#I need to adapt references and other styles into that

[lady-quen]

A list of some of my sylvari headcanons and interpretations of canon, but delivered in extreme hodgepodge style:

- they have human-analogous internal anatomy, meaning that they are plant matter mimicking animal functionalities, inside and out. This is further supported by Mordrem possessing specialized organs such as brains or kidneys (Mordrem Researcher quests) Since the Pale Tree grew on the graves of Ronan's family, she grew her roots into what remained of the bodies, taking nutrients while also learning their anatomy and establishing a scaffolding for the future sylvari. You know how if you bury a body under a tree and later dig up the soil, the roots are shaped like a human? Something similar happened here.

As such, sylvari hardwood skeletal systems are very accurate copies of human skeletons, but soft tissues are more their own thing due to the Pale Tree having less of an accurate frame of reference (since the bodies would have begun to rot) and going with a mix of her knowledge of human anatomy and "instinctive" Mordrem anatomy.

- The wiki states they don't have hearts and a pulse, but relying on purely osmotic gradients for circulation in an ambulatory creature that is stated to have high energy needs and therefore is even unable to rely solely on photosynthesis and other typical plant processes seems implausible, so I changed it to give them some sort of pump organ, positioned more or less in the center of the chest.

- The sylvari don't really have names for their own organs, so they approximate using human vocabulary.

- Sylvari tend to sleep deeper, but can train themselves to have a lighter sleep if required (such as, in dangerous field jobs.) The extra deep sleep sometimes causes nearby sylvari to synchronize their dreams and even "meet" in a hazy dreamscape, a faint remnant of the actual Dream.

- Sylvari sap does not contain platelets, but injury stimulates phloem cells and/or skin cells to swell and constrict, then release a substrate which reacts with certain substances contained within the sap to create a clot-like resin.

- Given enough time, sylvari resin exposed to outside conditions could potentially turn into amber?

- The fact sylvari breathe with their lungs (since they are unable to rely solely on diffusion) implies they possess blood cells and some sort of chromoprotein to carry oxygen? Further supported by the existence of the Mordrem Spleen. Alternatively, they utilize natural magic to speed up diffusion..?

- Sylvari most likely do not possess adaptive immune systems and rely on innate tissue-level strategies to fend off pathogens, like other plants.

- Sylvari awaken with shaper magic, as in the ability to magically and empathically influence other plants. Some specialized Shapers train this ability to use in plant sculpting and architecture, and creating various purposed species such as turret plants. Wardens find it useful to train themselves to read and use other plants as early warning signs for incoming danger. Very rarely, certain sylvari, particularly necromancers, can awaken with little to no shaper magic.

Shaper abilities can be used to alter one's own body, to the point of completely changing one's appearance and even gender if desired, though such a process takes some time. (Perhaps months?)

- Mordremoth, possessing vast amounts of control over plant shaping, can rearrange a sylvari body completely in a matter of hours to days.

- Considering real-life plants rely predominantly on hydraulics rather than electric signaling, logic-ing out an internally consistent and plausible anatomy for ambulatory plants is very difficult (impossible?) thus sylvari must at least possess predominantly electric pathways, essentially mimicking a human nervous system. Many processes would also likely require "it's magic" as an explanation, which makes sense if we consider they are dragon minions, which were probably originally meant to help process and store magic energy at least to some degree.

- Science of sapient walking plants, what the fuck.

- Thank you Tree Mom 🙏

[lauralot89]

Fun with Dracula annotations:

According to Stoker's original notes, if Dracula is photographed then he'll either be absent from the image entirely or else appear as a spooky scary skeleton. This is incredible and I need skeleton Dracula photos in every single adaptation moving forward.

Apparently there's a book by Fred Saberhagen called The Dracula Tape which is narrated by Dracula in the vein of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! in which, among other things, he explains that he does have servants, but Dracula wanted to be a good host and care for Harker himself (Also the servants were untrained because he had to take whoever was willing to work for him, and he thought that Harker would not be impressed with them).

And while on the subject of servants, according to Stoker's notes, Dracula employs a deaf-mute woman and a "silent man" in London.

When Dracula speaks of "one of my own race who...crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground" he is likely referencing the Hungarian Jánis Hunyadi, who did exactly that, and by calling him a "Dracula" is not claiming literal relation, but calling Hunyadi a dragon/devil/courageous/etc. However, the next sentence clearly refers to Radu Țepeș, who was not Hunyadi's brother, so this whole section is kind of a hodgepodge of regional history that Jonathan may have written down incorrectly.

The "other of his race" who was inspired in a later age is presumably Dracula himself, as Mina and Van Helsing later conclude, so it seems Count Dracula lived after Vlad Dracula/Vlad III/Vlad Țepeș/Vlad the Impaler/whatever other names this guy has, there are so many.

I like to imagine Vampire Dracula as a descendant of Vlad Dracula, and I also like to imagine all his ancestral spirits looking down on his bullshit, Mulan-style, and turning to Vlad all "He gets it from your side of the family." This has nothing to do with the annotations, it's just how my brain functions.

The annotations then conclude that Dracula's story here is too contradictory and vague to point to any one figure in Romanian history as the real Count Dracula.

[mossiestpiglet]

One of my goals for this year that I haven’t accomplished was getting a new tattoo, but I’m kind of okay with that because I know the tattoo that I really want next and I want to find the exact right reference and artist for it and also it’s gonna be the biggest and most expensive work I’ve ever had done (ideally the whole front of my right thigh).

However. That said. The desire to draw my own little chimerarachne tattoo is growing stronger by the day…

[writer-logbook]

How I improved my writing style... without actually writing.

Intro : It's just a clickbait title to talk about theory and side techniques - before actually practicing, of course.

LINGUISTIC ISN'T GRAMMAR - AND IT'S BETTER TO KNOW ABOUT BOTH. It's useful for writing impactful dialogue and giving your characters depth. Your characters' language should (ideally) take into account: their social position (rich or poor), the locality (local expressions?) and sometimes their age (different cultural references). And this is best transcribed with linguistic knowledge. In short: linguistics is descriptive, grammar is prescriptive.

The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences),  semantics (meaning),  morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages), phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language, and analogous systems of sign languages), and pragmatics (how the context of use contributes to meaning). (Linguistics, Wikipedia)

Literary theory isn't as boring as it sounds. Learn more about internal criteria of the text (figure of speech, style, aesthetic...) and external criteria of the text (the author's persona and responsability, the role of the reader and what is left to interpretation...). I refer you to the French Wikipedia page, which you can translate directly via your browser in case you need more information. (Make sure you translate the page not switch language, because the content isn't the same).

Listening to Youtube Video about the analysis of film sequences and/or scenario. Remember when I told you to read historical fiction to learn how to describe a castle properly ? Same vibe.

Novel adaptations of movies. = when the movie exists before the book, and not the other way around. e.g : The Shape of Water ; Pan's Labyrinth. In line with tip n°3, it allows us to see how emotions, scenes and descriptions have been translated into writing - and thus to better visualize concepts that may have been abstract.

Read books about authors' writing experiences. e.g : Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Everyone's different, but they can provide some insightful tips not only on the act of writing itself, but on the environment conducive to writing, planning… Comparing completely different authors' experience could also be fun (this video of King and Martin is actually one of my fav)

Ah and many thanks for your ❤ and reblogs on my latest post ! UwU

[furioussouls]

LADS boys as strict professors who only have a soft spot for their wife

with [chubby reader]

Warnings: tooth- rotting fluff, chubby fem! reader

Disclaimer: These characters don't belong to me, they are from the game "love and deepspace" by InFold. All lore references and worldbuilding belong solely to the creators.

requested by a sweet anon (hope it lived up to your expectations :3)

˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆˚୨୧⋆｡

Xavier:

Xavier's students know their professor to be the best hunter to ever exist; he was agile, capable, strategic, strong and yet gentle in the face of danger. He's open to every single question, he won't make you feel bad about yourself for asking even the most obvious questions and adds enough physical practice to balance out his thorough lectures. However, he's also one of the more intimidating professors that teaches the new generation of hunters; he'll disarm threats in the blink of an eye while his face remained the same neutral expression. His students have never seen a person fight as well as he has. He's not the type of man you'd want to piss off. Sometimes when they're staring into his emotionless face, they feel an icy shudder run down their backs.

Xavier stood in front of his students in his usual business casual attire and explained the proper strategy of defending oneself in a battle where everything seemed hopeless.

"Let's assume you're in the middle of a battle and you're too exhausted or hurt to continue, what's the next step? Yes, you." Xavier nodded at one student, who was raising his hand.

"You need to try to adapt your fighting style to your current level of exhaustion and you must-"

"No", Xavier interrupted the student quietly and looked through the room to find somebody else willing to participate but nobody else raised their hand. Xavier sighed softly and ran his hand through his blonde hair.

"Retreat. If you're too exhausted to keep fighting, you must retreat. If you're unable to because you're surrounded or in the middle of a dangerous situation- trust in your partner. They're supposed to back you up and be dependable."

His students looked at each other in confusion. Trust your partner? That's the answer?

One student raised their brow and hesitantly lifted their hand. Xavier noticed the hand and perked up. He took off his round glasses and pointed with them to the student, who raised their hand.

"Excuse me if I'm overstepping, Professor, but who was your partner?" The student asked some of the other ones looked up at him curiously.

"Ah", Xavier exclaimed and slowly blushed a beet- red. The sides of his mouth tugged up until his mouth split into a soft grin. His pearly white teeth were exposed and he scratched the back of his neck. "Well, that would be my wife. We were partners- I mean we still are. But in more ways than one now." He stammered and cleared his throat.

"Is she a good hunter?", asked one student.

"Oh yes, she is. She's so capable and strong, cute as well. Our fighting styles complete each other so well and we always depend on each other during battles. It's a great feeling to trust your partner this freely." He gushed with a soft smile. He opened up his phone and showed the lockscreen picture of you; it was your cute chubby self wrapped in the lanky arms of Xavier.

Some of his students giggled, which caused Xavier to blush and clear his throat. He put his phone away and continued with his lecture. The students that believed Xavier to be the craziest alpha male hunter are now upset that their hero is nothing more than a little puppy for his wife.

