold at the end of a rainbow, she's like a light of sunshine beneath the thunderstorm. just like the old poem said, If I had told the sea about her, what I felt about her, it would have left its shores, its shells, its fish, and followed me. its would have been filled with curiosity about the girl who's been shaking the sky and sea, the cause of my religiously praying when I don't even believe in god.

how does she shapeshifted like this? she becomes something I admire. the things that I usually overlook now become something that I desire. how did she do that? how did she make me fall in love with her?

oh, I'm falling in love.

[propheticclown]

I need you all to understand. I've seen so many people talk about how Eridan would be slaying the fashion scene. How his fashion sense is awesome and epic, or whatever. NO! Firstly, I wanna preface this by saying that Pesterquest falls under the category of "Dubiously Canon." so his massive closet isn't actually canon. But secondly, LOOK AT HIS FUCKING FIT, MY GUY!

THE DEEP BLUE WITH THE PURPLE??? THE CAPE??? THE HAIR??? BROOOOOTHER!!! THEY EVEN CHANGED THE COLORS OF HIS SCARF AND PANTS TO LOOK BETTER IN PESTERQUEST!

It's subtle but the color shifts towards indigo/cobalt rather than royal blue. "B-But what about March Eridan? March Eridan looks good and is canon!" I don't know how brainrotted you are from buying all your clothes from shien (derogatory) and temu (derogatory) to think that March Eridan looks good, but let me just show you what it looks like again to refresh your memory.

Ignoring the insanity that's even happening with this image in the first place, this IS the Original March Eridan image. Now let me tell you why this fit is more atrocious than Kankri Vantas' takes on feminism. 1. THE COLORS DO NOT WORK!!! His VIOLET symbol combined with MAGENTA arm warmers and thigh highs and a RED SKIRT???? AUUHHG NONE OF THESE COLORS LOOK AESTHETICALLY PLEASING TOGETHER IN A FASHION SENSE!!! NAME ONE TIME RED AND PURPLE HAVE EVER LOOKED GOOD TOGETHER IN TERMS OF FASHION??? 2. STRIPES AND FUCKING PLAID??? WHAT??? IN CARTOONS, MUSIC, BOOKS, AND EVEN FUCKING GAMES, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH "Ew stripes and plaid." IS SAID??? THAT IS LIKE THE NUMBER 1 NONO IN ANY FASHION WORLD!!! 3. AND WHILE THIS ONE IS A BIT OF A STRETCH, THERE IS NO CONVINCING ME THAT ERIDAN AMPORA WOULD WILLINGLY WEAR THIS SHIT! IT JUST DOES NOT MAKE SENSE FOR HIS CHARACTER TO WEAR THIS OUTFIT! FASHION IS A WAY OF EXPRESSING ONESELVES! FASHION, AS A MEDIUM OF ART, IS A WAY A PERSON CAN EXPRESS HOW THEY FEEL ON THE INSIDE! March Eridan as an outfit, artistically expresses confidence, empowerment and a general "I'm a bad bitch you can't kill me" energy. Here's the problem. Eridan at his base components is envious, closed off, emotionally volatile, and a massive fucking nerd, which the old outfit actually does express.

His clothes are long-sleeved, showing the least possible amount of skin he can, which usually can represent being closed off. His cape is large and grandiose, showing that he likes to be exaggerated and theatrical. His scarf indicates his nerdiness, with it being a reference to Harry Potter and how it could be a tie-back to his nerdy love of wizards. The only other outfit he's shown wearing is with a flashback to when he and Vriska were a kismesis.

Here the outfit, even with as little as we see of it, is big and intense. Unlike Vriska, who essentially doesn't change outfits, Eridan puts time and effort into each theatrical performance he considers himself to be a part of. He adores intricate and exaggerated outfits. Things that are fancy, complex, and over-the-top. So that even though he doesn't feel great on the inside, even though he feels as though he's "wworse than evverybody. all the bodies." He can still look well put together. And that's WHY I don't think March Eridan as an outfit works. It's too casual for him. It's not big or flashy in a way he likes. There's not enough for him. It doesn't cover him up and because of that, he'd feel exposed. He's not closed off anymore. It doesn't exude "Eridan Ampora". Who's "most casual" piece of apparel is probably a sweater vest.

Even in the original image, he looks uncomfortable, like he doesn't actually LIKE wearing it. The only way I can find this artistically working from a writing standpoint is if Kanaya made it for him because, in the story, it is shown time and time again that Kanaya doesn't understand Eridan, so by making him this outfit, she'd take it a step further by not even understanding what he likes. Kanaya doesn't understand that Eridan is terrified of being culled, because Kanaya doesn't have to worry about that. Kanaya doesn't understand the pressures Alternian society is forcing upon him, as an Orphaner. Because Kanaya's only societal expectation is raising the new mother grub. Kanaya doesn't think about how he's most likely going to live the longest out of all his friends. Eridan has the second highest lifespan out of every troll blood color, but even then with Feferi, she's most likely going to get culled by the Condense when she's the proper age to inherit the throne. So in Eridan's mind, he's going to be alone, expected to be an Orphaner until the day he dies, utterly alone to feed Feferi's lusus until he eventually succumbs to old age or dies in war. That's why he's so closed off, yet so emotionally grand. That's why March Eridan doesn't suit him from a fashion-artistic standpoint. It's not what Eridan Ampora embodies as a character. Envy.

[tangibletechnomancy]

The (Personal) Is (Political)

~7 hours, Dall-E 3 via Bing Image Creator, generated under the Code of Ethics of Are We Art Yet?

Or, Dear Microsoft and OpenAI: Your Filters Can't Stop Me From Saying Things: An interactive exercise in why all art is political and game of Spot The Symbols

A rare piece I consider Fully Finished simply as a jpeg, though I may do something physical with it regardless. "Director commentary" below, but I strongly encourage you to go over this and analyze it yourself before clicking through, then see how much your reading aligns with my intent.

Elements I told the model to add and a brief (...or at least inexhaustive) overview of why:

Anime style and character figures - Frequently associated with commercial "low" art and consumer culture, in East Asia and the English-speaking world alike, albeit in different ways - justly or otherwise. There is frequently an element of racism to the denigration of anime styles in the west; nearly any American artist who has taken formal illustration classes can tell you a story of being told that anime style will only hinder them, that no one will hire them if they see anime, or even being graded more harshly and scrutinized for potential anime-esque elements if they like anime or imply that they may like anime - including just by being Asian and young. On the other hand, it is true that there is a commercial strategy of "slap an anime girl on it and it will sell". The passion fans feel for these characters is genuine - and it is very, very exploitable. In fact, this commercialization puts anime styles in particular in a very contentious position when it comes to AI discussions!

Dark-skinned boy with platinum and pink [and blue] hair - Racism and colorism! They're a thing, no matter how much the worst people in the world want you to think they're long over and "critical race theory" is the work of evil anti-American terrorists! I chose his appearance because I knew that unless I was incredibly lucky, I would have to fight with this model for multiple hours to get satisfactory results on this point in particular - and indeed I did. It was an interesting experience - what didn't surprise me was how much work it took me to get a skin color darker than medium-dark tan; what did surprise me was that the hair color was very difficult to get right. In anime art, for dark skin to be matched with light hair and eyes is common enough to be...pretty problematic. Bing Image Creator/Dall-E, on the other hand, swings completely in the opposite direction and struggles with the concept of giving dark-skinned characters any hair color OTHER than black, demanding pretty specific phrasing to get it right even 70% of the time. (I might cynically call this yet another illustration against the pervasive copy-paste myth...) There is also much to say about the hair texture and facial features - while I was pleased to see that more results than I expected gave me textured hair and/or box braids without me asking for it, those were still very much in the minority, and I never saw any deviation from the typical anime facial structures meant to illustrate Asian and white characters. Not even once!

Pink and blue color palette - Our subject is transgender. Bias self-check time: did you make that association as quickly as you would with a light-skinned character, or even Sylveon?

Long hair, cute clothes, lots of accessories - Styling while transmasc is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation, doubly so if you're not white. In many locations, the medical establishment and mainstream attitude demands total conformity to the dominant culture's standard conventional masculinity, or else "revoking your man card" isn't just a joke meant to uphold the idea that men are "better" than women, but a very real threat. In many queer communities, especially online, transmascs are expected to always be cute femboys who love pink (while transfems are frequently degraded and seen as threats for being butch), and being Just Some Guy is viewed as inherently a sign of assimilationism at best and abusiveness at worst. It is an eternal tug-of-war where "cuteness" and ornamentation are both demanded and banned at the same time. Black and brown people are often hypermasculinized and denied the opportunity to even be "cute" in the first place, regardless of gender. Long hair and how gender is read into it is extremely culture-dependent; no matter what it means to you, if anything, the dominant culture wherever you are will read it as it likes.

Trophies and medals - For one, the trans sports Disk Horse has set feminism back by nearly 50 years; I'm barely a Real History-Remembering Adult and yet I clearly remember a time when the feminist claim about gender in sports was predominantly "hey, it's pretty fucked up that sports are segregated by sex rather than weight class or similar measures, especially when women's sports are usually paid much less and given weirdly oversexualized uniforms," but then a few loud living embodiments of turds in the punch bowl realized that might mean treating trans people fairly and now it's super common for self-proclaimed feminists - mostly white ones - to claim that the strongest woman will still never measure up to the weakest man and this is totally a feminist statement because they totally want to PROTECT women (with invasive medical screenings on girls as young as 12 to prove they're Really Women if they perform too well, of course). For two, Black and brown people are stereotyped as being innately more sporty, physically strong, and, again, Masculine(TM) than others, which frequently intersects with item 1...and if you think it only affects trans women, I am sorry my friend but it is so much worse and more extensive than you think.

Hearts - They mean many things. Love. Happiness. Cuteness. Social media engagement?

TikTok - A platform widely known and hated around these parts for its arcane and deeply regressive algorithm; I felt it deserved to be name/layout/logodropped for reasons that, if they're not clear already, should become so in the final paragraph.

Computers, cameras and cell phones - My initial specification was that one of the phones should be on Instagram and another on TikTok, which the model instead chose to interpret as putting a TikTok sticker on the laptop, but sure, okay. They're ubiquitous in the modern day, for better and for worse. For all the debate over whether phones and social media are Good For Us or Bad For Us, the fact of the matter is, they seem to be a net positive-to-neutral, whose impacts depend on the person - but they do still have major drawbacks. The internet is a platform for conspiracy theories and pseudoscience and dangerous hoaxes to spread farther than ever before. Social media culture leaves many people feeling like we're always being watched and every waking moment of our lives must be Perfect - and in some senses, we are always being watched these days. Digital privacy is eroding by the day, already being used to enforce all the most unjust laws on the books, which leads to-

Pigs - I wrote the prompt with the intention that it would just be a sticker on the laptop, but instead it chose to put them everywhere, and given that I wanted to make a somewhat stealthy statement about surveillance, especially of the marginalized...thanks for that, Dall-E! ;)

Alligators - A counter to the pigs; a short-lived antifascist symbol after...this.

