#I was originally gonna make this a more detailed piece but changed my mind

[blueberrybanee]

Hihihi, I'm sorry for not posting for a while, and I know this is super late, but have this drawing I made for the anniversary of the airing of Hostage Crisis, Cad Bane's first ever appearance on screen!!! :D

Okay, I'm gonna go rest now cuz I worked my ass off on this, even though it doesn't really look it to me SOBS. Goodnight y'all

[kozachenko]

Here's a digital sketch dump of some pose/anatomy practices and some 2hu doodles, I think from now on if I don't have any big final piece to post, I'll just post sketches I liked that I did digitally (might also reblog some drawings of mine that I want more people to see, maybe idk).

Artist's Notes:

Ok so after the recent Hifuu fanart I did, I've been hoping to experiment more with how I draw faces, how I render, as well as how I stylize things. In some of the earlier sketches I did, I had an idea for a pose that I wanted to try drawing, so I took a ref pic of myself doing said pose (the leaning one btw) and then did a sketch over top of it just to get an idea for the shapes, negative space, and silhouette. After that, I wanted to do some simpler breakdowns of the shapes so I can get better at simplifying the body (these ended up being the bottom right sketches in the post). I also did some experimenting with how to push certain parts of said sketches to create a different body type (via liquify and then a more refined version based on that sketch), as well as figuring out what makes a pose feel natural and not stiff. This was also a bit of a foreshortening practice just so I can get more confident with it, and I ended up using the arms from the liquified version for the coloured Zanmu sketch I did since I liked them so much (dw I'll get to that).

The next thing I wanted to try and draw was Hisami, mainly because.... I am very bad at drawing her in my style. Last time I drew her I made her look really creepy and spindly, and it is my headcanon now that she can switch between a more human, and more creepy look whenever she wants. I'm liking where the face is going a lot, might have to refine a few things about it in the future, but it's cute (I also made the blush purple which I think is what I'm gonna do with her face from now on). I also like how her hair in the sketch turned out a lot, but the outfit..... not as much... Ever since I started changing my style to something less cartoony, I've had a hard time drawing her outfit in my style. Especially the flower veil thing she has on, which, I did try to find a way to draw, but I ended up deleting that sketch because I didn't like it. I'm also not a fan of using the colour purple, like, pure purple, magentas are fine, indigos are fine, but not strict purple. I also have a hard time with drawing all the little pattern details on her dress. I also need to find a way to draw the flower veil in a way that looks good because everytime I try it ends up just looking off (very similar to whenever I try to draw Zanmu's blue spears). I think the only solution to this problem is to do what I normally do and make my own version of the outfit, but with adjustments to suit my style while still trying to keep core elements from the original design intact (like I do with Zanmu and Keiki, and yes I am going to get to that Zanmu drawing just gimme a minute).

Ok next up is Keiki, my favourite Touhou character who I haven't drawn since the beginning of the year. Since my style has changed a lot, I wanted to just do a face sketch of her to get a hang of drawing her again, and I..... really really like how it turned out! When I drew her eyes, I realized that a good way of keeping faces too same facey can be via varying the sizes of their pupils, so that's an idea I'm gonna keep in mind from now on. I had a lot of fun with her hair, I initially was gonna do it like how it is in the official art, but I ended up not liking it, so now I'm gonna draw Keiki with wavy heir like this because it's fun and it looks nice. I also included my base sketch for Keiki's face since I was initially struggling with drawing her bandanna, and in the coloured sketch I added some more detail into her hair.

Now to finally talk about the sketches for Zanmu. Good lord was I having a tough time with her face. I also did this sketch before I figured out how I wanted to draw hair, so that's why the rendering on her hair is different (I did this soon after the Hisami sketch actually). Since I changed my art style a lot, I had to find a way to translate her face from my more cartoony style to my more detailed style, so while the face shape, nose shape and mouth was fine, I was really struggling with the eyes. I did get somewhere eventually though, and I am super happy with how it turned out. I wanted to lean more towards the androgynous side of the gender presentation spectrum, mainly because I think that makes sense for her character. Also made sure to include the silver hairs and some wrinkles just to bring some signs of her aging into her face because those are just staple features of how I draw Zanmu at this point lol. You will also notice that I gave her some scars on the right side of her face, and that's because I am a Zanmu-with-scars truther, I fucking love it whenever I see someone give Zanmu visible scars like that it just adds so much omg (I also tried to put a wolf bite mark on her arm in the full body drawing but idk if it reads well). While you can argue that her not having scars sells the idea of her being this "powerful, untouchable mastermind who is impossible to defeat," I'd say that instead of those scars representing times she got injured, they represent everyone who has failed to defeat her.

As I was drawing Zanmu's face, I referenced my sketch of to help with contrasting their features since I made Keiki's face more traditionally feminine. I also didn't mention this in my commentary on Keiki's face because I wanted to save it for here, but giving Zanmu scars also plays into the fact that she used to be human, wheras Keiki doesn't have any scars because she's a god who doesn't follow the rules of normal human biology. Plus I'm thinking about the two of them interacting again (return of Zan/Keik??? (I'm a multishipper btw) maybe???) so drawing their faces together will definitely help me in the future if I wanna draw them together (again, maybe as a ship? I've kinda been ironing out the kinks in their potential interactions (romantic and non-romantic) for a while now so idk maybe expect that in the future lol).

And now for the full body drawing, when I was doing the face sketch I did this little snippet of an outfit, had a vision, and the made it into a reality. I'll admit, part of me was worried that it would end up looking too much like Yuugi's outfits in the spinoffs and mangas, but I feel like I made enough changes to differentiate them. I tried to keep a few of the major details in Zanmu's design (i.e. the red tassles and yellow lining on her shirt) while putting a new spin on it. I also dialed up the scars to 11 since without them the whole thing kinda looked incomplete. Also, while I could say that the leaves on her kimono are "a nod to the fact that technically she should be a tengu because back then people belived that corrupt monks would turn into tengu but no Zanmu is an oni and they're maple leaves because...tengu...ahahahaha" what really ended up happening was that I looked up clothing patterns from Sengoku era Japan, liked the leaves the most because the red picked up on the red from the rest of her design and just ran with it. I also always had the idea to put Zanmu in men's clothing from Sengoku era Japan and while the accurate thing to do would be to put her in a Buddhist's clothes from that era.... from a character standpoint, I don't think Zanmu is pious enough to strictly wear the proper monk uniform, and also since she's basically the king of Hell, she would probably dress herself like royalty from that era. TBH, I probably could've been a bit more historically accurate, but again, this was mainly for conceptual purposes because I had a vision and I needed to see it through.

If I were to draw her in this sort of outfit again, I should probably try and use more references, although now that I look at it, if she were to wear it properly this would maybe, probably look a bit closer to a Kyūtai sugata (a very huge stretch, but it just kinda reminds me of that) just without the layers under and over the main piece of clothing (In the website that I searched up to try and compare the outfit in my sketch to, they name the outfit pieces but don't label them on the image, so I don't know 100% what everything is called) so I will definitely have to use that style of clothing as a reference going forward.

Also, I was kind of inspired by the ToTK design for Ganondorf since I have finished the game a while ago and I absolutely love what they did with his design (it's just so fucking cool omg) and I thought that sort of look would look good on Zanmu, so yeah got some inspo from that.

And those were all the notes for each of the sketches, I'm motivated to draw rn but kinda art blocked, so doing these little coloured sketches helps a lot.

[xviolence-begets-violetsx]

With Somebody Who Loves Me

Vessel x GN!reader

Complete fluff, No warnings

1.7k words

A/N: Hello all! Firstly, I need to give credit where credit is due. @polteergeistt made this lovely post and ever since I read it I’ve been rotating it around in my brain and got inspired, so I wrote this little piece based off of it to try and exercise it (lovingly) from my mind.

Secondly, this is rpf however, I’ve offered no descriptors for Vessel whatsoever or for the reader for that matter. This piece is GN I believe, but if you find something that conflicts with that please tell me 🫶

Lastly, This piece is paired with Whitney Houston’s ‘I Want To Dance With Somebody’ and I listened to it while I wrote it. Vessel has covered this song BUT for the vibes alone I think the original fits better. I’m gonna embed it here just for funsies in case you want to really immerse yourself and listen along as you go.

Ok, I’m rambling now, without further adieu

It was 8:47 on a Tuesday evening in the cozy little flat you shared with your boyfriend. You’d finished dinner a little over half an hour ago. The food finished, the plates pushed away from before the both of you long ago. Stagnant remainders of your nightly ritual, abandoned in lieu of spontaneous, animated chatter.

You lived for the times you could get him just like this. Inhibitions loosed, walls momentarily crumbled. Pure, raw, unfiltered, unapologetically Ves. It’d been by pure accident this time around, just conversations natural progression that led him down some unforeseen tangent he’d launched into on a whim you wouldn’t have been able to see coming if you’d tried. But they were almost always better when it happened that way anyway— natural, unforced.

That’s not to say that Vessel was hard to converse with, quite the opposite actually. Attune to a fault, he could make the tightest lipped person an open book and often did. He simply listened in a way that made a person feel like they could open up, free of persecution, free of judgement. You’d told Vessel things you’d never thought possible, things you’d swore you’d never utter to another soul, mortal or otherwise, things you thought not even a god could pull from your lips but then he came along and changed all of that.

But on the flip side of that same coin Vessel was a much more reserved person and it’s not that he refused to share with you, he shared plenty but those moments were few and far between and it was better when you didn’t push.

That was the thing with Vessel, his trust was built like a house of cards, it was better to have patience with him and build him up card by card. Varied levels of reassurance built on strong foundations of trust. But push too hard too quickly and all the hard work you’d built would topple over and he’d become closed to you again.

And even the little snippets of things you’d garnered from him over time didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what you could sense lurking ominously in the thick fog of his emotional depths. Like shuttered goliaths they guarded a part of him you weren’t sure, even after decades of being by his side that you’d ever truly get the full gist of. Things probably too painful or wretched for him to dredge up again— not that you blamed him, we all have pasts.

But there were certain times, shining moments spersed between casual conversation when you’d get the privilege to see him let go of some of his reservations, opening up to you for just a second and simply be. This was one of those moments.

It started out simply enough. He’d inquired about your day, you’d given him the simple rundown and then asked him the same— not really expecting him to dive too extravagantly into the details, he always assumed his day to day work would come off too technical for you to care, even despite your best efforts to assure him that wasn’t the case.

But for whatever reason tonight was different, tonight he indulged you. As you realized this to be, you set your fork down, the baked ziti no longer holding your full attention as he started to talk and then simply kept going and kept going and kept on like that. You sort of froze, scared that any little misguided effort, any subtle shift in your demeanor may deter him from continuing all while being unable to stop yourself from staring at him.

He got this light in his eyes when he got like this, an excitement bubbling just below the surface when he really was into what he was explaining to you and though you know it’d probably break him to hear you say it, you found it beyond cute and couldn’t really help it as you found yourself almost swooning openly at the sight of him.

Luckily for you, he seemed so embroiled in regaling you about how he’d managed to finally experience the breakthrough he’d been looking for after finding himself stumped for the past two weeks on quite the right melody for a new piece, that he didn’t even seem to notice you melt into the hand you’d rested your face on as you leaned to the side a bit listening to him talk.

Your eyes flitted over his features in admiring passes, illuminated in a golden glow by the dining room light overhead, in that moment he seemed ethereal. It was one of those moments you wished you could freeze and store away for later, like when he was away on tour and you missed him the most. Able to pull it out on those late nights when you lay awake, trying to figure out what time it was for him in the part of the world he was in at that moment, wondering if he may still be awake and missing you just like you were missing him, just to walk around in it— a perfect moment frozen in time.

The sound of the rain pulled you both from it, popping the bubble in such a sudden way it left you both startled as your eyes slipped from one another’s and up to the ceiling above like you could see the rain as it pelted against the roof above your heads, disturbing your peace. But even as you came back to each other again the moment had seemed to pass and the magic was already gone.

And suddenly life’s more pragmatic priorities slipped back into place— the ceremonial clearing of the table, the dishes, and the putting away of leftovers. Sweeping the both of you away from the moment to lament over what could have been if not for the rude awakening of the pouring rain.