Zayne:

Zayne stood in front of his nervous students. He was dressed up in a suit, not one bit out of place; his black hair sitting perfectly, his black tie sitting smugly against his chest. Even his shoes were clean and polished. He really was as perfect as people made him out to be. He was one of the youngest cardiac surgeons at Akso hospital and is holding lectures about the human heart. Zayne sighed and pushed his glasses closer to his face with his long, scarred fingers.

"I understand some of you had questions about the assignment", said Zayne, his voice soft and deep.

One student hesitantly raised their hands and swallowed when Zayne raised his hand toward him and nodded. "Well the material is a bit.. difficult to understand, since we're only in our second semester."

Zayne tilted his head and seemed to consider his students words, his eyebrows furrowed so hard that a wrinkle formed in between them. The student swallowed, he hoped he hadn't ruined his chances with one of the most influencial doctors of his time.

"I understand the feedback, but I am not sure how much easier I can make it for you. The material is very limited. I shall look for better ones but I can't promise-", a soft knock interrupted Zayne and he turned towards the door.

"Excuse me, Professor Zayne?", your round body walked through the door with a bento box. Zayne's strict face softened immediately and he called out your name. "What are you doing here?", he asked you softly as his cheeks bloomed into a soft pink. You handed him his bento box and told him that you would go on a mission for a few days and that you wanted to see him off in person.

Zayne swallowed and the side of his mouth gently tugged up as he looked at the box. "Thank you very much, dear."

Dear? His students jaw dropped and they looked at each other in disbelief. Did that just really happen? Did Dr. Professor Zayne just call you dear while blushing? You waved at the students and they waved back at you incredulously.

Zayne cleared his throat and nodded "We were just talking about the assignment I assigned. Apparently it's.. too complicated."

You raised an eyebrow at him "Well, I hope you took their criticism seriously. I'll be off then. Have fun, guys", you winked at them and walked out the door.

Zayne cleared his throat and smoothed over his shirt after he sat his bento box down on the table. "I'll find some easier reading material for you and readjust the difficulty level of the assignment", he agreed softly and smiled at your lunchbox.

His students chuckled amonst themselves. Hopefully you'd drop by more often. They certainly wouldn't mind.

Rafayel:

Rafayel stood in front of his students' paintings and examined them with furrowed eyebrows. He hated this process, because art is not something that can just be graded like any other subject. It is deeply individual and personal to everybody and it feels wrong to grade such personal pieces. However, he is so damn bored with all these pieces. They're all missing that little something, of course all of these drawings are objectively good; a nice understanding of colour theory and shadows and applying different techniques and methods. All of it was good, but it was artficial and it felt too clean. Not authentic enough.

Rafayel sighed and raked his beautiful hands through his fluffy hair. He closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the ceiling.

Some of his students rolled their eyes at his familiar dramatic antics and others gulped and fidgeted nervously with their fingers. They all knew of Rafayel, of course. He was one of the most popular artists of his time and his works are phenomenal. It would be horrible if a brilliant man like him were to tell his young, sweet students how horrific their art is.

Rafayel stood up and walked through the room. He was as graceful as a gazelle, his button up shirt tugged neatly into his black pants.

"All of you have passed, you were all good.", he exclaimed in a bored tone.

The fidgeting stopped and the students looked up at him with in shock. "Really?"

"Yes. All of you have a great understanding of your preferred style and you did well", he yawned and turned to face all of his students "However, I'm not impressed. You have all passed this final, so create something better for me. This one won't be graded and it has no deadline. Just create something for me, something that really inspires you. Not something you can just paint well. Find a muse and paint it multiple times in different art styles and mediums, let your creativity flow. None of my students will turn out to be just a conventially acceptable artist." Rafayel shuddered at the thought and looked at the faces of his students.

One of them raised their hand "What would be a good example of a muse?"

Rafayel hummed and tapped his finger on the table "Anything you want; music, sadness, your dog, nature, your fashion style... people. My muse would be my wife." Rafayel smiled softly and rummaged through his bag. He pulled out his notebook and revealed you; he painted and drew you in many different art styles, backgrounds and positions. Your plush body always wore a soft blue gown, and your hair was styled the same way. His art looked real. Not necessarily because he was painting you in Realism, but more because of thelove and passion he felt for you.

Rafayel smiled softly and gently stroked over the pages. "This is what I want from you."

Sylus:

Sylus was a business professor. He wasn't necessarily a mean professor, but my god was he intimidating. Sylus stood in front of his students in his all black outfit. His piercingly red eyes stared into the crowd and he smirked softly.

"Hmmm", he hummed, his voice husky and gravelly. "Nobody knows the answer to my question?

"I thought it might be answer a)", a voice squeaked out and Sylus checked his notes and nodded at the student. "Very good, thats the right answer."

Sylus knows he comes off as a strict man, he really isn't though. He's also a very forgiving grader but he also knows his attitude comes off as intimidating to his students, even if he doesn't mean to be.

Sylus' phone chimed three times and he looked down; 'My sweetie' was calling. A bright smile spread on his face and he turned to his students "Excuse me, it's my wife. Hello, sweetie. Yes, I folded the laundry before I left. It should be on your bed. I left some of them on the heater so your sweater would be warm and cozy for you. Yes, the oversized one. You're welcome, honey. How was your day so far? Oh, good. I saw you packed me lunch before you left, thank you. You're the best wife one could ask for. Oh what I'm doing right now? I'm supposed to hold a lecture and answer questions", A few beats passed and Sylus chuckled deeply at your embarassed and quick rambles and turned to his students. "Alright, alright. My wife says I'm supposed to hang up now, so I'll do that. Goodbye, sweetie. I'll see you later. I love you", he hangs up his phone and smiled.

"She sounds lovely, doesn't she? I hope you all will experience the love that she has for me." Sylus said dreamily and looked back down on his answers. "Does anybody know the answer to the next question?"

Some of his students looked at each other and giggled loudly. More students started to participate during his lectures now and Sylus thankfully fell into a more comfortable rhythm with his students, and it was all thanks to you. You make everything better, you seriously do.

Caleb:

Caleb is a Professor of Flight Engineering and is licensed to give his students their pilot certificate. He is known as "the iciest Pilot and Professor" amongst his students. He teaches them both the practical and the theoretical experience that they need. Caleb is not a mean Professor, but he's definitely a strict one. He allows no disrespect towards himself or any of his students and expects his students to give their best at all times. If that "best" is only 60%, then he'll only expect 60% from you, but nothing less.

Caleb stood in front of his exhausted student. He stared at him neutrally, but not unkindly and asked "What's this piece of the engine called?" Caleb pointed at the tiny piece of metal.

His student sighed, his shoulders sagged and went back into the push-up position.

"20 push-ups, this time. You can do better than this, next week I'll ask you the same questions so study harder, alright?", Caleb turned around and asked his other students the some questions as well.

The same student walked in the park later in the afternoon with his girlfriend. He looked around and pointed at two people "Look, babe! That's my Professor Caleb." Both of them walked towards Caleb and his student's jaw dropped.

Caleb was... smiling? His lips were stretched into a bright smile as he twirled your thick body around. He looked up at you and grinned like a lovesick fool, his eyes only one step away from turning into two little hearts. Your hand was wrapped around his necklace and you pulled him closer to you like a dog and he chuckled and buried his face in your shoulder. Calebs nose gently traced along your collarbone and his strong hands wrapped around as the warm spring breeze gently drifted over your hair. The sun shone over the both of you and lit your faces up. The two of you looked straight out of a painting.

Caleb noticed his student and smiled at him and his girlfriend "Hello". You turned around and smiled at the two as well and looked up at Caleb in confusion. "That's my student", Caleb explained and kissed your forehead. You smiled and them and held out your hand "Hi, I'm his wife."

His student looked at you incredulously and shook your hand.

[vantavarmint]

I think part of what makes the Netflix show so frustrating is the fact that there's definitely blind spots in the original lore that could allow for a deeper discussion on a demon's capability for love and goodness, but the show itself just did not seem interested in actually exploring those ideas.

I've seen some posts going around about how demons not being inherently evil was already established in the games, and I think that is true. The gameverse has a bit of a strange philosophy when it comes to demons and their capacity for good. On one hand, the original two games act as though the only way for a demon to be good is to actively distance themselves from their demonic heritage.

Dante telling Trish and Lucia that "devil's never cry" actually feeds into the idea that demons are inherently evil and that they aren't actually demons because they are capable of goodness. In those games, this is played straight. However, in later entries, they seem to recognise this for what it actually is - the rhetoric of a man who is projecting his own self loathing in regard to his demonic half onto the people in his life who are dealing with similar problems.

Vergil and his core beliefs around demonic power being the only thing to keep him safe when human fragility failed him is the first time Dante is forced to confront a flaw in his worldview. Vergil is technically correct in that their heritage is what has kept the two of them alive up until that point and that in order for Dante to stop his brother and Arkham, he'd need to embrace that power too. Dante seems to internalise this as the idea that his power needs to be used as a force for good - "with great power comes great responsibility," style, but still retains that he is good in spite of his demonic power.

Power in DMC is not inherently evil, the folly of the villains in the series is that they seek it to fill a hole that should have been filled with love instead. On some level, Dante recognises this, but is often too burdened by his self loathing that he has a hard time excepting and seeking out love himself.

In contrast, Nero is able to acknowledge what is truly important to him, allowing himself to be vulnerable when he gives and receives love, while also fully embracing his demonic side and the power it gives him. V also has a similar revelation, although his is just as much about learning to love life itself and rediscovering passions so he can have a better coping mechanism that isn't more power.

These core character arcs clearly indicate that the reason humanity is seen as morally superior in the games is their willingness to love and willingly give. To gain more out of life than just power (it's also what makes the power hungry human villains so evil, they want to throw away what makes them human for the chance at being powerful). Whereas demonic power means that demons live in a perpetually dog-eat-dog world where there is no incentive to love or create, you can only ever take. But when demons like Trish are given the chance to grow from that, they are just as capable of love as any human.