Details I did not intend but love anyway:

The blue in the hair - I only prompted for platinum and pink in the hair, but the overall color palette description "bled" over here anyway, completing the trans flag, making it even more blatant, and thus even more effective as a bias self-check.

The Macbook - I only specified a laptop. Hilariously ironic, to me, that a service provided through Bing interpreted "laptop" as "Macbook" nearly every time. In my recent history, 22 out of 24 attempts show, specifically, a Macbook. Microsoft v. OpenAI divorce arc when? ;) But also, let us not forget Apple's role in the ever-worsening sanitization of the internet. A Macbook with a TikTok sticker (or, well, a Tiikok sticker - recognizable enough) - I can think of little more emblematic of one of the main things I was complaining about, and it was a happy accident. Or perhaps an unhappy one, considering what it may imply about Apple's grip on culture and communications.

Which brings me to my process:

Generated over ~7 hours with Dall-E 3 through Bing Image Creator - The most powerful free tool out there for txt2img these days, as well as a nightmare of filters and what may be the most disgustingly, cloyingly impersonal toxic positivity I've ever witnessed from a tool. It wants to be Art(TM), yet it wants to ban Politics(TM); two things which are very much incompatible - and so, I wanted to make A Controversial Statement using only the most unflaggable, innocuous elements imaginable, no matter how long it took.

All art is political. All life is political. All our "defaults" are cultural, and therefore political. Anything whatsoever can be a symbol.

If you want all art to be a substance-free "look at the pretty picture :)" - it doesn't matter how much you filter, buddy, you've got a big storm coming.

[cafeinthemoon]

It's a Fire - Chapter I

Chapter 1

Wordcount 3,5k

Title Retired Hashira

Fandom Kimetsu no Yaiba / Demon Slayer

Symbols ⭕ ➕ 🖤

Warnings: arranged marriage; age gap; mentions of increasing in criminality and poverty; grieving; non diagnosed depression (the condition wasn't properly understood by the time this story is settled)

Tagging ? (If you want to be tagged in any of my stories, just leave a comment on this chapter or send an ask or a message)

N.A.: So Kimetsu no Yaiba returned and I'm taking the opportunity to finally start posting this story that has been in my list of ideas for several months!

A while ago I made a poll where I included the option of writing a fic with the Rengoku family, and it was this one I was talking about. I know there are other stories I need to work on already, but let me tell you that this very fic just saved me from a creative block, which was caused by what I suspect to be the beginning of a burnout (I'm about to go on vacation and I just can't take it anymore, but I don't want to discuss this rn).

A few words about the ff itself: It's a slow burn, arranged marriage story between reader, who's 27/28 yo, which makes her closer to myself who's a bit older than this, and Shinjuro Rengoku, who's struggling with the same problems we see in canon, but somehow accepts her as his wife: she was the daughter of old acquaintances of his, so the marital contract is sealed to allegedly honor the friendship between the families. However, things are way more complicated in reality.

Of course, because of the things we see in the original media, such as violence, alcoholism and etc., I need to make it clear that my personal opinions on these subjects may diverge from what I'm putting in this story (due to personal family experiences), and each chapter will carry the necessary warnings. Also if you notice similarities with Beauty and the Beast, know that it isn't just a coincidence haha Finally, the title is a song by Portishead, which didn't influence my writing but its lyrics somehow fit this plot 🌹

I hope you have a good time reading this ❤

“You walk a lonely road 

Oh, how far you are from home” 

(Enya, May it Be) 

That fate didn’t care about your preferences and desires, you knew well. 

You wished you had your mother with you for long years, and that your relationship grew stronger as you spent your time together, dedicating yourselves to the art of the sword, but most of her time and energy were directed to her work as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, and it was like this until the day you received a messenger from Ubuyashiki-sama to inform you about her death: she didn’t fall to the Oni, but couldn’t resist the injuries from a battle against a group of them. 

You also wished your father, after losing the woman he claimed to love, stood up to his remaining family, that is, himself and you, and took reasonable measures to protect his territory and the people who lived in it, but he preferred to lock himself in his office and ignore the demands outside it, firing half of the house’s servants for the sake of saving money and willing to leave the property to the dust and the insects, not seeing this happening thanks to you, who took the task of maintaining everything by yourself, even doing some of the physical work. 

There were, in fact, many other things you wished for, but didn’t have the chance to see them coming true. One of those other things were continuing to live in the house you grew up in, and using your education to dedicate your life to a career of your choice, though your options seemed limited by your sex. But even this was taken from you when, on an ordinary day, you saw your father leaving his office in the company of a man you’ve never seen in your life. You wanted to question him about this strange visit, but you didn’t have to: your father came to your chambers later, and without measuring his tone or giving you time to process such news, explained the meeting’s main subject. 

– I’ve recently contacted an old acquaintance of mine, someone who was also known by your mother – he started – And explained our situation here. 

You knew what he was talking about: after your mother passed away, your lands’ protection has been neglected, and appearances of demons have been reported more often by your servants and the people who live in the villages near. No one dared leaving their houses at night, and the local economy were deeply affected by this, since part of the basic work used to be done in this period of the day; this led to an increase in poverty and criminality. You, on your part, weren’t immune to these difficulties despite growing up in a privileged family. 

Your father addressing this situation to you, however, was something new, and you exposed this impression to him. 

– Things are getting harder for everyone here, that’s true – you agreed – But why are you discussing this with me now? 

– Because I asked this acquaintance for help, and he answered me – he took slow steps toward your window, half opened by that time; he closed it with firm hands, but without making much noise – The thing is that, at the same time our lands are now dangerous to people, specially to young women like you, it’s time for you to take the next big step in your personal life, daughter. After all, you’re almost twenty-eight. 

You frowned. 

Next big step? What is he talking about?… 

Your father might have noticed your confusion, because he soon clarified his words… and you wished he never did it. 

– I’m talking about marriage, y/n – he spat – You declined the last two proposals, and I respect your reasons for that, but this time the circumstances aren’t in our favor. This man who visited me earlier is a messenger from the Rengoku House, and he brought me a positive answer from their head: I offered your hand and a good dowry in exchange for your protection, and in respect to your mother, who worked for the same cause as him, Shinjuro Rengoku accepted you as his wife. You’re leaving the house this week. 

You were speechless. You tried to stand up and show a sign of protest, but your legs didn’t obey you; you opened your mouth to say something, but no word left it. You knew your father have been struggling, but you could never suppose he was becoming insane – arranging a marriage for you without your consent? Other men used to do this to their daughters, but the man who married your mother would never… But, apparently, he was no longer this man. 

Maybe he was expecting some disagreement, but seeing your silence made him frown. 

– Don’t you have anything to say about this? 

You finally seemed to wake up. You gave him a dead glare, murmuring your response. 

– And what do you expect a woman to say after being sold and sent away from her own house out of nowhere? – you moved your head to the side, irony leaking from the gesture – Thank you? 

Your father clenched his jaw. 

– I certainly don’t expect your gratitude – his voice was lower now – I know this isn’t the future you wanted for yourself, and I didn’t want things to be like this either, but… 

– Why marriage, father? – your tongue was released, interrupting his thread of thoughts like a storm – I could stay temporarily with them, work for them, anything! But marrying someone I’ve never met?! Don’t you remember that I’ve declined the other proposals after at least seeing the faces of those men? 

– You’ll meet him on the wedding day, and you’ll have all the time of the world to know anything there is to know about him – his tone was louder again, as his patience was running low – Besides, Shinjuro is an old friend of mine. I give you my word that he’s a decent man, besides being a formidable warrior. He was married to a respectable woman once, and built a good family with her. I trust him, and so did your mother. No problems should be expected from his part, so the same must be expected from you. 

Shinjuro. It was only the second time you’ve heard that name from your father’s mouth, and you didn’t know what to think. In fact, you’ve learned from your mother that among the Demon Slayer Corps there was an elite group known as the Hashira, and one of them was Shinjuro, the Hashira of the Flames. He was the current head of the Rengoku family, but personal struggles – including the death of his wife – forced him to a retirement despite his capacity as a warrior, so that his eldest son, Kyojuro, took his place. However, you also heard that this young man was dead, so it was impossible to tell how things were going for his family members now. And that was the environment your father was willing to throw you into, even spending money in the process. 

You sighed. 

– Father, when was the last time you’ve met this man? I don’t remember you talking about him – you crossed your arms – I’m only familiar with his name thanks to mother, but now you’re telling me that he’s an old friend of yours. How old is he, exactly? 

– Not as old as me, of course – his reply came with a mixture of embarrassment and indignation – I can’t believe that, of all the things involved in this arrangement, this is what concerns you more! 

You scoffed. 

– I’m not that futile, but if he’s old enough to have a son capable of replacing him in the battlefield, I think I have the right to be concerned! – you took a step toward him – If I have no choice, I want to know exactly where I’m getting into. Can’t you even make such a small concession to me, father? 

No, he couldn’t, and you soon realized that. 

Your father decided the conversation was over. He returned to the room’s door and opened it. 

– It is decided, already – and, with a sort of sadness in his eyes – I’m doing what I think it’s best for my daughter. I only wanted her to trust me, at least for once. 

You swallowed the lump in your throat. 

– I wanted this too, father. But you’re making it too difficult for your daughter. 

He stared at you for a moment, then left without any word. 

*** 

Things really happened the way you feared, in the path your father stated they would follow. He said that, but until the end he kept acting like he had no control over the flow of events, in a frail attempt to soothe his own conscience that only served to unnerve you, and not even seeing the disappointment in his daughter’s eyes each time he looked at you was enough for him to leave this pretense aside. Had he no shame anymore? 

During that fateful week, you avoided his company, leaving the burden of communication to the remaining servants and only speaking to him when utterly necessary. What was left for you to talk about when, as he said, everything was decided, and when you had nothing but sadness for him — for him, the adversities he’s been through and for the way he chose to behave in face of them? It was useless to argue on this, and whether you liked it or not, you had little time to put everything in order and couldn’t have the luxury of wasting it: would it be worthy to cause a delay in the arrangements under the risk of leaving a bad impression in your future spouse, even when he was someone you’ve never saw before? 