You meandered into the kitchen, a little nostalgic over a moment not five minutes into the past as you pulled the dishwasher open in the midst of your reveries and found it full to the brim, cursing at yourself under your breath for having neglected to empty it prior to starting dinner. You resigned yourself to the task, pliantly adapting to the newest pressing matter and beginning to unload the ancient, leaking behemoth when you heard the first notes cut through the sound of the roaring rain.

Immediately identifiable, at least something good had managed to be salvaged from the wreck of the moment, the funky first notes of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Want To Dance With Somebody’ broke through the unrelenting patter of rain beating against the roof like siren sound.

More than just a song the both of you adored it was a signal of something greater on the horizon. You’d been with Vessel long enough to know he put that song on when his creative juices were at their peak. Letting the upbeat tempo hoist him into the depths of a creative flow not much could bring him back from the brink of. It made an excited little shiver run through you, all was not lost.

Perhaps, after completing your menial tasks you could still hope to catch him in the thick of it sitting across from him. You, book in hand, in your wingback armchair and him across the room on the couch, a plethora of music sheets and sticky notes and his old beat up Casio sprawled out in a messy array around him on the wide, wide surface of the worn-in jumbo cushions— parallel play at its finest.

With that single, cozy image at the forefront of your mind’s eye and a lazy but growing smile tugging at the corner of your lips you set to work, pulling things from the racks with a newfound fervor. With something to work for, something to look forward to, you began to unload the dishwasher at a breakneck pace. Flitting around your little kitchen as busy as a bee to the backdrop soundtrack of Vessel’s lovely falsettos, rising and falling in melodic waver from across the house and that’s when you registered it.

The sound of his voice, it was drawing closer. You paused in step; large, ornate ceramic mixing bowl still in hand as he rounded the corner. The smile that had settled effortlessly over your lips since the first notes of the song had originally rung out through the open air of the apartment now grew wider at the sight of him.

One of his own mirrored yours as he half-danced half-bounced into the room, snatching the ceramic mixing bowl from your hands and setting it down almost carelessly on the kitchen island in his haste to reach out and take both your hands in his. His eyes settled on yours in an unuttered decree, even as you shook your head in protest, a nervous but excited giggle bubbling up from your throat as your cheeks flushed with heat at the prospect of what his actions proposed to you.

“No… no, no.” But he wasn’t having any of it. Without missing so much as a single beat as he continued to belt out alongside Whitney, he pulled you into him. Away from the hazardous obstacle of the pulled out dishwasher and into the more open space between the kitchen and breakfast nook so the two of you would have more room.

His bouncing was contagious all on its own and you were helpless to deny him anything anyway, especially like this. The weight of his palms settled over yours as he encouraged you wordlessly to join him in dance was steadying, grounding; and you soon found your body moving of its own accord. Bouncing lightly at first on the balls of your feet just to appease him, a strain starting to pull at the apples of your cheeks from your ceaselessly widening grin as you began to give in to him. And soon enough the both of you were spinning around the room, laughter bubbling between the two of you, muddying up the words as you started to sing along with him.

You, Whitney and him in beautiful, broken harmony as he twirled you around the open space, living carefree and in the moment. You were sure the neighbors would be filing another complaint, one among many but that didn’t matter. What mattered in that moment was dancing with somebody— with somebody who loves you.

[superemeralds]

i think about ur piece with shadow captioned “welcome to the promised land” ALOT… with that, i wondered what your thoughts are on the sonic movies (both the ones that came out and the new one thats coming) in regards to their portrayal of the police/military/GUN.

I’m personally really disappointed in whats been done so far (with Tom being a cop, like cmon man what. and with the goofy portrayal of the military, especially that old general guy in the second movie) and im really nervous about whats coming, with team sonic working WITH GUN (and now Tom and Maddie wearing military uniforms) in the trailers. I have a suspicion that Maria’s death will be an “accident”, like a very MCU style “sometimes the military makes mistakes…” bullshit. itd really suck to see this series become another piece of copaganda, especially since like. its so out of character, like sonic is unique in the way its been blatantly anti military (for the most part) in the games. it wasn’t revolutionary by any means but it is arguably a core part of the original story.

What are your thoughts? sorry for the long ask, I’m a big fan of your writing and thoughts on sonic (huge heart of a monster fan!). Hope youre having a good day!

big same. I've made the comic in question as a response to the first trailer for sonic 3 actually.

the trailer made me feel a LOT of emotions, mostly negative if im honest, and the only thing that I liked from it was the scene of shadow bursting from his tank thing and being sloppin wet that looked like he was standing in the rain. so i went and made a comic of shadow in the rain. and i made it as anti military and anti capitalism as i could.

becasue sonic 3's marketing, in my opinion, especially after the second trailer came out, is a perfect axample of everything wrong with the current western (mostly USA, but the USA influences the entire world so.) society. it exemplifies capitalism, militarism, consumerism, a lack of emotional depth and the infantalization as well as mliking (for a lack of better word; i mean how advertizements are usually heavily marketed at kids because parents will buy anyhting to shut up their crying annoying meat bags and therefore spend money on shit they dont want nor need) of children (that detective pikachu bit was so painful). and let's not forget the fatphobia. it was so painful to go back and watch the first trailer to freshen my memory for this reply oh god.

when sonic 2 came out i was really happy with the movie. i think sonic 2 is miles better than 1 in terms of characters and fun, most obviously because there's more of actual sonic characters in it now then the first. the first felt mostly like a pilot honestly. the second one had much more fantastical details and elements thatreally leaned into sonic's world. Or at least... the environment artists tried with it. I remember being OBSESSED with the fact tehre was a mural of perfect chaos in that labyrinth for like 1 second and theorized about what it could mean. while watching the movie i even speculated it was foreshadowing that perfect chaos was gonna be the secret final boss of the movie as that was only the halfway point of the runtime. having sobered from the hype i understand its a neat detail from the cg department that means absolutely nothing.

the worst thing is that the movie (sonic 3 now) itself might be like. a well made movie with good (enough) writing and good visuals and whatever. sonic might betray the military and go his own way bc here he's a little younger and he's learning (he didnt grow up w military so he might be blissfull yunaware bc hes only been fed propaganda through hollywood movies so far) and him meeting shadow and learning about his fate might change his mind. we don't know yet.

The marketing sometimes is detatched from the movie itself so it'll misrepresent things for the sake of "bait" to get ppl to spend money to watch it (the teenage kraken movie suffered from that bc it was fun imo i liked it). Or even just to get people to make viral reactions to get even MORE news of the movie out and attract more people. Especially when adapting a story that already exists I think it makes them reveal a LOT of the movie (I saw ppl complain they reveal the entire movie in the trailer, i think given the fact we already know all those key moments shown it's fine)

actually. does anyone know if the us army funded this movie? i know it does a lot of movies ever since iron man

idek where im going w this rn im just. eghh.... def not gonna see it in cinema ♥ my money goes towards literally anything else

[l-in-the-light]

Chapter 1132 & 1133 commentary

Finally I could catch up with my commentary! I have a looot to say about those chapters, in a slightly different style this time. But first of all, let's do a survey, I'm curious about people's thoughts on this :D

And now we're moving on to the chapters :3

Shanks bragging about Luffy? Cute! But you know what, if I didn't know Shanks, I would buy that. But he's bragging to a kid about Luffy for no reason? Nah. He's ditching responsibility on Luffy here. YES. Shanks decided it's too much pain to refuse the kids so he gives Colin a new target to nag to instead, lol. Yeah, okay, that's the Shanks I know and recognize now, haha. You can choose to believe in Shanks' doting nature here. or you can think, like me, that Shanks basically shoved Collin to Luffy for a change LOL. "Remember him" uhum. I missed this side of Shanks, the walking mischief, lol.

I like how defensive Luffy is about Sunny! He's never gonna make the same mistake he did with Merry when he called them just a ship instead of a crew! Here, Luffy is ready to punch faces for his crewmate, the Sunny :D

A cute moment of girl solidarity (between Nami and Robin), cool to see that in a shonen manga, even if it's brief :)

Gerd seems to have really liked Big Mom and is regretful it ended the way it ended. I wonder what is the unforgivable thing though... semla? Giant warrior dying without any honor? or perhaps breaking the marriage promise (Lola and Loki)? We have a lot of candidates here, but clearly Gerd has one thing in mind in particular, hm.

We also learn that Elbaf consists of three realms: of heaven, of sun and of dead. It's interesting because it can be applied to the One Piece world in general, the highest point The Red Line was the realm of the gods (so kinda heaven), lower one of sun (people worshipping sun god) and of dead (beyond the sea level, as there is literally a whole civilisation under the water. Also fishmen island, located on the bottom of the sea, dreams of surface and being part of the "sun" realm).

Speaking of Elbaf, seems the village changed a bit since Big Mom's times that we saw in the flashback. Now Elbaf is located on the cloud level but it seems it wasn't always like that. Perhaps after whatever disaster Big Mom caused, the Giants decided to move up and seclude themselves from human visitors? It's possible Vegapunk helped them with that too.

It's interesting that the island is called Elbaf, but the country itself is called Warland. It suggests once upon a time there might have been a different country located there (maybe Giants originally did live in the clouds, like in the Jack and the bean stalk fairytale. We did see an enormous bean stalk before!). Yet, there is a god called Elbaf as well, which is kinda confusing, unless it's some sort of God Usopp situation there, lol.

Seems Giants are really big on hospitality. "You guys can have leftovers. The feast is for the Strawhats!". Curious, considering the fact this country seems to be off-limits to humans in general, not counting exceptions like Shanks or Luffy and their crews.

Strawhats reactions to the rainbow bridge are priceless (who can blame them tho? I would react the same way!). Seems indeed anything can be possible in this world, even sailing on rainbow like it's a water highway. Apparently it makes a "kira kira" glittering/sparkling sound, which is a nice little detail. Even Robin is shocked, this is the first time she sees something like that, and she saw and knows sooo much more things than any other Strawhat! The only person unsurprised (but still excited) is Lilith, because as a Vegapunk she visited Elbaf before :)

We finally found out what the sunstone does and why is it so important for Elbaf. Apparently it's based on real life viking device used for navigation. Is it a relic from ancient kingdom (and can Vegapunk recreate it)? Is that why Brook is innocently singing Binks sake here?! maybe not haha but who knows, Brook is a walking mystery!

Elbaf is indeed impressive. It would be so awesome as a video game setting, which you can explore any way you want ❤ That castle looks actually pretty similiar to the lego castle Rodo build huh. It's so nice that Luffy and Usopp got their panels here too, with the callback to their promise; to one day visit the land of the giants. And here they are, merely two years later :D

Everyone's reactions is either impressed/dumbfounded or excited. With two exceptions! Sanji isn't even looking (lol, he's already in his heaven, huh), and Lilith? Lilith is acting proud of herself there, grinning happily. Like I said, it's not her first time in Elbaf and it's likely Vegapunk actually helped with his cloud manufacturing technology on Elbaf before! If that's the case, her proud grin is more than justified here :D

I saw many people really worried that these frames above are foreshadowing the final crew, hinting that Lilith and Bonney are indeed the last Strawhats. Well, if that makes you anxious, then don't worry: they're not the last Strawhats (they're at least not present on 13 Strawhats as cats picture). And if that made you on the contrary happy because you really want Lilith and Bonney to join, then welp, I'm sorry? They're still gonna always be Strawhats friends tho! Bonney actually is likely to be next gen of Strawhats, together with Tama once they both grow up, who knows :D

Let's address this. I know many people reeeeally jumped on the hype train that this is about time flowing differently in Elbaf, but I think the hint as to what it means lies in Little Garden arc actually. Why? Because both times we had a callback to Lous Arnote and that must be related imo. In Little Garden log pose took a year to reset (apparently because of poor magnetic field of the island? Not that it's ever explained about Little Garden in particular though). It's possible on Elbaf it takes *even longer than a year* hence don't linger too long (but also don't regret in case you do :D). Could people get stuck there? Is that why those humans in dead realm can't just leave the island? I'm aware my explanation is way too simple (now log pose has three arrows instead of one, after all), but I kinda like it this way, lol. Time shanenigans though? Uneccessarily complicated imo.

Speaking of Little Garden...

Those beliefs could explain why Loki is kept alive despite posing such a big danger to the world, it means he has divine protection and god decided Loki is "right" (and was right to kill the king). Giants trying to kill Loki are in "the wrong" then and end of the world is supposed to happen. Or are there suddenly exceptions to this Elbaf's rule?