This then opens up for the line of questioning, well, if environmental factors are what's making demons so power hungry, then wouldn't exploring how being shut off from the opportunity to grow in the human world be a valid idea for the Netflix adaptation to explore? It could have been! Genuinely!

However, the writers were not interested in exploring that concept, not really. The need to fit established DMC lore into the shape of a narrative about the War on Terror and the otherization of Arabic people means that those ideas couldn't be expanded upon. Making your fantasy race an analogue to a real minority group severely limits what kind of narratives you can tell.

This is often the problem central to the fantasy racism trope. Because it's a direct reference to a real group of people who's only actual differences from anyone else is appearance and culture, any discussion of how physiological differences may impact the way they live and experience the world very quickly become a minefield.

The demons in the games are often one of a kind or a species with entirely alien biological incentives, trying to make them seem like their way of life would be no different from the average human is actively contradictory and just plain boring. It's part of why the demons that were taken from the game look so out of place compared to their more human shaped counterparts.

There is the potential in examining a demon's ability to love in the gameverse version of the lore, and it wouldn't have been a problem for the anime to explore that. That sort of exploration would have had to focus on how love can come in many forms, how a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world around you doesn't mean your perspective isn't valid. However, because demons are an exact reference to a real minority groups now, making them out to be more than superficially different to any other human is risking a lot.

So that's the crux of the issue for me. I think trying to force the demons from the game lore into a human shaped hole is a terrible idea. Hell, if they were desperate to make the US government into the big bad then there would have been precedent for it. DMC2 and DMC4 both concern powerful groups in society abusing demonic power for personal gain, the idea that a government would do the same isn't too dissimilar in my opinion.

To be honest, I feel a lot of the criticism of the anime has only been scratching at the surface of the actual problems so far. I'd appreciate it if the pre-existing fandom could recognise where problems existed in the source material before jumping to complaining about the adaptation, even if there is a lot to complain about...

[yakutarts]

Nightmare and Dream but feral, non-skeletal body!

For the love of god PLEASE click on the image for better quality + close ups and clothed version under the cut!!

Would you kiss them?

Video process:

I made these using a specific context

A while ages ago I drew and posted a drawing of Nightmare and Dream on their light ball form but with some alterations/personal headcanons.

On the post, I expressed my desire to draw the twins in a universe were Nim didn’t need to give them bodies, and just let them grow naturally. And specifically give them an animalistic appearance, instead of a humanoid one like most artist do.

You can see on the process video that it took me 1000 sketches to make something that looked good and I was happy with, the video is obviously sped up, the total time it took me to make this was 28 hours and 15 minutes.

Now explaining some things:

Why are they so big?

I read on a post made by Joku that Nim, before giving them skeleton bodies, tried to make them human ones, but the pure amount of magic and power the twins had made the human bodies explode or some shit. So she picked skeletons since the magic could flow freely through the bones without being confined by muscle and flesh. That made me think if their power had physical forms, it would be gigantic. So I gave them gigantic forms to better represent their status of strength and power, beings made from raw magic to serve as guardians of all emotions throughout the multiverse, of course I needed to make them big and intimidating!

Why the horns?

Artistic design choice, I gave them little horns and a chubby tail in their light ball form to purposefully make them more animalistic, wanted to keep it while making these. Also just giving them a smooth head with nothing much going on looked weird and boring.

Why the draconian look?

Dragons had been created and depicted as symbols of pure power above humanity and worshipped as deities throughout several cultures around the world, different depictions of dragons has been one of the only things present among almost all cultures, like a default folklore creature. While I tried to incorporate other mythical creatures in the design, the draconic body plan felt more right due to the influence of dragons on human beliefs, and their representation as magical and powerful beings beyond human comprehension. Plus I just really love drawing dragons.

Why the clothing choice? Also why is Dream half naked while Nightmare has everything covered?

While designing the clothes for Nightmare, I used as reference clothing that usually royalty would wear, Nightmare has a really big ego and sees himself as a king, so he uses fancy, expensive clothing and jewelry, adapted and designed for his anatomy. Not practical for battle, but his corruption can go through the fabric without damaging it, and most people and monsters just run when they see him, so he doesn’t worry about it getting dirty or tearing, Nightmare just expects every soul to instantly submit when they see him, so he never worries about getting into a battle and getting dirty he has that big of an ego.

Dream is the opposite, his style of clothing much more practical for running, jumping, flying, fighting and general exercise. He has 4 bags in total, 2 on each side, inside them he keeps several items, be it healing food, magical artifacts, first aid kit, gifts he receives, stuff he buys or random things he finds and wants to take home with him. Dream’s crown is now a colar couldn’t figure out how to make it work with the head shape and horns, his cape is from his official design, but changed to white, was planning to make it yellow but when I looked at it my eyes hurt because there was too much yellow everywhere. I made Dream’s clothes with the intent to match his official design, I didn’t to the same for nightmare because a turtle neck with a hoodie on a dragon would make him more huggable than intimidating. Plus I like to think that the leg warmers was a gift from Blue, and the ring on his horn a gift from Ink. Didn’t add more stuff on him because I couldn’t think of something that would look good and match Dream’s vibe, the rest of his clothes on his official design didn’t translate well here. Oh, while I was drawing this, I drew the colar and the leg warmers first, without the cape, Dream looked like a twink with a pet play kink.

Side note; neither Nightmare or Dream see the use of clothes as a necessity or as decency. For them clothes are nothing but pure decoration and to show off status for Nightmare, they can wear full body suits, partial clothing, just jewelry, or nothing at all, which is what they usually go for when at home, wearing or not wearing stuff doesn’t make that much of a difference to them at all.

Do they act as animals or do they have human intelligence?

Despite me using the word “feral” all the time to describe them, they do not actually act as animals. I’m only using “feral” to describe their body/anatomy, Nightmare and Dream are fully sentient and have human level intelligence/awareness. They are capable of speech and have opposable thumbs on their front paws, they can grab, write, hold… do anything a human can do with their hands with dexterity. But they do have to use only hand one at a time, and balance themselves with the other. To use both hands, they have to be sitting, or be supported by something, they can balance themselves on their wings if they have to.

And now contradicting what I just said, they have some animalistic behaviors. The twins can growl, purr and roar. Despite Nightmare being able to use his tentacles and Dream being able to shoot magic arrows out of his wings, they to also scratch and bite while fighting. Since they are big and heavy, they can easily crush bone under their weight and their bite force is strong enough to split someone in half. If you need a reference, just use Smaug from The Hobbit, he has more or less the balance of animal behavior and human intelligence I’m looking for.

Expanding more on this, the twins stretch just like felines, and often sleep in positions usually cats sleep in (they don’t actually need to sleep but do anyway). Dream likes to go fishing, and by fishing I mean jumping in a lake and chasing the fish underwater. He finds it more fun than sitting around and waiting for the fish to come to you instead.

I guess you count their lack of necessity to wear clothes as animal logic too?

_________________

If you have any more questions about them, I will be happy to answer!

And yes, I do plan on making more drawings of Nightmare and Dream on this form!

Dreamtale belongs to @jokublog

Feral concept/design by @yakutarts (me)

[emptyjunior]

It looks like with the movies taking off, everyone is on the Dune train now!! Which is very exciting, I’m glad a bunch of new people are discovering this media and reading the books, but can I recommend you the David Lynch, Dune (1984) movie.

First of all, if you are invested in the lore of the books and the deeper messaging of the story, you’re going to need to turn that part of your brain Off. If you love kick ass shit and are willing to be slightly tipsy while you watch and have a great goddamn afternoon, this is the flick for you.

Now first fun fact I’m going to share with you. David Lynch (twin peaks, eraserhead director, celebrated surrealist) turned down the opportunity to direct Return of the Jedi for this film. A film that was devastatingly slow to make, changed hands multiple times, had a pricy VFX budget of $40 million and then made barely $31 million, David Lynch turned down Star Wars to work on it. And he did this when he had never read the novel, and did not even like or engage with sci fi media. THAT’S how you know we’re really in for something.

Now this film has some big names in it! We’ve got a young Kyle MacLachlan who is rocking some Devastating outfits:

We’ve got Sir Patrick Stewert as our Gurney and Sting, lead singer of the police, playing the 15 year old Feyd Rautha! If you wanted to see a grown man, sprayed orange, basically naked playing a free wheeling maniac you are in for a treat! And another fun fact, David Lynch also did not know who these actors were, he made a mistake and thought Patrick Stewert was someone else and when Sting said he was in the police he assumed he was in an organization of lawmen.

Now these characters are familiar to you, but let me get into the unfamiliar. Lynch made some directorial executive decisions throughout this film, for I suppose the ease of the viewer? I mean an adaptation is supposed to adapt so he went let me change some stuff up👏👏👏.

Those who paid attention to Jessica’s backstory may know about the Weirding Way. This is a martial arts style created by the Bene Gesserit, and practiced by Paul. It is more than just a fighting style but also an important philosophical concept, like Aikido or how Kung Fu has foundations in Buddhism.

You may also be familiar with the quote “My name is a killing word.” This inner monologue of Paul’s refers to how his title Muad’dub will be used to spur a holy war. A simple name is what people will die and bleed for, it will be what they scream as they cut down enemies.

Dark! Intense! That’s Dune, anyways in the novel it’s easy to take your time exploring these concepts. Introducing the audience to the religious ramifications of a simple name and fighting practice and how these things can have rippling repercussions upon a society like the Freman.

Now David Lynch didn’t have time for that! He had the belief (that may be right🤷‍♂️!) That watching a bunch of people kick each other on top of a sand dune would be Lame😭😭

So he made the choice for his film that “My name is a killing word” was to be taken Absolutely Literally and invented a device where if the freman said the name Muad-dib, shit would explode.

If they said Paul’s name, they could Explode Stuff. Let it sink in how rad that is. Hell yeah man, hell yeah. Imagine me interpreting religious text that way, imagine if I made a bible movie and the moral I took from a parable is that when Jesus asked for food and everyone donated fish, I concluded that Jesus was a mutant who had fish powers and could immediately conjure fish with magic and gave him fish death rays that shot out of his hands.