You sighed at the thought. 

And, as if I hadn’t enough things to worry about, I still have to consider this. 

In fact, you didn’t want to take much stuff from that house with you at the same time you didn’t want to cause any difficulties to the servants, who have already seen their load increase the last months, so you were quick to select essential items and packing them with the help of a maid, from your clothes to the gifts brought by your mother, and instruct her about what to do with the other things: some of them you gave to her, knowing that she had a daughter who was younger than you and who’d appreciate your charity, and the others, such as the furniture, should be sent to the villagers, for you wanted your things to be with people who would make good use of them instead of letting them rot in a place to where you’d never come back. 

Among all of this, the last object you packed was the only thing you made a point about carrying by yourself, and the only thing you didn’t trust anyone to pack but yourself: the sword of your mother, which was sent to your house by Ubuyashiki-sama and now belonged to you. Your mother has been teaching you lessons since you were a teenager, but she hasn’t lived long enough to see if you were going to develop your own Breath; well, until that day you haven’t, but you’ve never stopped practicing even under your father’s disapproval. You didn’t know what you would find once you stepped into your husband’s house, but you wouldn’t want to depend on his protection on everything; besides, having a wife who knew how to wield a sword must be an advantage, right? 

The train of thoughts, feelings and concerns was such that you were robbed from sleep the night before the ceremony. You knew women who had their marriages arranged as well, but you never got to talk to them about it; you had no idea of how you were supposed to feel, or how you were supposed to see the whole thing. How one should feel when they saw themselves trapped in a situation from which they couldn’t get out? Without having answers, you just relied on the feeling that seemed reasonable to you, that is, utter fear. 

The next morning came silent and inexorable, just as the ones before it, and you saw yourself leaving your bed and taking care of your duties without putting your thoughts on them. It was only your body working by itself, saving your soul from the burden of being conscious, or perhaps you were just accepting your fate after a night of tears and rage. 

Having dismissed the maid’s help, you bathed and dressed alone, and left the house where the most important moments of your life took place without one last look. To be fair, your eyes were so sore and tired that they barely registered the appearance of the weather while you walked to the carriage, but you guessed it was a warm, sunny day, though not enough for you to get sweaty. Your father was already in the carriage’s interior; you took the seat beside him with no signs of acknowledging his presence. 

The coachman shook the reins and yelled something to the horse, and the crack of the wooden wheels was heard as the vehicle moved along the road. 

*** 

The ceremony took place in a building in the city of (…), near your father’s property, which served as the head office of a group of law professionals, including the man responsible for your marital contract. 

You wouldn’t call it a ceremony, really: it was more of a sequence of bureaucratic procedures than a social event with the purpose of uniting two families; a mere formality to allow you to move to a man’s house without ruining your reputation. It was quick, direct and cold like a financial operation, and the people involved seemed to make sure it looked like this. 

Your father led you to a sequence of stairs and then through a narrow corridor, until he stopped in front of a door and opened it, entering the room and inciting you to follow him. You did it, and found out you weren’t the first to arrive: the officiant was already in his position, behind a table upon which you saw an open book; at its right, there was a small inkwell and a feather; around him, two officers which function you couldn’t guess and couldn’t care about. And, finally, in front of the table and observing your arrival with a stern glare, the man who was about to become your husband. 

Whatever you were expecting to see, Shinjuro was nothing like you might have imagined, except for the fact that he was younger than you supposed – and, indeed, younger than your father – and stole the attentions among all those men despite the quiet, composed manners. Well, he would do it in any place he’d step in, for his appearance was extravagant, to say the least: on his severe face he carried a pair of orange eyes under two thick, black eyebrows, a wild trait that made you think of a lion; framing his expression and matching his eyes, he had thick, blond hair that decreased to red on its edges, spreading over his shoulders. And, as if his looks weren’t enough to draw the whole room’s attention, he was dressed in sober, dark clothing, more like someone attending a western funeral than a wedding. 

As you walked to the center of the room, led by your father, and took the spot beside Shinjuro, you felt your skin burning in discomfort under his merciless eyes. You breathed deep and, when he nodded to acknowledge you two, you made an effort to greet him, as well as the other men. 

I knew he wasn’t the same person my father claimed to know. He stated that he was good and trustful, but everything in this man screams danger. What kind of hell I’m getting into… 

The officiant announced the beginning of the ceremony, and you turned to him in silence. After a few, composed words to the new couple, he gave you both clear instructions on where to sign your names, and you did as he said, Shinjuro first, then you; you glanced at his hand offering you the feather and took it in a second, taking care your hand didn’t touch his. You tried not to think of your gestures as you wetted its tip on the ink, but a tremble reached your wrist the instant you approached the feather from the paper. 

So… That’s it. I write my name in a book and enter a path from where I can’t go back. 

The realization was too much to bear and time was passing, so you bit your inner cheek to prevent your mind to entertain the thought and scribbled your name at once. When you moved the feather away and put it back on the inkwell, your hand acted by itself, and your arm gone numb once you recoiled it to your side. 

Your mouth was dry, and a hole seemed to have taken the place of your heart. You barely noticed when the officiant and the other witnesses analyzed your signatures and approved them, bringing the ceremony to an end. You refused to believe all of that was real until the man announced you were free to go, and both Shinjuro and you turned away, preparing to leave. He didn’t bat an eye at you while doing so. 

The head of the Rengoku family stopped to exchange some words with your father. You were close enough to hear the conversation, but didn’t want to pay attention; you just wanted to leave this place, even though you weren’t going to a familiar one after it. 

You only understood their conversation was over when you heard your father’s voice calling your name. You turned to him and your stomach curled in disgust when you saw the pleading smile on his face, the only thing that reminded you of home and now a sign of everything you lost. You’ve never felt so alone. 

Later, you’d try to remember his exact words for you at that moment, but you’d find yourself unable to do it. Maybe it was a formal wish of good luck or something. The only thing you remembered was your reaction: you stared at him for a few seconds, then, without a word, you turned your face away, walking toward the door. You knew your husband was observing, but his approval was the least of your preoccupations now. 

*** 

Little was recalled by you from the travel to the Rengoku house, except that it was silent, even calm period. The only abnormality was caused by you: unlike your other belongings, who were sent in another vehicle ahead under the supervision of a servant, you decided you were going to carried your sword with you in the carriage, to everyone’s surprise and your father’s discontentment. 

That occasion was also when Shinjuro spoke to you for the first time. 

— Why are you doing this? 

The question, made when you were already in the carriage, was direct but not devoid of politeness, so you granted him an honest answer. 

— This sword once belonged to my mother, and now it is mine. If my father had his way, I’d never carry it with me, but I refuse to leave it behind — and, glancing at him, — I couldn’t risk him checking my things and subtracting it from them without my consent. 

Shinjuro only murmured an “I see” in response, and the conversation died there. 

You were beside the carriage’s window and might have slept to the warmth of the sun and the constant noise of the wheels in movement, but you weren’t sure if you did. As your body was now avoiding visible reactions, your spirit was suppressing the emotional rush for your own good, since no advantage would come from a breakdown in the middle of the road, right in front of your new spouse who, just like you, didn’t seem all pleased with the whole thing: sure, he didn’t show visible discontentment whether with your appearance or your manners, but you’ve been dealing with middle aged men for too long to sense when they were seeing something they didn’t find appropriate; and, in the present case, it was clear to you that Shinjuro already formed his opinion: to him, you were a stubborn, spoiled brat who didn’t have her way and was decided to make it everyone else’s problem. Yes, the idea of acting like that wandered through your mind for a while, but you thought you were better than this, and opted for a balance between bitterness and decency, not wearing plain clothing and displaying rude manners, but also not being extravagant in anything; still, you couldn’t convince the man of your good nature, and he let it clear with the inquiring about the sword, so now you completely gave up on seeking his favor. 

You were just waiting for the travel to end. 

Chapter 2

[paradoxicalrising]

Astrology Observations :)

preface: this is my first time doing this, these are all either my personal placements or I've had multiple experiences with a certain placement. none of this is absolute, pretty pls take it with a grain of salt, these are very general. Every single one of these placements depend on aspects in an individuals chart. WARNING: some 18+ topics. Enjoy :)

Mercury in the 8th house: naturally good at reading people, interested in psychology, religion, spirituality, astrology. chronic over thinkers + intrusive thoughts galore. could either really enjoy giving/ receiving head and/or dirty talk, reading smut.

Pisces Mars: sweethearts on the surface, usually soft-spoken or doesn’t talk much, spends more time observing or making up scenarios. also another overthinking placement. could also be someone who does drugs/ drinks alcohol. excels in the entertainment industries (film, theatre, music, art etc). either have a piss kink, foot fetish, or demisexual. 

Scorpio Venus: intense lovers. my ex had this placement and told me he’d die for me only knowing me 3 months. my sister also has this placement and will not eat dinner without her husband (could be the taurus opposition = not eating (taurus) until lover (Venus) is around), I think it’s a symbol of loyalty. once this placement finds value in someone, they are ride or die type loyal until you betray them. may stay in relationships longer than they should because it’s fixed emotion unless they finally see it themselves.

Cancer Moon (men specifically): I've had 3 cancer moon men take me to the beach on our first date. they’re always gassing themselves up on their cooking skills. their moms can be really restricting, especially those with Saturn in cancer as well. I've also seen their moms be really detached, cold, basically telling them to fend for themselves. highly intuitive but may get too caught up in the potential of a situation/ person and being disappointed when reality is different. hopeless romantics fr just throwing themselves into anyone they have a good feeling about without the physical proof.

Fixed Rising: the RBF (I love y’all). 

Vedic v. Tropical Astrology: honestly I think they’re both valid, and everyone should decide what placements resonate more with who they feel they are. Ex: I  have Venus, Jupiter, and my Sun in the 7th in Virgo (Tropical) but they’re in the 8th in Leo (Vedic). I feel more of the 8th house but in Virgo.

Pisces moons: I never feel like they’re listening to me if they aren’t looking at me because when they’re looking at me I can literally see them digesting the info w/ their dreamy eyes, but when they look away I just know they’re imagining some kind of fantasy that has nothing to do with the convo. 

Libra Moons: try to be soft and sweet but they have that fiery underside. I've noticed they’ll get all excited and sometimes aggressive and then apologize for it, like no girl look at you having a good time. they usually look aesthetically pleasing, you will never catch them not matching/ lookin raggedy in public, but they won’t judge others for it, Virgo and Taurus will haha.