Luffy's reaction in Little Garden makes me think that Luffy has similar reason for striking the deal with Loki now. He dislikes when people are judged by gods and whoever decided Loki's fate at birth must have been a god (who else, really?). Loki being imprisoned is also part of the same reason, I guess. Why wouldn't Luffy want to help him, actually? Though I am curious what exactly Loki promised to give him in exchange for the deed. Maybe it is related to Shanks or maybe to something else, hm.

This promise also gives us a potential time frame limit for this arc. "Don't linger too long" says Louis. Giants really rush for the feast as well, like they're afraid if they don't start fast enough they will run out of time to celebrate with the Strawhats somehow. And then there's Loki who told Luffy to get the key to his chains "till morning of next day" (unofficial translation) / "akatsuki ni" (fancy way of saying "in the event of"; original version). And while I recognize it's just a mistranslated figure of speech, let's not forget Luffy himself isn't well versed in fancy ways of speaking, so he *might* have taken it literally (akatsuki = dawn), like a child would as well that doesn't know of this phrase yet. That could give the arc some sort of direction.

I guess this all possibly points towards Elbaf arc taking place in the span of one day. It might be a giant adventure (because everything is giant and we're in land of giants), but it won't be long. But then Dressrosa took place in span of one day and it was like 100 chapters, so it's worth keeping it in mind too, lol. I'm just saying it's possible the arc will be one day long in universe time, no idea how long it will be in terms of chapters ofc. Elbaf does have a lot of links to Egghead and feels like a complementary arc to it, kinda the same way Zou led to the Whole Cake Island with it's premise of kidnapped Sanji. But Egghead was waaaaay longer than Zou haha (maybe the length proportions will be reversed in this case? :D).

Before I move on to the next chapter, I will do a compilation of Gerd, Rodo and the rest of Giant Pirates, because they deserve some attention too.

Let's start from Gerd. She *clearly* has a thing for humans, lol. She finds them cute, kinda like pets or dolls, and some of the things she says, when you stop and pay attention to it, makes you raise an eyebrow at her, lol. "I'm not like Rodo!" "I don't go around trapping humans in cages!" "He didnt give you any choice when he put you in there!" (unofficial translation, it's worth noting that in official one it's toned down a bit). Excuse me, Gerd...? Did you just suggest that it's alright to trap humans in cages as long as you have permission? 😂

Yeah, don't believe her when she says she's not like Rodo. She totally is and she fawns over humans to the same extent he does, lol. She just remembers not to put them in cages before asking if it's alright with them, lmao (yes, sorry, I really find this remark too funny). Look at how happy she is that she can carry Luffy&co around or stay with them even a tad bit longer, enthusiastically offering her help. She's a fangirl, alright. And what is Rodo if not a fanboy, lol. They kinda deserve each other.

I mean, yes, of course Rodo is way more creepy. He doesn't even try to hide his fanboyism after all, and he doesn't care about consent much in his roleplaying games. He's kinda this reclusive fanboy never leaving his basement, not having any friends (or having only one or two) and spending most of his days immersed in his roleplays 24/7. That's some dedication! In comparison, Gerd is like a closet fangirl, trying to keep it as private and unobvious as possible. But look at her! She's going to Rodo's castle just because she heard he snatched a small ship. Small ship means small humans, of course she wants to see them! Look at how excited she is despite claiming she's only doing her duty. Nah, girl, you're not fooling us. And look at Goldberg and his knowing smile, he *knows* her true reason to go there too.

Of course, despite being so happy to see humans, she wouldn't bond over that with Rodo. That's because Rodo is insufferable with his fanboyism, no brakes, exposing it without any shame. It's like looking at herself in a distorted mirror, it would rub her the wrong way. That's why she insists so much on how different she is from Rodo, because she knows what *boundaries* and *brakes* actually are. But who knows, maybe she is slightly jealous that he can be so open and unrestricted about it. She might complain about him all the time, but it still wouldn't stop her from going to his place, as long as he might have some tiny humans around.

Goldberg is like this friend who sees their two companions dancing obliviously around each other, trying to deny their actual feelings. He even says that Rodo would be happy to be called the disgrace of Elbaf (by Gerd specifically!), because Rodo would probably think it's a compliment, lol. Imagine how fun it must be to sail with him, he would navigate while roleplaying all the time, earning constant hits from Gerd, lol.

For those who remember my theory on pirates and their treasures (pair of characters sharing things/treasures together and being each other's treasures as the result. For example, Nami and Nojiko both treasure Bellemere's tangerines, their bond is also symbolically shown as them sharing twin bracelets, which leads to conclusion that they're also the most important people in the world for each other), well, Rodo and Gerd share some theme like that too, actually! For example, Rodo and Gerd wear same type of shoes and furry accessories on their calves (no one else from Hajrudin's pirates has it!). Also Gerd wears a striped pattern on one of her legs that looks oddly similar to Rodo's striped mantle. They also have really similar passion for humans, which creates a deep bond (even if Gerd dislikes that connection for now). They're definitely coded as characters significant to each other, though I dunno what's the actual nature of their relationship (friends? siblings? lovers?), not that it matters, because they're hilarious together anyway.

They're really quickly growing on me and I wonder which way this little side story will go. Oda writes all of his side characters and develops them even if he has no intention to reveal their full backstory (for example, he designed All of the 85 Big Mom's Children, even though he admitted he will probably not even need it! But all those details and backstories were still created and are kept in his magic notebook). That's why I believe I sniffed out the relationship between Rodo and Gerd accurately, even if I might be misinterpreting some details here and there about it. The hints are definitely there tho.

It was also revealed that Rodo still considers himself part of the New Giant Pirates! Despite disagreeing with Hajrudin and not wanting to serve itty bitty humans, he never *left* the pirate crew, like many people suspected he did! Seems it's actually Hajrudin who wants him out of the crew now, not the other way around, lol. But that's a bit odd, because it's true Rodo was against humans and thought not much of them and refused to serve them as the result. And yet in current timeline he's kinda humans-obsessed all of a sudden??

Who knows, maybe that changed the moment he learned that Gerd likes humans? Maybe he decided to learn to like them because she likes them? He clearly likes Gerd (he even calls her Gerd-taso and acts like a simp lol) so it's not impossible. They just disagree on details (like serving humans or not locking them in cages). Maybe Gerd at first took it on herself to teach Rodo about humans, but it got out of hand and she created a fanboy monster by accident, hahaha.

It's also worth noting that Rodo at first was kinda worried when he realized Strawhats got lost and he thought it will lead to trouble. But then he put them into his lego city anyway. Perhaps he wanted to show them to Gerd, lol. After all she seems to visit him awfully lot and it's always about humans. Damn, he might even keep humans there just so she visits him, like a bait. And it seems to work super duper well! And that phrase "itty bitty humans"? Might have been Gerd's slip of tongue that Rodo caught up on and adopted ever since :D

"Let's get you locked up again before the others catch on" what are you on about, Rodo! They already know?? Or does Gerd and Goldberg not count?! Does it mean he thinks he can bribe them to stay quiet about it?? I mean, I guess I can imagine Goldberg roleplaying together with Rodo for fun, they're probably actually friends. But Gerd?? Was he gonna give her one of the Strawhats to keep forever, a peace offering or a love gift, without realizing That Won't Make Her Happy (I mean, it would make her happy, but she would also feel disgusted, because you don't treat humans like dolls, no matter how adorable they are!).

And yeah, Rodo's Gerd-simping moment was very Sanji-style, "she must be here to save me!". Actually, scratch that, he's worse than Sanji, 100% submissive princess-in-distress, treating Gerd as his hero. Maybe Gerd defended him from some bullies once, when they were both kids, and he wouldn't leave her alone ever since. And since Rodo seems to be always living in his fantasy worlds, he doesn't even realize Gerd doesn't like him or is not trying to compliment him with the words she says, lol. Damn, it's really fun to speculate about those two :D Maybe I'm so into it because I never had the opportunity to analyze arcs chapter by chapter like this and never paid that much attention to side characters before. And Elbaf is more my type of a fun arc than sci-fi world of Egghead was ;)

This scene has such Nami-beating-up-Luffy vibes to it, lol. Even Goldberg joined in. Rodo is definitely insufferable but he's also like, kinda fun. I get it now when Oda said that he always creates characters that he likes, so that in worst case they at least have one fan. All of Oda's characters have so much charm and thought put into them!

Speaking of pairs, Hajrudin and Loki were on my mind lately as well. They share some interesting similarities. Loki has his eyes covered, Hajrudin wears helmet with those protective pieces around his eyes (he had it since Dressrosa actually!), but they kinda obstruct his view? Like, look at Dorry's similar helmet - he has a clear view, so Hajrudin's variation is not a regular thing! I feel like it's showing us the connection between him and Loki (both having obscured eyes). I know the story suggested they're brothers and kinda against each other, but Brogy and Dorry also are "opposing/fighting each other" and yet no one would argue how special their bond is. It might be the same type of thing between Loki and Hajrudin.

Who knows what was Loki's real reason for killing his father? Maybe he did it for his brother somehow. Why did Hajrudin wanted the flame flame fruit in Dressrosa? Was it to free his brother perhaps? Whatever it is, I'm sure their bond will turn out to be important and somewhat explored in this arc (probably not the main focus though, they're just side characters after all? Though Loki did get his own double spread, so who knows, who knows).

Holdem's back! I forgot he existed, ngl, haha. Actually, he probably has no idea that Yamato is on the enemy's side, because when the raid happened, Holdem was in Udon, unaware of Yamato switching sides! Maybe the title of the chapter relates to him as well, he's not threatening Yamato, he might be expecting praise from Kaido's son for not giving up despite Beast Pirates' defeat. But also he's just trying to survive by robbing people. Yamato looks a bit like he's in a pickle, huh. Always having to prove on which side he is and clearing various challenges thrown his way (human children bullies, going against his previous friends), dang.

Oooof, this was like a punch to the guts. But it was needed. This emotional bomb dropped so we can remember and focus on Robin's suffering. Olvia, Clover and Saul all made efforts so Robin can live, but at what price. That life was a pure nightmare for her and we should never forget it.

This is such a powerful moment as well. Can't believe we had to wait so many years to see a scene like this 😭😭

In the couple of last chapters we saw a lot of Robin's reactions, showing surprise and being exicted and happy. It's the first time we ever see her that open with her emotions, just allowing herself to experience things. It's a joy to see and a reminder that she came a long way since Enies Lobby. She's able to act so unrestricted and honest, and it also makes her look younger again.

She's also wearing this cute shirt with crossbones and a heart skull. Showing off that she's a pirate at heart? Or perhaps it's a crossed out heart haha.

This library building looks eerily similar to the island house in One Piece Odyssey! Except that one was half of a ship haha.

A really cute moment. Robin is nervous before meeting Saul again (she says her heart beats really fast, so she's both excited and nervous), but thanks to Saul's little fake show she laughs and says she got nervous for nothing. It's so precious that Saul tried to break the ice, afraid that their meeting will be too awkward otherwise and chose to be so silly about it. Since Robin claimed she stopped feeling nervous, it worked really well to release the tension :D

Also I can't believe the whole scare around Saul "not getting up" was him just roleplaying their first meeting, oh lol. That cliffhanger was worth it, I would happily get fooled again :D This is just so wholesome.

Btw Saul, besides some burn scars, also now has a peg leg.

I also adored that Strawhats decided to accompany Robin, not leaving her even for a moment, taking their duty to protect her seriously. But they're probably just curious as well. Luffy even says he needs to greet Saul and thank him for taking care of his crew, which, to be frank, is such an Ace-like moment?? That's exactly how Ace explained why he wanted to meet Shanks! (just used the word brother instead of crew).

This scene worries me a bit I'm a worry-cat, you should all know it by now, haha. That's because Robin interrupts Saul when he talks about her future (probably wanting to say something like: thanks to their efforts you will finally stop being pursued one day), but Robin is not even interested in hearing about that. I get it, it must be making her sad and she says she doesn't want to talk about sad things anymore, not when she can finally reunite with Saul. But at the same time this dismissal of hers when the talk goes to the topic of her own wellbeing reminds me of Enies Lobby and Robin's self-sacrificing tendencies, you know? Those don't go away just like that and I think they still are lying dormant in Robin. Let's just hope I read a bit too much into that.

