#I’m still very much a noob

[nanuk-the-bat]

Tagged by the phenomenal @phenanthreneblue (I wasn’t gonna do it, cause I’ve only been at this for like a couple years, but why not :p ) thanks for the tag.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Technically 24, but only 17 are fics. The others are art/podfics as I jump around with my hobbies.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

198,671. Actual story words are probably about 198,000. Not terrible?

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Control. I wanted more Darling fics. So I got off my ass and learned how to write them myself. I do have a draft thing for Alan Wake but it’s little and will probably stay stashed away in my notes files for the rest of eternity.

4. Top five fics by kudos

I’m just astounded that people found my stories amusing enough to leave kudos in the first place. The most popular one is Anachronisms Welcome

5. Do you respond to comments?

Of course. Might not be eloquent, but I’ll respond in kind.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I’m more of a fluff and smut gal at heart…but anything I’ve written for Trench x Darling tends to lean that way.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I wouldn’t say my fics have happy endings, in the sense that the protagonists ride off into the sun set just that they have mundane or hopeful resolutions. For A Cup Full of Resonance I was originally going to have Darling sacrifice himself for Dylan to return and leave it ambiguous whether or not he survived corporeally. Like a coffee cup appears on Jesse’s desk after they save Dylan, just how Jesse likes it, as a sign that Darling is still watching over her, but I ended it on a happier note instead.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No. Thankfully people haven’t given me shit for my silly ideas.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes. But only when I’m in a specific headspace.

10. Craziest crossover?

Haven’t ventured there really. I included Scratch in one chapter of Anachronisms Welcome, but beyond that, no. Would love to do a Fallout or BG3 crossover with Control. But I don’t have the brainpower for it.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No one would want to steal my stuff XD

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I like doing podfics sometimes.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Anachronisms Welcome turned into a collaboration when the shower scene happened and horny head voice Jesse was born. (because I can set up humor, but executing is not my specialty…I always want to explain the joke 🙄) My partner/familar/sometimes editor threw a dumb idea out there, we played with it, and head voice Jesse became his distinct recurring character. We refer to her as an extra planar being/ personality who manifests as Jesse’s id. Those internal monologues, the dialogue sections Jesse has with herself, those are cowritten with my familiar voicing that Jesse.

14. All time favourite ship?

Jesse x Darling. I know it’s not canon. And won’t ever be canon. But something about them appeals to my creativity and when I see stuff for them little confetti/ dopamine canons fire in my brain.

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I feel like this applies to all my wip’s…I can only write when the stars align.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Not pacing or plot haha, but sometimes I can come up with decent metaphors and descriptions.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

All of it…I’m still a fledgling fic writer and it’s learn as I go. I really struggle with plot, which contributes to the shit pacing. With thinking in terms of tension and seeing a story as a whole and not a jumble of stuff I feel like writing about. If I ever write another long fic, I’ll plot it out with all the story beats, and the motifs, and actually have a solid plot line or two running through.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I’m personally not a huge fan of having to scroll to the bottom to look up translations but if it’s done sparingly or as in canon I don’t mind. Depends I guess.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

Control.

20. Favorite fic you've written?

In Contribution of Entropy it’s shameless fluff ridden smut, but for my craving at the time it was the equivalent of getting a free triple scoop of bubblegum ice cream mixed with cotton candy topped with rainbow sprinkles on a 102F summer day…and the last chapter is some of my best imagery.

Tagging: @blessedpictures @annachibi @laudanine and @wondrouswendy

[dany36]

🛐🛐🛐

[cerusee]

I've never watched any Chinese dramas but I really enjoy your posts/gifs about them and it's got me interested in trying some! Do you have any recommendations for somebody who's totally new to them? Any tropes/background context I should be aware of? The historical/fantastical ones seem the most appealing to me.

Oooooh! My first thought on reading this ask was, “oh, I’m hardly qualified”; I’m only on my *stops to count on fingers* eighth cdrama, not counting the one episode I watched of the Wang Zhuocheng xianxia where he falls in love with a rock. (Long story.) There’s a lot of cdramas out there, and I myself have not even scratched the surface of what’s out there! That said, if you’re interested in historical/fantastical dramas, those ARE the ones I’ve been watching, so I still have some opinions despite being a total noob myself.

Do not start with The Untamed/Chen Qing Ling. Twas my first cdrama, like a lot of western fans, who were drawn to it in part because of the big censored-but-still-very-evident gay love story between the male leads, but honestly, as much fun as it is for the slash fans, it’s not a great jumping off point for either Chinese television in general, or even for its own wuxia-inspired genre setting. I say this as some who is still deep in the fandom four years later, and has immense love for the show: the first two episodes are flat-out bad, the overall pacing is bad (episodes frequently stop MIDSCENE), the worldbuilding is thin (a carryover from the novel it was based on), and without a larger context for why it’s made the way it’s made (stylistic choices, industry conventions, government censorship, genre conventions) a lot about it is confusing as hell to cdrama newbies, which is…so evident…a lot…in fandom wank I mean in the discourse about what story this story is trying to tell. Like, if you came to me and asked specifically, “I’m thinking of watching CQL. Should I watch CQL?” I would say yes, absolutely! It’s so much fun! I’m obsessed with the characters! I’ve written a lot of fanfic about the purple guy! But it’s not a good first cdrama, nor it is the best example of what the Chinese TV industry has to offer.

A MUCH better first cdrama especially if you like the historical/fantastical: The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017), which not coincidentally was my second cdrama. It’s one of about a dozen television adaptations of the classic 1957 Chinese novel of the same name by Jin Yong, generally considered to be the inventor of the genre known as wuxia, which is a blend of history, fantasy, and martial arts. (One of the most well-known examples of wuxia in the west is Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which you have probably at least heard of.)

Legend of the Condor Heroes (hereafter known as LOCH) has it all: romance, revenge, evil plots and daring deeds, people jumping off a burning mountain and being rescued by the worst CGIed eagles known to television or cinema, boat adventures, mountain adventures, grasslands adventures, a weird cult leader who lives on a spooky flower island (there will be math), murder, baby kidnapping, more murder, one guy inadvertently racking up a ridiculous number of martial arts teachers, sworn brotherhoods which invariably end with one guy stabbing the other, lots of VERY good martial arts fights, and, of course, Genghis Khan. Technically there are no magic/supernatural elements in this show—no ghosts, ghouls, magic, angels, devils, gods, etc—although the martial artists do have l33t skillz that might qualify as superhuman depending on how you slice your genre conventions, and are awfully fun to watch.

I’ve actually seen two LOCH adaptations (there was one in 2024 I liked a lot, with my favorite Guo Jing so far), but 2017 is a much better adaptation for newcomers as it tells a fuller version of the story and doesn’t skimp on or rush through or rewrite as many elements of the plot as other versions do; it’s meant to be a LOCH for people who haven’t seen half a dozen versions of LOCH already. It has a WONDERFUL cast, including my one of my favorite cdrama leading men, Chen Xingxu,* as the lead antagonist, Yang Kang, who is a trash fire of a person you just can’t root for, but he also can’t help it because he was raised by Wanyin Honglie. You can catch it on YouTube (I recall that there are couple of missing episodes from that playlist, but you can search on YT for those when you get there, to find them subtitled from other channels.)

*If you, like me, come away from LOCH 2017 with your mouth slightly ajar at how great CXX is, I have wonderful news for you! He’s been a lead in at least two other very good cdramas: the 2023 xianxia** The Starry Love, where he gets to play, like, five different characters (huge acting flex, and he’s great, although I would rush to stress I loved a ton of things about this show besides CXX himself), and the 2019 semi-historical drama Goodbye My Princess, which might actually be my favorite cdrama I have seen to date, and arguably THEE best well-made on a technical level, with phenomenal acting, a great script, and editing and directing I am constantly swooning over, but I am not entirely sure I can recommend to you unless you are a Tragedy Enjoyer.

(If you are a Tragedy Enjoyer, please stop whatever you’re doing and just start watching Goodbye My Princess right now, it is phenomenal. It is also available on YouTube. Watch the Director’s Cut, not the regular one! This is important. In its haste to get the main leads on screen together ASAP, the regular version does a Reader’s Digest version of stuff the Director’s Cut spends like five episodes carefully setting up, and it doesn’t make a lot of sense, nor does it flow well.)

**Speaking of xianxia! Xianxia is the high fantasy genre, full of magic and gods and demons and people dying and living multiple lives and whatnot. Important to note: xianxias are soap operas (complimentary). They tend to feature female protagonists, sweeping, epic romances, and put enormous emphasis on exploring the nuances of relationships and emotions. I have watched three that I loved (Love Between Fairy and Devil, The Starry Love, and Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms), and while technically I could recommend all three, if you were going to watch just one, especially as a cdrama intro, I have to recommend Eternal Love, which really is the quintessential xianxia, the one all other xianxias are kind of shaping themselves around. I have watched it 1.5 times and I can say that it does not properly take off until like, episode 10, or whenever it is that the main couple finally, properly meet. IT IS WORTH THE INVESTMENT. This show made me want to spit blood. I cried multiple times watching it. It made me feel things. It has a wonderful immersive quality that’s hard to describe except to say that the entire show sort of vibrates on its own frequency. The casting is just kind of…perfect? Props to Maggie Huang for portraying the most perfectly hatable xianxia villainess of all time. Absolutely no one is doing it like Su Jin. No one should try. I believe this is available on YouTube, but after an abortive start, I realized it was on US Netflix, and watched it there.