Virgo + Libra: specifically rising + degrees, moon, or Venus combo usually have clear, healthy looking skin, especially after high school w/o all the teen acne hormones. 

Moon Conjunct Pluto: anyone else noticed the effect these placements have on their peers? it’s so weird but people are like magnetized to whatever house this placement is in. I guess cos it’s generational and yk it’s Pluto, but people around this placement can’t help but be enticed by these individuals. could be amazing actors if they can harness those dark emotions into a piece of work. these are the type of people to succeed out of spite of their trauma; very determined people. they can put such dark emotions into easy actions and words that others find hard to say out loud but they don’t shy away from dark stuff, they’ve dealt with darker topics since they were young.

Neptune in the 1st house: people constantly projecting onto these placements ! it’s important these people form a ground sense of self they can remind themselves of when they feel like someone is protecting on them. I have this placement and someone told me I was intoxicating to be around/ they felt intoxicated around me though they are sober. I fr think people get drunk off the illusion of this placement. These people are never what people say they are, if you want to get to know them I beg of you to please talk to them yourself instead of listening to others opinion of them. the women are cursed with the manic pixie dream girl trope. hella sex appeal bc of the blurred perceptions. make amazing actors/ musicians. very intuitive placement, but can doubt themselves.

[keehllo]

MiziTill and IvanTill analysis.

— First, understand Mizi, Till, and Ivan’s character.

Mizi’s guardian must’ve contributed to her naivety as arts of her with her guardian seemed sweeter than Till and Ivan’s interactions with aliens. Till was constantly thrown around and treated like garbage as his guardian ENJOYS TORTURE. Ivan is also treated horrible which contributes to his pessimistic personality compared to Mizi.

Mizi had something Ivan didn’t: Optimism. That’s most likely why Ivan didn’t hate Mizi when it was obvious Till has an infatuation with her. “When she smiled at me, my heart was reborn” which is obvious, Mizi’s brightness attracts people and which is why she’s able to make friends very easily. Ivan knew Till needed that, one of his ways of wanting to make Till as happy as Mizi does is by telling him how horrible Alien Stage is and wanting to run away with him.

I forgot which animatic but it’s shown that Ivan never had a red dot in his pupils until he saw Till. That must’ve been his sign of attraction. This same red dot is seen in Till’s eyes as he runs away with Ivan, he’s happy — until he thinks of Mizi. He remembers Mizi and thinks of what horrible things they’ll do to her if he leaves. The red dot disappears in Till’s eyes.

— Second, Till’s struggle with attachment.

Till clearly struggles with attachment as seen with Ivan, which is confirmed by VIVINOS on her Patreon, saying: “Till has a deep love-hate attachment with Ivan” which is one of the evidences that Till actually struggles so much with how to react when someone shows care for him.

What makes Ivan’s care different from Mizi’s though? Why couldn’t he accept Ivan’s but he could accept Mizi’s?

Ivan was close to him. He was always around him and even if they did fight, they would still hangout. While with Mizi, Till failed to even build a relationship with her. Evidence being Mizi’s intimacy score with Till: “He’s so distant… does he hate me?” And this is because that outside of rebelling, Till writes songs. It’s most likely a coping mechanism for him to vent his feelings. You can see in one of the animations as Till is writing something, Ivan is right next to him. This can be used as a symbol of their closeness. Even if Mizi wasn’t there, Ivan was.

Because of Till’s struggle with healthy attachment, he couldn’t react properly when someone genuinely built a bond with him, but he could with someone who barely hangs out with him.

This is a sign of avoidant attachment. Till’s struggle in how he can show love. After all, how can someone who has never been shown love by his own guardian give love? He was never even taught what actual love is.

— Third, difference between idolization and crushes.

According to VIVINOS on her Patreon she claims that Mizi is a ��fantastical figure” to Till. As stated before, they barely interacted as Till was almost always in his own world (rebelling or writing music). Even though Till knows and speaks to Mizi, they don’t even have a bond anywhere close to how Till is with Ivan.

When you don’t build a bond with someone, you only perceive them as a figure. There’s very little to perceive about them when you aren’t close with them. This is how Mizi’s naivety and brightness comes into play, she was everything that Till isn’t. She isn’t a pessimistic, traumatized jerk who hits his own friend (Ivan) just because he gets frustrated with them.

Because of his trauma, he wanted to feel that too. Till put Mizi on a pedestal. This is IDOLIZATION. It’s a way to cope, a form of escapism from his harsh reality.

How can I be so sure it’s that? You can see it in Round 6. Mizi, already going through Round 1, is traumatized. She’s seen the worst. In Till’s flashback, she pictures Mizi in her Anakt Uniform when she was still innocent.

Conclusion: Till does love Ivan, but because of his attachment issues, he didn’t acknowledge that.

[writeouswriter]

pls no anti ai art demagogy on my dash, thx

(X) in reference to this reblog I assume.

This is the wildest ask I’ve ever gotten.

“Please no love for the humanity of creation on my dash, please. Please no acknowledgement that art and the human experience behind those making it is inherently and fundamentally intertwined. Please no shoving the fact in my face that art is meant to connect rather than consume.

And please no pointing out the basic truth that most AI engines are built off the stolen work of others.”

Demagogy, noun: political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.

You come into MY house, you tell me what not to reblog on MY blog, and you what? Call me “irrational” and insult my understanding of the topic in the process?

Political activity, political activity... fuck off. Actors, writers, artists, those most affected by this ARE the ordinary people, and their concerns and fears surrounding this are perfectly rational.

And you know, nothing hits it home more for me than when I thought about my favourite show at the moment, the one that makes me lose my mind a thousand times over, I thought about everything in it that makes me tick, thought about both strong points and weak points, because it is flawed, god, is it flawed because people inherently are, and that’s the beauty, but mostly, I thought about the sheer amount of care/thought and depth put into it in a way I've never really seen before and in a medium/genre/whatever you'd absolutely never expect to find that thought put into, especially if taken completely at a surface level. Thought about the levels of metaphor and symbolism layered in beneath the silliness, thought about the callbacks and clever timing, thought about the behind the scenes arguments about what direction worked best for the narrative and the audience, arguments that took place because of how much they cared not just about telling a good story, but about telling one that really means something to them.

Thought about the love, the time, the excitement and the flair and personality and background and intent of each and every person behind the team bleeding its way into the scripts, into the acting, into the heart of what makes it truly what it is, and how that love bleeds into the audience as well, how that love and human connection is what prompts people to write full page essays and analyses on it, draw fanart for it, create the most beautiful fics for it, that love is what prompts them to laugh and cry and vibrate at the speed of sound thinking about it, and what prompts thousands upon thousands to come together in their appreciation for and relation to it, rallying around it like a group of cavemen around a campfire when they had never before seen the flame.

And then.... then I thought about the idea of that same show being written by an AI and genuinely felt physically ill. Because no real care will have been put into that beyond "If it looks like a TV show, sounds like a TV show, it must be a TV show." And on the surface, maybe it’d look fine, I’m sure some people wouldn’t notice. But it’d not only be made without thought, but consumed without thought. And, sure, maybe that'll fill you up in the short term, but it's gonna leave you feeling hollow and sick eventually. Because stories are not a thing to be mass produced with a random assortment of the cheapest quality materials on a conveyor belt that shovels them directly into people's throats at the most efficient speed possible, stories are not a thing meant to just be consumed! They are a thing made with intent in every aspect, even when accidental because our lives shape it subconsciously, they are a thing made with love, a thing to be savoured! And yes, for that to happen, they will take a lot of time and hard work and dedication, all of which deserve fair compensation and respect, all of which cannot just be replaced by a sham amalgamation of these things, and they will be all the better for it.

And on some level, corporations know this, and they want you to blame their shortcomings on the writers, on the artists, they want you to look at things like the strikes and those rallying against AI and get mad that they’re keeping art from the common people, or forcing them to come to this, or they want you to think they’re simply trying to make art more accessible, all the while building their conveyor belts in the background with the blood of those they’re kicking down, taking away jobs and shoving the humanity out of the picture.

Art is made to communicate, and sometimes it’s frustrating when we can’t get that communication across, when the image we want to convey is out of our skill level, our capability, when our words get tangled up, jumbled together and we need a helping hand to find the right ones again, and on this level, maybe AI could be a useful supplemental tool, or a fun little thing to mess around with, if ethically sourced, if used for good, if taking into account and graciously acknowledging exactly how it’s being used as a tool, rather than trying to pass it off as something it’s not.

But is it political, is it irrational, to merely state that the human condition cannot be replaced?

——

The unfollow button is free, I don’t work for you.

[bloomeng]

You complain about the mischaracterization of dick yet continue to mischaracterizatize cass. Because if you actually READ or cared about the character you wouldnt have her with 1. No bat symbol and 2. With the orphan design

Hey so this is the exact etiquette I was referring to. I’ve addressed this multiple times already so this will be the last time I address Cass specifically.

Can’t believe I have to say this but mischaracterization is not drawing a character in a canon outfit. Even if you don’t like that canon it doesn’t make it mischaracterization. I talked about this awhile back but one run/ver of a character doesn’t make the others more or less canon (referring to the main tl in DC). Just because I don’t love Nightwing in Year One doesn’t make his actions less canon. We all have our favorite versions of the characters and ignore what we want.

When I was originally designing Cass I actually was referencing her Black Bat design which I think looks super cool. But I was struggling big time with how to translate the stitches around the mouth and after a few days and a conversation with a friend of mine, I scrapped it. I went back to what I knew about her character and I was reminded that she enjoys dance and I thought that was a better jumping off point. I used her Orphan design because it leant better to that idea.

The Orphan design already has boots and metal plating that leans into a magical girl design. Not to mention it has a distinctly different silhouette than everyone else. I personally really like the pants. I went into detail about this when I responded to this comment initially.

Everyone in the au gets one version of their costume that I reference. The Orphan costume has no bat symbol, which is why I didn’t include it. I also wanted to make her distinctly different from Batman, bc in magical girl shows they often try and give each character their own “brand” and I was thinking ahead and I was trying to make her stand out next to Bruce. I understand she’s super loyal to the bat and will probably be the next batman however I personally don’t like that everyone basically boils her character down to “girl Batman but even more badass,” bc she’s her own person, not to mention she’s not like Bruce. Giving her the Orphan outfit isn’t ooc. Leaving out the bat symbol is canon.

I’ve stated several times that I want to go back and draw a Black Bat design for her. I still have intentions to do so.