As to why I think it was Saul who said the line about Robin's future is because of his speech pattern in the original. Robin uses more refined/less casual language, meanwhile Saul tends to finish his sentences on the "yo" syllabe in this part. He did it even just a frame next to this one as well, so it feels kinda natural it's still him speaking. Though the use of "yo" is kinda nuanced in Japanese, so I might be wrong on that one, keep it in mind :D it could even fit both ways, Saul sharing info Robin didn't have (hence the "yo" to emphasize it) and continuing on with that, or it might be Robin interrupting him by bringing something to his attention she thinks he missed or being slightly pushy in changing the topic (it doesn't suit her too much, but hey, the official translation also seems to suggest this is Robin's line).

Also I just think it would be nice if both Robin and Saul addressed each other with "anta" ❤

Now it's time to cry. I find Robin's line, asking for Saul to praise her, really meaningful. After all, when she was a kid, that was her exact motivation! She learned how to read poneglyphs because she wanted to be praised by the archeologists (and be useful to them), spend more time together with them, but also hoping that her mother would also praise her and take her with her this time. Even when Clover tells Robin to escape she says she would rather die together with them than be alone. The outcome of Ohara was really the worst for Robin who always felt so alone and lost even the hope to ever be with anyone she loved again. Her biggest dream wasn't to be an archeologist because she loved history so much (though yes, she did enjoy it ofc), but it was just to hold her mom's hand and go for a walk together. To live happily with her, like a true family.

Before Olvia died, she did praise Robin for her efforts. Back then I didn't understand it this way and thought it's just an affectionate moment between the two, but it was actually Olvia recognizing what Robin wanted to hear the most :(

Robin had to survive on her very own, which was a nightmare for her already. But Saul repeats the same words to Robin that Olvia did - "Live!" and even gives her hope "You won't be alone, you will meet your comrades!". He knows really well how lonely Robin feels and how much she needs to hear all of that (he might have known her for only a few days, but he really paid attention to her!). He says all of it for her sake. And upon their reunion, he still keeps on doing that actually! Not only praises her for surviving, but also assures her she isn't alone in carrying the will of Ohara.

I think Saul is carrying Olvia's will (besides Ohara's will) here, took over the role of Robin's parent, and damn, he might be doing better job at it than Olvia ever did, no offense to her, but she was the parent who chose her mission over her daughter. It might sound cruel, but she's hardly the first or last parent in OP who did that. Saul, on the other hand, is trying to make things right again, isn't he? He can't fix the whole world so it becomes safe for Robin to live in, but he is still trying to do whatever he can to protect the legacy instead of her, so that one day it can contribute to a better future.

The raw emotion in this scene, my heart! I can't believe people can read this chapter and be like "pfff a reunion with the supposed dead character, what cheap writing". Come on, Robin deserved this moment of happiness. And it's not like it's a deus ex machina or anything, in fact this reunion is pretty bittersweet. Because Robin will have to leave Saul behind again, it's not like he can just travel with the Strawhats from now on. It's nice that Robin will be able to think that Saul is somewhere out there on Elbaf, wishing for her happiness, but it will always stay a long distance bond between them. Their reunion also can't erase all those years of lonely suffering from Robin's life.

Just like Saul became a parent for Robin, Robin thinks of Saul very fondly too. That's the reason why she's smiling even when she isn't happy, it's all because of Saul's words she always carried in her heart. Robin's smiles are often looking a bit forced, but the reason behind is really deep. It makes her recent, very honest smiles all that more precious too.

Did you ever wonder why does Saul love Robin so much? Why did he dedicate everything to her and Olvia, people who were complete strangers to him? He even lost his place in Navy and became a fugitive as the result. Yeah, sure, we can just shrug and say it's because he's such a nice person, but I think there's more to Saul than that. I would call him an accidental hero - he never actually planned to be one and lots of his heroism is rooted in his feeling of guilt (not unlike Olvia who thought she doomed the whole Ohara, huh). He even called it "karma" at one point. I really think Saul is a deeper character than just a simple good-hearted hero and I wonder if we will catch some new side of him now, on Elbaf too :D

Everyone is bawling besides the Roronoa-I-pretend-I-have-a-heart-of-steel-Zoro and I'm-too-old-for-that-Jimbei, and Luffy. Luffy is too busy being genuinely happy and grinning. And looking a tiny bit proud. And hey, he has every right to feel this way! All the way back in Alabasta, it was him who dragged Robin back to safety, saving her life, and accepted her on his crew. The Robin back then wasn't happy to be alive and thought there's no point in trying anymore. But this moment here? Would have never happened if she gave up all the way back then! And this is thanks to Luffy that she didn't.

This is the moment of turning despair upside down. It's a bit like how Kin said it in Wano "Looking back, it's been nothing but peril after peril, but I was fortunate to meet you..." and a moment later he adds "...at my most desperate state". Except Kin thinks it was both Luffy and Law who managed to turn his fate around (after all Law spared him by cutting him to pieces, that was mercy) and showed him that things will get better, something that Kin lost sight of back on Punk Hazard, succumbing to his rage.

Speaking of previous chapter's survey, let's just agree that Robin indeed changed her hair to celebrate meeting Saul. And if her hair cutting has also some other extra reason, I guess we will find out soon-ish (or later-ish).

Finally, I decided to pick my side as to who I think the mysterious guy in Wano's style of hat is. And I think the answer of "it's Yorki, not Shiki" satisfies me the most. We already had one tearful reunion in Elbaf, let's go for another one, Brook deserves it too! Seems like Elbaf attracts wonders, doesn't it.

I have no idea how Yorki could have survived, but if he did, it only makes sense he would be trying to search for Brook and the rest of the crew. He said that he deeply regretted leaving them and promised he will try to meet them again (if he doesn't die). So i think Yorki was searching for them, but couldn't find them. He was also feeling too guilty before to visit Laboon without Brook (Brook was Laboon's favourite person!). That would also explain why Crocus claimed he had a good source about Rumbar Pirates ditching the Grand Line, because indeed, Yorki's group did, together with him! Maybe he even did give up for a while, and only started to search for Brook again only much later. Maybe he spent a lot of time in Wano, because it was a closed off country - very likely place to find someone who vanished from the surface of the earth, right? Who knows, maybe he met Toki at one point and she send him forward to future (otherwise Yorki would be an old geezer by now, right? he seemed younger than Brook, but Brook spent 44 years in Florian Triangle, I think Yorki's hair would be white by now, at the very least).

Anyway, I won't try to sell you any details of how it all worked, because I actually have no idea myself. I have no clue how Yorki survived his sickness. but if he did (and many things point towards that) he would definitely try his best to reunite with Brook again, even if it was based on irrational hope and wishing for a miracle. But then Brook joined Luffy, got a new bounty, and even became a music star with his own concerts, his fame would reach Yorki finally as well. Which is why he finally decided to visit Crocus and Laboon, and they celebrated together and Yorki is probably promising he will go and see Laboon together with Brook again, or something like that :D I wonder how Brook will react... he's slightly insane (among other things) so he might try to flee at first, lol. This also adds a weight to Laboon on that cover page, doing the big surprised face :D

Since we learned lately that Brook is skilled in cutting people's hair it's possible that was his job on Rumber Pirates crew. Is that why Yorki has kept his hair so long? Because he wants for Brook to cut it again for him? :D

Who else might reunite on Elbaf? :D

[opbackgrounds]

So I finished the live action and have taken a little time to get my thoughts together, and I'm very much of two minds about this show. I don't seem to be quite as high on it as some other people and the parts I didn't like I *really* didn't like, but I think the bones of the show are good and that the problems I had could be improved upon in future seasons.

More detailed thoughts under the cut

I've said all along that the live action will need to carve out its own identity if it wants to survive, that it needed not to copy the source material, but rhyme with it.

I feel like the first four episodes do that best. There was a lot to cover in the East Blue, and the more disconnected, episodic nature of the manga wasn't going to work. The solution was to combine and condense the manga content, and then add a significant B plot with the marines to help tie everything together.

The problem I have is that the addition of the marines takes away too much time from the Straw Hats without adding enough to make it worth it in the end. While backstories and story arcs were rushed to hell for our main crew, everything with Garp slogged, with the final payoff being nonsensical and poorly executed. I get what they were trying to do with Garp, shifting from childish temper tantrums to laughing maniacally, but it just doesn't work. Garp just doesn't work. Which is a shame, because I think that the growth for Koby and Helmeppo had a lot of potential and the actors exceeded my expectations. The material they had to work with just wasn't good enough.

Syrup Villiage worked best for me, because of all the arcs in the manga it was the most dragged out and poorly executed. It benefits from being condensed and leaning into the horror vibe over the generic shonen battle of the original was inspired. Plus, it validated my head canon of Kuro poisoning Kaya, which is always a nice feeling.

But even here, there's a knock-on effect of what came before it. Because Shells Town and Orange Town were cut down so drastically, Zoro's backstory and some of Nami's development were kicked on down the line, making Usopp more of a bystander in the arc where he should have shined the brightest. Later on the Baratie, Sanji's inner turmoil and struggle to follow his dream is reduced down to a "hey, the chore boy offered me a job, I'm gonna bounce".

And for what? So we can spend a painfully long scene of Garp eating a fucking steak?

The show needed its original ten episodes of runtime to let the characters just breathe. The chemistry amongst the crew is great, there are cinematic moments that took my breath away, the soundtrack is fire, the fights were enjoyable, and the set design is fantastic, but the depth of the manga is flattened. In the East Blue, every villain--even the shitty ones--acted as double foils. For example, Captain Morgan's narcissism contrasted with Zoro's willingness to throw away his good name in order to follow his dream, where his more villainous nature foiled Koby's heroism. In the show, Morgan barely counts as a villain, with his more disturbing and evocative acts such as telling his subordinates to shoot themselves (and more chillingly, them willing to do it) are cut out entirely, and it makes Garp's decision to later tie him up to the same post as Zoro seem almost insane.

Of all the arcs, Arlong Park left the worst taste in my mouth, which is so frustrating when it's supposed to be the crown jewel of the season. The changes they made to Nojiko are baffling and the one time I honestly don't understand why a change was made. Nami's backstory, the most powerful in the East Blue, was chopped into pieces and condensed so much that I felt nothing when Bellemere died. Luffy's decision to actually listen to Nami's backstory, while it made sense for this version of the character, went so against the spirit of the original that it took me out of the moment, as well as removing one of the aspects that makes Luffy such a unique character in the first place.

And for what, so the season had time to end with Luffy fighting Garp in a hopeless fight, only for Garp to let him go because "it was all a test"? Bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. The whole point of the East Blue is to establish the Straw Hat Pirates. They shouldn't be playing second fiddle to anyone, let alone this deranged, poorly written version of Garp.

I said that the bones of the show are good, and I stand by that. The Straw Hats are the Straw Hats. The One Piece world is the One Piece world. I do remain hopeful for improvements should there be a season two, because the marine B plot with Smoker is already in the manga, and the overarching story of Alabasta gives the writers the ability to be more flexible with the limited time that they have. I have to believe that it's easier doing one big story over the course of a season than it is trying to shove 5 origin stories into 8 episodes, but I'm not a TV person so I might be wrong.

However, my concern is that in some ways season one benefited from the pandemic. The series was in pre-production for like 7 years, and all the interviews I've read have credited the extra time the series had in the developmental oven for my favorite aspects of the show--particularly the sets. That's not going to necessarily the case going forward, and my worry is if future seasons aren't given the time to get it right that it's all going to fall apart. At the same time they can't wait too long, because that's not how live action works.

The live action isn't a bad show, but it isn't a good show, either. I'm glad that it exists, even if it's only to point back to the original. I wouldn't be devistated if it were cancelled, but would certainly check out season two should it get renewed.

Just, please. No more Garp. I'm begging Matt Owens and Oda himself, please. Just let the man do cool stuff off screen for a couple seasons, and when he's reintroduced pretend all this never happened. Your show will be better for it, I promise.

[almondmilkcleanser]

❝ You were thinking about you while

I'm thinking 'bout we❞

𝐀𝐍𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐄 - 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑

BUILDING NO. 9 (18+)

𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 — the most unexpected twists and turns can land you in circumstances you never would dream of, even on your worst day. Follow Kaymari's story as one of her simplest decisions changes the trajectory of her entire life. And it all started at Building #9.