As for tropes and background context: ehhhhhh. I mean, it’s an entire industry? I know substantially less about how it functions than I do about, like, American TV and film. I know government censorship is a not-inconsiderable factor, but I don’t know much of the nuance of how that plays out in terms of filming and airing. Tropes will vary according to subject. Idol dramas (shows built to showcase media personalities regardless of their ability to act) are a thing. Most cdrama audio is still dubbed (this one surprised me!), usually by professional voice actors and not by the original cast, for a confluence of reasons, some of which historically make sense (noisy filming lots rendering original audio useless), and some of which are really stupid (fans throwing hissy fits if lead actors don’t have the “right” kinds of voices for their characters).

Anyway! My recommendations are this: try The Legend of the Condor Heroes (2017) to start with, UNLESS you would prefer having your heart ripped out of your chest, in which case watch Goodbye My Princess (Director’s Cut, 2019), or UNLESS you love soap operas as much as I do, in which case watch Eternal Love: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (2017). All three are great shows, but they all hit differently/scratch a different itch.

Oh! Lastly! @dangermousie is a great source of cdrama recs. I should note she prefers dramas and tragedies and mostly does not vibe with xianxias. But she watches like eight million hours of dramas a week and reports her findings to us because she is a river to her people.

[platinumrosetail]

Can I request? Can you do the Hulian x m!reader like, m!reader act like Bill cipher from gravity Falls like he always cause some chaos 'for fun' and making deal to random person? And of course Hulian is there to stop them as always they do also can they react if they descover what m!reader do on the gravity Falls in pass?

I hope you can do my request, I I really love your one shot story! Very very much (❁´◡`❁) That's all Thank you! ✨

Sure! Love the crossover, always looking forward to crossover requests when I get them! 😁 they also added smut, so i'll try as I kinda want to start doing it but this will be my first time trying to do smut so i'm sorry if it's bad 😅.

Warning: noob author, male reader, and others.

Characters: hua cheng and xie lian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

you are the spouse and husband to xie lian and hua cheng, having been with them since xie lian was still crown prince of xie le.

You were a chaotic being that has been alive for a long time and so you know all sorts of things especially cause of your powers. You weren’t originally from this universe/time as after you were defeated from being tricked by sixer’s twin brother.

(You didn’t mention if the reader was apart of their world or not and since you mentioned gravity falls I assumed that means the reader stays a dream demon and so I came up with the idea of having the two fandoms be kinda separate as you can see so hope that’s alright!.)

You like to make deals with people who were gullible to fall for them especially to entertain you while you search for xie lian after losing him at some point, you also used those deals to try and find him but ended up with nothing as xie lian’s luck helped in not letting you find him surprisingly.

Finally you had found him after 800 years of searching and gaining information, you also noticed what seems to be a familiar person and after reading his mind you found out he was the little kid you always saw around xie lian back in the day.

After a few adventures you three married and began a poly-relationship, that still didn’t stop you from making deals with unsuspecting humans, gods, and ghosts though you did have to dial it back as xie lian wants to make sure you don’t get in trouble and such. You told them about the gravity falls and weirdmagadon that happened which had xie lian scold you especially after learning that you gave a child a screaming head as a joke.

When you three decide to go further in the relationship you’re usually the one being a brat that needs to be tamed. You’d think you’d be tamed more by hua cheng but no it was xie lian who was the one that tame you anytime you three decided to have a little fun.

Though you three sometime team up with one another on different occasions and tease and love the one that was being the bottom that time, though you all give each other equal amounts of attention whether that be teasing or love it doesn’t matter as you all get the same treatment.

(A/n: yea the smut part was kinda small, sorry about that 😅 I just didn’t know what to put for it since it’s my first time doing this, also I won’t fully be doing smut like I would if it was a normal request I’ll only be doing things I’m comfortable with as there’s some things I think I might be uncomfortable or just flat out didn’t know about it until now so don’t go sending smut requests as I’m still testing it out on if I want to do it or not, also I’ll be busy for this week what with going somewhere for the first time and so I probably won’t be able to get to do requests a whole lot until I return this coming weekend on the 11th so you can still send requests just expect them to be not worked on for a bit! Anyway I believe that’s it so I hope yall have a wonderful day/evening/night!

[cypressvs]

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, MR. YANG

pairing: welt/f!reader

cw: stellaron hunter!reader, enemies to lovers?, mean dom!welt, semi-public sex, degradation, praise, brat taming but not really, nipple play, choking, dry humping, finger sucking, deepthroating, cum eating, m!masturbation

wc: 2.7k | join the taglist

minors do not interact

There was a song famous in the Luofu recently and it twists around your brain effortlessly as you hum it for the nth time, enjoying your share of snacks as your partner silently pumps her fist with a arrogant laugh at her newest victory. Silver Wolf falls into an excited monologue of how those “noobs can suck her—“ which was promptly silenced courtesy of a Xianzhou native who sent her a stink eye. The young girl rolls her eyes before turning her whole attention to you, still happily humming the stupid song that’s been stuck in your head for ages.

“Hey… It’s almost time,” she drawls out with her usual disinterested tone but one look at the gleam in her eyes reveals that she’s all too excited to be on the field for once. “Not getting cold feet, are you?”

“How could I? Kafka and Blade are doing all the hard parts. It’ll be pretty rude of me to complain about my tiny role,” you reply with a sly smirk.

“Psh… Tell me about it. Why does Kafka always get all of the excitement?”

“Now, now, Silver Wolf. I’m sure our time to shine will come soon. Besides, your target’s pretty interesting this time, isn’t she?”

Silver Wolf slumps to the table before stealing a fry straight from your hands. “Still boring. You’re only appeased this time because you like your target.”

“Like is a bit much.” You lean to your palm. “He’s just interesting is all.”

“Hah! Keep telling yourself that. In any case, we have to meet up here again in an hour. Be even a second late and I’m out. Our mission this time isn’t difficult. There’s no reason for you to be late. Again.”

“You wound me, Wolfie~! I bought you those… oneiric jades as an apology y’know. That cost me a hefty sum.”

Silver Wolf clicks her tongue before mumbling a ‘whatever,’ allowing you to fall back to your humming. It continues on for another few seconds before you stop, grinning madly as you nod to your east.

“Right on time as always. It’s showtime, Silver Wolf. I’ll see you after I play!”

You stand up from your seat in the food stall before disappearing into the crowd, seamlessly crossing bodies until you reach him. It wasn’t easy to match his pace with his dastardly long legs and swift nature but you manage, and you even had the room to teasingly brush your fingers against his knuckles before you’re ducking to avoid his cane.

“Is that how you treat your new acquaintances, Mr. Yang?” You ask as you withdraw a few steps back.

His frown turns deeper. “You and I are hardly acquaintances.” 

“Shame. But now that we both have time, how about we get to know each other?”

“My apologies but I have no interest in your idle games. Why have you come?”

You peer at him through your lashes, lips curling into an innocent smile. “Well, it’s no secret so I suppose I can say. I’ve come for you.” You pause before leaning closer salaciously. “In more ways than one.”

You watch as he sputters in reply, cheeks bleeding into a faint pink but before long, he’s clearing his throat and glaring at you with a newfound ferocity. He doesn’t say anything, only gripping his cane tighter. For a minute, you imagine how it’d feel if he instead wrapped his hands around your neck, pressing until you’re gasping for air, weakly tracing over his soft skin and bulging veins and—your smile widens and you ignore the tiny voice in your head that warned you not to prematurely move against the man when he looks almost too ready to pounce on you. Instead, you take a few steps forward, the soles of your shoes clicking against the bricks being the only decipherable sound between the two of you and the empty alley he lead you to.

“Very noble of you to take me away from where the people are, Mr. Yang. In fact, I’d be impressed if this situation doesn’t feel very… hah, erotic? Is that a good word?”

He clenches his jaw and you swear—you almost moaned at the sight of it. It was exciting how he tensed, hyperaware of each of your minute movements as he watched. Deep brown eyes dilated clearly despite being hidden behind the shadows of his lenses. When you close your eyes, you could almost feel his hatred bloom under your touch, almost taste the blood he’s drawing from how hard he’s biting his tongue. They say it’s always the calmest men who are the scariest and you agree. You—of all people—couldn’t help but shiver as you feel his cold gaze trace over your skin. Is he trying to find your weak spots? Is he trying to undress you in his dark, dark mind? You’ll never know and the increasingly debauched questions in your head was enough for you to willingly liken fear and excitement.

“If you have nothing better to say, then I suggest you cooperate and turn yourself in.” 

You tilt your head. “Oh, I can cooperate alright. It’s just that, you see, Elio said I mustn’t let you take a single step out of this place so I’m afraid that’ll have to wait until the next time.

“Then I suppose our discussion ends here.” With a tap of his cane, a black hole appears in front of you and you barely manage to tumble back to dodge it.

“How primitive. Ah, but I can’t say I don’t like it.” You smirk as you raise your hands in an unconvincing show of defeat. 

Welt ignores your comment pointedly, opting to adjust his glasses with a swift flick of his hand before assuming a defensive position. From where you stood, you could see how his muscles strained under his suit, how his grip tightens around his cane until the whites of his knuckles showed. Anticipation bubbles from somewhere beneath your skin, a sinister idea making you drop your hands nonchalantly.

“There’s no need to be so distraught, Mr. Yang. Unfortunately, I’m one of those unlucky ones whose actions are bound by the dos and do not dos of destiny. Besides, I’m not conceited enough to think I can win against you.”

He narrows his eyes at you. “Then what is your objective? If you truly mean nothing nefarious, why are you and your group in the Xianzhou?”