I’m going to be blunt now. This sort of rude behavior is the exact reason I was complaining. I cared that Dick was being mischaracterized because someone was in my comment section accusing me of not making the design to their taste. I don’t go into the comments of say a fic and tell the author I thought their characterization of Dick is ooc, because they made this for free. I’m doing this au for free. This is my au. You are not paying me. You are accusing me of false things. I have read Batgirl (Cass and Babs) runs, some of them specifically for this design. People demanding free art of me, with intense turn arounds, without even checking my account further to see if I’ve done the character in question, makes this not fun anymore. It makes me not want to draw or talk about her, because quite literally every time I do someone is rude to me. I put a ton of thought into each character especially the ones I’m less familiar with. I actually spent the least amount of time on Dick. Cass got three iterations before I settled and I’m still not happy with it, but this whole project was supposed to be light hearted and quick.

The first time I answered this question right after I posted Steph and Cass I responded in good faith, bc I’m trying not to be mean back, but it makes me wonder where the creator etiquette has gone.

[coco-bee]

COCO'S REVIEW: BLUE'S STORY

Welcome to Coco’s Review! Where I review and breakdown episodes, movies and etc and overthink every tiny detail and/or give my thoughts and opinions :D !! THE STORY I’M ABOUT TO DISCUSS HAS TOPICS ABOUT S/A AND OTHER DISTURBING TOPICS PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION !! Ok so this may not be something you’d expect me to cover but I wanted to discuss this series on my blog for a while now! Today I’m discussing Blue’s Story by Victaton!

Blue’s Story is a series by Victaton over on youtube that mixes gacha life 2 character designs along with animation. I like to think of the gl2 designs as character models and Victation expands on it through animation. The series doesn’t have proper episodes, its installments mainly continue music videos that go in a specific order. The story is about Blue, a man in his early 20s entering the company his older sister works in with a positive attitude only for it to fade away as a lot of women in his new job want to get in his pants and cause irreversible trauma on the poor guy. This series is meant to show how abuse in the workplace can happen and how s/a can be done anywhere and by anyone. It seems to be a response to the misconceptions of how men who are preyed on by women are not valid victims of s/a and how they should’ve enjoyed it or that only women can be victims (which is never true). Though keep in mind I’m not qualified to determine if the way the story conveys s/a and just abuse in general is shown accurately because I have not had these experiences myself but my heart goes out to the victims in the world who could resonate with Blue’s Story and I wish for nothing but happiness and peace for you guys. You all are very strong and deserved much better<3

I can tell Victation really touched people’s hearts and according to some people in the comments who are victims the story is pretty accurate to some experiences and some research has been put in this series which I heavily appreciate. So I’m happy people can feel seen with this!

So with this series I want to start off light and mention the animation- AND MY GOODNESS DOES THIS SERIES HAVE AMAZING ANIMATION!

I really love this art style that Vic has going on here

Like I said the gl2 designs seem to make the base and Vic uses their art skills to expand on it It really gives a dynamic feeling and you can hardly tell it’s gacha

Vic has a lot of dynamic poses and a great understanding of body language with these!

AND THE EXPRESSIONS<33 I LOVE THE WAY VIC DRAWS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS! IM SUCH A SUCKER FOR VERY EXAGGERATED AND STYLIZED FACES

And I’m not even showing the best parts! But I want to keep it as a surprise for those who are interested in watching the series. I just couldn’t stop praising the visuals enough! Vic is the most experimental gachatuber I’ve seen when it comes to the visuals!! I hope to talk with them sometime to get some tips or to post how their creative process works because THE ART IS SO GOOODDDDD! AND THE CHARACTER DESIGNS RADIATE SM PERSONALITY AND ADD TO THE SYMBOLISM AND UNDERTONES OF THE STORY! It’s so fun to see :D and the color associations are a very interesting character design choice! It helps add a very colorful look to what is otherwise a very heavy story and makes it very easy to distinguish the characters and give them certain color motifs. Anyway I want to talk about the characters in Blue’s Story! Mostly by order of their debut! And I’ll only talking abt the characters that have a big impact on Blue (So I won’t be talking abt Magenta or her brother) and the ones that don’t have a definite character (So the red eye people won’t be mentioned) Anyway now that that’s established the character I want to talk about first is well- Blue himself! After All this is his perspective we’re following

Also quick appreciation for the silly little Blues that Vic draws<3 Anyway Blue is the most interesting character I’ve seen in a gacha series. I like how Vic doesn’t use Blue as a representation or a role model for victims to take after but a person who goes through his own stories and has room to be human. You can see his descent in his own trauma and self loathing in his story. Which leads him to make mistakes and have a difficult time navigating his relationships and how to make meaningful connections. Seeing him go from confident and upbeat to quiet and reserved is so heartbreaking. What I find so great about Blue is that not everyone can relate to his situation but his thought process is near universal. I can relate to having to be in survival mode when it comes to relationships after being done dirty by different people. Not to mention people would do the same things Blue did, they just went through different experiences. It’s a really great touch to the writing. What’s also interesting I find about Blue are these different personas of different ways he handles the trauma caused by all these women.

This is sorta a mix of my interpretation of what these versions of Blue are plus what Vic actually calls them From left to right 1.Hypersexual Blue (confirmed) 2.Heart Eyes Blue (confirmed) 3. Reality Blue (not confirmed) 4. Cyan Blue (confirmed) 5. Numb Blue (not confirmed) I’ll expand more on these personas when I do a character study on Blue (which is something I REALLY wanna do sometime)

Next up is Pink Who is the first character we meet when Vic started this series

Pink is a married woman around Blue’s age who he engages in an affair with. And one of the women Blue has a significant relationship with throughout the series since Pink was the first one in the workplace to have her way with Blue. A truly manipulative bitch 💀 I don’t have much to say about her because Vic themself made a video discussing the women in Blue’s life and their thought process on writing them(?). So I’ll just give my thoughts! Pink is a very interesting case of the “Abused to Abuser” situation and not to mention how she’s not one dimensional. She’s an abuser to Blue but also a victim to a different man. (her husband) There are scenes where she is being a nice person (highlighted with her scenes with Lilac) but what’s preventing her from being good is her philosophy of how men cannot be victims. How could they be? To her the most heartless person she knows is a man, while it’s close minded, it’s understandable but not excusable why she perceives men this way. Which I find very interesting! There’s also a cool animation choice with her lipstick color! Her lips are white when she’s doing nice things or is not perceived as a bad person, then grey when it’s more neutral (I think) and finally black when she harms Blue. Hence why her kiss marks start from white to black.

What’s also interesting is that Blue pursues her first! Since he started out so confident and upbeat he wanted to try and shoot his shot with an attractive woman. But backs off when he learns that she’s married, but things didn’t go as planned. But I find it very interesting how that’s how things started. Next we have Purple who is the CEO or just the boss of the company Blue works in

Purple imo is definitely the most uncomfortable character to watch (what am I saying ALL the abusers make things uncomfortable to watch) but Purple just gives me a chill up my spine. Especially with her design, it has been confirmed by Vic that Purple is in her 40s and would prey on much younger people. First she attempted to prey on Red (who is confirmed to be 19), but was unsuccessful then went after Blue, and was successful.

Not to mention she’s very inconsiderate of her workers, example in the second part of “Baby Hotline”.

Up next we have Red! Who is my personal favorite in terms of how she is written and her design! (I do not condone her actions)

I love how Vic went for a more cutesy innocent look for Red!

But not without giving her sharp black nails to show how harmful she is

It really nails the message home on how anyone can be an abuser no matter how they look like. I also want to appreciate her little heart eye effect that Vic does with her that’s constantly looping like HOW DOES VIC DO IT- IT LOOKS SO DIFFICULT TO PULL OFF- I’m guessing it’s green screen With Red she is an obsessive stalker who has feelings for Blue and is constantly pursuing him even if he doesn’t return the feelings. It starts off as an innocent crush but turns into something more harmful. I don’t have much to say that’s not been said by Vic on their video. I just really want to appreciate how well designed she is and I rly like the heart motif she has. You can tell she’s a naive girl who can’t understand how harmful she is. I’ve met someone who was my equivalent to Red and while thankfully I had people who managed to protect me, doesn’t mean the harm did not get to me. While they were not as intense and Red, I was still being harassed verbally and I just didn’t feel safe. ALSO HOW DOES VIC DO HER HEART EYE EFFECT I NEED ANSWERS Now we have Lavender who is Blue’s SISTER

YEAH THATS RIGHT- SHE IS BLUE’S SISTER And I swear everytime I see her I just want to punch her in the goddamn face and wipe that stupid smile off her face- Lavender is an example of non-physical s/a and incest with how she had sexual thoughts about Blue and would show it through more subtle actions. Not to mention she’s also a bystander to Blue being abused by other women and doesn’t do ANYTHING about it. As an older sister myself with my own little brother- Lavender ENRAGES ME! I could never imagine doing what she did to my own brother. He drives me crazy but I’d protect him no matter what. What is fascinating about her design is definitely how her eyes are constantly closed, as if she’s turning a blind eye to the harm Blue is a victim of and/or how she’s hiding so many things. Especially with how she only opens her eyes when she’s preying on Blue.

SHE'S JUST AS TERRIFYING AS PURPLE Lastly we have Lilac! Who debuts in the same video as Lavender

WHO IS THE ONE PERSON THAT DOESN’T TREAT BLUE LIKE SHIT She’s a very fun character! She’s a single mom who works in the same company as Blue. She has a lot more significance in later installments so I won’t spoil but I just love her<3 She’s so sweet I just can’t- it’s such a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic waste Blue’s been getting from the other women. Her relationship with Blue is so interesting to watch and I am just rooting for them to at least stay friends.

(Also she looks so pretty here) AND THAT’S ALL THE CHARACTERS!!

Overall I really enjoy this series but I do have some gripes with it. The pace is definitely a bit much- so much can be happening in a span of a few mins. And there are stories that could rly benefit a longer time limit. This problem comes up most with “Baby Hotline” where I hardly understood what was happening. Like I got the gist but I didn’t get the specifics. It can be difficult to keep up with. So yeah the series could work with a longer timeframe- “Sweet Little Bumblebee'' is a great example! Not everything is too fast and everything makes more sense while “Baby Hotline” tried cramming a lot in one minute. Well the first part of ot, the second part of “Baby Hotline” was at a much better pace in my opinion but still a bit hard to keep up with at first.

Anyway in conclusion! Blue’s Story is a really interesting story that deserves the recognition it gets and is worth your time if you are into really deep stories with heavy subjects!

(Credit to Vitaton for all the art presented) This is Coco typing.. Thank you for reading!