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 — 1,172.

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 — so I wanted to showcase more of my original fiction on Tumblr so here's another one of my works! If you have any questions plssss reply and i'll respond asap! Love you dolls. Mwah!

Excitedly, I looked out the window as the trees flew past us. It was finally happening, our first apartment together! We had been through so much together that it couldn't have been better timing for us to sign the paperwork for our new place.

And it seemed to happen so quickly. When we signed our leasing agreeagreement,women inside were friendly and ready to give us our keys. It was like a dream. I knew for a fact that moving to a new city, away from the drama, and away from the bitches, would do us both good.

"A new start," I said to myself, a small smile spreading across my face.

"What you said, bae?" Damarius, my boyfriend of 3 years, reached over to hold my hand while his other caressed the steering wheel of our moving truck.

"Huh?" I rubbed his knuckles, eyeing my name, Kaymari, etched across in detailed cursive. "Oh, nothing, babe. I can't believe it!" I squealed, kissing his hand once more.

"Well, believe it, bae. We here and it's gonna be nothing but new beginnings and new experiences for the both of us."

"You're not scared?" I was speaking for myself, but I looked over to him for reassurance. "This is away from your friends, away from your family, away from..." My thoughts wandered to other undesirable scenarios, making me sink back into my seat. I saw the gates of our apartment open up as we pulled up, It was the middle of the afternoon and things seemed to be calm, the perfect time to unpack and relax after a stressful move.

"From?" his tone made me wince, causing me to look away.

"Nothing, baby. It's silly." I heard the subtle suck of his teeth, making me feel more self-conscious about letting the past get to me yet again.

"Kay-Kay, I thought you said we weren't going to do-"

"And we're not," I immediately stopped him. This wasn't going to ruin our day. It just wasn't.

"You're right, baby. We're not going to do it."

He didn't say anything else but instead kissed my hand again before placing both back on the steering wheel.

"Home sweet home."

-

We unloaded our truck little by little, carefully taking down boxes that had our TV, our glass table, and my other delicate pieces of furniture. Every so often, he would walk away or hop back into the truck to answer the phone but I didn't mind it. It was a busy day, we were still finalizing the closing process of our previous home and our family continued to call as the day circulated on. But nothing could stop my high. I was in a new, even bigger space, with the love of my life. We even talked about marriage and planning a family on the way up here and it made my heart swell. This could be our chance to get things together.

I had faith in us. And this new place, Building 7 to be exact, was going to be the beginning of a new life for the both of us.

"Let me take that, bae." Damarius grabbed the large box from my hands and double-stepped it in front of me to hold the door open. We were on the first floor, thankfully, so the unloading process was easier than ever.

When he placed the box down, I surprised him with a kiss. Small pecks on the cheek turned into longer, steamier kisses on the neck. His hands roamed my body, pulling me closer by my ass so he could deepen the kiss.

"You better stop that shit before I say fuck the furniture." He growled, kissing me once more on the neck.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" I moaned, wrapping my arms around his neck. Our door was still open wide for anyone to see, but we didn't care. The way he held me and looked into my eyes made me feel the need to bless the house quicker than I initially planned.

Damarius laughed and released his grip on me to pick up another box. "You know how y'all be about the shower so I'm going to start unloading the bathroom stuff. See what else is small and bring the rest inside. I got my boys coming to unload the big items."

I flexed my arms, pouting in defeat. "You don't think I'm strong enough?"

He burst into laughter, turning on his heel to head into our bathroom. "I Know You're not. And I don't need you breaking the bedframe, babe!"

"Jerk." I flipped him off as he walked away. I didn't want to unload a couch any fucking way. As I prepared to walk off, I noticed he left his phone on the kitchen counter. Not thinking anything of it, I grabbed it to bring to him, only for it to buzz to life. The number wasn't saved and oddly enough, it only rang for 3 seconds before stopping.  Seconds later, his phone vibrated, signaling a text message.

I don't want to go back to my old self. We have already been through this. He's changed. I've changed. I've changed.

As badly as my old instincts wanted to revisit this situation, I took a deep breath and followed Damarius into the bathroom. When I handed him his phone, he looked surprised.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Not sure. The number wasn't saved." I could sense him tense up only to quickly relax his facial expression. He took out the tools to change the shower head, putting the phone face down on the sink.

"It must be Joe coming to unload the truck, I'll get back to him. Thanks, baby."

"You're welcome, babe."

As I walked back to the truck, our apartment building seemed to be coming to life. Kids were coming home from school, adults coming home from work, the usual. I looked above me to the second floor and spotted one of my neighbors. He was taller, athletically built, with locs neatly cascading down his back. He stood on the balcony shirtless, on the phone, looking down at me as well.

We shot each other a friendly wave before I focused back on the task at hand. When I grabbed another box, I turned around to look in the same direction as my neighbor, only to find him gone.

THIS IS MY ORIGINAL WORKS. PLAGIARISM IS NOT ALLOWED. DO NOT REPOST. LIKES AND REBLOGS ARE WELCOME.

[shadowx16]

The Hollow: Bad Ice Cream AU

They are here, they are ice creams! Oh no! THEY’VE BEEN ICECREAMIFIED!!!!! Dx

This was really fun to make since I had the idea for a while now since mid June, I hope you like them too as much as I do :3

Fun Facts:

Adam, Kai, Reeve, Vanessa and skeet were different flavors before I decided to change them to be color coded (somewhat color coded)

Adam was originally chocolate ice cream

Kai was originally vanilla ice cream

Reeve was going to be dark chocolate ice cream (yes, it’s a real flavor, I wonder what it tastes like :|c)

Skeet was gonna be mint chocolate chip but I decided sorbet ice cream fits him well

And Vanessa was the original strawberry ice cream before I gave that role to Kai

The reason why I switched Kai to be strawberry ice cream was thanks to this image:

After that I figured strawberry fit him best cause he would probably eat strawberry ice cream when he gets the chance to buy some

Kai has strawberry seeds as freckles in his face and shoulders (because I like the headcanon that Kai has freckles)

His hair is made of strawberry syrup with the black dots being seeds, like that one strawberry syrup that is pretty transparent that looks very pretty when you put it on ice cream

Adam also has the seeds treatment, just with chocolate chips :v

they are on his hair and shoulders just like Kai’s strawberry seeds, except there are less of them

The hollow logo in adam’s chest is made of chocolate syrup (it was too iconic to remove)

Mira’s hair was going to be blue like her body but it wouldn’t be that noticeable so I made it pink, bubblegum ice cream is usually depicted with blue and pink colors so that’s where I got it from :>

Mira is taller than Kai by one or two inches, because Mira being slightly taller than Kai is funny to me xd

Kai is the smallest out of everyone (lmao he short XD)

The reason why I switched skeet to be sorbet ice cream was because I headcanon he would rather eat sorbet ice cream than regular ice cream

he thinks sorbet ice cream is underrated

sorbet ice cream can be any flavor and this skeet would be passion fruit flavored, his hair is also made of sorbet and is mango flavored

Skeet is the tallest out of everyone (he a tall boi)

Reeve was gonna be dark chocolate flavored but then I changed my mind cause his locs wouldn’t be as noticeable (trust me, I tried)

Reeve’s hair is made out of bacon, the bacon is fried (might as well put a fried egg on top of his head)

He was also gonna have little bacon pieces on his shoulders like Kai and Adam but I thought of that after I finished coloring him (I’ll probably add those later if I draw them again)

I headcanon reeve would be disgusted at the idea of bacon ice cream, but at the same time would be like “but what if it taste good tho? >:/c”

bacon ice cream is a real ice cream flavor, I’m not joking you can search it up

Adam, Kai, and Reeve have orange lips, while skeet, mira, and vanessa have pink lips

Vanessa’s hair and eyebrows are made of licorice

I know her hair doesn’t look like licorice but I got lazy so I’ll give it more detail if I draw her again my apolocheese

If you were to eat any part of their bodies they would simply regenerate to their original state

The vanilla and chocolate ice creams are Tyler and Iris

Nisha doesn’t get to be an ice cream flavor cause 1. There are only 8 ice cream flavors, and 2. I don’t like her that much xd

maybe I will turn her into an ice cream one day, we’ll see how nice I am :V

Sorry for writing a bible verse for you to read I got a little too silly :3c ok I’ll get out of your hair now byeeeeee

[the-scarlet-witch-22]

wip Wednesday, yeeeessss.

Ok, I'm dying to know what is your writing process? Do u listen to specific music for a specific fic? Do you already have the entire fic in your head or do u let it take u where it wants to over time? Whats your fav fic to write? Do you add small details from your personal life there? And what has been the hardest to write so far? Is there a trope you love but haven't been able to write for so far?

Sooo many questions 😂

Hi anon <3 Oooo okay let's get into it.

My writing process is kind of boring, I think. I have to be in a particular headspace to write, and getting inspiration and motivation can be so so challenging. But I usually will have an iced coffee, or something to drink, turn on my music and just start typing haha. It usually helps me to re-read what I've written and do a couple passes to get the voice right, but that's about it. I'll also sometimes watch clips from WV and now A3 to keep Agatha's characterization in mind, even though these are mostly au's. When I'm done I can be a bit picky with editing, and I always have girlfriend beta for me to help pick up on anything I may have missed.

I typically make a playlist for every fic I write, and will add onto it as the story progresses. I've shared my Chaconne playlist in the past, but I can definitely make them all public if anyone is ever interested in what I listen to as I write!

9 times out of 10 I usually have the main plot mapped out in my head when I start writing a story. With Chaconne, for example, I was listening to the piece one night and thought about Agatha in a world as a conductor. I have changed plots, though. My original plan for Chaconne was a lot different than what I ended up going with, haha.

My fave fic to write... oh that's like picking a favorite kid, but definitely Lark (although I love all of them in their own way).

I'm gonna cut because I ramble a bit more below xoxo

I have definitely intentionally, and also unintentionally, drawn inspiration from my own life with some of my writing, haha. Chaconne/Lark absolutely with music references and rehearsal scenes. It's kind of just my inner monologue whenever I play the violin, if that makes sense. I think the unintentional aspects are from relationships and from moments of time in my life where I never really got closure, and I've kind of projected that into my writing.

The hardest fic to write...probably Love & Liabilities. There are some pretty sensitive topics that are about to come into play in a few chapters that I want to make sure are handled respectfully and doesn't offend anyone in the process. This is actually what inspired the majority of the fic, and it's something that has helped me kind of deal with some things that have been going on in my life over the past year or so.