“You’ll soon come to know that the Stellaron here is not of our doing. Ah, but that’s way ahead of the story. For now, all you have to worry about is how you’ll sit still comfortably while looking real pretty.”

“Do you expect me to lay down my arms and trust you just because of what you’ve said?”

“Absolutely not,” you reply as you take a few innocent steps forward. “However, there’s a lot of things I’m wrong about not expecting.”

You take his non-reply as a signal to continue. “For example, Mr. Yang, do you always look at your enemies like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you want to fuck them,” you snarl, canines flashing dangerously as your eyes narrow into slits in your excitement. Welt freezes before he grits his teeth, a more noticeable rouge engulfing his pale cheeks and even the tips of his ears as he tries and fails to appear composed. 

“How disgraceful—!”

“It’s okay. I can keep a secret.” You lick your lips as you press your thighs together, rubbing them slightly in pursuit of that sweet, delectable friction that shoots tiny shivers of pleasure up your spine. “I imagine it’d be hard to face the Crew if they found out that their ever righteous Mr. Yang is a pervert who gets a hard on from the smallest peek of his enemy’s panties.”

“You! Did you plan this?!”

You lean closer so that you’re chest-to-chest, feeling from beneath thin layers of clothing the way he chased his breath. You lift a dainty hand to play with his coat’s buttons before you’re grinning sweetly at him and peering at him through your lashes, eyes dripping with faux innocence. “No but as Kafka always says, if it’s not part of Elio’s script, why would it matter? I can imagine a hundred different ways we can—“

You gasp as you suddenly feel your chest colliding against the wall, cheek smushed against rough stone as his large, calloused hands pinned your wrists above your head. A shaky breath leaves your lips as you stared wide-eyed at the sudden show of strength and the paradoxical way he rests his chin against your shoulder.

“You should learn how to respect your elders instead of running your mouth off like a slut.”

“Oh? Why’s that?” You manage to muster up a cocky smirk. “You gonna teach me a lesson or something?”

“I ought to but dumb whores like you wouldn’t understand it anyway. I should just treat you like the way you want to be treated.”

A moan tumbles out of your glossed lips as he ruts his clothed cock against your ass. You feel one hand slide down your arm, groping at your chest teasingly before undoing the buttons that hid you away from his sight. 

“Hah, now who’s the pervert, moaning and arching your back instead of doing your mission like a common whore?” He growls into your ear, trapping one of your nipples in between his fingers and tweaking without a care for your muted squeal. 

“You have me because I’m, fuck, letting you have me. Don’t get your head twisted, Mr. Yang.” 

Welt chuckles darkly, thumbing at the pain on your chest tenderly before gliding his hand to your throat and squeezing, using your surprise to turn you over so you were face-to-face. “Cheeky little bitch. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

“S-shit! Wait—!” You pant as he presses a bruising kiss on your lips, muffling whatever noise you were planning to relay. You feel him tug at your bottom lip before continuing his pursuit, sucking into your tongue lightly. Your chest tightens as he remains relentless in his kiss but it was okay. It was more than okay. You pour your weight into him, aching to be impossibly closer but just as you were finally getting into it, he pulls away. A thin streak of drool connects you to him and you eye it hazily, watching it snap as he pursed his lips.

“Such a mannerless little girl.” He clicks his tongue and you whimper in reply, gripping at his clothes as you chase after his lips. He laughs at your neediness before carefully running his thumb over your swollen lips. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you a lesson on manners.”

He removes his glasses with one motion, tossing it carelessly to the side before he takes a step back. A hand runs through his hair before he’s wagging his finger at you. “Sit.”

You furrow your brows but obey nonetheless. The ground was cold but it was nothing to the heat that seeped under your skin as he unbuckles his belt, eyes not once leaving your submissive form. He palms himself over his briefs, no doubt to tease you as he grinned at the way drool began slipping from the side of your lips the more you stared at his large cock in anticipation. Finally, finally, he releases himself from his constraints, revealing a long and girthy flesh that blooms into a dark pink at the head. Thick veins decorate his cock, accentuated by his pre that dripped and traced over it.

“What are you waiting for, sweetheart?” He mutters tauntingly as he used one hand to lightly slap at your cheek. “Open.”

You part your puffy lips, going the extra mile and sticking your tongue out for his leaking meat. In your lustful haze, you can somehow make out the dark chuckles he let out in response as his eyes skimmed over your awaiting form. You’re so pliant, and needy, making a mess over your thighs as your slick dripped in your excitement. When you’re on your knees like this, he towers over your—takes control over everything you are and he finds a sick, perverse delight he never knew he can hold growing in the shadowed crevices of his heart. He places his thumb over your tongue, rubbing at it affectionately before sliding it deeper into your mouth. You suck at it mindlessly, looking up at him as best as you could with tears disturbing your waterline until he’s pulling out and using your drool to thumb at his slit.

“So pretty for me, aren’t you? Prettiest when you shut up.” He accentuates his words with a heavy grunt and a rough thrust that sends the head of his cock to the back of your throat. He’s so big and thick that you could only choke, tears finally dropping to your cheeks as you tried to breathe and relax through his assault. From above, he hisses a fragile curse as he feels the warm walls of your mouth enclose upon him. It’s so, so tight and he knows when you moan that you feel how his cock throbbed from the pleasant stimulation. One of his hands settle to the back of your head as he pumps into you. Slowly at first before he hastens the pace, rocking his hips to the time of your moans. “F-fuck… You feel so good. ‘s made for me. All for me.”

You whimper as you try to keep up with him, flattening your tongue at the back of his cock but he’s just so fast and so fucked out to think of accommodating you that you just give up, moaning deliriously as your weakened legs give in and you slump fully on the floor. Welt huffs before caressing your cheek tenderly, a sharp contrast to how his rut never eased. “So close. Swallow for me, okay, pretty girl? Be good for me now.”

He gives a few more thrusts before he’s groaning, pressing as deep as he possibly can be on your throat and drawling out sweet nonsense about how good you’re being for him and fuck, fuck, fuck he’s never come this hard ever in his life. Peering up at him, you have a clear view of how he tilted his head back, eyes fluttered close as he pumps a few more times for good measure before pulling out his limp cock. He looks years younger like this in the afterglow of pleasure and if his lashes weren’t fanning against his age lines, you would’ve thought that he’s just as young and deranged and stupid and horny as you were—savoring the salty aftertaste of his cum like you would have in your younger years. For a moment, neither of you says a word, only watching each other as your chests pump up and down, sweat making your skin sticky and damp. Finally, he chuckles and you plaster a halfhearted smile in response.

“I suppose you got what you’re after in the end.”

“Two birds with one stone. That’s how I roll.” You plant your palms on the ground as you push yourself up with your shaky legs. “Well, time’s a-wastin’. Time to say bye-bye.”

Welt clears his throat before giving a dismissive nod, something that you pout at as he ignored you in favor of dressing up once more. “C’mon, old man, won’t you say you’d miss me even if it’s just a little?”

“I’m sure we’re to meet again soon or else you’d be crying, destiny’s slave. But—“ he pauses, picking up his glasses and placing it once more on the bridge of his nose—“by then, you would find yourself cooperating with me and surrendering yourself to the authorities.”

“Heh, then I hope you’ll give it your all when that time comes.” You fiddle with the end of your coat before smirking, and using your other hand to throw the tiny little thing Kafka was so kind to lend you. As soon as it hits the ground, smoke fills the empty alley, hiding you from his sight. “Catch me if you can, Mr. Yang. I’ll be waiting~!”

It was only after the smoke completely dissipated that the Cloud Knights found him, citing hacked GPS as the reason for the delayed reinforcements. By then, as he would come to know, the newest member of the Astral Crew had made contact and unearthed the secret behind the phenomenon of the Mara Struck. Hindsight was 20/20 and as he sat under the pale light of the inn’s bathroom, pumping his cock at the memory of your warm lips, he knew that it all went according to your script.

Mission Accomplished. 

© 2023 CYPRESSVS. all rights reserved. do not copy, claim, repost or translate in any platforms.

[tobiasdrake]

Ok, how would you feel about my idea for an alternate 24th Budokai AU: here, Vegeta and Piccolo manage to destroy Gero and 19 wholesale, Trunks takes them all at their word that the Androids were defeated handily, and with that everyone agrees to enter the upcoming 24th Budokai (timeline may need to be switched around a bit, we don’t know when exactly it happened. Satan’s overconfidence at the Cell Games may have originated from a quite recent Budokai win). Anyway, since we know this tournament also featured the inaugural Juniors division, Gohan ends up fighting a young Videl in the finals.

Meanwhile, the main tournament bracket turns out like:

Match 1

- Krillin vs. Tenshinhan

Match 2

- Son Goku vs. Future Trunks

Match 3

- Piccolo vs. Mr. Satan

Match 4

- Vegeta vs. Yamcha.