[dokidokitsuna]

Slowly, I think I’m getting a handle on this…I tried studying the character art from my favorite dead MMORPG, Maple Story 2, and I think it helped me find a style for the shading and rendering that’s more dramatic but still sort of cartoony.

Plus, I’ve been doing a bit of script writing, which always helps me figure things out. ^^ So please enjoy the additional work I’ve done on these character concepts.

-Between these two, Magolor definitely needed the most work: you can tell because I basically drew a full character design sheet, which is something I almost never do because I don’t like repetition. XP But it doesn’t feel repetitive when I’m totally lost to begin with. ^^; I think I got a little too abstract that first time I drew him, so my focus here was to figure out the specific shape of his body and rebuild outward from there. In stark contrast to my usual Magolor designs, he’s very tall and muscular, with an imposing silhouette (especially with his cape on). Yes, he IS hiding something under all those purple bandages, but we won’t talk about it today. ;)

-I also like that his outfit gets darker the further inside you go, from the solid white cape and glittering chains, to the silver armor and gray scarves, to the skintight navy blue fit underneath. Symbolism??? Perhaps~

-Blade’s design was already pretty solid, so I just adjusted her cape a little, and then dove straight into the Rainbow Malady concept art. ^^ Phase 1 has her sprout a second eye and wings on one side of her face. Her head catches fire, as the power of the Rainbow Sword attempts to ‘burn away the darkness’. In this phase, Blade is already in a lot of pain, but remains fully conscious and can even speak, when she isn’t coughing up multicolored blood. She can recover from this on her own with a day of rest. Phase 2 is much more serious, forcing her organs outside of her body, and growing star-shaped welts over the rest of her skin. At this point, she can no longer recover without Magolor’s help-- essentially, he uses magic to shove all her organs back where they belong and stitch up the open wounds. It’s like setting a bone after it’s broken-- just as painful as the injury itself (if not more), but necessary for proper healing…which takes about a week.  Phase 3 is the last and worst, transforming her arms into elongated wings and her whole body into burning plasma, on top of all the issues from Phase 2. Thankfully, she can’t really remain conscious in this phase-- she’s usually delirious from fever, blood loss, and her brain literally burning away. ^^; Storywise, she needs about a month to recover from this, so she doesn’t use it too often…of course, as the 'player', you can put her through it as many times as you want. =T

-Fun fact, I guess: So the primary love language between these two characters is food. ^^ I was musing about what I could do with a protagonist arc centered around worsening illness (which is…surprisingly rare), and I thought, “so what do you do for sick people? You put them to bed, you manage their symptoms, you clean and comfort them…and most importantly, you feed them.” And then ^that little doodle basically came to me in a dream, and from there evolved the idea of Magolor showing kindness to Blade by cooking for her.

Most of the time, the little affection Magolor shows to Blade is…basically performative. Think of it like a hammy supervillain petting their cat-- it’s more of a character stim than anything else. ^^; The way Magolor talks to Blade (and especially the way he talks about her…) makes it clear that the hand-holding and headpats don’t mean much.

But on the other hand, giving Blade food and watching her cutely devour it, especially during the times when she’s bed-ridden and he doesn’t see her as often…I like to think that might genuinely endear her to him a little, enough to make it a sort of stand-out gesture. Like, if he strokes her forehead when she’s sick, that’s whatever; but when he spends 5 hours making a Maxim tomato consommé for her to eat, that’s him trying to say he cares. Maybe it’s just a tiny bit, maybe it’s just in that moment, but a small part of him truly wants her to be happy.

[mysadblacksoul]

The Craving - 4/13 of the Clancy album

Hi so the I don't see this song as very lore oriented

The MV is mainly about creating right?

We can see both Tyler and Josh creating a bullet and a box

And we can tell that they had spent a lot of time making those things

In the end, after all that hard work, their creation is put to the test and ultimately it is decided that they failed

They don't even have time to process their failure, because the next person is already called in their place

I believe that this could be a one big parallel to the music industry as a whole

What is more, the thing that they are creating could be a song, you know, Tyler doing the lyrics and Josh the rhythm

They do it in their own style, with decorative elements that are not seen in others (last man's box was much simpler)

The bullet itself is colorfull, one might say over the top

And the man shooting it could be someone from the record label, radio or overall from the industry

So they are the one to decide if the song will be a hit or miss

And I really like the play of the words of "hit or miss". Like in shooting you can hit the target and in the music a song could be a hit, right?

It just shows how quickly the industry is moving, and how fast the people are to declare that somehing flopped

Then in the lyrics the craving itself could mean a hope for creating something both true to themselves as well as well received by the public

intentions don't mean much - so no matter why you write a song, even if it's for a good cause it might still fail

my body in chains - being tied down by the contract

'Cause it's the fear of the unknown / That cripples every step we take - People prefer to follow trends. Create something that is sure to catch on instead of taking a risk and doing something completely new. This losing oneself for fame may have a lot to do with the previous line

I lied

There is shit tone of lore

Buckle up

So the Bishops hate art and music right?

The guys are still creating the song, but in the Dema universe

We know that the only music the Bishops like is that used for propaganda

And we also know that Mr. Clancy has already tried to use it to show people the truth, as in the Overcompensate MV

So I don't think it's a stretch to say that the same symbolism was used here too

Here, the final failure may show, as in Backslide, the number of attempts the guys made to convey the truth to others and to free themselves from the Dema

They missed, their scheme was unsuccessful

And why do I think such a simple music video is part of the lore? Because of two things: it would be too simple not to be part of the lore and Jenna

We know that Jenna is part of the lore - she is a Bandito and appeared in the Saturday MV (I mean her voice, but you get the point)

So could The Craving be simply love? Or desire for both of them to be safe together?

Yesn't

But I am sure that the part in chorous If I found my body in chains / I'd lay down and wait / And hope she looks for me is a direct callback to the Jumpsuit MV

What happened? Clancy tried to escape, he got found and bounded and as he was about to be taken away the Banditos appeared. With Jenna! So she was looking for him after all

Now I see intentions don't mean much and Now I see the gesture don't mean much we are back to the mentality that no matter what Clancy does he cannot change the situation that he is in

'Cause it's the fear of the unknown / That cripples every step we take - callback to the letter from Dema website that reads "He seemed unaffected by the fear of the unknown – the fear that tends to cripple me"

He is afraid of his own feelings, of failure, of letting her and other Banditos down. He has a lot on his shoulders

And now let's go back to the creation. Tyler is making some kind of container, right? And what you can put to this container? A heart

You might ask yourself "What is this fool talking about???" but hear me out

But for now you told me to hold this jar / And when I looked inside I saw it held your heart, from A Car, A Torch, A Death

Now you see my vision?

Plus one bunny is giving another a gift which can be a reference to I will give more than I take away

And what is Josh doing? Carving a box

She's a carver / She's a butcher with a smile from Tear in My Heart

Genius right? Thanks, I'll be here the whole night

In conclusion:

as far as lore goes, these guys are using art and music to oppose the tyranny of the Bishops

Jenna is a very important part of the lore

And I think it will be a while before we can edit Clancy's wikipedia and add "Jenna - his in-lore-wife"

For some reason, I feel that the ukulele has a more important part of the lore than we think

Don't be afraid to take on challenges and try to change your life situation even if you have failed before

Create what you love and not what others love. Stay true to yourself pookies

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

I saw your art of Angel & Rocky! Do u have any headcanons for their potential relationship? Platonic or romantic?

Why yes I do! A lot of the people ive shown def enjoyed that art!

I can see Angel use his own spider webbing to help patch up Rocky from “work injuries”(unsafe environments, Val). Actually has done this for his other coworkers and in return they help him too ⛑️🩹

Rocky enjoys helping Angel dress up. Whether it be for shows or events he’s invited to or performing at. Def thinks Angel’s cute in cool-color pinks 💖💜

Whenever Angel’s invited to outings or events, will bring back some food if he can for Rocky💖 def enjoys cocktail weenies.

If they borrowed clothes like shirts, they'd basically be dresses for Angel and bras for Rocky🤣

After a long stressful day, might watch funny shows, movies and videos together.

Angel would be the one telling the cashier "he asked for no pickles!".

I can also see them shop together now and then! Angel def enjoys getting Rocky some threads! He enjoys the grunge/punk vibes!!!! Me and Teddi agree.

Angel’s def gotten him to dress up and do drag with him for fun! Def done Rocky Horror Picture Show for the name pun fun! Rocky loves glitter ✨

Angel helps Rocky be in touch with his feminine side more. I imagine Val pushes him to be more masculine.

Angel def shares his hair products. Rocky’s fair gets super soft and fluffy.

Def have DIY Spa days along with the rest of the workers to relax after a long night.

Also enjoy bonding through their different tastes in music! I can totally see Rocky be into stuff like Rare Americans. I can imagine Angel def got an appreciation for Jazz from Husk…🎷

Tries to be as gentle as he can get away with when doing scenes with Angel.

Has helped Angel get closer with his other coworkers(they all admit they hate what Val makes them do to Angel when he’s angry). Has gotten him to come out now and then with them after work and when he doesn’t have anything to do at the hotel.(Angel-I’m practicing my outside safety net socializing, don’t worry Val won’t be there this time)

Can see them try cooking together. I can see Rocky be kinda clumsy there. I could see him enjoy baking 🍪🧁

Rocky LOVES taking care of Fat Nuggets 🐷💖 often gets scared about hurting him with how tiny he is.

Enjoy exploring Hell together. Perhaps have a day like Millie and Sallie did in Helle's Belles. I hope Angel and Cherri get something like that and Rocky packs a lunch for him💖

@teddie-bear420 shared this with me. I def feel like it shares their vibe! Teddie’s also suggested them dressing up like Grease together! I can also see Rocky want to do something Ghost Rider related

Def helped comfort Angel when he and Husk broke up💔(hypothetically if they do get together which is probably)

If Husk and Angel do break up, Rocky helps Angel properly apologize and leave things on a better note(I imagine the breakup wouldn’t be an easy one)

Angel acknowledges the mistakes he made in their relationship, admits he wasn’t easy to deal with(both dealing with personal demons) and knows he shouldn’t put it on Husk for judging him for those moments where he had the right to. Even if Husk hurt him…he knows he’s done a lot of that himself and wants to make it clear he doesn’t see Husk as the bad guy. And maybe gives him a parting present 🎁 maybe a drink flask with spider webbing unto it! Husk would use it beyond just booze. 🥃

Maybe Husk ends up giving him a gift too. A new neckwear or other accessory! Perhaps with a suit symbol ♥️♦️♠️♣️

I can def see them vent to each other(Angel usually) about stuff wether that be Val, or perhaps Angel’s own frustrations with himself or back at the hotel.