Tropes I haven't done but am interested in hmmm... I feel like I've hit the majority of ones that I tend to favor, but I'd love to do like a Pride & Prejudice type of story with Agatha as this wealthy spinster, lmao. I also love The Bear and that found family sort of relationship that's on the show, and I feel like Agatha would thrive in a story like that (I'm specifically thinking of that pic of Kathryn that was released yesterday in the chef outfit)

Anyways, bit of a ramble but thank you so much for the questions! This made me so happy to type out and I appreciate you very much <3

[bunnymi1k]

i'm gonna make a bit of a masterpost with all my good art here, as i'm officially opening my commissions. i don't expect many requests, but i'm still limiting it to five total for the time being. first come, first serve, but i do have the right to decline for any reason i see fit.

let's get into the do's and don'ts first. it's a bit of a read, but please stick til the end if you're interested

things i WILL draw

ship art, within reason*

original characters

official characters, movies/shows/etc

other people's ocs, with permission!!

furries/anthros

my little pony characters

powerpuff/teen puff art style

chibi characters

nsfw art, but only if you can verify you're 18+!!!! and no underage characters!

portraits of yourself or others in my art style, which is not realism sorry

mild gore or body horror

things i WON'T draw

loli/shota

*ship art of the following: incest, pedophilia, canonically abusive couples, noncon situations

nsfw art of or for minors; unless the character canonically is 18+ at some point in the story, they're off limits. no fanon aged up designs.

mecha/highly robotic designs; it's just not my forte and i would hate to disappoint anyone expecting highly detailed mechanical designs. if you feel it's simplistic enough, we can discuss it further.

nsfw art of full-on animal characters, or anthros with realistic animal genitalia

nsfw art in the mlp style. same situation as above; if they're not anthropomorphic enough, i'm not drawing nsfw of it

chibi or ppg style nsfw

extreme gore/violence

payment can be made either in full, or 50%, upfront.

if you choose to do half upfront, the other half MUST be paid after approval of the final sketch for me to continue further. adjustments can continue to be made within reason. ie: please don't ask me to change the composition when it's half finished, or anything else outlandish

works in progress WILL use programs such as nightshade to prevent usage in AI programs, and will be heavily watermarked to avoid theft.

you will receive the full FINISHED artwork in any file format(s) you want (PNG being the default) via email, with a smaller watermark. it is yours to do whatever you wish with, all i ask for at that point is credit linking back to my blog!

please bear in mind that i have a full time job and other responsibilities if you choose to commission me. i would love for art to be my full-time job, but as it stands, it can't be. all of this to say, please have patience and empathy for the person behind the screen <3

now to get into the juicy part, pricing. please note- these prices are for single character pieces. additional information will be below

BUSTS (shoulders/chest and up)

sketch: 5 usd

lineart only: 8 usd

flat colors: 12 usd

cell shading: 18 usd

fully rendered/painted: 25 usd

HALF BODY (lower torso/waist and up)

sketch: 10 usd

lineart: 13 usd

flat colors: 17 usd

cell shading: 23 usd

fully rendered: 30 usd

FULL BODY

sketch: 15 usd

lineart: 18 usd

flat colors: 22 usd

cell shading: 30 usd

fully rendered: 45 usd

the cost of ONE additional character is ½ of the price listed above. anything more than two will be 25% of the listed price PER CHARACTER.

if you've made it this far, congratulations! now you get to enjoy my portfolio, if you wanna call it that. reblogs are very much appreciated!!!

if you're interested after all of that, dm me and tell me your pet's name so i know you read through everything (;

some of this stuff is a bit outdated, but like i said i think these are some of my best works to show. i'll definitely rb this with more stuff to add someday, as well as when the number of open slots updates.

0/5

[ming-sik]

How do you think canon would react to your au?

there's definitely a lot of them who are mostly unrecognizable, like tuuli's personality overhaul is so substantial and her original character is so flat that i think that baon!tuuli would scan as a completely different character who happens to share her name if they ever actually met. there's also a lot who are similar enough that there wouldn't be a huge clash, although canon angelica and baon!angelica are very different, you wouldn't notice the differences unless they were called to perform a task without using enhancement magic and angie suddenly had to deal with dyslexia symptoms. so im just gonna do the highlights

canon rozemyne would probably find baon!rozemyne to be a bit of a coward. myne entering noble society under conditions that force her to constantly keep the danger nobles pose to her in mind means that she has to act way more cautiously than canon rozemyne gets to since she cannot solve any problem that canon rozemyne solves by brute force. i do think she would be very worried about the fact that rozemyne is hartmut's retainer. surprisingly, otherwise she's the character who changes the least since i already find her interesting to mess around with.

ferdinand is basically the same in personality with only the details changed. he's an analytical, callous proponent of noble society who is the way he is because he views his own life as a tool. he's a version of himself who wasn't surprised by myne and therefore didn't allow her to influence him. that said he comes across as way more villainous simply because we don't mainly see him through the perspective of the one person he likes and respects, we see the way he treats everyone else.

hartmut would be one of the more divergent comparisons. in the AU he fixates on printing itself instead of rozemyne, fascinated by the myriad of practical and social challenges to implementing widescale printing. this comes after rozemyne earns his respect by accurately and viciously chewing him out in a way he's never experienced. his initial assignment to help with the printing industry ended up in him slacking off and sabotaging it bc he doesn't care, but despite everyone else knowing it was common sense to just wait for it to be over and try to pick up the pieces, rozemyne pointed out that he was being such a jerk because he didn't have any actually helpful knowledge since he refused to listen to lower-status nobles long enough to learn the basics and didn't back down when he tried to strongarm her into giving up. idk if canon hartmut would be impressed by rozemyne being good at arguing(or extremely stubborn when it comes to books) but baon!hartmut's main problem is that his entire brain revolves around whatever he finds interesting and anything outside of that is for the most part beneath his notice, so when rozemyne interests him and makes printing interesting, he latches onto it. he mirrors ferdinand, but because of his age she's able to push their dynamic closer to peers and unlike ferdinand he comes to see her as someone who is intellectually his equal, as well as them being very similar kinds of autistic. also he ends up playing the comedic role sylvester does since he's a silly guy who is her boss but who she isn't especially scared of and has a personal rapport with.

sylvester is as always my special little guy. i cannot decide if he and baon!sylvester would totally get each other or fight to the death. i push sylvester a Lot farther, with him being forced to choose and choose and choose whether he cares more about preserving his status or doing what he feels is right with the cost of doing what he feels is right getting higher every time and eventually him having to accept that his fundamental worldview is incompatible with him as a person. canon sylvester might think he's kind of a dumbass since most of those problems are solved for him by someone else so he doesn't have to deal with them or just don't exist in the first place and while in my heart sylvester is just waiting for the right push to go full communist i dont think that's supported by canon if we don't ignore the back half of the series. he spends a lot more time as an antagonist or at least a character who is definitely doing something wrong, and unfortunately his silliness is very constrained by how on fire everything is for the majority of the story. born to game forced to adult as some might say

charlotte might view baon!charlotte as a kind of wish fulfillment, at least at first. since charlotte decides to take advantage of wilfried's condemnation by launching a story-long mission to become aub ehrenfest at any cost, she's a wayyyyy more active force in the story. she's a massive schemer and although her goal is to stabilize ehrenfest and become an aub who can save it from the brink of collapse, she is ultimately incapable of doing that on her own using the tools of her nobility, almost getting turned into georgine's pawn through trying to exploit her without fully understanding who she's up against. how much and how viciously she fights with sylvester is definitely very different, since their conflict between sylvester wanting to keep charlotte safe in the immediate future and charlotte wanting her life to be as valuable to her duchy as possible, plus an entire childhood of bad blood from sylvester's neglect mean that charlotte actively hates him for a lot of the story.

detlinde is more expanded than changed. detlinde's narcissism as a result of the abuse and neglect she's under means that she clings until her fingers bleed to the idea that someday she will be big and powerful enough to leave all the haters in her dust. she's aware that her mother only cares about her as a pawn, but she's bad at that and so she rails against it, refusing to throw herself at whichever noble her mom demands she curry favor with when all it has ever done is make people hate her more. charlotte is initially just a target georgine gives her, but charlotte is too committed to gaining her as an ally at first and too sympathetic to her later to give up. detlinde is in a very complicated place for a lot of the story, torn between wanting to stay in her comfortable shell or follow charlotte to the terrifying world of trying to function within society instead of hoping to spontaneously escape it one day. this kicks into overdrive when georgine starts treating charlotte as the daughter she always wished she'd had, which explodes her and charlotte's relationship, and is unfortunately After hartmut is engaged to detlinde on charlotte's promise that he would be a reliable ally in her own quest for the throne. detlinde & hartmut end up being a team of antagonists once charlotte defects to the revolutionaries but that's way later i havent thought about the details yet. probably they're tragic antagonists because that's fun :)

[thebisexualwreckoning]

Mind analysing your poem a little? 👀

Incredibly long post alert to anyone who plans on reading this

Obligatory transphobes and terfs dni. The following poem is about and written by ‘them gotdamn trannys and queers’ and is about beautiful beautiful t4t sex

i am kissing you. on the mouth.

thank you so much for sending this in i genuinely love talking about my poetry so much muah muah muah!!!

Original poem if anyone wants to read it:

Anyway.

Welcome to Prof A. 's line by line analysis of his poem*. So buckle your seatbelts because this is gonna be loooong ride. Let's get started!

*Disclaimer: you might interpret some of these lines differently then i do and that is perfectly alright. poetry depends on everyone's own lived experience and that does not make any one interpretation less valid. i might have written the poem, but your interpretations are still just as true.

I'm going to start with inspirations and the title first because i love providing backstory and talking about other poets. Very specifically one poet that inspired me to write this actually. You can skip this part if you just want to know about the technical structures and literary devices and specific meanings behind the poem

The title was originally part of a completely different short story/prose poetry  (i hadn't made up my mind yet) thing i was going to write but then never got around to finishing. but i just so happened to be going through my old writing (always keep a handy little notebook on hand. it has saved my life so many times) and find the little snippet i wrote and go, 'wait i actually like this very much' and decide to reuse it for something else.

but anyway, couple hours later im doing a voice of country thing for my literature class and analysing poetry by indigenous and aboriginal Australian poets. and i come across this little poem called 'a portrait of a genderkweer on fire'  by a certain Ellen van Neerven (who belongs to the Mununjali Yugambeh people of south east Queensland btw) (go check out their poetry it is genuinely life changing) and it sticks with me you know. it really does. poc trans people writing about their lived experiences as poetry? why didn't I, a poc trans person, think about that!

(no seriously, in all my years of writing poetry it for some reason never occured to me to write about my people. so genuinely thank you Ellen for that!)

now i've already got a first line ive been wanting to use, i am feeling extremely queer and angry because of unrelated transphobia a friend faced and i have a mechanical pencil and notebook in hand.

So i start writing.

(Apologies for my awful handwriting. i was writing while pacing and waiting for the bus)

Alright, kiddies. As you can see, most of the poem was taken verbatim with very few changes to the actual word choices behind the poem. (I will be doing a deep dive into the language as well, dont you worry)

The biggest change made actually is the switch from prose poetry to a more traditional stanza poem. i made the decision to do this actually because originally the poem was meant to be much longer and incorporate the original piece i decided to rework this into.

The quote 'sometimes i imagine what heaven is like' was meant to be repeated at the start of different stanzas which would be written in prose form, each detailing a different phase of queer love in secret, from secret night time affairs (this specific poem) to escape and loving loudly (the original thing i wrote). however, it didn't really work the way i wanted it too and i decided this was fine as it was and started to edit and play around with it a bit.

i changed 'sometime i imagine what heaven is like' to 'Do you imagine what heaven looks like?' and made it the title of the poem instead of the first sentence. the poem itself now becomes the narrator's idealised image of what heaven would be like for them. i go a bit more on depth about this in point 3 of Changes to the structure

Changes to the structure

As mentioned, the first change was from prose to stanzas. I'm about to get full on literature student about this so bear with me

Each stanza has one (1) extra line from the previous one in the poem. For ex: stanza 1 has 4 lines, stanza 2 has 5 lines, and stanza 3 has 6 lines. this was a deliberate choice i made. not to be too english teacher about this but it shows the narrator is coming to some sort of a revelation soon. (i wont spoil too much about this tho. for reasons)

ENJAMBMENTS!!! if you don't know what an enjambment is, it refers to a line break that interrupts the flow of a sentence: usually the line usually doesn’t end with punctuation, and the thought continues on the next line. now, i heavily fuck with enjambments in poetry. which is why i was so eager to use them over here. they represent a kind of stream of consciences here rather than structured thought. enjamments also help in rising tension and drawing the reader in deeper, making them want to continue reading to find out what happens next.

syntax: now the poem is actually meant to be wish fulfilment of sorts for the narrator, where they imagine all the things they wish they could do with their lover. that's why its not written in present tense using sentences like 'the moon shines' or 'the bedsheet are sweaty...'. The narrator is basically telling the moon to shine through his windows and the bedsheets to be stained and his lover to run a finger down his spine. we don't actually have anything written in present tense till 'She holds me close...'

the random spaced out/missing words a.k.a SYNTAX 2.0! because yes. there are certain words missing. ive intentionally left a space between 'left' and 'tramp' and between 'Boy' and 'fuchsia'. there is also a missing word before 'count'. now, if you read my original version of the poem, you can find out what words are actually supposed to be there, but when i put it into verse form, i found that many of the words id written in prose didnt actually fit. but without them the sentence kind of fell apart. so i decided to leave blank space where those words were supposed to go to signal to the reader that something is missing while not actually needing to mention that

4.5. just like the stanzas growing by a single line in each verse, the missing words also increase in a frequency of one (1), zero of them in stanza 1, a single missing word in stanza 2 and 2 of them in stanza 3.