The tournament would take place shortly after Goku wakes up, so everyone is pretty much exactly where they were power wise at the beginning of the Android arc. A few notes:

- The quality of fighter has noticeably dropped - guys like Namu, Chappa and Tao remember how hopelessly outclassed they were last time, so the guys entering here are the noobs we saw at the 25th Budokai: Pintar, Jewel, Killa, Mighty Mask, (pre-Majin) Spopovich and of course, Mr. Satan himself

- Krillin-Tien would be a very technical, throwback to the old tournament fights, with Krillin winning to finally shut up the weirdos who supposedly genuinely believe Toriyama wasn’t including Tien when he stated the former was the strongest Earthling

- Goku and Trunks would quickly break the “no Super Saiyan” rule, with Goku coming out on top but Trunks still viewing the contest as a positive learning experience

- Piccolo-Satan would be a pure comedy bout. Piccolo wins with ease, although if the Buu arc still played out similarly in this AU it may prove to be disastrous later on

- Vegeta-Yamcha would play out similarly to Piccolo-Krillin from the 23rd tournament. Vegeta is overconfident, gives Yamcha a beat down initially but Yamcha turns it around and genuinely hurts (base) Vegeta with the Rōgafūfūken and Sōkidan, before he angrily ends the fight in retaliation. Goku, Krillin, Tien and Gohan all rush to the ring and congratulate Yamcha on the effort, while Vegeta quietly (and begrudgingly) gives out some praise

- Goku and Vegeta obviously advance to the finals. Don’t have much to say on a Goku-Krillin rematch, but I’m sure someone could come up with an interesting take on it. SSJ Vegeta-Piccolo is obviously a very popular hypothetical in the fandom

- The Goku-Vegeta finale would probably end with either A. A confused Imperfect Cell showing up and a big 1st Broly film style group battle taking place, or B. Perfect Cell showing up, who found Gero’s lab and absorbed 17 and 18 in secret, declare his intent to host the Cell Games and allowing the Z-Fighters time to train for it.

That’s a rough, very long winded outline anyway. What do you think?

A small note: More than the timeline would need to be switched around, since we do know the 24th happened after the Cell Games. Cell describes the Tenkaichi Budokai as a tournament that used to exist, but doesn't anymore.

This is why it took over fifteen years for the 24th to occur. The tournament was cancelled after Goku and Piccolo's title bout. For. Uh. Obvious reasons.

A lot of people were definitely killed during that.

This was a recreational martial arts tournament for a ~$3,000 cash prize. If Tom Brady suddenly wiped Florida off the map in the middle of the Super Bowl, we'd be having serious conversations about the NFL right now.

So one of their athletes killed the whole island that the tournament's set on and then they never held it again after that. Seems reasonable. Well, until Mr. Satan singlehandedly defeated Cell, claimed the tournament Cell was reviving as a spoil of war, and then remade it in his own image.

But that's fine. There are no barriers to writing; only obstacles for a writer to overcome.

As far as the matches go....

I don't think Goku and Trunks need to break a "No Super Saiyan" rule, necessarily. That rule only existed to avoid media attention after they were all seen in Super Saiyan form at the Cell Games.

If the Cell Games haven't happened, I'm not sure why they'd settle on a rule like this. Especially a Vegeta who's still somewhere around start-of-Android-arc characterization.

For Vegeta and Yamcha, I have a hard time seeing Yamcha even momentarily getting the better of Vegeta. Even in his base form, Vegeta is worlds beyond Yamcha in direct combat, and he also has the focus and attention to his surroundings to not lose track of the Sokidan.

That's not to say it couldn't happen, but the vibe would be different. This isn't Yamcha's fight to win; It's Vegeta's to lose, and letting Yamcha actually get a hit in on him would be a sign that Vegeta's cockiness is getting the better of him.

Which... is appropriate for this stage of his development. Vegeta starts fighting a lot stupider between the Namek and Android arcs. Overconfidence from achieving the Super Saiyan coupled with the Super Saiyan itself fucking with his head shunts him from one of the cleverest, most practical, and most observant fighters on the scene to a dim-witted sledgehammer.

Letting Yamcha actually pressure him, even for a moment, might be the wakeup call Vegeta needs to get his head back in the game and maybe fight smarter for his more genuinely difficult matches with Piccolo and Goku.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Gotta admit to some confusion with the “Max is a sexist” takes? If it’s rooted in how he assumed Marinette didn’t know how to play the game, I could see a bit of merit even if there could be other reasons, especially since it happens in line with Kim’s more expressly sexist attitude of surprise. But when he loses, he congratulates her, and his upset while clear is framed as being completely due to losing his spot in the competition.

Ignoring how his anger was a part of his own private thoughts which HM exploits, Max as an Akuma targeting Marinette instead of Adrien always seemed to me to be due to the fact that she is the one who replaced him. Yes, they both beat him, but Adrien winning didn’t lead to Max losing his spot, Marinette winning did.

Also, the lesson of the day seems squarely centered around how Max deserves to play because he’s the one who really wanted the opportunity, which is why Alya as the writer’s mouthpiece scolds her beforehand about taking it seriously and cinched when Marinette explains why she’s surrendering her position. And while I’m not arguing the episode itself as whole doesn’t contain sexist elements, I feel the writers attempt to avoid that reading by having Adrien surrender his position to Marinette because she is the better player.

For Max, is there perhaps further context than Gamer that I’m just missing? Because I don’t nearly see the same amount of “Kim is a sexist” takes, and unfortunately Max being Black does put him at risk of being held to higher standards than other non-Black characters.

I will do my best to walk through the episode and explain why it makes Max read as sexist to a lot of people. (Or, at least, this is why I think people reach this conclusion. It's why I reach it.)

It's true that Max's reaction to Marinette wanting to play is potentially a little sexist because he assumes that she doesn't know how to play:

Max: The rules are elementary, You battle each other's robots with your own and... Marinette: Please... Every time you win, you loot its items and gain XP, which upgrades your mech. I'm not a noob, thank you very much. Max: Ah, sounds like you have a sufficient amount of knowledge. Let's see if it's enough to beat me.

It's hard to be sure, though, because we don't know if he tried to explain the rules to everyone. I still think it's fair to read it as sexist because it's paired with other characters acting like Marinette can't play, but I also don't think this is a big enough issue to call Max the clear problem of this episode. If he is being sexist, then he's far from the worst one in that scene and his initial reaction to loosing is excellent and without a hint of sexism!

Max: I accept this defeat. I relinquish my position at the tournament. Congratulations, Marinette. And Adrien.

It's also not even remotely sexist that he's upset by his loss and goes on to rant about it as soon as he's alone:

Max: I should've been going to that tournament. I was the chosen one! I worked so hard for it! This is Inconceivable!

While it's not sexist, I would argue that this reaction is something that he needs to work on. If Max wants to be in competitions, then he has to own the fact that he may lose them. This is an issue that we'll get to in a minute. First let's talk about what happens while Max is an akuma.

Even though Adrien and Marinette are together when Gamer attacks, Gamer is only out to get Marinette. He is obsessed with the idea that Marinette should have lost and doesn't care about the Adrien loss.

(Suddenly, the Gamer's robot appears. Marinette and Adrien notice it.) Marinette: Tell me this isn't some kind of publicity stunt for the tournament! Gamer: Well, well. Marinette, let's see who's victorious this time. Adrien: Doesn't look like a publicity stunt to me.

Gamer: Game over, Marinette! Marinette: How does he know my name? Max! (the Gamer's robot fires lasers at her) I guess he really did want that spot in the tournament!

While this makes sense since Marinette is technically the one who cost Max his spot, it doesn't change the fact that this obsession and the earlier framing of Marinette's win make the focus of the episode Max's reaction to Marinette winning. That means that the episode's ultimate lesson will be about the validity of Marinette's win.

This is where Max's part in the sexism really kicks in. Not in the pre-akuma stuff, but the post-akuma stuff. That's where this image comes from:

[Image description: Max and Marinette standing outside of the tournament arena. Max has a sad expression and is refusing to look at Marinette who is awkwardly standing behind him]

As you can see from this image, we don't see post-akuma Max apologizing to Marinette for blaming her when she didn't do anything wrong. Nor do we see post-akuma Max just generally owning his loss, promising to work on taking losses better in the future, and saying something like, "I'll just have to do better next year." Instead, we get post-akuma Max pouting and refusing to even look at Marinette.

This is hardly the behavior of a good loser and yet the story completely validates it. We go from Max pouting to this:

Alya: You bent over backwards to be in the team and now you wanna pull out? Marinette: It's just that I feel so bad for Max. And well, it just wouldn't be right. Alya:(stops her) You're doing the right thing. But honestly, it's not like you get the chance to play with Adrien everyday... Marinette: ...Max? I've thought about this a lot, and... Well, I think you should be playing tonight, Max. Max: What? Marinette: Don't get me wrong! I love gaming, but it's not my heart and soul. This is your baby. It's your tournament, Max. I don't wanna take that away from you.

The appropriate reaction to Marinette's offer is for Max to say, "No Marinette, I'm sorry, I'm behaving terribly. The school is supposed to be represented by the most skilled players. That's you and Adrien, not me. I lost fair and square. I'll work on my skills and get a spot next year." This is how you show character growth and emphasize that Max has moved on from viewing himself as the "chosen one" while unfairly blaming Marinette. Instead we get this:

Max: I don't know how to thank you.

While Max certainly isn't saying anything awful like, "damn right I should be playing you stupid girl," this ending still validates his anger towards Marinette and implies that his behavior was perfectly fine. That it wasn't wrong for him to ignore her until she gave him back "his" spot. That's the sexist element. We should not have seen Max rewarded for treating Marinette poorly and making her feel guilty for daring to win a videogame.

It's important to note that this all happens on the day of the tournament, meaning that it's been days since Max lost and yet he's still mad at Marinette. That's not a great look. At the very least, he should be equally angry at Marinette and Adrien by now. Instead, his anger is still shown to be focused on Marinette as if she is the one and only source of his problems when, in actuality, it was his double loss that cost him his spot. Marinette only knocked him out of the running because Adrien won first. If the order was reversed, then would it be valid for Max to be angry at Adrien? According to the show, I think that the answer is "no." At the very least, I don't see how you can argue that it's clearly "yes" based on what we were given. Adrien's win is treated neutrally by everyone and Adrien letting Marinette play is treated as him being kind while Marinette letting Max play is treated as her righting a wrong.