So that’s what you can expect from this interpretation, the weirding way now means everyone has Lasers its rad as hell.

Some other incredible choices made! This is a spoiler, but in the novels and the new films you can see the Freman collecting every scrap of water they can. Dr Liet-Kynes, the planetologist, reveals to us it’s because they have a long, multiple generation spanding plan to fix the planet. By introducing this water back they hope to reset the ecosystem over centuries of work. The reason they have been unable to do this is because a green planet would obviously not have worms and sand who produce spice, the most coveted drug in the empire, so imperial and harkonnen forces have been stopping this from ever happening. They want to be free from oppression so that they can start to work on slowly fixing their world, a project that plays out in Paul’s adult life and has its own dramas and complexities.

In Dune 1984??? The moment, the Moment Paul lays out his cousin and throws the final punch, it begins to rain in Arrakis. As if they were all under a magical curse and were just waiting for a teenager to come fight another teenager and then the water will come back. It’s so good, it’s so funny.

Also Pugs! House Atreides official Pugs! Paul has pugs in his lap!!

This is honestly an adaptation choice that I really really like! Paul is the result of centuries of selective breeding, this practice is an artform to the Bene Gesserit and a skill that they monitor closely. It produces bizarre and sometimes terrifying results and is the reason for Paul’s existence.

I think having an animal that was also created through selective breeding, was engineered from a wolf into an animal that can hardly breathe is an incredible metaphor! A smart and identifiable symbol for the audience, I think it’s a slam dunk and the new movies should have done it to.

Anyways can not recommend this film enough.

-The body suits the bad guys wear are made out of real body bags, that actually had been used.

-David Lynch to this day hates it.

-The original cut was four hours.

-The cast and crew were sick the Entire shoot with something they called Montezuma's Revenge, which was probably just food poisoning, side effects from the constant smog because they shot the whole thing on backup generators, illness from the cockroach infestation and terrible morale.

-Frank Herbert saw it multiple times and said he absolutely loved it.

-When they ride the worms, sick rock jams play.

If you love electric guitar, lasers, worms and will forgive me for not including all the trigger warnings cause Yes this film will gross you out, then go watch this movie.

[bweirdart]

#mARTch 2024

text version (with more info!) under the readmore! please check it out if you're confused about anything <3

F.A.Q

do i have to draw every day? no!!!! there are skippable days built into the event, please use them whenever you need them! i really don't want anyone getting a wrist injury!

can you share my art? yep! i try to share entries to @bweirdevents daily during the event!! the tags can get busy tho so i might miss some posts OTL sorry

what are the tags? #mARTch is the main tag, but this year you might find posts in #mARTch2024 too!

wait, i'm confused about a prompt... full breakdown of all the prompts below ↓ with helpful hints if you're stuck!

_____

INTRO WEEK

this week is all about your artistic identity ... technically, you don't have to draw anything new this week if you have some art that already fits. the starter days are:

1 ⭐ self portrait who are you? it doesn't have to be you IRL .. if you feel more comfortable drawing a fursona or mascot, that's fine too! if you don't wanna draw, you can also just share old self portraits today and talk about why you drew yourself that way!

2 🤍 inspirations see how this day doesn't have a star? that means it's optional and you don't have to do it at all! but if you really wanna- tell us all about what inspires you to create art! this could be anything from the people that inspire you, the shows you like, the pins on your big messy pinterest board, or concepts that you're drawn to! you can draw something about it, talk about it, or just post your inspirations! anything is fine

3 ⭐ fav thing to draw what do you like drawing most? backgrounds? animals? one specific animal? bust of your oc facing left? cars? the same anime boy over and over and over? no judgement!! show us :)

_____

STUDY WEEK

this is the week we actually start drawing from reference! polished art is not required at all, quick sketch studies are fine! please don't burn yourself out

4 🤍 plant

5 🤍 body

6 ⭐ animal

7 🤍 object

8 🤍 food

9 🤍 face

10 ⭐ hand

these ones are pretty self explanatory! you can do them as realistic studies, or adapt them into your own art style, it's all fine! you can reference from your own photos or from resources on the web.. have fun!

_____

COLOUR WEEK

this is the week for playing with palettes and working on your colour theory skills! if you're really struggling with these ones, don't worry about drawing scenes or characters, you can just have fun splashing colours around on an abstract canvas!

11 🤍 RGB a set or primary colours typically used in digital/screen art - red, green and blue!

12 🤍 CMYK a set of primary colours typically used in traditional/print art - cyan, magenta, yellow ... and key (black!)

for both of these days ↑ you can add in black and white. and feel free to combine the two days into one, if you're struggling with a three-colour palette! use all six!

13 ⭐ WARM COLOURS the warm side of the colour wheel, reds oranges and yellows!

14 🤍 MONOCHROME monochrome doesn't mean black and white ... it means one colour! that can be any colour at all- shades of red, shades of purple, shades of green .. or yeah, grey if you really want!

15 🤍 COMPLIMENTARY complimentary colours are the ones opposite each other on the colour wheel! they're kinda married

16 🤍 YOUR FAV COLOURS pick any palette that works for you! where's your comfort zone? what looks nice to you? what colour combos do you always go back to?

17 ⭐ COOL COLOURS the cool side of the colour wheel, purples, blues and greens!

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CREATIVITY WEEK

this week is all about vibes! try to create something that matches the mood of the prompt .. they're vague on purpose! don't overthink it, just draw from the heart!

18 🤍 SMALL you could draw something that's really small, like an ant .. or draw on a canvas that's really small .. or use a really small brush .. get creative with it!

19 🤍 DANGER try to capture the adrenaline .. the rush .. the fear that you associate with the word danger!

20 ⭐ SOFT soft colours, soft textures, soft vibes ... whatever makes you comfy!

21 🤍 MIDNIGHT darkness and secrecy .. spooky witchy vibes .. the tranquility of a forest at night .. the fun of a late-night party .. there's lots of ways you can take this!

22 🤍 POWER what does this word make you think about? superpowers? control and oppression? literal electrical power? something else?

23 🤍 CHILL chill as in calm? or chill as in cold? who knows .. it's up to YOU!

24 ⭐ LOUD try to draw something that feels LOUD! BRASH! IN YOUR FACE! how can you convey sound through art?

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FUN + GAMES WEEK

this week is just for enjoying yourself! take it easy and have fun! also .. another reminder! there are skippable prompts! if you're tired and struggling to get to the finish line, please don't hesitate to skip a day!!! or multiple days!! as many as you need!!!

25 🤍 TRY A NEW ART STYLE copy the art style of a show you like, ask a friend if you can try their style, draw the eyes a new way, develop a totally new style on the spot... whatever you want!

26 🤍 DRAW WITH YOUR NON-DOMINANT HAND righties, draw with your left! lefties, draw with your right! ambidextrous nation ... our time to show off!

27 ⭐ DRAW WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED don't peek! try to draw something without looking! if you really want, you can colour it with your eyes open after you draw the lines/sketch with your eyes closed... but please try not to cheat with the actual drawing part!

28 🤍 RE-DRAW SOMETHING OLD find some old artwork you like, or something you feel like you can do better on now, and give it another go!

29 🤍 RE-DRAW A MEME find a silly picture on the internet to redraw .. do you have any in-jokes with your besties?

30 🤍 DRAW A GIFT FOR A FRIEND create something for someone you love <3

31 ⭐ FREE CHOICE final day! you can draw anything you want today! show off your skills! draw something you've been meaning to draw! whatever!

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please refrain from reblogging this post after march ends - next year's prompts will be different, thank you! if you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to shoot me an ask!

[razzmothazz]

as an artist i think its a little weird to hear "you drew this way better than the original artists did" on my fantasy high webtoon redraws... like i get where people are coming from, i do wish the designs were a bit more whimsical in the comic but i hate when people "compliment" me by bringing someone else down. the webtoon artists did a great job and the style is cute and fun and i need you guys to remember some things dont work in a comic because you have to consistently draw the same characters over and over and complicating the designs gets in the way of that. not to mention they had references to work with and im sure the d20 team had at least some control of the designs and approved them, and the design choices people love are fan made, not official. im flattered that some people think i could do what they did but "better" but i truly couldnt. and i just wish more respect to be put on the fh webtoon team because adapting the series couldntve been easy. im greatful that people are seeing my art and enjoying it but i beg yall to not compare me to others especially if its to be negative about them!!!! it makes me feel sad!!!

[osiiiris]

This is the complete reportage of the April 19 ritual in London.

Sorry for any mistakes, but unless stated, I’m certain than everything I wrote happened and I have everything on my notebook, but sometimes it was hard to write in the dark so I lost some pieces or messed up some parts.

Also sorry for any typo or English mistakes… by the time I post this I’ll be already sleeping.

Pre-show

The queueing was a mess for how I lived that. It could be that I didn’t know the venue, but it was hard to find my entrance and generally nodoby knew what queue they were in. The VIP and the general standing were queueing at the same entrance but in different directions, and I don’t know why but a number of other queues started to create in different directions, sometimes cutting through the queue we general standing were in. I don’t understand how they managed it. Once inside, everything ran smoothly and fast.

Jesus himself entertained us during the waiting, from one of the upper seats.

About 15 minutes before the start of the concert, a piano base started. It went on for a couple of minutes and then it changed to Miserere Mei Deus.  

At 8.30 PM, the concert started.

Show

I don’t know if the stage adapts to the dimensions of the arena, but it looked bigger in pictures. At the sides there are big screens where the concert is projected in real time, and that’s a very good thing because you are always able to have a clear vision of what is happening.

In general, I found the succession of songs very fast (sometimes too fast, like the transition from Umbra to Year Zero).

V needs to… warm up a little? He never interacts with the ghouls, and when he doesn’t sing he’s never on stage. He doesn’t talk much, didn’t do controversial jokes like the first two rituals or long speeches, but he managed to put us into chaos with the uncle confession (probably Primo or Nihil, even if I still have a doubt about Secondo…). He doesn’t move like the other Papas, do not thrust, do not gesticulate in an allusive way. I identify him as a sociopath.