5. capitalisations and Punctuations to immerse the reader more and help with the stream of consciousness style of the poem, most of the poem is written in lowercase with no punctuation being used throughout the only things capitalised are 'Factory Made Cunt', '... Boy' and 'She holds me...' you may have noticed a common string between these words is they are all related to gender. 'Factory Made Cunt' especially was written to put emphasis on the inherent transness of the character while '... Boy' was capitalised for this and to have more of a visual distinction from the black space that follow. 'She hold me...' however was written to directly contrast the lowercase 'god' and how to the narrator their lover is the divine being instead of any so called god (which is weird because i personally am a religious person).

Language choices and line by line analysis:

'moon shine through the' - moon shine over here is meant to show how queer people often can only exist in the freedom on night time and their love is often only seen within the secrecy of moonlight and not under the brightness of the sun. (also all moon deities are queer icons).

A friend of mine also provided the connection to 'moon shine' being a reference to illegal moonshine (home brewed extremely strong alcohol) and how that itself was a reference to illegally transtioning without the goverment knowing/able to get medical stuff

'window illuminating short bristles of': the narrators lover being a trans girl with a buzz cut was an intentional choice to show that gender expression does not equal actual gender. buzz cuts are traditonally associated with men, but also many butches in the community rock a buzz cut as well and its too show that there's no right way of being trans and presenting as a woman.

'her hair tickling' and 'the underside of my nose': im going at these two together since i don't really have much to say about them separately. it's more meant to be visual imagery, reinforcing the two are intimate in some manner but not really expanding whether it's platonic or romantic yet. its also meant to evoke the image of the narrators lover lying on their chest and but the narrator not caring about the fact that they might be slightly uncomfortable but loves their girl too much to push them away

'bedsheet sweaty and cum': confirming the fact that they are in a sexually intimate relationship and are lying post-coital (i cannot believe i just used the term coital. this has become an academic essay)

'stained entangle around the curve of' - some sensual imagery and tactile imagery

'her thigh where my' - more imagery

'lipstick left        tramps stamps on her' - tramp stamp is a reference to how trans women are often oversexualised and is meant to be a reclamation of their own bodies and sexualities

'Factory Made Cunt' - emphasis is placed on these words by being the first capitalised words in the entire poem as of yet. its meant to kind of condemn the never ending discussion about trans women's bodies and especially their genitals and the hyper sexualization of girlcock by fetishisers (not that there is anything wrong with girlcock. this user loves girlcock and boypussy). its kinda like the narrator is saying 'so what if her pussy is surgically made. how does that make it any lesser)

'           count down the' - once again, not really much to say

'knobs of my spine leaving behind a shivering' - more more sensual imagery

'mess of a Boy    fuchsia bright silicone' - just like how 'Factory Made Cunt' condemned speculation on trans women's bodies, this condemns speculations on those of trans men. it also challenges the assumption that just because you are a man or that you top, you immediately have to be the dominant one in the relationship. 'fuchsia bright' was also a deliberate syntax choice. the silicone is the bright thing here not the fuchsia giving the narrator the chance to have a dick which is bright/illuminated moment for them as a trans boy.

'dick still hard whispering lover' - the 'dick still hard' part was meant to be an ironic comment on how cishetero patriarchal society is always going about people in sapphic relationships using dildos and saying that they should just fuck a real man instead of a fake approximation of one (not that they are that eloquent) but the joke is that while those criticising sapphics who use dildos actually need to wait for a dick to get hard again before they can have sex while the sapphics don't have to worry about that since dildos are always hard. also the 'whispering lover' thing was written completely out of spite to prove the friend with the moonshine interpretation wrong when she said that lover cannot be an appropriate term of endearment and to her credit she has since changed her mind and has been very gracious about it and glad to be immortalised in a poem in this form

'in my ear She holds me close' - more more more sensuous imagery along with auditory imagery of whispering in ears.

'leaving behind no space for god' - a play on the popular phrase 'leave some space for Jesus'

Anyway, this turned out way to big and way to detailed for a simple little analysis but once again, i am a student of literature and this is quite literally my life's passion, made even easier since i have direct access to the writer's brain instead of having to make my own assumptions and spend hours researching.

I hope you enjoy if you or anyone else even bothers to read through considering just how much i actually wrote. but yeah, here's my final literary analysis of my poem Do you imagine what heaven looks like?

[0heartangel0]

Many months ago (March-May), I played and beat Tactica. From when I hit 'start' to when the credits rolled, I had many thoughts on this game, and for a while, I was too afraid to share them. But after these past few months of ruminating, I've finally wracked up the courage to come out the closet to say:

I hate it. It's not good. It was frustrating from beginning to end. I don't even think the dlc will change my mind on things if I ever think of getting it.

Now, before you raise those pitchforks, I'm not saying you should also hate it alongside me. If you like it, that's okay, and all the power to you to do so. I'm just here to go into too much detail as to why I personally don't have the same opinion. Much like my last big post, I'll be doing this in parts because I have a LOT to say. So, strap in, 'cause

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Pt. 1: The Positives

Okay, I'm not gonna be entirely negative here. There are a couple of good things, believe it or not.

For starters, the art is very good. I know some people might not like it for how it not only strays away from the original's art style, but is made to be more cartoony, but to that I say that that's a rather close-minded way of looking at it. In its own right, it at least has an identity of its own outside of the original, and the cartoonish art style gives way for more expression on the characters, both face-wise and pose-wise. Each still of the characters breathes life into them, and there's even some unique ones depending on the circumstances of the scene.

There's even some moments of full art pieces, and they're gorgeous:

I heard some people compare the art style to that of Persona Q's, but I'd say it's more on the lines with Panty And Stocking's, and I love its art style!

The cutscenes.....well, it depends on which ones you're talking about. Most of the 2d ones are good, but some are dragged down by not-so-good blocking and camera work, especially one in particular (don't worry, we'll get to that one...). The 3d cutscenes...aren't great. My biggest gripe with them are how the mouths move, which looks so weird and awkward, and you notice it from the very first cutscene (skip to when Yusuke and Futaba start talking). The shading and lighting also seem off, but I think that's just me.

Oh, right. Positives. Positives! POSITIVES!

Uh...OKAY! As much as I don't like the vast majority of the characters in this game (I'll elaborate on this in the next post), three of them are handled really well: Futaba, Yusuke, and (surprisingly enough) Lavenza.

Futaba still reigns supreme as p5's best girl (and by 'best girl' I mean out of the PT girls, she's the most entertaining and interesting one. To me), and retains her usual quips and personality. But not just that. Out of all the PT, she has the best chemistry with Toshiro. Not only does she have the most/best banter and talks with him, but they even have the most emotional interactions together.

Before fighting Yoshiki, Futaba tries reassuring him that his mother did love him, due to her own experience of the brain tricking her into thinking hers didn't love her, either. However, she dances around even talking about her own mother, and is super awkward the whole time.

This makes sense, considering the game takes place about 6-7 months after she joined the PT, so she'd still be very socially awkward. It's also a big contrast to Strikers, taking place about a whole year since her joining + having recently started attending high-school, so she's shown to be much better with communication by then.

Another good interaction is after Toshiro finds out the truth behind what happened to Eri Natsuhara (God, that name...), and gets super depressed, requesting the thieves just leave him behind to die. Futaba then does what I wish I could do, which is slap him across the face. She then tells him that she knows what it's like wanting to die, thinking you're the cause of someone else's misfortunes, but if she climbed out of that, he can too. She later makes him coffee with Yusuke, who reveals to Toshiro that she needed help with it, much to her embarrassment.

As bizarre as it is, I do love their chemistry, and I love how Futaba's handled in this game because of it.

Yusuke is rather bizarre for me, because (and I must be honest), he's a character I don't focus on much in comparison to the rest of the Thieves in P5. That isn't to say he's a bad character by any means; he's great! It's just, while he has his funny moments, I always found Ryuji as the character to give me the most laughs. He has his emotional moments, but characters like Futaba I would resonate with more.

But in Tactica, my God, is he entertaining. Out of every character, he has given me the most laughs (aside from maybe Lavenza, but we ain't there, yet), and still stays true to his character. His most notable moments are in Kingdom 2. For instance, when the gang are trying to save a bunch of citizens while acting like Samurai/Geisha, picking team Samurai will result in Ann using her terrible acting skills to get a drunk aizen to cough up the information, only for him to obviously be confused with the way she's acting. Yusuke then uses this opportunity by claiming that Ann's just drunk, and needs somewhere to lie down. Oh, the place where those citizens are is the perfect spot! Where was it, again?

The aizen falls for it, and tells them where it is. But just as he's sobering up, and is about to report them, Yusuke knocks him out, saying:

Love this scene! (And yes, I know this scene is optional, for you can choose to go with the geisha group instead (Haru, Makoto, and Erina), but I preferred to go with the bois + Ann (and can I just go off on a tangent to say having Ann be a Samurai is so smart and refreshing? As a character that's always depicted very feminine, seeing her in more masculine garb is really fun and great. Also, she's adorable in the getup)).

Later on, in order to get inside Yoshiki's palace, Toshiro devises a plan to dress all the townsfolk as the Phantom Thieves as distraction. The real kicker is that Yusuke was the one to come up with the designs to them, much to everyone's horror:

So, in conclusion, Yusuke's great. Love him.

As for Lavenza, wow, did she get an upgrade! I might go as far to say she's the only character to get improved upon in this game. For most of the first game, she's split into Caroline and Justine, and we're only properly introduced to her by the end, where she serves her purpose as help for the final battle + exposition (I hear she gets more in Royal, but only played Vanilla, so can't exactly comment). However, she's given more screen time in Strikers, which would've helped to expand on her character.

EEEEeexcept she's instead left there to exposit on how there's an impending doom + fusions. That's it. The most memorable scene she has is right after Zenkichi awakens to his Persona, where she drags you into the Velvet Room to explain to you what the Apostle Arcana is (I don't think she does this for The Hope Arcana, which makes this scene more unnecessary and ironically hilarious).

So it was a huge shock when she popped up in Tactica, exuding a personality that was merely hinted to us when she was split into two people. And a welcomed shock, at that, because this personality is fun and downright entertaining.

For one, she is full-on chaotic. With the current state of the Velvet Room, she takes advantage by modifying and testing it out through....violent methods:

She even dresses to match with the theme of it being an armory/forge, wearing a blacksmith's apron and welding mask.

Her hammering down the melted-together gears that form the newly-fused Persona is really cute and more energetic than that of a traditional Velvet Room fusion. Also, the fusion accident cutscene is something that has to be seen. You won't regret it.

She even makes guns for you-

Well-

Not for free, anyway.

Yes, she still reprises her role as the exposition-dumper, but they at least gave her more of a character that might make you more interested in listening to said exposition.

Also, she almost runs over Ryuji with a train:

(Let's play a game: who'd kill someone the quickest: Haru when driving a car, or Lavenza driving the Velvet Express?).

I would show more examples, but Tumblr is mean, and won't allow me to have more than 30 images per post (the reason why I made my Shibuya Arc Zenkichi rant into 4 part posts in the first place). Just know that Lavenza is cute and unhinged, and is the best she's ever been in this game.

The other thing I like about this game is....is....uhhhhh....OH!

The voice acting's great as usual, including the voices for the new characters!

Leeana Albanese gives an energetic and spunky performance as Erina, while MacLeod Andrew's delivers a more serious, yet goofy performance as Toshiro. The casting director (can't find the credit for that) made the right calls for their newly-required cast!

And.....and..........AAAANNNNDDDD I like the secondary Persona mechanic! Not only does it allow you to further modify your other party member's Personas, but Joker can finally keep Arsene for the entire game, instead of fusing him for the first hour or so! YAY!!!

There's also......also.........also.................

Okay, I got nothing else. That's all of the positives I could think of for this section. Everything else is just a bunch of cons.

Mourn this part of the discussion, because we're not seeing anything else positive (maybe some decent bits at most, but that's about it for me). Let the negativity begin!

Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 4.5, Pt. 5, Pt. 6, Pt. 7, Pt. 8

[devondeal]

For the weird Star Wars ask, questions 1,4,7,8,10,11,14,17,18 and 20 😌😘 Have fun

Oooo good ones. Also hard ones 🤣

1. Qui Gon Jinn. Love or hate? Discuss.

I love Qui Gon Jinn. I love how calm he is and how contemplative he is. This doesn't mean I can't see his flaws though. Regardless he is a one of the coolest Jedi the prequels have introduced, I just wish fans wouldn't put him on a pedestal. Let characters be flawed and wrong sometimes, it's ok I swear y'all.