As others have pointed out, when it comes to Max getting akumatized, what difference does it make if Max loses to Marinette in the preliminaries or to someone else in the main tournament? Do you really think that he'd be fine losing at any point in this competition when he thinks that he's the "chosen one"? At what point is it not cool to hold onto the anger of losing in spite of all your hard work? And why does Marinette's motivation matter when it comes to Max's feelings? He had no idea that she was only playing because she wanted to be Adrien's teammate. All he knows is that she beat him fairly and that she now feels bad about that for some reason.

It's really important for kids to learn that hard work doesn't always lead to a win, but this episode doesn't teach that. Instead it says that it's totally fine for Max to feel wronged and that you should only compete in tournaments if you want to win for the "right" reasons, whatever those are. If you're going to go this route, then at least give Max a noble cause to contrast Marinette's selfish one. As is, he's just as selfish. It's not like he wanted the prize money to save his family from poverty! As far as we know, there is no prize money! He just wanted bragging rights.

What's even more bizarre is that Adrien gives us the lines that Max should have given:

Adrien: Go on, Marinette. You're a hundred times better than me. You belong on the team. Win the tournament for the school. I know you can do it.

What even is this mess? The episode didn't establish that Marinette was better than Adrien! We did get this exchange:

Adrien: Wow! We won again, thanks to you! Marinette: Yeah, um, yes we did. Adrien: We? That was practically all you. You're amazing, Marinette. I guess you wouldn't even need me. I'm so lame compared to you... Marinette: Um, no no no, I... No, you're so good. I mean, I'm the one who's not good. I mean... I'm lucky, that's all.

Leading to Marinette giving Adrien her lucky charm, but this isn't Adrien losing to Marinette. It's just Adrien being impressed by her skills when their team won a match. We never once see Marinette beat Adrien.

There's also the fact that the rest of the episode is focused on Ladybug and Chat Noir gaming together against Gamer, proving that they're the dream team, not Marinette and Max. The logical ending of this plot is for Marinette and Adrien to do the same thing on the civilian side because they're the dream team no matter which side of the masks they're on. Instead we validate Max's anger towards Marinette and tell the little girls at home that it's wrong to show off to boys. How feminist?

It would have played so much better if Max initially took Marinett's spot, but changed his mind after Adrien's line since Adrien's logic isn't unique to Marinette. It applies to Adrien as well and logical Max should have seen that. Why is it right for Adrien to give his spot to the better player while it's fine for Max to take a spot from those who beat him? Shouldn't the best players be the ones to represent the school? Especially when those players have actually been practicing together while Max hasn't done any co-op training? The lesson here makes no sense at all!

It's definitely true that Max isn't the only one who comes across poorly in this episode. Kim, Alya, and Rose's reactions to Marinette's initial win all also play into the "A girl? Playing video games? No way!" issue. Alya and Tikki play into the, "Marinette was in the wrong to ever play because we must be good and virtuous in our motivations and not do things to impress boys" issue. Both of these elements exacerbate how Max comes across by setting a sexist tone to the episode, but that doesn't change the fact that Max completely failed to learn a very valuable lesson, unintentionally making him look like a bit of a sexist loser even without the sexist leadin.

Max's sexism is also heavily exacerbated by some real world issues that are going to impact the way that people view this episode, so let's skim the surface of those rabbit holes because I think we have to acknowledge them to really understand why this episode bothers people.

I'm going to give you some studies here to back up what I'm saying because, when it comes to these sorts of claims, I want to give you something you can evaluate for yourself. I don't want to just talk about known issues as if they're hard facts without any proof and I prefer studies to opinion pieces or articles that mention studies without the details for you to evaluate. However, I will note that I'm limited in what studies I can access because many research papers are stupidly price locked and my public library's research database is pretty limited, so I'm stuck between that and what I can find for free online.

Feel free to reblog this or to send me an ask with suggestions of better studies or books on these topics or even on the topic of the way that black people and characters are held to higher standards because that's certainly a very real issue that's important to keep in mind! We all have unconsious biases from things like the media we watch and the only way to become aware of these biases/learn to look for them is for someone to point them out and for us to do some learning. Like I'm trained to look for sexism by my experiences, but picking up on subtle racism is much harder since I don't have a lifetime of experience to pull from. There are lots of great resources out there, the trick is finding them and maybe even accessing them as I certainly found when I was looking for studies. I'm far from an expert on gender or racial studies. My hobby research field is history.

Issue One: Female Socialization and Those Precious Male Feelings

It is a documented phenomenon that women are socialized to be nurturers. They're taught to prioritize the feelings of others - especially men - over their own wants, needs, and successes. One study on this topic focused on how success effects intimate relationships and noted that:

We find that climbing the societal ladder has positive associations with women’s well-being and relationship outcomes... however, these associations reversed for women who surpassed their partners in social status. ...Among women with higher status than their partner, traditional women intend to adjust their behavior to fit the gender norm (e.g., thinking about reducing work hours in favor of their time at home), whereas egalitarian women did not, but felt guilty toward their partner.

In other words, this study found that women have happier relationships when they don't do as well as their male partners. When they do surpass their male partners, they either try to compensate for that success or tend to feel guilty for failing to compensate.

While this study was about romantic relationships, I don't think that it's a stretch to apply it to platonic relationships, too, especially since we're talking about the messages a TV show is sending to young girls. That's where Gamer comes in. What does that episode have Marinette do when she surpasses her male friend Max? She feels guilty and compensates for daring to be better than him, reinforcing a pretty ugly gendered stereotype.

This type of thing goes beyond interpersonal relationships. It's a well-known issue that women are looked down on when they act too "masculine" in the workforce:

Numerous studies have highlighted that female leaders are evaluated less favorably than their male counterparts when engaging in identical behaviors. For example, using a job-hiring paradigm, past research demonstrated that female candidates who violated the modesty prescription by self-promoting during an interview were evaluated as less likeable and less hireable than self-promoting male candidates.

Gamer was not an instance of Marinette doing something questionable to get close to Adrien. It was her taking her hard-won skills and using them to show off to her crush so that they could get closer, a thing that Adrien was clearly 100% okay with.

This episode should not have been an instance of Marinette being show to be in the wrong. A show that aims to empower little girls should never include an episode where a girl is chastised for daring to self-promote, but that's exactly what Gamer does. It says that Marinette was wrong to put her wants over Max's feelings. What kind of girl power show sends this sort of message? How do you take a woman fairly beating a man and make it a bad thing?

If anything, the message of this episode should have been focused on Marinette being told to NOT feel guilty. After all, that's the far more likely issue for young girls to face. They will have lots of people reminding them to treat others kindly. The message could have also been about winning gracefully and been fine, imo.

Issue Two: Gender Discrimination in Male-Dominated Hobbies

It's a well documented fact that female gamers have long been treated as outsiders by the gaming community as this study discusses:

The researchers played against 1,660 unique gamers and broadcasted pre-recorded audio clips of either a man or a woman speaking... Findings indicate that, on average, the female voice received three times as many negative comments as the male voice or no voice.

Since most of that study is behind a paywall and I don't know if you can access it, I'll also give this openly available study that looked a subset of the recordings from the initial study as it gives you some fine details of what they saw. I think that this second study is a little weird in terms of what it's trying to argue, but the hard data and the research methodology seem fine and that's what I want to focus on here:

We show that lower-skilled players were more hostile towards a female-voiced teammate, especially when performing poorly. In contrast, lower-skilled players behaved submissively towards a male-voiced player in the identical scenario. This difference in gender-directed behavior became more extreme with poorer focal-player performance... Higher-skilled players, in contrast, were more positive towards a female relative to a male teammate.

There's also this study which was free through my public library, so hopefully you can find a way to access it, too, if you want to read the whole thing. For the purposes of this post, I'm just going to highlight some of the statistics and cases that it talks about during its introduction:

Recent studies have suggested that sexual harassments in online games are committed mostly by male gamers against female gamers. For example, in South Korea, one of the countries with the largest per capita gaming populations, players who play the female character Mercy in Overwatch are commonly called by an online slang, Bo-Rcy, which literally means ‘Mercy played by female genitals’ and connotes that women are incapable [of playing] the game. Also, a female professional gamer has been falsely accused of using an illegitimate tool simply because her win rate was too high for a woman.

33% of female gamers experienced gender discrimination, and 57% experienced severe sexual harassment after disclosing their genders. Furthermore, 64% of female World of Warcraft players answered that they experienced various in-game sexism such as exclusion (i.e. removing women from the game-play) or gendered flaming (i.e. using derogatory language specifically against female gamers) Also, a report documented that women are exposed to worse forms of online harassment (e.g. stalking, physical threats, etc.) and that about 44% of Internet users, regardless of their sex, agreed that online gaming is ‘more welcoming toward men’. Overall, it can be concluded that ‘video game culture is actively hostile towards women in the private as well as the professional spheres’

In other words, by having Max only ever blame Marinette for his loss, Gamer has Max acting like a tame version your typical woman-hating gamer who can't handle the fact that they've lost to a girl. This is something that I've seen myself and is part of the reason that I lost interest in online gaming. I even know one girl who had to change her in-game name because it openly acknowledged her gender and got her a ton of harassment. Of course, the guys that we played with blamed her for choosing such a harassment-inviting name because heaven forbid that a woman openly play videogames!

Conclusion

Sexism or no sexism, Gamer undeniably validates Max behaving poorly. The perception of that poor behavior is simply exacerbated by existing gender issues. These real-world problems are why people look so negatively on Max's actions. While his behavior is far from the worst gamer rage that I've ever seen, it does represent a classic, sexist issue in gaming.