Generally, the big part of the church refers were removed. No thurible (no Con Clavi), Papal robe worn only once, Cassock worn only once. Also the church background didn’t stay for the whole concert. To me, it is a big loss.

Ghouls wearing the veil: Cirrus, the new ghoulette, Rain, Swiss.

Songs:

Peacefield: the first verse is performed behind the curtain. The curtains are black, all draped and with wide cuts where the light and fog passes through (as soon as I can I’ll post a drawing of how it looks like). After the first verse, the curtain drops and the band is fully visible. Behind them, the background is the same as the curtains. For this song V wears the leather jacket. The song is very rhytmic and it reminded me the style of The Police, I don’t know why.

Lachryma: V’s voice is very roughy and powerful. The live version is very cool. Leather jacket is still on. 

Spirit: I sang this one so strong that I didn’t hear V. At some point he passed through two ghouls (Dew and… Phantom? Don’t remember exactly but should be them) playing very close. I think it was accidental but nice.

Faith: it sadly replaced From the Pinnacle to the Pit, as Pinnacle was one of the songs I was really looking forward the most. Faith live is one of the songs I prefer the most. Very powerful. I think Pinnacle and Faith will be switched often during the tour. He didn’t sing the low “I am all eyes, I am all ears…” (At this point I have only one note on the notebook: motherfucker. I honestly can’t recall what was that about).

//Phantom show: I love him. I think he was the best addition to Ghost. Funny, hyped, a little crazy… he kept the whole arena entertained by making us scream the way he wanted while V was changing clothes for the next song. @cityofmeliora

//At this point, the background is still the black curtain.//

Majesty: Papa is not floating as I read. He is on an elevated platform covered by his robe (kinda like the end of Satanized videoclip) and he’s so low and located behind the drums’ platform (that gets lower before the song starts), that I didn’t see him clearly. He was covered by the drums. He doesn’t move, only the hands. On the side screens (the only way I had to see him) he’s projected with a kind of kaleidoscope effect. At the end, when the kaleidoscope effect stops, I was able to see that he was apparently sitting on a throne - but I’m still not completely sure of this.

//after Majesty, the stage became dark and quiet for a bit. After that few minutes, V does his first speech: very brief, he asked if it was warm enough for us. “It’s fucking steaming”, he said. Then he briefly said that nothing lasts forever and that we have to accept shit when it happens (more or less) and go on.//

Future is a foreing land: I don’t recall anything in particular happening.

Devil church: I don’t think they played all of it…? I need to listen to it on record again. Who was there can confirm or debunk.

Cirice: the stage becomes red for her. No wings, but he wore the black jacket with sparkly lines and stood with crossed arms at the beginning, on the drums platform, as Copia used to do. Only at this point the virtual curtain on the background drops too, revealing the stained glass background. It is the devil one with Adam and Eve (I believe) on the sides, the same of the past tours. I may remember incorrectly but I didn’t hear the “Cirrus thing” with the keyboard before the moment of silence and the “can’t you see that you’re lost… can’t you see that you’re lost WITHOUT ME”. He actually ciriced someone in the audience and blew them a little kiss. During the ciricing, the side screens focus on his eyes.

Darkness at the heart of my love: the only song from Impera. I’m glad they chose one that’s wasn’t played in the last tour, even though I still consider the absence of Twenties a federal crime.

Satanized: ok.

Ritual: there was a kind of solo battle here if I remember correctly. Dew played with the guitar at the end, but nothing long like it used to be done in past tours.

Umbra: before the song, a rectangular hole opened on the stage and I had Vietnam flashbacks. From the hole came out fog, and at some point V himself came out from the hole and the fog… yes. And he did that holding a cowbell in his raised hand, in a kind of Freddie Mercury pose. Once on stage, he handed the cowbell to Swiss to play. And that’s the only interaction between the two for the whole concert. Umbra reminds me of some classic cartoon theme songs, in some points. I won’t elaborate further.

Year Zero: those who were there please help me because I didn’t note this… but he didn’t wear the cassock here, right? He still wore the black jacket with sparkly lines, because I remember thinking it was strange to see Year Zero not in a liturgical attire, but my mind may be playing tricks on me… btw here the stained glass in the background shattered at the end of the song, revealing a starry sky. The starry sky then became an orange sky, not sure if at dawn or sunset. It was very calming.

//at this point he was wearing the famous “he had a tail” cassock, but my mind is really confused now about the right song he was wearing it for. Btw, yes, the tail is a skeleton long tail//

He is: … and it was calming because that peaceful sky was introducing He is, and it was at this point that, during the intro, I screamed as strong as I could “VAI (come on) TERZOOOOOOOO. HE IS ALIIIVEEEEEEEEEEE”. I don’t know if it reached the right ears, but my people appreciated it. @namelessdumbass this was the only mention of Terzo during the concert… and it was mine. At some point in the song the stained glass started to recompose piece by piece, and it represented some random business men and women (on the left, there was one window with a little girl with a blonde bob and white eyes, repeated on the whole window) in the center there was Jesus himself… wearing a red tie. It had something to do about the demonization of careers…? Maybe who earns money with religion? At the end of the song, the figure with Jesus was animated, and he detached from the rest of the scene taking off like a rocket… with flames and all. I don’t know how to better explain this if not by saying that Jesus literally turned into a rocket. But let’s move on… also because this is the last time we’ll see the church background.

Rats: it’s always very good live. Don’t recall anything in particular. V didn’t do comments about rats as I remember.

Kiss the go-goat: at this point the background was animated in a way very very similar to the Seven Nation Army (White Stripes) videoclip, but with darker tones.

//V speaks again. He asked us if that was all we ever wanted, and that we can have whatever we want, he can give us all we want…//

Mummy dust: I missed everything of this performance, I only know V didn’t thrust. The chaos, the mummy dusts flying (I got one btw, but not in that moment, and it’s super ugly) the confetti, the hands in the air… I couldn’t see anything at some point. I’m sorry @namelessdumbass but I lost the solo, but @driftisanidiot confirmed that the solo was performed as usual, with the keytar in the center of the stage. I only saw clearly the background, with this monster animated in a retro collage style, with the head of a rich man and many long arms, grabbing flying money. The background of the animation was industrial and red.

//V speaks again: he recalled the first show of the band in Camden, saying that we always treated Ghost well, and I know I said he was talking about Secondo but I trust who is saying that he was referring to Nihil or Primo… one of the two is V’s uncle. He said it.//

Monstrance clock: well… I was lost in a goth club at this point. The best slow dance of my life. I never imagined to hear this live, but not wearing a liturgical dress (eh, maybe I remember thinking that of THIS song) for this feels like a crime. The background was formed by explicit orgy images on red tones. The crowd went crazy whenever a gay (homo or lesbian) image appeared (the homo ones were particularly hot).

Encores:

//V introduced the encore in the usual way. He said that some people were already leaving and mocked them. He wasn’t very chatty like Copia.//

Mary on a Cross, Dance Macabre and Square Hammer were no different from the past tours, they came one after the other very quickly. During Mary, the background was a Roman statue of a woman with one breast uncovered, that towards the end started crying blood. During Dance macabre it was animated in a way that she moved her hips and color circles moved here and there, a little too pop for me. Also a Ghost sign was pulled down, on the background screen, and it got lit during the song. Colorful confetti. On Square Hammer the arena was literally exploding, and the background screen projected the happy audience cheering for the end of the song.

After show

If you are too far from the stage and do not get any Mummy Dust, I got mine by just going to the barricades at the end of the concert. There is always some people of the crew handing the remaining dollars to who asks them, that’s how I got mine.

So that’s it. I’m extremely tired and need to sleep. It happens rarely that also the people on the seated rows are all up dancing like crazy, but it happened tonight.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2025 Anime Overview: ZENSHU

Premise: Natsuko Hirose is an animator and director lauded as a genius, but she’s struggling with her newest movie, insisting on doing everything herself. Then she dies from food poisoning and is transported to the world of her favorite anime movie, the one that inspired her career. Natsuko finds she has the power to literally draw and animate beings that will then fight the monsters attacking them—can she use her power to save the day and avoid the movie’s tragic ending?

Zenshu is a love letter to animation, artistic inspiration, and stories in general. I’ve been waiting for an isekai anime that actually uses the “transported into the world of my favorite piece of media” in a creative and meaningful way that explores storytelling and the ramifications of interacting with a narrative, and Zenshu is finally it.

Natsuko is struggling with creating a movie about "first love" because she’s never had one, and then bam, she’s transported into the world of A Tale of Perishing, a movie that flopped hard (likely due in part to how depressing the ending is) but it’s been Natsuko’s favorite since childhood and was what inspired her to become an animator.

Natsuko specifically using her animation prowess to save the day is just also an amazing idea, and it looks great. She basically pulls out her pegboard, and then undergoes a magical girl transformation that just ends with her being at her desk. The animation she creates then rises up and beats the monsters, and they’re usually references to something—the first one being the God warrior from Nausicaa.

There’s a lot of fun little gags, like her needing to sleep for three days after because that’s how long that sequence would normally take to animate and a lot of little nerdy in-jokes, like Natsuko being in rapture at finally getting to eat anime food, or coming up with a sentai pose for her team.

(And speaking of references, Natsuko's first hit show was a clear combination of Sukeban Deka and Sailor Moon, which I now dearly want to exist in real life).

Suiting a show about an animator, the animation for the series is consistently gorgeous and full of individuality. The comedic and storytelling strengths of the director and screenwriter duo of Mitsue Yamazaki and Kimiko Ueno (two women who previously worked together on adapting Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun, one of my favorite anime) are on full display here too.

Natsuko is a fun and relatable character, avoiding some of the typical tropes for anime girl leads- she’s an adult, she spends the entire anime in an oversized hoodie and jeans and a lot of it with her hair covering her face Cousin It style, and when her “style” is pointed out as sloppy, her response is “I’ll dress how I want." She’s cynical and sarcastic and a huge nerd. It’s fun to see her automatically clash with the characters she’s loved since she was a child, showing that characters we love can be annoying as real life people, which I’ve always wanted isekai to explore.