Ngl I’m hoping they bring up/keep how Angel was back in the pilot Maybe he’s venting to Rocky about the the gang, past things(like feeling ignored in ep 2, the incident in ep 4, etc )….and begins reflecting that he hasn’t always been very considerate himself .

He despite being in free rehab, still did drugs casually behind their backs took part in a terf war and def enjoyed, causing problems for Charlie which escalated into her having a nasty fight with Katie which also led to a fire…like the studio did.

And when confronted, he didn’t even apologize, even still cracked jokes and insults. Sure he had a moment where he felt bad..but was scared to act upon it…and just left…

Angel-…I didn’t even bother trying to make up….let alone apologize…..maybe I shouldn’t be judging Charlie so much for being careless…

On the one hand, Angels actions certainly didn’t escalate to anything as bad as the studio Incident….but he was also kinda careless of what his actions could cause and didn’t exactly try to set things right or even act apologetic for the damage he caused, even still continuing to insult and poke fun at them and their project… And hey Charlie’s not only a sheltered Princess but also the daughter of the DEVIL himself…makes sense she wouldn’t be aware or fully considerate of the impact of her actions ….so what’s his excuse?

He def has every right to still be hurt, Charlie still screwed up with her approach(Probably would’ve been good for Vaggie to have went with her or both wait for Angel, and im not 100% sure how much she was really taking her advice but I can imagine she assumed Charlie would know cause she’s a Princess, not realizing she’s been sheltered and not properly taught those things and didnt think shed have been like that). Not to mention with his things with Vaggie and Husk…he never made it easy for them especially to really empathize and keep their cool with him…

He comes to realize….he hasn’t been the best himself towards the people around him. Only just recently started becoming more considerate of others because of the hotel. I can see Rocky suggest he actually try talking to Charlie more, actually talk to her about sinners and how they think/deal with things being a sinner himself. Help her actually understand him and sinners better! And ofocurse build more bonding with the others too like he has with Husk!

Being with each other make it easier to avoid Val trying to infect them with his nastiness. I actually theorized Val already had plans of hurting Angel and let Charlie stick around to use as a reason to seemingly so Angel would tire of her and come back….clearly it didn’t work. I can totally see Val try to make Angel revert back to his bad habits and issues.

Lowkey scared around Cherri cause of her explosives but tries his best to be friendly towards her since she’s Angel’s Bestie and genuinely wants what’s best for him, even if she can encourage the not so great things sometimes. Would probably buy her a firecracker or something cherry flavoured as a friendly gift 🎁

Same with the hotel. Def appreciates them for what they’ve done for Angel in terms of giving him a place away from Val and helping him improve himself. He and Charlie start off akward considering….what happened in ep 4. He’s def asked her important questions regarding Angel and how she’s trying to help him with that(if she’s properly thinking about Angel and not just what he could be for the hotel). He tries to give her some benefit of the doubt considering her background and figures she just needs more help with understanding mortals and real life problems and other reasons said above(all of the sinners got their own issues going on too)…..if my theory about her “true intentions” is true, and most likely Angel would be crushed though, he’s def gonna rip into her!

If Rocky were to share his own version of Loser baby, it’d be more gentle, supportive and more related to Angel coming to terms with himself and his own personal demons. Probably at a point where Angel’s actual past is revealed(his mafia past) and there’s some argument. Someone shared this REALLY cool theory .

Maybe he asks if he can be at times…like Val or even his family(people have pointed out the similarities of when Angel threw that bottle at Husk, like how Val threw his glass at Vox).

That if…they were right about him, being a bad person and all the other problems he has Rocky admits that...to an extent he can be. He can be selfish, he can be careless, he can even be very cruel and has made similar mistakes (Lashing out, pushing boundaries, not apologizing or admitting his mistakes) But also is not .

He's shown he can be kind, he can be considerate, he's actually admitting his mistakes now a days and trying to genuinely change And in the end, no one down there’s perfect, it’s Hell! Doesn’t mean they can’t get better if they want to be(Don’t need to be in Heaven to atleast be happy and better than you used to be alive)

Kinda hard truth Aesop of realizing at times u can learn some bad things from those who hurt u and repeat them, even be like them but that doesn’t mean you cant learn from their mistakes and change yourself, break the cycle(like Penumbra podcast).

I can def see Husk feel akward around Rocky(since in this scenario, he and Angel broke up) and seeing how well things are between them and how much Rocky’s helped out Angel…

Husk-…guess he was right… I was the problem afterall.

I can see Husk admit his own feelings of guilt and regret only for Rocky to point out had he not been in Angel’s life, he wouldn’t be doing how he is now, he wouldn’t be who he is now without Husk. And also points out Angel def wasn’t the easiest back than to be around himself and actually thanks Husk for being Angel’s first as it helped bring them together…they both appreciate him for everything💖 kinda like that talk Diane and Mr PB had!

Perhaps do cards together for fun 🃏

What do u think? Do u see Angel find anyone else besides Husk, stay single or do u think Huskerdust is endgame? I'd love to know💖

[arcadekitten]

Hello Arcadekitten!!! I read the Stellamb wedding post(s) and it got me wondering about how Stella’s wedding dress would look like… I absolutely love Sweet No Death, so I knew I had to make some artwork of it!! And, because I absolutely suck at explaining things through text, here is my interpretation of Stella’s wedding outfit in traditional art! ✨💫🌟

Materials Used: Mixed Media Paper, Ink Fineliner Pens, Alcohol Markers Gel Pens, Paint Pens, Highlighter and Mechanical Pencil

Time Took: 1 week

I don’t know if you’re okay with people sending fanarts and stuff to you, but I absolutely love your work and well, I’m quite proud of this piece (even if I probably shouldn’t be lol) as I worked extremely hard on this and wanted to share it with you! I hope that’s okay ❤️

A little artist “#Deep Dive tm” because I put WAY too much effort into the tiniest details and I am NOT gonna let them get overlooked 😤 /jk

-Stella’s dress is made with her signature colors rather than white, because I felt that with her being a Star Witch and all, a species that mostly has extravagantly colorful clothes (in my humble opinion) she felt that just going with plain white on what is possibly the most important day of her life would feel… well, a bit redundant, so she opted for a more ‘colored’ ballgown, with lacy gloves and a pearled veil and all. The local tailor and dressmaker is a bit confused, but Lambchop is definitely not complaining! ;) 💕💓

-(Well, that, and I also felt that the color blended WAY too much with her skin tone and changed it, but that’s my little secret hehe 👀😉)

-In my mind, Stella can make her hair look like it has a small galaxy within it! With actual moving stars and little twinkling lights. ✨💫✨⭐️🌟I think that she usually saves it for special, grandiose occasions, buuut since she’s not the kind of person who would THROW a grand, special occasion, she never unveiled it before her wedding day! (Poor Lambchop’s heart nearly gave out on the spot right then and there! 😭❤️)

-I didn’t add her usual Star hair clip because she already has like… 10 stars in her design already lmao /lh ⭐️

-As you can see, her bouquet’s… cloth? Fabric? I’m not sure what to call it… thing? The stuff that her flowers are wrapped in are Lambchop’s colors! Thought that it would be a neat visual detail… also, I can totally imagine Stella requesting that specific color scheme from the local florist! 💐🌷🌸

-Speaking of flowers… I decided to color in one of the moon daisies a little bit… differently hehe ;) It’s a small reference to the beginning of the game, where we see Stella change the color of the one rebellious moon daisy, from orange to lavender, except this time… she keeps it and uses it in her bouquet! 💖💗

-I like to think that it symbolizes Lambchop versus the rest of the townspeople… and Stella’s way of acknowledging him as a “real person”, at least compared to the others… one who is different, one who is unique… the one that she’s going to marry 💍🩷

-(it’s so absolutely sappy when she tells him so that he just couldn’t resist kissing her right then and there)

-And finally… (this is the last one I promise) I cut out the entire drawing to make it look like a potion bottle, partially because Stella is a witch, and partially because I had this cute lil idea that she stores all of her happiest memories into a magical bottle and takes it out whenever she feels sad, so that she can ‘experience’ it again and feel happier. Of course, with Lambchop by her side, she never really has to use it!💞🩷💗

-And yes, I also made the bottle have Lambchop colors as well 🐏 Just a nice little thing tying em together more visually… ❤️

…And I am SO SORRY for ranting!!! I worked incredibly hard on this piece (traditional art is NOT my strong suit, lol) but I wanted to make something special for one of my favorite games and one of my favorite game devs! So here it is, and I hope that you like it! 🤞❤️😁

(P.S: Any ideas for Lambchop’s wedding design?)

Oh my goodness this is BEAUTIFUL!! The artwork itself is just stunning!! You took so much time on it and it really shows, especially with all your attention to detail in it(and I LOVE hearing your explanations for some of the choices you made!! They're just so darling!) Everything about this is stellar and I'm in love with it, thank you so much!! ♡ ♡ ♡

Also I TOTALLY AGREE Stella would not wear white for her wedding!! Color all the way!! ♡

As for Lambchop's outfit...I think I've got it envisioned in my head but I haven't quite drawn anything for it yet! Top hat, definitely. I think his suit isn't black. Probably brown! Bowtie on the neck. His pants are more like shorts and are cut juuuuust above the knee! Still wearing long socks with garters. He looks incredibly dapper--as he should!! It's his wedding!

Hopefully he at least looks good for the photos before he decides to get any mysterious red stains on his outfit. (It's fine. Stella could clean them with the snap of her fingers, but still!)

[hlxc23]

I watched salt burn today, and it wasn’t even that bad; people are being so dramatic. My English nerd came out tho, cuz I could write a 5 page essay on the symbolism and metaphorical aspects of that movie. The bathtub scene, the vampire scene, and the grave scene all have such a deeper meaning to them THAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT.

⚠️SPOILERS⚠️

To sum this up and because I don’t wanna type so much lemme just do bullet points:

‼️it’s 3am and I am exhausted so if this makes no sense I apologize in advanced‼️

- the puppet thing was a literal symbol and connection to Oliver. HE WAS A PUPPET MASTER, HE WAS CONTROLLING THE WHOLE NARRATIVE. At the end when he’s dancing and the puppet thing is there with the rocks on top, each rock is representing a puppet that he controlled that he basically created.

-Oliver was an English major. HE WAS A WRITER AND READER. Being a writer and a puppet master are one of the same. He was writing his own story; his own narrative. He was controlling everything to go just as he planned it.