4. Do you prefer the prequel, original, or sequel trilogy, and why?

God this is a hard one. Original is more nostalgic for me, like I watch them for comfort since I watched them when I was a kid all cozy with hot cocoa and blankets and just adoring the characters and twists. But the prequels are just so meaty and entertaining with the flashy visuals and meme humor.

It hurts to choose but I guess I'll go with prequels cuz I do engage with them more in fandom given how juicy they are. That's not to say the OG isnt juicy but the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker is kinda hard to beat there.

7. Dumbest Star Wars moment

God so many to choose from 🤣 but yeah Jar Jar stepping on shit then immediately getting electrocuted. I may have the order wrong on those sequence of events but either way... dumb.

Honorable mention: Jabba's CGI band with Roach and Miss Lips Close up. Just thinking abt it makes me laugh. Like George what were you on? 🤣

8. If you could ask George Lucas one question, what would it be?

I would ask him how he would continue Leia's story after the OG trilogy. I just always felt she deserved more in depth character exploration and I'd want to know his POV on that.

10. If you could pull a George Lucas and sneak into Disney Plus to edit any Star Wars scene, what changes would you make?

I'd take a away the "No... NOOO" from the Vader scene in Return of the Jedi. Just takes away from the suspence of if he will save Luke and ruins it for me. That's really it. Not much of an edit since it wasn't there to begin with. So an un-edit?

Next, I would edit some squeaking noises for C3PO during the Luke and Leia kiss, maybe an "oh my" even though he wouldnt be sure why he didn't like it 🤣 maybe some background dialogue for him and and R2 abt it.

11. Who would you want as your Jedi Master? (Why)

Luke Skywalker. I feel like he would really help with my confidence issues with his tendency for positive reinforcement. And he's nice and calm so he wouldn't trigger my anxiety. But still enough discipline so that I stay sharp and on it which I also need as a scatterbrain. I feel like because he started as a scatterbrain himself, he'd know where I was coming from.

14. BESIDES THE ROTS NOVELIZATION, what is your favorite Star Wars book?

The Approaching Storm is just a chock full of Jedi fun. It gives you an idea of what Jedi are meant to do and you get to see familiar characters in a more relaxed (for Jedi that is) setting.

17. Pick one Star Wars line to describe your life, what would it be?

"All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing."

This Yoda line about Luke very much described me for a very long time. I've always felt and sometimes still do. I tend to live in my head and struggle with being present. I guess Qui Gon's line about being in the present applies too.

18. What is your favorite piece of Star Wars merchandise that you own?

Oof I can't narrow that down to one. So it's gonna be the Ahsoka doll you gave me 😘 also the Savi's lightsaber I made. My Lego collection is huge but I have a soft spot for the Tie Fighter and Luke's Landspeeder cuz they were what got me back into Lego since my childhood.

Literally any Lego clone minifigure.

20. Please describe in as much detail as possible the signature scent of Ewan McGregor and/or Obi-Wan. (Are they different? Probably)

Omg, really making me think like a straight woman eh? 🤣 Idk or care what Ewan smells like even though cool dude. Obi Wan... hmmm....

Tea leaves and really faint raspberry. Why? Cuz the nerd eats them off the Jedi Temple gardens. Just seems like a raspberry guy to me. His robes are always clean so probably fresh laundry. His hair smells like puppy breath idk.

[h-doodles]

hi, can I ask for your top ten favorite fics ? :)

Hi anon hiiiiiiii welcome!!! u caught me at a good time, ur soooo lucky bc i just glanced at my notifs and saw this ask get sent <3 KDBDKDKK its been literal years since i checked my ask box 👉🏻👈🏻

BUT ANYWAY! top 10 of all time???? be warned that while i am currently enchanted with ONE (1) 6 ft 3 in actress, I still do consider myself a girlie with varied tastes so. my old & other fandoms are mixed in my current list!

without further ado:

#10: knowledge for knowledge's sake by tigriswolf (ao3) || quite an old piece detailing how a change in the personality of one Hermione Granger could have had a massive impact to the story— and while I don't fuck with JKTerfling, the fics I've read from the old fans in the HP fandom are still honestly, some of the BEST I have EVER read. This one in particular irrevocably changed me as a teen, and is one story that I continue to draw inspiration upon when I create dark!AUs for my SI/OCs.

#9: Zutopia by itslivybear (ao3) || the fluff, the worldbuilding, an AU where Izuku is mentored by our beloved Rat God & together, they fix the world problems? GIRLIES catch me forever LOVING this concept like you could NEVER believe <3

#8: (not so) Bad Idea by @sarahpaulsonsoftie (tumblr post) || HEE HEE ITS LIVING IN MY MIND RENT FREE LIKE HELP THESE BITCHES GAY!!!!!! GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!! ft a meddling plantita who really mothered; Marilyn Thornhill <3

#7: Hold my Soul by connyhascontrol (ao3) || I got into Trixie/Katya completely by one @montaguehphm introducing me to UNHhhh (HIIIIIII bestie I hope everything is going good and that ur gay keeps slay <3) and I haven't recovered ever since— reading the fics by writers on AO3 was a happy little accident, but one i will FOREVER love, nonetheless. Anyway, this particular fic was SO brilliantly original and YET so entrenched in the personalities between T&K that it ABSOLUTELY just wrecks me everytime I reread it. anyways hi @connyhascontrol pls know ur brilliant <3

#6: I think I'm gonna call him out by hellelf (ao3, users only) || again, another AU for Hermione fic, that's chockfull of world building and interesting relationships! It's been unupdated from its 5 chapters since 2021, but I still LOVE to look back at it from time to time 💖

#5: The Confectionary Chronicles series by cheshire_caroll (ao3); Into the Black series by angelholme (ao3); Hermione Granger & the Serpent's Renaissance series by epsi1on (ao3) AND New Blood by artemisgirl (ff.net) || if it's not evident, i am an absolute slut for fics ft. Hermione being badass & put into a v cool plot w/ insane amounts of world building, so yeah, def a top 5 most contender <3

#4: The Infinitely Curious Woman by chararii (ao3) || literally ALL of their fics are absolute bangers, and while I forever mourn their decision to stop all Naruto fics thanks to the great harddrive incident of 2022, I have nonetheless the GREATEST respect to their skill & talent to bring SUCH LIFE to their stories. In particular, I chose this particular fic of theirs because the premise of Sakura making her own way by shedding off her morality the more she learned & got influenced by her 2 greatest teachers was absolutely nothing short of DIVINE. It was and IS such an inspiration to read, reread & explore, and I will forever love @chararii for this brilliant piece of a fic

#3: The Endgame that never was series by @heleneplays aka me (tumblr masterlist) || ok I know this seems self-absorbed but DEAR MOTHER OF CHRISTIE i literally WENT OFF for a whole ass day and a half going feral for the Relics of the Lost Age series book 3 finale (hi @jamesshawgames pls know im still here and STILL simping even tho i am currently having a brainrot for a different thing on main sjdhdkdk i hope ur doing well dearest mr. chief author sir!!!!) and created this series from my dreams + nonstop ben&ben playlist— and honestly, I think it's VERY sexy of me <3 bc I rarely like things that I do after a while, but THIS— alongside Universal Constant (ao3) are truly my BEST work <3

#2: Across the Stars by nomisunrider (ao3) || I CAN NEVER STRESS THIS ENOUGH, HOW MUCH THIS FIC ALTERED MY BRAIN CHEMISTRY LIKE. its been 4 YEARS since it was completed but HOLY. MOTHERFUCKING. GOD. The story between Michael & Philippa persisting beyond the odds, in a twist of the canon happenings in Star Trek: Discovery is FOREVER ingrained in my heart and soul and honestly once again THANK YOU @nomi--sunrider for SUCH a beautiful story 🥺🥺🥺

and drum roll please!!!

#1 (current): I literally cannot pick between Better than Gold + Little Cat by @lady-dimimi / @azu-zu (tumblr post for BtG | LC ao3); How to woo a Hot Principal by @softshrimpy (ao3); and Lipstick Stains by @weemssapphic (ao3) || LIKE HOLY SHIT THE FUCKING AMOUNT OF TALENT, PLOT, FLUFF, DRAMA AND UTTER GAYNESS THESE FICS BRING ME— its SOOOOO insanity inducing in the best of ways <3 also, i really count myself lucky to get into a very active (x reader) sphere LIKE ITS SOOOOO INSANE i get to consume CONTENT daily for such wonderful characters and these special morsels be like. authors, I am sending you all a MWAH from me

[dillweedshole]

A really fucking big post entirely about Karrie and (most of) my history with her

i feel like i've rarely touched my ocs in ages so here's one about my favourite. this one's got a hell of a developmental story.

(it's big enough to warrant a Read More lmao)

This is Karrie. You've probably seen her, you may or may not like her, i don't care, i like her. The big fucking thing behind her is also her, that's her Monarch form.

So how shocked would you be if I told you this is how she started?:

Yuck. Gross. This was EARLY 2021 I absolutely COULD do better than that. Let's not talk about the MSPaint Line Tool lineart and instead talk about how she acted. She was a woman. No, there really isn't that much more, I went back and read through my first canned series and I shit you not she really is just super fucking boring.

V2 was still bog-standard basic ol' Karrie. Just, y'know, now the art is a little better. She's still the same fucking woman but now she's just not.. Yuck, y'know?

Now, one day for Lex I made him an alternate 'Twisted' form. I decided "well, damn, i'm bored" and made one up for Karrie. I had plans for lore revolving around Lex's form but Karrie's was to be completely non-canon.

See? Even in late 2021 I was bad at listening to myself.

This is Twisted Karrie. Believe it or not, I don't know how she would act. This and one other drawing are the only ones with this exact design.

The plans were still in effect, I was not going to give her any canonicity whatsoever, this was just me dicking around. .. And then my friend Numi drew this;

(image link: https://www.deviantart.com/cuteario-numi/art/Creepy-twisted-Karrie-888840902)

And then something clicked. Obviously she's a better artist than me, let's not call an orange an apple, that shit slaps does it not??

So i decided to do something to the design because i didn't know where to go with the original one, and i took a couple bits and pieces from what she made here.

Twisted 2.0. Give her arms more beef, puff out that dress, elongate the hair, make her eyes big gaping holes, and make her mouth all melty and tear-y.

Honestly, this was good enough for me at the time. just enough cool but not too much that it became stupid to draw.

Not many more changes happened to Karrie after twisted for a while, she was just gonna be normal woman with dark secret!!

(i also redid the one drawing numi did with the new look.)

And then one day, i just decided to add a single little point of lore, that her Base form should look like the Twisted form is kinda leaking into it, and drew her with that in mind.

We can now see current Karrie peeking out.

This set a spark something fucking FIERCE after that one tidbit she's never been the same.

I spent a good like two months refining the design, she had a small phase where she looked like she had absolutely zero fucking self control.

This was also when I introduced an bigger lore tidbit: Her trainer dies. That's the smoking gun for her going Twisted/Monarch.

You can clearly see that I struck fucking GOLD with the story details, eventually I just decided to calm her down a bunch and now we're about where we are now.

At least for Base Karrie. Let's go back to Twisted for a second.

For a little while she was a little stagnant. I didn't change a whole lot for a while.

Then not long after I finally made Base Karrie good, I decided "how about her Twisted form look like her Base a little more."

I think this was around when I changed "Twisted" to "Feral." That name change also changed her behavior a LOT. She went from "Scared, Defensive Demon" to "Malicious, Cunty Demon" and that's about where Feral should've been.

The only big visual change was really in the hair. She stayed like this for a couple months.

I was drawing for Powerless and i think at some point i decided "Well. That dress fucking sucks. Let's change it."

For a while this was still Feral, but this is basically Monarch as we know it now.

And uh, That's about it. You can definitely SEE my art getting better throughout each design, too.

She's gone from "Woman Side Character" to "Bad Bitch Main Character" especially considering lore.

I can definitely try doing one for Lex, he's had a relatively decent history too, but Karrie's had the most remarkable mixup of any of my characters (asides from her trainer dying lmao gotem ez).