The other characters are fun too—Luke is our stereotypical Hero character, but spending all his time fighting evil has actually made him extremely socially clueless, and he reveals himself pretty adorable after a while. Natsuko and the cute little mascot unicorn hate each other on sight, and it’s incredibly fun.

The often puts a clever twist on some tired tropes—Natsuko runs into Luke’s damsel in distress love interest (who's supposed to end up fridged, to boot) and rather than fight with her over Luke, Natsuko leads her to realize she actually has agency and can be whoever she wants—the result is amazing, and includes some lighthearted criticism of misogynist narratives. I go into it in detail in this post, minor spoilers.

The show is also very queer positive. We’re introduced to a dragon-person who, in the dub, uses they-them pronouns. In the sub, some viewers interpret them as a lesbian, but whatever your take, they're queer regardless, and Natsuko indicates some physical attraction to them. They’re also a great character, funny and tragic and cool all at once.

One episode goes into the people who have crushed on Natsuko over the years (while she remains oblivious) and the first one is a young girl and classmate of hers, who identifies Natsuko as her first love. I go into more detail about how sweet this part is in this post. It’s just a very casually queer show, and I appreciate that.

The themes of the story are interesting, the show explores the pressures of being a creator, the way you can shut others out and insist you know best, and what inspiration is. Natsuko begins to struggle with the fact A Tale of Perishing is her favorite movie in part because of how it puts a more dour spin on a fantasy story, and it's inspired her so much...but now the characters are real people she cares about. So she has to stop their fates even if it messes with the creator’s vision. But the question is, CAN SHE, or are they literally doomed by the narrative?

The ending is where things get a little muddled. It isn’t bad, but it’s rushed compared to the rest of the show, and feels a little too easy. I wish Natsuko had interacted way more with the original creator and we’d really gotten a clash of their opposing viewpoints. I feel we barely scratched the surface.

Going into slight spoilers territory with this paragraph, skip if you don't want any: The ending I think, can either be interpreted as either 1. Fanworks and interpretations are valid as hell and creators who look down on them are wrong (this is a bit of a stretch since the series doesn’t mention fanfic or doujinshi at any other point) or 2. It’s fine to take inspiration from your creative heroes, but you have to be willing to do something different, and accept the support of others. Conversely, a creator that is too precious about their work, who shuts out others and who looks down on those who take inspiration from them because they’re doing something different, is wrong and misguided.

That’s my best guess, but as I said, the themes get muddled in the last episode, in a way it takes some serious thinking to decipher a message that’s super applicable to real life. Like “these characters are real people now” is a nice motivation and drama, but not one that seems to a ton about art, though it does play into the theme that Natsuko needs to learn to let others in and connect to them.

Like I said, it’s not a bad ending, I was happy with it, it just felt a little undercooked. There were characters I wanted to explore a bit more. show’s message about art could have been stronger, and it left some potentially really interesting and meaningful stuff on the table...but the show was still amazing. I loved its creativity and characters all the way through.

The story is good, the characters are lovable, and the animation is top-notch. This has already earned it’s place on the top anime of the year list and I really implore you to check it out if you love anime and art at all! It's a thoroughly good time.

[croquis-el]

Differences in localization and the original pt. 1

I am starting a series of posts with the goal of familiarizing players with some of the differences that localization creates for us in contrast to the original.

Some moments are radically different, misleading and causing controversy, while some do not change the essence of what is happening, but are still noticeably different

Disclaimer: these posts will be written solely for the purpose of familiarization; I do not force anyone to play the game in Japanese, because you are free to choose the version of the game that is comfortable for you. I just noticed some moments and want to share them with you.

The localization of Gyakuten Saiban (Ace Attorney) is essentially good, but there are some moments, IMHO, that I personally would not adapt or change in any way

One of the most serious changes, which, in my opinion, should not have been touched at all, is Mitsurugi's (Edgeworth) phobias.

As if case 1-4 never happened.

In the Japanese version, when examining the files in Mitsurugi's office, Naruhodō will be perplexed about the need for such high shelves - they could collapse during an earthquake.

････おかしいな。アイツ、 地震がニガテなはずだから……

Okashī na. Aitsu, jishin ga nigatena hazudakara……

...That's strange. He's supposed to be bad with earthquakes...

でもさ。地震が起こったら、 部屋中にファイルの雨が降るね。

demo sa. Jishin ga okottara, heya-chū ni fairu no amegafuru ne.

But if an earthquake happens, files will rain down all over the room.

In the localization (for some reason) at this point Mitsurugi was given a fear of heights. For what reason... I don't understand

___________________________________________

Next, another big difference is Naruhodo's food preferences

In the Japanese version, Tomi the clown offers him miso ramen (which is cooked in chicken broth and miso), which Naruhodo refuses and says that he prefers tonkotsu ramen (cooked in pork broth and boiled pork is added to it).

ホラ。ホラ。 食う? みそラーメン。

hora. hora. Kuu? Miso rāmen.

Look. Look. Want some miso ramen?

あいにくぼくは とんこつ派なんです。

ainiku boku wa tonkotsu-hana ndesu.

Unfortunately, I prefer tonkotsu (ramen).

That is, Naruhodo literally says that he would prefer pork, not chicken.

What about the localization? It's the other way around.

The clown offers him a burger (the patties for which are usually made from beef and pork), but he says that he would rather choose a chicken sandwich.

Why?

___________________________________________

Vending machine in 1-3

I have no complaints about its contents (it is adapted), but here another preference of Naruhodo is lost

“お茶”“みそ汁”“おしるこ” “くず湯”“おでん”････

“ocha” “misoshiru” “o shiruko” “kuzu yu” “oden”

"Tea" "Miso soup" "Oshiruko" "Kudzu soup" "Oden" ...

ラインナップが 和風に統一されている。

rain'nappu ga wafū ni tōitsu sa rete iru.

The lineup is unified in Japanese style.

“ウーロン茶”すらないぞ。

“ūron cha” sura nai zo.

There's not even "oolong tea."

In the Japanese version, reading the menu of the vending machine, Naruhodo annoyedly comments that "there is not even oolong tea". He literally names the tea he likes!

In the localization, he is disappointed that the food in the vending machine is too... ordinary, and he was expecting something that is not usually sold there (popcorn).

___________________________________________

Naruhodō University

Case 3-1 is very rich in information about the young Naruhodō, including the name of the university he attended

In the Japanese version, it is Yumei University (the same university where his ancestor Ryunosuke Naruhodō studied during the Meiji era - then it was called Yumei Imperial University), which creates an important reference to Dai Gyakuten Saiban (The Great Ace Attorney)

私の依頼人。勇盟大学の 芸術学部3回生で、 カゼをひいている。

watashi no iraijin. Yūmei daigaku no geijutsu gakubu 3-kaisei de, kaze o hīte iru.

My client. A third-year student in the art department at Yumei University, suffering from a cold.

In the localization, he studies at Ivy University, as if referring to the famous Ivy League (elite universities).

A very good decision that shows Naruhodō's abilities and the high quality of his education (my clever boy)

___________________________________________

Interesting addition

And the last one for today, a conversation with Mask in the detention center

When Yusaku (Ron) tells the story of the allegedly lost vase, Naruhodō makes a comment about the absurdity of his story

(････どうも、ハナシが アヤフヤだなあ･･･)(dōmo, hanashi ga ayafuya da nā)

(... I guess the story is a bit vague...)

The localization decided to make a reference to Naruhodō's education in the field of art, and he compares Mask's story to the surreal paintings of Dali.

A nice addition, but still different from the original version.

___________________________________________

In total, in my opinion, 3 unsuccessful changes out of 5.

If you also noticed any differences - feel free to tell us about them. Let's educate ourselves together.

It will be a bit more difficult with the subsequent parts, because I can't buy the Japanese version of TGAA (it is only available to a certain list of countries), and I don't have the new Apollo trilogy and the Investigations duology to check every little thing (and I don't have an extra $80), and those who record the walkthrough do not always check every clue, where the contradictions lie.

[tixdixl]

Y'all remember this post I made talking about how kimono carries visual and cultural language within it and how you can express so so much just by picking the type, the cut, and the patterns? I actually want to extrapolate on this and show how we can actually see that language used during the TWST New Year's event! (Sources will be directly linked as information is introduced.)

For some initial context, while the "plot" of the event is mainly just Sam's New Year Sale, a lot of the visual language, accessories, and cultural references used in the event call back to Shōgatsu or the Japanese New Year festival. This is a time where people WILL dress in traditional kimono and participate in traditional games, dances, eating traditional foods. So seeing the cast in kimono makes a world of sense.

The character I want to talk about in this post specifically is Ortho. His design for the New Year is honestly such a great example of how the different subtleties in kimono all come together to paint a picture, and tell you so much about the person wearing the kimono. Because ultimately, when I look at Ortho's kamishimo? All I see is brilliant foreshadowing about the entire plot of Book 6 and his role in the narrative.

The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the colors. It's the thing we see at a first glance. And while yes, these are the colors of Ignihyde, you might find it interesting to know how this combination translates in the kimono visual language. White, black, and blue are colors associated with and/or signify winter and death. So even if you had no idea that Ortho lived in STYX and was twisted from the film adaptation, Hercules, you could still draw that association from what colors he chose to wear and specifically which color is his base color - white, and which are his accent colors- black and blue.

To further explain, black is the traditional color worn when wearing mourning kimono. And white bleached cotton is traditionally worn as the garments of the deceased. While it may be a bit of a stretch, to me, the choice to use white base garments with black and blue accessories may actually reflect his in-between state. The way that real Ortho is dead, and this Ortho lives in his place is a huge aapect of the narrative behind Idia and Ortho. Grief and the negotiation of self identity, the path that Ortho takes to figuring out who he is despite being a living memory of someone who is dead, is not lost in the visual language of this kamishimo. I think, whether intentional or not, it's something reflected in how the black overlays the white, signifying that mourning and that life after the passing of another.