If it weren't for all of the complexity around the real-world treatment of talented women in male-dominated spaces or the issue of women being taught to prioritize the feelings of others, then this episode would just be one of those episodes with a nonsense moral. For example, it would still be bad if Adrien was in Marinette's spot, it would just no longer be sexist.

However, we don't live in a world without those issues, so this episodes comes across as hella sexist and Max is the main victim because he's representing some major gendered issues that woman have to deal with. I can name so many real world moments that this episode reminded me of and none of them are happy memories. Every single one of them involves someone telling me to put a man's feelings over my own desire or comfort. This is not the kind of messaging I want to see in shows aimed at young girls.

All that being said, I don't think that Max was supposed to be read as sexist. The writers just did him dirty and made him look terrible when he could have been a wonderful lesson on taking a loss with grace and treating female gamers with respect. After all, as we've already acknowledged, Max did start out handling his loss reasonably well. The rest of the episode just completely undoes that initial good reaction, making it so that a lot of viewers will only remember Max being a pouting sore loser who gets rewarded with the thing that he wanted while Marinette feels guilty and gets lambasted by others for daring to want a spot on the team. I am not surprised that the credited writers for this one are a pair of dudes. I sincerely hope (and assume) that this was them being oblivious to a gendered issue and not anything more malicious.

[bihansthot]

Just imagine him giving you these looks... 👀😍

Bi-Han was actually my very first Mortal Kombat crush, back when he was Noob in the 3D era. I had (and still do 👀) a thing for goth boys. 🤭🖤

Who doesn’t have a thing for goth boys?! Unf! Fuck yes! I’m utterly obsessed with both Sub-Zero and Noob, I just don’t write a lot about Noob because Sub-Zero is a) my true love and b) so much more popular (or at least much more requested). Both make me absolutely feral though. *happy sigh* Thanks for sending this pics my way love ���🩵🩵

[ardbar]

Thank you both so much for you input on my story! Hearing questions and theories helps with writing so so much.

As for the Prison, players aren't exactly ripped from The Void. It still allows them to respawn as it Must By Its Very Nature, but their respawn point was changed by the Armored Champion, srt to the Prison which has a layer of bedrock under it so The Void can not see into it. This will be touched on in a later chapter, but the layer of bedrock cuts The Noobs off from The Void and can be Extremely Disorientating when it happens, leading to a solid chunk of them instantly falling into lava. The lava burns away everything physical about them and leaves only their soul for The Void to claim. But they do not have enough mass or energy left for them to respawn again so all The Void can do is hold her children as they fade into nothingness, leaving her snarling and clawing at the bed rock where they came from, howling with rage at those who placed it there.

As for the fighter level, they are effected Somewhat by Mother Void, but they are also effected by an entity I haven't mentioned yet. Father Sky. While Mother Void is the Endless Below, Father Sky is the Infinate Above. Those on the Pro layer are about 75% MV's influence, 25% FS. Fighters are an even 50/50 split, Masters are 75%FS, 25%MV. The Champions when they sit on the throne, they are fully in Father Sky's domain with no influence from Mother Void. This is a major reason why Evbo hates spending time up there while the Armor Champion enjoyed it. He was from the Master Layer and knew only Father Sky, punishing those who he saw as "turning away from Father Sky's Light", aka those who chose to reside on the Noob Layer in order to remain close to Mother Void.

I am currently planning a chapter from his view point of what he thinks of one of her creations climbing the tower towards him.

As for Mother Void vs Father Sky vs Parkour God, all are there and Important but they are not the same. The best way I can think to describe it is The Sea, The Land, and The Air are all necessary for a planet to sustain life. You can not have a land mass with no access to any water at all to thrive population wise, just as you can not expect a group people to survive for years at sea without spotting land for how would either of them from food? And a planet with water and land that lacked air? That would be no good either. All are different. All are needed.

Oh! And if you're curious about the mutations of other levels, they do have some mutations but none as extreme as The Noob Level as that was because of Mother Void's desperate attempts to keep Her Chosen Safe. The way me and a few friends described it best was comparing them to animals. The Noobs can be compared to Lions, large predators that speand most of their day conserving energy and only going on Hunts when they need food (this will be importantin chaper 2), The Pros are Buffalo or Boar, larger (more well fed) than many Lions but still very much prey animals often used in farms either for pulling carts or food, the Fighters are Cheetas, they are good at One Thing (fighting) and very fast and nimble and not a lot else is going for them, the Masters are Antelopes, very fast, very nimble, rely on speed and agility for survival rather than any form of strength.

Also Parkour Villian is an Ostrich in this example, literally! Father Sky saw them standing under the open sky at the highest point in the world for years and assumed it was some form of Worship, changing PV just like Mother Void changed Evbo.

I’m in class so I can’t respond to this but it’s cool so people should read it

[okanra]

“Her Resolution, His Origin” part 1 - 2/3

The previous part: https://www.tumblr.com/okanra/726920798895505408/her-resolution-his-origin-part-1-13

It’s the sequel to this comic: https://www.tumblr.com/okanra/713539917463076864/the-iron-woman

It’s part of this webcomic called “The UNSPOKEN”, which is an adaptation series I’m writing that consists one-shots and two-shots, inspired by Dragon Ball with its two characters, Goten and Trunks. This whole series was started in 2021 when I was still a “more than entry-level but definitely not experienced enough” live-action storyboard artist (aka in films and advertising, not in the animation industry), until now when I’m a more experienced artist and a noob junior art director in real life, the primary goal of it is to help me practicing on needed skills like writing, paneling, blocking, character analysing, etc. by doing something I really enjoy. I still have lots of things to learn and explore along the way, and my changing mindset will probably be shown in the writing of this series as time goes by as well. This really is a passion project, so if you’re enjoying and still following this, thank you very much and I appreciate it a lot.

Next part

[forsaken-headcanons]

(Uhh- I haven’t been on tumblr for a bit so forgive me if I’m doing something wrong)

Anyway here’s some headcanons for each survivor

Shedletsky: in his Telamon cloak he doesn’t have pockets so he has to tape the fried chicken to the inside of it

Chance: he’s a history nerd. (Half based on the fact that my history nerd significant other mains them)

Two time: they like those popsicle things that come in the plastic tube

007n7: he tries to socialize with the rest of the group but they all ignore him most of the time

Elliot: he’s a people pleaser. Like to the point where he’s basically dying and still insist on helping out

Noob: spooked very easily. (I don’t have much for this one srry)

Guest1337: he talks in his sleep, it’s very incoherent but you could probably make out a word or two

Builderman: I haven’t really made much headcanons for him but he seems like he would help to reach things on high shelves

Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. Welcome back to Tumblr!

Love all of those headcanons. Especially the history nerd Chance one. Mostly because I’m also a big history nerd. If I get to project, he likes the history of the Napoleonic wars. They like men in uniform.

I could see the things Guest says while asleep being quite distressing. He likely has nightmares.

Builderman is just a soft gentle fella. He loves helping anyone. Although some take his kindness for being patronising.

[buttonbuckfarm]

hey! Sorry if this is a bad time for asks, I was just really curious about your turkeys and had some questions about how they are raised. How much space do they need, and how do you make sure they aren’t eaten by wild animals? Is it different than raising other animals? Also, is there a distinction between turkeys who are raised for meat and turkeys who aren’t? Thanks, I’m kind of a noob when it comes to birds

never a bad time for asks, it just might take me ages to get to ya lol

my birds free range around maybe a half acre of land? technically they have access to more but the brush gets really thick and dense so they aren’t particularly motivated to a spread out, and in general they don’t like to get too far from their food/water/coop area unless they’re finding a hiding spot for nesting. turkeys are pretty big birds and they like to roost as high as they can, so access to vertical space is something to consider (mine have a willow grove that they perch in, but building some perches is just fine also).

predators are a pretty wide topic. it depends on where you live and what your predator pressure is like. I used to live in a suburb and the only problem we ever had was a raccoon that was wayy too acclimated to the presence of people. now we have eagles, hawks, mountain lions, coyotes, raccoons, opossums… basically everything. the main problem I have is that hens will completely fuck off and hide and be very difficult to find, and then if I can’t get them in the coop at night something will eventually eat them, but if they aren’t free ranging, that’s not necessarily a problem. I’m looking into getting them ankle tag trackers for next season, lol. aerial predators can be a serious problem; a friend of mine has had eagles go for full size turkey toms. I don’t leave babies / poults out without a person around until they’re big enough to not be an easy target for ravens or other overhead birds (they stay in a covered dog run until they’re larger). for the amount of raptors I see everywhere, we’ve done surprisingly well to avoid aerial predator problems. for one, we have over a dozen geese that scream their heads off at any bird going overhead too close, so that might help. but they also have access to the willow grove and the rabbit shed to be under cover, and they will alert each other if they notice something overhead. cooping them up to roost at night is absolutely essential, unless you have the ability to built like 20 foot roosts that aren’t climable and they all use them. not much different from protecting chickens; they’re bigger, but still prey animals.

then this last bit is kind of a layered question that I love talking about lol. I raise heritage turkeys. If you buy turkey meat at the grocery store, you’re getting broad breasted turkey. they are fundamentally genetically the same - there’s only one species / breed of turkey - but their physical structure is verrrryyy different. heritage turkeys are built more similarly to wild turkeys, though bred with a wide range of color variations. broad breasted turkeys are, like broiler chickens, bred to produce the most meat the most efficiently. they might have the poorest welfare of any meat animal. like chickens, they’re bred to produce an excess of meat on their breast. they cannot move well because they have too much meat on their bodies; heritage and wild turkeys are a lot of bone with less meat layers on. broad breasted turkeys cannot live very long as they were bred to be killed as soon as they’re at harvest weight and do not have much longevity. even before that, they will topple over from the weight of the meat on their breasts and break their own toes and be unable to walk. their growth is exponential to an unsustainable point. they are incapable of breeding themselves and have to be artificially inseminated.

heritage turkeys are for more robust, healthy, and long-lived. they can also be raised for meat, but you’re going to get half as much meat if that, and it’ll take longer to reach butcher weight. so they’re a LOT more expensive to buy, hence why it’s pretty rare to find people raising heritage turkeys for meat. some people are doing it for the sake of more humane and ethical turkey meat production, but it’s just not popular when the alternative is cheaper and gets you more food. here’s one of my previous hens, Adelaide (RIP my lil lady, love you always) and a broad breasted turkey about the same age as her.

feel free to let me know if you have any other questions, I love an opportunity to go off about turkeys.