- to connect to the previous point: the bathtub, vampire, and grave scenes; the three main grotesque scenes of the movie. NOW THIS IS PROBABLY ME REACHING BUT LISTEN. Oliver was a writer he was creating a story one where he himself came out on top. Every story needs a beginning, middle, and end. I believe Oliver saw his body (not himself but his body iykwim) as the physical book. Consuming the cummy bath water I think could be interpreted as him consuming the beginning of life; we all know he gets off on the idea of holding life and death in his hands so to consume these aspects of his story they became sexual in a sense. The vampire scene: he was consuming life; blood is life and by consuming that directly from a living person he was consuming the middle of his story. NOW THE GRAVE SCENE: Death; he was consuming the end of his story; everything ends in death so by fucking the grave of the man who started him on his path he was ending the story in a sense. Obviously we know that wasn’t the end because more people died BUT THE SCENES HAPPENED IN ORDER AND THEY WERE THE MOST SEXUAL SCENE CONTAINING OLIVER HIMSELF.

-to connect to the puppet point: when he kills the mom (forgot her name) and she’s dead, he is trying to keep her arms up to hug him but they keep falling and he keeps trying to put them back. This was a literal scene of him acting as a puppet master, controlling the actions of a physical form physically. If that makes sense.

-the movie started with Oliver telling the story of how he may have been in love with Felix, you don’t know who he’s talking to until the end when you find out he’s basically admitting everything he did to the mother right before he kills her. He got away with everything. He’s a narcissist and he’s pretentious (as all artists are you have to be if you’re creating something because you’re creating it for others) he WANTS someone to know what he did. He WANTS the credit for his success. So by telling the mom everything beginning to end, he’s telling his story. In doing so he admits everything.

-him dancing naked: I don’t think this was meant as something sexual. I think this scene was meant to represent the freedom Oliver felt. He got everything he wanted. He achieved his goal. To further this point he looks longingly and almost admirably at the puppet box thing with the rocks on it. That was (to him) the representation of his story, of his success; it’s like when a writer finally finishes a story or an artist finally finishes a piece of art they’ve been working on for years; he’s feeling that euphoric freedom and accomplishment and it’s represented by him dancing naked in his prize; the house.

-Yes, he was sexual, and the movie in general was a sexual thing. However, I think that was to show his all consuming nature of his plan. Being one with his story.

-Smth I wish they went into detail about: his home life; why was he the way he was? Was he just born that way? Or did something traumatic happen to him for him to become what he did?

-do I think he was in love with Felix? No. I don’t think he can feel or understand the emotion of love. I think he had an obsession with Felix because he was the start of his story, he was the one that led Oliver to everything he was to achieve.

-it’s 3 am and I can’t think of anything else but I will add if I think of smth else cuz I’m definitely leaving things out 😩

[nitrochiralfan]

Character Design analysis:Towa

I love the art of Slow Damage, It stood out to me because of its light… bounciness, which contrasted with the darker, more sinister elements of the game. Hence, the art captures the light and darkness aspects of the game as well as capturing the flavor with the character designs which is the thing I paid attention to the most.

When it comes to character design, the point is to convey a certain idea to the audience. For a game that has striking character designs, coming as simple yet stunning feeling grounded yet striking in a way this makes sense.

The character design in Slow Damage is simple and down to earth.The designs of the characters incorporate many details that highlight their personalities and lifestyles. You can tell how the details in their design correlate to their personality background when you look closely.

Yamada Uiro is the main character designer for Slow Damage. They are the artist responsible for the nitro kun mascot,

and are careful about how much to put into designing characters. You can see how much work they put into designing the characters when you look at the art book. Though Uro elaborated on the design process in their artist comments, this is my attempt to explain the details of character design.

I feel that the art shows many different sides or better yet many different colors that blend and mix together like paint and speaking of colors. We are going to talk about Towa ,the main protagonist and an artist who can see auras allowing him to read people, and has his own artist persona as euphoria that draws people's twisted desires in his art.

Towa’s design is created to fit the setting he is in. If the previous protagonist of the game setting is based on the cyberpunk genre, then Towa would be based around a neo-noir setting.

Slow Damage is a neo-noir, so the protagonist of neo-noir settings can either be two things: a detective or a degenerate.

Towa is designed to be a degenerate to fit the genre he's in. He is designed with the setting in mind which is the Neo-noir setting of Slow Damage.

There are so many details in his character design to unpack but the most prominent thing I am going to start with first is his scars. Towa being covered in scars is designed with the themes of slow damage in mind being scars and happiness. In media, the main characters are supposed to encapsulate the themes of the series they are in. Towa represents the game's theme “Scars” in his design.

What stands out the most about Towa is how many scars there are on his entire body.  The scars on Towa referenced his past when he was forced to serve customers by his mother in his days of euphoria; the scars on Towa's body were something that was inflicted on him by his customers. The scars symbolize Towas mental trauma from his past: he carries it with him.

One other thing is that on the placement of Towas scars are completely visible seen to others. They are placed where they can be seen by others; his scars are visible, not hidden in plain sight exposed for others to see.  This is a reference to how Towa cannot surpass the scars and trauma of his heart even after Towa lost his memories of the past. It still affects him in the present.

They are not just symbols of his past or trauma, though. They also show off proudly and brazenly his bravery and resilience as a way of maintaining his autonomy after the horrific things done to him This could be why he is interested in scars.

I found this fascinating due to how much it ties into his personality and character arc in the game. It shows Towa is just as strong as well as resilient.

Next up is his face. For the face, the most important points in character design to note are the eyes, and hair (flow of hair and bangs).  In character design, there are a couple of points in hair to pay attention to that is the way the hair flow and bangs, the flow of the hair the way the hair flowers downward from the root is supposed to it is supposed to make the hair look natural and it notes the dispositions and personalities of characters.

Second, for the bangs, There was a Japanese video on how to draw hair that said that the bangs say something about the personality of the character. Even with the same face, the impression of the character changes in how to draw the bangs. The personality of the characters is seen with both these aspects of the hair which can come to be important in designing characters.

Towa has unkempt hair and long bangs covering his missing eye, his unkempt messy hair goes with his degenerate appearance. The messy hair references his messy state of mind, noting how he doesn’t take care of himself and the mental trauma he couldn’t process normally.

The flow of the Towa’s hair goes inward, framing his face. The art book even reinstated the direction in which his hair flowed which is inward,

this show was subdued and quiet personality and how he isn’t open or even not as expressive emotionally.

In character design, characters with a bang hiding their eyes give the impression of cool and mysterious characters. Blindfolded bangs are often used to create characters with mysterious atmospheres. In character design, the eyes are the most important feature of a character because it shows their personality and emotions. You can tell what personality a character is by looking at their eyes and tell their intentions by looking into the eyes of the characters so that you could use it to get info on a character on what they are like.

Hair that hides the eyes is attractive, with the gap of the eyes visible hidden eyes is visible because it can be one eye the facial impression of the amount of info on the said character is reduced

Towa’s bangs hiding his eye hints at his quiet personality as well as his subtle mystery around him. Towa keeps things to himself; he doesn't share stuff when its necessary. People around him are curious to know the sort of person he is due to how aloof he is. Towa’s one eye that is hidden with his bangs gives that kind of impression of his character perfectly with his sexiness, coolness, and mysteriousness he has.

Towa has a double-folded eyelid in his eye, characters with double-folded eyelids are seen as coming off as calm, aloof, and detached. This fits Towa well since he is generally apathetic, distant, and cold. He is detached from his surroundings and himself Towa is stoic,  calm, and quiet not reacting when he is put in extreme situations not showing distress or fear remaining stone-faced. Towa comes off as seemingly aloof to others apathetic to everything and everyone prefers not to get involved in people's troubles he holds a low opinion of himself and is generally self-loathing.

This may come off as indifferent but it's his numbness his emotions are numbed due to the trauma from his past.

Towa had a bit of sharpness in his eyes, especially at the end, Towa has a lash at the end of his eye the lash points out Towa's air of seductiveness, Towa is seductive which is noted by others to have and his ability to persuade and manipulate people during his interrogation segments that he wouldn’t hesitate to coax someone for info.

The sharpness in his eyes denotes Towa’s curt behavior, how he is blunt and honest and doesn’t hesitate to cut straight to the point and doesn't sugarcoat anything. His words can be brutally honest and cut straight to the point when he wants something.

Towa is a sharp reference on how he's very smart and very sharp when it comes to reading people, as seen best in his ability to see auras allows him to perceive how they're feeling or if they're honest with him or not. Another example of this is seen in his persuasion and negotiation when he is doing the psychology dive in his euphoria sessions. his sharp eyes note his cold, apathetic, and quiet but seductive

The bags under his eyes are from lack of sleep due to the nightmares he gets from his traumatic past. This interesting detail again references his background that is in his design the bags in his eyes show that the past still affects him as seen in his character design.  

Towa is designed to look unhealthy but had to give an inner sensuality as the BL protagonist does.

Towa went through many sketches until they settled on his final design, and one of the sketches is seen in his hair. You can see the design process when you look at the design process of Towa’s hair.

Towa’s hair variations make Towa look radically different with each style, The long hair on Towa makes them look spunky and wild, and also too much of a degenerate.

Another detail in his design is the color black in his clothes,

Black is a color that is mysterious black conceals everything hiding it. It can come off as powerful and seductive to others but It is a dreary and gloomy color.  Towa wears black for his casual clothes. The color black represents the tone of the game. It is a pretty dark game. Black is a color that makes the other colors stand out. This notes how Towa’s role in the routes is how he acts as a supporting role to his love interests, letting them take center stage.

The color also signifies resentment of the class he is in: the poverty-stricken citizens of Japan during the great recession. Towa is overall mysterious with a powerful air of seductive intrigue, He is cold, gloomy, and detached from other people. It also references his dark past that is kept under wraps of his days being locked in the red room in euphoria leaving Towa in the dark as the color black represents.

His slovenly appearance is a reflection of his messy mental state and how he cannot resolve his issues. Towa is designed to be a picture of the mental illness seen in his scars and character design. Towa is designed to tell that something is wrong by just a look.

Towa’s character design goes through numerous changes in the happy ends seen when Towa wears numerous outfits in the game. His outfits change a bit depending on the happy ends of the game. 

In the true end, his clothes at the end have bright muted colors, he wears Fujieda's gray shirt and white hoodie symbolizing his renewed mental state of mind, Towa is still casual the new clothes with Fujieda's gray shirt make him look calm and serene like the burdens have been lifted from his shoulders the white hoodie symbolizes a clean slate and a new future. This change in character design is a lovely transition showing Towa being in the darkness now brought into the light letting the light in and allowing the light and warmth that life can offer him.