The next thing I want to actually draw your attention to is the era that the kimono comes from and the style of the kimono. This kimono is actually called a "kamishimo". The Kamishimo was the uniform worn by samurai during the Edo Period shōganate. The combination of the overcoat with the inner shirt, hakama pants, and specific style of adorned obi was quintisential for anyone who lived as a samurai. It signified their role in the government and their social status without the need for explanation, allowing people to adjust their mannerisms accordingly upon first meeting the samurai.

We know from how Idia refers to himself as 拙者 (sessha) and refers to others as -氏 (shi) that he and Ortho are incredibly passionate about the Edo period and very specifically samurai. So it really is a cute nod to that that Ortho would be wearing it. At least... if that's where the symbolism ended.

See the thing that strikes me about his kamishimo is that it's not a "real" kamishimo either. From the silouhette, color scheme, and broad shoulders, we can actually deduce that the kamishimo here is a theatrical kamishimo- worn in Kabuki theater.

Kabuki theater really developed and took off during the Edo period, especially during the Era in which women were forbidden from performing on stages. Many of the jidai-mono (historical plays) performed in Kabuki utilize yakugara (character archetypes) to make it much easier for audiences to watch and appreciate the narrative. These archetypes are often visually defined by uniform or repeating characteristics in their kimono, their makeup, their wigs, and their props as a short hand for audiences to be able to follow.

One such yakugara is called the "jitsuaku". This archetype is specifically defined by an "evil mastermind who plots to overthrow the goverment/feudal lord through rebellion", either due to seeking revenge, wanting power, or by whatever rationale the narrative gives him.

Here are some classical depictions of the jitsuaku in traditional artworks:

Source

Source

We can see by the depictions what the common color schemes and patterns used in their kamishimo are; the big/baggy silouhette with extremely dramatic, pointed shoulder pads; and the various decorative accessories and how they are placed.

Look familiar?

Ortho's silouhette very clearly harkons back to these specific types of kamishimo, that are considered archetypal of the jitsuaku. In other words, I have reason to suspect that the card designers of TWST are depicting Ortho as a jitsuaku... a evil mastermind who seeks to take over an institution through rebellion...

That sounds an awful lot like the plot of Book 6 and his specific role in the narrative to me.

This is all to say that the visual language of kimono is so so prevalent in his design, and I would extend that argument to every design in the New Year's line up - yes, this includes the most recent inclusion of Jack, Malleus, Jamil, and Floyd. And personally, I think it's genuinely so so cool and incredible that they would choose to add those nuances intentionally into the design in order to tell us everything that we need to know about the character- from social status, to gender and sexuality, to even personal feelings and emotions. It shows how much love is genuinely poured into making these characters feel alive and dynamic, and I think it's genuinely worth taking the time to appreciate.

And if you are still reading this and you are just starting to learn more about the visual art of kimono, then I genuinely hope you find this as encouragement to deep dive and learn more for yourself. Because honestly having that access and knowledge to those cultural elements and traditions truly helps open your eyes to all of the subtleties and messages that the creator wants you to see. And moreover? I think it really helps allow us to better appreciate the characters and the artwork on a much deeper level.

Thank you for reading this. I hope you genuinely found it fun, insightful, and maybe even inspiring. 💚

[nalyra-dreaming]

It's so frustrating trying to have a conversation about Louis' narration. The last time I tried, someone accused me of being 'ship-brained' because they believe Loustat has nothing romantic about it and that there's no tenderness between them.I simply pointed out,as neutrally as possible,that we can’t fully trust what Louis has said about their relationship so far because he’s altered a lot of details,and that Armand is also a suspicious figure in Louis’ memories of Lestat. That’s it.But immediately, I got attacked for calling Louis an unreliable narrator and for trying to demonize Armand. Which is insane, because I never said Louis was completely unreliable, just that when it comes to his relationship with Lestat, things are complicated, and we can’t take his words at face value when assessing their love.It’s exhausting. You can’t have a nuanced discussion anywhere without people jumping down your throat.I have never said Loustat had a perfect marriage or was a perfect couple,just that things are more nuanced that what Louis narrated,I'm not waiting for Lestat to be the only truth and if i understand Rolin doesn't want another revisit and s3 will be modte likely Lestat' background + maybe some plot in modern story,I never believed that he would refute everything and Louis is a liar Iand Armand a big bad moustache curling villain.😮‍💨

I'm accepting to be wrong and we can discuss anything without being always at each other throat

*sighs*

You know, the fact that people cannot see what a disservice they do Louis by making him into this one-dimensional, flat caricature of himself by removing all the problematic bits.... And I call that "problematic" - because JACOB called him/them monsters, and that it's good that they can be problematic...

And so I sat down, and listed a few things JACOB said - with sources!

Louis does lie (he literally says “not everything Louis says is a lie“ in this video)

Louis is problematic

Louis was very repressed

Louis is a snob

Louis has many guises (and Jacob looks forward to s3, TVL!)

Louis is the problem (I saw the tweet (here is one referring to the Taylor Swift song), but it's referred to in this comment as well, as well as other things, too)

Louis knows deep down some things are not true

Louis presents Lestat as a monster bc he‘s angry

The way some people want to remove eeeeeeeeverything that makes Louis in the slightest bit problematic or even an active participant of his own story, and thereby reduce him to this victim only ... this shell is beyond me. I get where it comes from(!), namely from bad stereotypes and racist inflections that have unfortunately been employed again and again at other points - but heaven help, this show is NOT that, and JACOB has already stated all these already - and this need to scream anyone down who dares to point these out is preventing any possibility of real discussion in this fandom - and honestly, THAT is actually the true shame.

Also, re Loustat - ALSO Jacob:

"They are in a romantic relationship in the books. They’re married by the end. Maybe Anne Rice didn’t fully know what their relationship was at first – the style is very different in the first book. Lestat is this kind of goblin monster torturing Louis. But when you look back with the context from further books, you see this man was just very repressed and so hurt by what happened between him and Lestat that he couldn’t acknowledge him as his lover, as his partner, as his great love. But by the second book, they’re absolutely a couple. And because we’re adapting the whole of The Vampire Chronicles and taking things from later books and repurposing them, the idea of telling this story and them not being a couple… well, there’s no show! Their love story, as messed up as it is, is the heart of it."

And:

"Well, scenes from a divorce is probably Armand, and then scenes from a marriage feels more fitting to Louis and Lestat."

What else is there to say....

Our cast gets their characters. Jacob gets Louis.

Now if only the fandom could accept that, too...

[luimagines]

Android Au Warrior

Another commission!

They asked for Warrior this time, helping Reader after a nightmare and realizing his purpose for being there after all. It's... not exactly that. But I thought I did a well enough job on it. :)

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

The house in which he was stationed was... strange, to say the least.

The WARLKN model was used for higher security and working with a team of other like-minded WARLNK models who all had the same purpose. 

Given that this house only held one human, he failed to see why his specific role was needed. The human in question already had other androids in their service. One was a child WNDLNK model and the other happened to be a repurposed SKYLNK model for general upkeep around the house.

His charge was also… strange, to say the least.

This whole situation was illogical.

While he could understand the need for multiple androids, it wasn’t as if the human was in need of his specific security skills.

He had been given to you through a friend. It was likely the same friend who had given you the same SKYLNK model and had continuously done maintenance to keep the outdated WNDLNK model functioning despite its decades-old parts. 

You called affectionately called him Warrior, after the first incident when you had encountered a bug and had all but lost it. He charged into the room to defend you from any threats that may have broken into your home but calmly took the poor creature outside to be released onto the nearest tree.

Given a new designation was no easy thing to assimilate into his programming. There was no space in his code for any personalization or any domestic nomenclature. He was built and designed for professionalism and maximized security risks. The lack of any nefarious activity in his current protectorate was grating on his nerofibers, the very biocomponents to be likened to stainless steel mesh.

But never let it be said that the WARLNK model as a whole was known for their flexibility and ability to work beyond the parameters of their mission.

And right now?

There were a lot of things beyond his mission that ‘Warrior’ found himself needing to learn to adapt to his current assignment.

The beginning challenges were nothing short of brain-breaking, such as getting used to his new name. Not to mention getting used to the names of the other androids within the premises.

In his previous deployment, he was supposed to refer to each and every model by their serial number and post. However, seeing that he was the only android in charge of security, that was no longer an option. Not that they seemed to know what their serial number was, to begin with.

‘Warrior’ couldn’t get over how… lax the procedures seemed to be in this two-bedroom studio apartment. There was no set morning shift, no set time off- actually, retract that earlier statement. There weren’t any shifts at all.

Not that he expected much from a busted-up domestic android and what was clearly a child’s sentimental attachment to an out-of-style, breaking down, obsolete droid that was working well enough beyond its years. ‘Warrior’ didn’t expect those two to be able to stop a break-in from happening should the issue arise. This meant that any and all security would have to be left up to him to take into account and hold up the standards his protocol deemed necessary.

As an android, this wasn’t a problem.

The problem was that his chief and commander seemed to be purposefully getting his way from doing his job!

It didn’t matter what he did or at what time. The chief always had something to say about the execution of his protocol. He was constantly being called ‘overbearing’, ‘dramatic,’ and what was more insulting- ‘extra’.

He was not extra! 

Nor was he overbearing!

Granted, his model had the tendency to overindulge in performance and to exaggerate in the more comical sense for the sake of a human’s nerves, so perhaps by definition he was ‘dramatic.’ Not that he was ever going to agree with the charges, but ‘Warrior’ was well-versed enough in his model to know better than to open his mouth in that regard.

His commander and chief had made it abundantly clear that ‘Warrior’ was not needed. They refused to rehouse or relocate him to be put to better use, but they didn’t hesitate to outwardly tell him that he had no purpose within the apartment.

‘Warrior’ had half the mind to agree, as damaging to his code and sense of accomplishment that would be. The parameters where he worked were small enough as it was, and he was mostly confined to the inside of the apartment. Checking the perimeter was an easy and fruitless endeavor when he could have done a quick scan with his visual biocomponents and gotten the same results.

The neighborhood was quiet and there were mostly elderly living in the complex. The streets hardly had anyone on them at any given point in time and the most activity ‘Warrior’ could say that he witnessed was when the mailmen would come to drop off the archaic paper mail still in circulation. 