[broresteia]

Oh my god?

That cross stitch is amazing

I’m still very much a noob when it comes to embroidery did you free hand it? Or do you sketch it out on the fabric first?

I’ve only done the kits so I’m lowkey scared of doing random designs or copying stuff

thank you!!!!

it was kind of a process 😭 i had to convert my original design to one that’d be legible as a cross-stitch pattern, and then i just used that pattern to stitch it onto my sweater….i freehanded the letters though which is why theyre a bit wonky 🥲

all this to say: no i didnt sketch it out….i approach cross-stitch like “well…let’s see how this goes” haha

[suzukiblu]

May I ask how you got people interested in your works? You have so many people who love your writing (rightfully so bc you're awesome) and I just want to find some people who like my writing like you did

ik that I should be writing for myself and everything, and for the most part I am! I write bc I like writing and it makes me happy! But it's just so so discouraging to see my little silly posts that take me 5 minutes to make do fantastic, meanwhile the works that take me weeks of effort get like 3 notes yk?

How do you do it? Did you ever deal with something similar? Any words of wisdom for the struggling noobs?

(This is a genuine question, I'm not trying to be rude in any way shape or form and I'm very sorry if it came off like that) (Also sorry to bother you)

You’re good, I’m not bothered by questions and I don’t think you’re asking anything rude either! I especially don’t mind the “please explain this thing I don’t know much about to me” type of questions, there’s just some shit you can’t effectively google or things that just make more sense coming from someone with direct experience. 

First and foremost: the two cakes meme is law!! No one will ever complain about getting two cakes, no matter if you think someone else already did it better! 

Second and second-most: as a newbie, before you read any of my advice at all, remember that you're currently comparing yourself to someone who’s been writing fic for their entire writing experience and has also been in fandom on and off for pretty much all of that time on multiple sites and through at least a couple major migrations of fandom hubs, and that time has been about twenty-five years now. Like, it has very much been a long-term process, me learning how to find a receptive audience for my stuff. Also I am a grown-ass adult who is currently pushing forty and am pretty self-aware of who I am as a person due to a WHOLE lot of personal introspection and therapy and general life experience. Like, I know how I work at this point in my life, if nothing else.

The long-form answer of my personal fandom process will definitely require a cut at this point, though, haha. Like, this got kind of involved, ngl, but since you’re asking I figure it’s reasonable to go into detail.

So anyway, the “how to find your audience” answer is obviously gonna be different for everybody, but PERSONALLY, I've been in fandom for a long-ass time and just about always been pretty prolific and consistently communicative and available during the times I was around. I have a ton of different fandoms and fics in my history and have run into a lot of different people and written a lot of different things over the years, so I've cast a pretty wide net of options for people to find me through. I've got readers who've followed me through multiple fandoms and even deliberately gotten into new ones because of me just because they like how I write and know me well enough from my other writing to trust that I’ll be respectful of certain things (or at least put in a good-faith effort to be). Your kink is not my kink, but I’m not gonna hate on it; your thing is not my thing, but you have fun over there, you DO your thing!

Being prolific is super-helpful, of course, because that gets people in the habit of checking in on you regularly and keeps you fresh in their minds, but one of the most effective ways I’ve gotten people long-term interested in my work is by being very responsive to readers and very open about what I’m currently working on. Taking requests has helped, asking who wants to see more of what has helped, talking to people in general has helped, and definitely playing “yes, and?” with ideas I’ve been offered has helped. Also I had the benefit of LiveJournal being one of my main fandom hubs for a while, where I met a lot of people and got in the habit of talking to them in a way Tumblr does not necessarily intuitively facilitate, so that’s just a habit for me. 

I definitely still produce stuff that comparatively flops and get bummed about it, it’s just a thing I’ve gotten used to over the years and so I either kill my darlings and move on to the next thing or I decide “naw, I’m still into this idea, I’mma work on it more anyway”. That’s obviously much easier when at least a couple other people are also into said idea, but still, it’s a thing you just gotta decide for yourself either way. Like I’ve DEFINITELY had stuff I slaved over get just about totally ignored while things I only tossed up on a whim off the top of my head or just intended as jokes people adored and resonated with way more, which is part of why I do so many WIP memes where I’m drip-feeding bits and pieces of content more regularly. One of my recent fics didn’t get near as much of a reception or interest on AO3 as I’d hoped it would, but when I was writing it on Tumblr people DID get excited for and enjoy it during the process, so that helped soothe that particular indignity/frustration for me.

Also, I’ve gotten enough people invested in my writing at this point that it’s much easier for me than it is for some writers, because I can do things like ask “hey what do you guys like/want to see more of?” and I’ll pretty much always get an answer, simply because so many people are in the habit of regularly checking on my blog and talking to me now. Polls are very helpful that way too, because it’s a functionally anonymous way for shyer people or people who are just casually scrolling their dash to give you an idea of what they’re enjoying from you without having to disrupt their flow or psych themselves up or anything like that. Like, it’s low-pressure, you know? I have done a LOT of polls since I found out Tumblr has those now.

I also constantly encourage people to both talk to me about and also play with my interpretations and AUs as they so please, and I deliberately cultivate responsive relationships with as many readers as I can. I don’t always have the spoons to answer every ask, but I always try to answer the majority of them and try not to ignore questions. A significant chunk of people have told me that they read tropes and AUs from me that they hate from other writers because they just trust that I’ll write it in a way that they can enjoy. I will include certain things and a certain level of respect that they just would not be comfortable without, and if I don’t have those things in there or there’s a common trigger, I’ll at least have done my best to tag for it. And I listen to people who tell me when I’m fucking up and I either take reasonable accommodations or change my behavior where appropriate. I tag for common triggers, I don’t use terms I’ve been told are insults or slurs, I try not to associate negative connotations with physical characteristics or things people can’t change about themselves, and when I have a reflexive “squick” reaction, I try not to assume shit and try to examine my biases. Or I just back-button and move on, if it comes to it. I also do my best to assume the best of people until they prove that I should not be. I am very much going to de-escalate when and wherever I can. 

I generally consider myself a low-drama blog and a low-drama person to follow, and put in effort to be that as best I can, and at this point I think (or at least hope) people feel relatively confident that they can talk to me without having to worry about immediately getting their head bitten off, which seems to be an increasing fear/concern that some people have in fandom. Therefore, I get people talking to me pretty regularly, because I’ve gone to the effort to be as approachable as I know how to make myself.

Also, yeah: above all else, write what you wanna write! Write your weird and niche dreams! Trust me, somebody out there LOVES your weird and niche dreams and wants all the deets on ‘em. I get the most engagement and interest when I just write what I really wanna see and don’t particularly worry about how goddamn weird I think I’m being. People are actually gonna be EXCITED about how goddamn weird I think I’m being, because a lot of them want it too and they’re not finding it as easily as a lot of the more popular stuff. 

So like . . . hope at least some of that was helpful, feel free to ask follow-up questions if you have any, hah.

[ntaras]

Bi-Han Analysis

Though the primary focus of this analysis is Bi-Han, I also do analyze Kuai Liang a bit. This analysis is also mostly for me to put my general thoughts together, so the formatting is a bit hard to read and messy. 

This analysis is not written with the datamined dlc story in mind, so for the love of god do not bring that up if you want to respond to this post. I also hate the way the brothers and the Sub-Zero vs. Scorpion rivalry was presented, but I’m writing this analysis with an attempt at avoiding placing criticism in the center (because I do have a lot of criticism that does conflict with this analysis.) 

Also, this is not meant to prove Bi-Han as “not evil”, because no, he isn’t, but he’s still an antagonist who’s making very bad choices. Also I talk about my own speculation regarding Bi-Han’s relationship with his father, and I want to make clear that I’m not trying to paint their father in a bad light because he is not canonically presented as abusive or evil. It comes off like that, but that’s not my intention. I’m too lazy to rewrite that portion of the analysis so this is just a heads up. 

Bi-Han is a walking self-sabotaging tragedy, and with Kuai Liang as Scorpion, they were doomed from the start for their relationship to shatter. You have the eldest brother: Sub-Zero, who feels forced into submission and forced to conceal his “true worth”. You have the younger brother: Scorpion, who watches his older brother be consumed by his desperation to be something, and stands unsure of how to help him. 