There was that one time that a dog had escaped one of the apartments through a door with a faulty lock and began to chase after the mailman. ‘Warrior’ had acted quickly to defend the droid and had returned the dog to its proper place. If it was within his programming, he would have deemed it humorous to think that a tiny cocker spaniel had attempted to defend its home from an LGNLNK model droid.

That was the first time ‘Warrior’ had completed any sort of security task outside of the house.

It was after that event that multiple elders had gone to his commander and chief, thanking them for his presence. The elderly had felt more at ease knowing that a capable droid, designed to serve and protect was nearby on the off chance should anything happen to the neighbors. ‘Warrior’ felt his biomechanical component swell with the closest thing to pride that he was able to duplicate.

After that, he was given permission and the privilege to expand his duties from apartment 231 to the entire complex on Baker Street.

“Back already?” The commander and chief chirped when he had finished his rounds around the apartment complex. He had gone around the perimeter three times and had checked every individual floor for any suspicious activity before returning to his duties within his docking suite.

The commander hadn’t even turned to see him enter the apartment. They were too busy finishing a marathon of horror games that they had started by the time he left.

“Yes,” He nodded toward them. “I have returned. Everything is in the clear and in working order. The grass appears to have grown a millimeter taller already. I planned to contact management and inform them to call a set of TWILNK models to do the landscaping of the complex.”

“Yeah, yeah- that’s great.” They said, eyes glued to the screen. “I already had dinner so need to wait up.”

He nodded.

He was made of metal and silicone substrates. Unlike them, he had no need to consume energy. Even if they seemed to forget that more often than any of the other models seemed to mention. ‘Warrior’ wasn’t about to go out of his way to remind them though.

He entered further into the apartment and saluted the SKYLNK model who smiled in that awkward still-learning phase that most non-adjusted android tend to do when they’ve been socially stunted. ‘Warrior’ passes the WNDLNK model next.

“Hi, Warrior!” His voice is strained and the speaker will need to be replaced soon if he’s not careful with his volume.

“Hello… Wind.” ‘Warrior’ says pleasantly. The nomenclature was foreign but he found that it rolled off his artificial easier and easier than before. His own voice was new and undamaged. It was designed to be pleasant to the human ear if he ever needed to placate or seduce, depending on the mission he had been given. “Have you behaved yourself today?”

“I did my homework and now Sky says that he’s going to let me make dessert.” ‘Wind’ cheered. ‘Warrior’ smiled at his enthusiasm. Whoever had programmed him had done extensive research on the behaviors and mannerisms of children because it was uncanny how his programming reacted to the smaller android in front of him.

The urge to protect and defend until his ‘dying breath’ was a core part of his ultimate purpose.

“Don’t burn down the kitchen,” ‘Warrior’ told him in jest. The smaller droid laughed and ran off to join the chief and commander in front of the television to backseat game during their marathon.

With his duties and obligations done for the day, ‘Warrior’ retreated to his post next to the coat closet, beside the front door, where he could watch all points of entry to the apartment and keep an eye on all the individuals under his care.

A small blue dot appeared on the side of his vision, an icon meant to inform him that he was in need of a proper recharge if he intended to continue with his duties and shift.

The idea sets him on edge.

‘Warrior’ knew better than to ignore the necessary protocols on his upkeep, but he was in charge of all safety measurements and was the only one capable of carrying them out. In order to fully recharge his energy banks, he’d need to be offline for a total of seven hours, 46 minutes, and 12 seconds and counting. 

He ran the numbers of the off chance of intrusion or structural collapse. He knew the building was up to code with the current safety measures that the modern age could offer. The apartment was high enough in the complex and furthest from all entry points so an intruder wouldn’t likely come inside without serious intervention. Chances of a fire or any medical emergency were unlikely but possible. However, in such cases, ‘Sky’ was equipped to deal with first responders and likely had the appropriate coding to assist the commanding chief in a practical sense. ‘Wind’ was likely to be more of a moral support player to keep them calm enough for ‘Sky’ to handle it if such an event were to occur.

With that in mind, ‘Warrior’ moved from his post by the door and went into the docking room. It was a space that he and the other androids had shared. There was only one bed, but it had been agreed upon by the droids that ‘Wind’ should receive it, seeing that the other two had no need for such concepts whatsoever.

He walked over to the furthest wall and stood by the charging dock. Unlocking a latch in the palm of his synthetic skin, he steps onto the platform and presses his hand to the exposed outlet. It’s always felt a bit strange to be charged this way. The sensation was cold and he was never able to stay online continuously while he charged.

It was one of the many reasons he was discharged from his original post.

They called him faulty.

Still, as his body and circuitry began to settle and go into sleep mode, he didn’t feel the usual concern with losing consciousness. ‘Wind’ and ‘Sky’ could be heard in the kitchen, using multiple power tools for whatever food they were trying out this time. The Commander was in the living room and he could hear the muffled curses and shouts of concern for whatever game they had decided to play this time.

He found it in himself to smile and his mind turned off.

After the needed time had come and gone for him to fully recharge his energy bank, ‘Warrior’ came to consciousness in a dark and silent house. It was jarring. The silence wouldn’t have been unwarranted if it hadn’t been for the noise he had fallen into sleep mode with.

He undocks from the charging station, fixing the panel on his palm and stepping away from the wall. ‘Sky’ had stepped into the second change station beside him, likely also in sleep mode given the lack of reaction and closed eyes from his fellow android. ‘Wind’ was lying down in the bed, likewise also being charged for the next day. He had a cord that had to be plugged into an outlet that connected to the back of his head, hidden from human eyes with his synthetic hair.

Unlike him, they had the option to be offline while charging. They claimed that it helped the time go by faster while The Commander was sleeping. They claimed that it helped them feel more human.

‘Warrior’ had no need to feel human. He wasn’t one. And he wasn’t going to pretend now.

However, despite knowing this ‘Warrior’ had half the mind to be annoyed with them.

He had trusted them with the safety of the Commander. And they abandon their posts with such ease.

He steps out of the room post haste.

A single glance at a nearby clock informs him that the hour is promptly 4:30 am. A rather unfortunate time for him to return online. His charging had taken him longer than the timer had told him. Something he would have to mention to The Doctor next time she visits. His meticulous examination of the apartment started at once, checking for anything suspicious or faulty that might have taken place while he was offline.

It was in the middle of this inspection there a sudden scream from The Commander’s room that captured his attention at once.

He rushed to the room with no time to waste. Without knocking, he opens the door with a hand on his utility belt to reach for his mandated baton. 

…There was nobody in the room.

Aside from the commander and chief.

‘Warrior’ however, took pride in his work ethic and quickly did a scan of the room regardless. His sudden bulldozing of the door hadn’t gone unnoticed by you. You had nearly screamed again when he entered.

The sight of him was enough to get you to calm down. ‘Warrior’ noticed it, but didn’t call attention to it. The last thing he needed was The Commander thinking that he didn’t trust their judgment. 

Nothing.

There was no appearance of even a bug in the room like the last time this had happened.

Satisfied with the lack of results but confused with the need for intervention, ‘Warrior’ turned to you. You were obviously shaken. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have screamed the way you did. The sheer terror in your voice had never been heard before.

Moving slowly to not startle you further, ‘Warrior’ stepped closer to your bed and sat on the far edge. “Are you alright?”

You were shaking and breathing heavier than the normal pace that would be considered normal for a human. A quick scan told him that your heart rate was higher than normal as well, not to mention the subtle sweat that lined your brow and neck.

Panic.

Pure unadulterated panic.

You couldn’t even answer him. You were too focused on the nightmare still lingering in your mind.

‘Warrior’, not about to leave you to your horrors, scooted closer and pulled you close to his body. Surprisingly, you latched on without a second thought. You shuddered and began to cry quietly on his shoulder.

“Warrior.” You whimpered. “There- There were so many of them. They were all chasing me- I couldn’t run fast enough-”

“Shhh…” He says softly. “My job is to protect you. To protect this family. I won’t let anything hurt you. They have to go through me first.”

You gulped but didn’t refute his claim.

The silence stretched for a moment before he decided to run his hand through your hair. “I’m not the type to give orders to my Commander but don’t play those games so late into the day. No more horror games after dark.”

“...They’re in the shadows…” You whispered. “They’re everywhere.”

‘Warrior’ didn’t know what they were, but he wasn’t about to let a threat enter this apartment or your mind. “Show me,” He says firmly, leaving no room for argument. “Point them out, Chief. I’ll take care of it.”

You shook your head and took in a shuddering breath. The sound ricocheted through the room, breaking the delicate silence behind the force of his words. 

“You can’t fight these demons, Warrior Mine.” You shook your head.

“Watch me,” He challenged. He hugged you a little tighter. “I’ll protect you. That’s my purpose. That’s why I’m here.”

You fall silent.

‘Warrior’ kept running his hand over your head, using the other one to rub soothing circles onto your back. “I’ll protect you,” He repeated. “You don’t have to be afraid. Nothing is going to get to you while I’m here. I’ve always done my job. And I’m very good at my job. I will protect you.”

You nodded and eventually relaxed in his arms.

‘Warrior’ had assumed that was the cue to let go of you and return to his surveillance, but at the very instant he lessened the pressure on you, you had latched back on. You whimpered again, burying your face deeper into the crook of his neck. “Don’t. Don’t leave.”

“I won’t,” He said at once. “Never. I’ll stay all night if I have to.”

Another small beat of silence on your part.

“...Promise?”

“It is my duty and purpose to ensure your safety.” He said again. “Do you trust me to do my job?”

You didn’t lift your head. Your voice was a wisp of a whisper against his audio receptors. “Yes… You’re borderline obsessive with your protocols.”

“They are to ensure your well-being and safety-”

“Yes, yes, yes…” You cut him off, relaxing once more in his arms. “...Stay anyway? Just until I fall asleep?”

“I will stay by your side until you wake up again, Chief.” He says softly, adjusting your position o rest more comfortably against him. “I will fight for you. Forever and always.”

“I named you appropriately.” You mumbled. 

“I am Warrior after all.”