Bi-Han’s desire for power is the highlight of his character. His and the Lin Kuei’s role as Earthrealm’s defenders isn’t something that satisfies him- it isn’t something that shows his worth. He thinks he’s worth more than simply hiding in the shadows, waiting, and waiting for threats to emerge. Defending Earthrealm brings him no value, but perhaps taking part in ruling it would give him value (Sub-Zero: “You wield the power I aspire to be” Sindel: “Too bad you’re unfit for it, Sub-Zero.”) He wants to bring the Lin Kuei to the light, show that his clan is deserving of power. (From his bio: “Under his leadership, the Lin Kuei will come out of the shadows and fight for its place as one of Earthrealm’s great nations.”) 

I’m really emphasizing the word “shadow”. It’s an obvious reference to Noob Saibot, and it seems like the story is going for the route that Bi-Han is already someone in the dark, yet he doesn’t view himself to be in the dark. (Scorpion: “A shadow’s fallen on your soul.” Sub-Zero: “No, brother. I’ve seen the light.”) As the darkness envelops Bi-Han, he can only see that darkness as the light. 

Bi-Han refuses to see himself in the wrong, and even says his ambition is confused for evil. (Ashrah: “There are many in the Netherrealm just like you.” Sub-Zero: “You conflate ambition with evil, Ashrah.”) That dialogue also implies that Bi-Han does not believe he will end up in the Netherrealm for his actions, because he doesn’t view himself or his actions as “evil”. Everything he’s done has been for the better- has been for the good of the Lin Kuei. 

I wondered why Bi-Han was so loyal to the Lin Kuei in this timeline, as in previous timelines Bi-Han’s loyalty to his clan was because he was kidnapped by that clan, and conditioned to be their warrior (but still agreed to help Raiden and save Earthrealm.) So why is Bi-Han so loyal to the Lin Kuei in this timeline? 

This is more speculation than an analysis I can support with hard evidence, but if you’re asking what I personally think, I’d like the case to be that there was something deeper going on. That somehow, his father put so much pressure on Bi-Han (not intentional pressure) as the future Grandmaster and a protector of Earthrealm, Bi-Han ending up warping that role as “protector of Earthrealm” into his own desire for the Lin Kuei to show all their true ability is to not defend Earthrealm- but govern Earthrealm. Why must their efforts go unrecognized if their role is so important? Also this plays into his role as the first born son, the eldest child who ends up being the one responsible for their younger siblings. As the eldest, he knows what is best for his siblings. As Grandmaster, he knows what is best for the Lin Kuei. 

All the dialogue regarding their father paints him in a good light- even dialogue from Bi-Han. Bi-Han never once accuses his father as being abusive in some manner, but only as weak and lacking vision. So, there is no denying that he was a good man, but he’s still a man of mistakes, such as being the man indirectly responsible for the murder of Tomas’s family. The fact that that murder happened in the first place does raise a lot of questions about the inner workings of the Lin Kuei and how their father led the Lin Kuei.  

It does feel like their father’s death is still not fully revealed. His death is only referred to as an “accident” and not delved into further besides Bi-Han allowing him to die. (Scorpion: “I want to see the moment my father died.” Geras: “You are not ready to receive that knowledge.”) That could mean that there is more to his death, Kuai Liang isn’t ready to see that moment because he’d get all raged up, or it could mean nothing because that’s how a lot of dialogue is. 

The way their father led the Lin Kuei- and how the Lin Kuei has always been in this new era, was by teaching them to be submissive (to follow rather than lead.) And in Bi-Han’s eyes: weak. 

The fact that Bi-Han didn’t kill his father, but instead let him die, is fascinating. We can also compare that act, to how Bi-Han is submissive to Liu Kang until he’s away from Liu Kang and listens to Shang Tsung. ALSO, it’s interesting how Bi-Han doesn’t listen to Shang Tsung’s offer until he is in chains. Even if he let his father die, Bi-Han still was loyal to Liu Kang nor did he change the Lin Kuei in any way (we also do not know how recently their father died, so he may have not even had the time yet to drastically change the Lin Kuei on his own, but I think that’s besides the point). He aches for the right moment to “step up”- to separate himself from what he believes binds him. 

We see Liu Kang keep Bi-Han from being “too antagonistic”. After Liu Kang calls Bi-Han and Kuai Liang over in chapter 1, we see Bi-Han get hostile towards Kung Lao and try to advance towards him, but is stopped by Liu Kang. He glances at Liu Kang, wanting to bark back, but keeps quiet. In chapter 2, Liu Kang looks at Bi-Han when he yells “enough!” and Bi-Han quickly bows in apology. 

He keeps that loyalty to Liu Kang, until he is physically in chains, until he is physically shackled. He does not want to be prisoner to that loyalty of submission anymore. 

His submission to his father’s ruling of the Lin Kuei and Liu Kang’s Godhood is something he doesn’t want, because he feels like he is worth more than submission. He doesn’t want to be treated “so lowly".” He wants recognition for his skills- he’s eager to show himself off and prove that yes, he is a warrior.

If Liu Kang had chosen Bi-Han to be champion, then mayhaps this desire for power and self-sabotage Bi-Han participates in would have been avoided. However, it’s understandable why Liu Kang didn’t choose Bi-Han to be champion despite clearly having the talent to be one: Bi-Han always dies at a tournament. He didn’t want to risk Bi-Han’s death, and then the resurrection of Noob Saibot (or a falling out between Kuai Liang- Scorpion- and Bi-Han that resulted in Kuai Liang killing Bi-Han). But, it seems Bi-Han set himself down that dark path anyways. 

Now, onto Kuai Liang and a brief look into the relationship between the three brothers. 

The story fails at showing us that the three brothers do care about each other, but it’s just barely there. 

In Kuai Liang’s bio, it states two things: “...though he took pride in knowing that his brother, Sub-Zero, would succeed their father as the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster.” and “...he fears that may one day have to battle his brother for control of the Lin Kuei’s legacy.” He views Bi-Han as Grandmaster with pride, and is scared of having to fight him- scared of choosing duty over his brother. 

Kuai Liang verbally tells Bi-Han multiple times to “watch himself”- reminding Bi-Han of his duty (honoring their father) and questioning Bi-Han’s roughness with Johnny Cage. You do see Kuai Liang keeping an eye out on Bi-Han (as he states later in the game, he was aware of Bi-Han’s frustrations). Kuai Liang doesn’t even mind Bi-Han’s ambitions, as evident in the scene where they enter the treasure chamber. “There will be spoils in this war,” says Bi-Han as Kuai Liang does not chastise him for wanting those “spoils”, but responds with “let us win it first, brother.” 

If I’m being honest, I don’t even think Bi-Han was referring to the actual treasure as “spoils”, but rather the glory that treasure holds. Bi-Han doesn’t really have a desire for treasure, especially a bunch of coins, so I couldn’t really view him as having an actual desire for some coins and gems. And I think Kuai Liang’s response was him answering Bi-Han’s hidden desires- that Bi-Han can achieve his desire to “shine” after they finish their job. For Bi-Han to achieve his ambitions, he must earn it first. 

Up until the reveal of Bi-Han letting their father die, Kuai Liang is incredibly patient with Bi-Han. 

Regarding Tomas and Bi-Han’s relationship: Bi-Han doesn’t hate Tomas! Their relationship is complex with Tomas being the youngest brother and being adopted into the family, but it’s not wrong to say Bi-Han does care about him (as clearly evident by the “You are both unharmed?” comment).

I really do think Bi-Han being the eldest sibling is important to his character. It’s a role that brings him frustration as he cannot get his younger siblings to listen to him (them “abandoning” him and the LIn Kuei), and loses control over them. His anger is harsh towards Tomas, as is “what he gets” for being the younger brother, yet Tomas still cares for Bi-Han despite Bi-Han stating Tomas is not Lin Kuei. 

Bi-Han, in all his cruelness and frustration, cares about his brothers. And they care about Bi-Han. It’s evident in the fact that the brothers are so adamant on being the ones to kill/capture the other, not allowing anyone else “the privilege”. They are deeply hurt by the others' betrayal, and any hatred that comes from them is out of a broken heart. 

Kuai Liang did try to kill Bi-Han. After Bi-Han reveals that he allowed their father to die, Kuai Liang loses it, and knocks Bi-Han down, and you see him raise his chains ready to kill Bi-Han. Kuai Liang would have regretted it. He was in a moment of seering, blind rage, allowing his emotions to fully take over him. You know he would have regretted it, because in their confrontation outside the temple, Kuai Liang doesn’t kill Bi-Han. And if I’m being honest, I don’t even think that Kuai Liang knew he almost killed Bi-Han. 

“You are my Grandmaster no longer.” Not, “you are my brother no longer.” Kuai Liang disowns Bi-Han as his leader, but not as his brother. Even if Bi-Han shed his own brother’s blood, Kuai Liang cannot truly renounce his own blood. It’s their bond and their curse as brothers- as Sub-Zero and Scorpion: they are forever connected by rivalry and siblinghood. 

Their love is deep, but their hatred is even deeper. But is it not the same when it comes to siblings? Is that cruelty not the same as a loving embrace?

[prince-kallisto]

I’ve been seeing this template going around, and I wanted to try for myself…it was just nearly all Crowley’s, except for May 😭😭😭 Gidel I love you, but my streak!! 💥💥 /lh

Looking at all of this made me feel really surprised…My first year of digital art! Thank you so much to everyone for your support and kind words on my works 😭💕💕💕💕🐦‍⬛ Crowley really is a muse…

(Ramble below🐦‍⬛)

I can see my awkwardness with trying to figure out different digital brushes in my first months- Im still a noob with all these digital settings 🤣 But I think that experimentation is good- my most recent piece was admittedly rather rushed. I think I could’ve pushed it more with brush textures and rendering. So I’d like to keep that in mind for the new year, since I feel slightly more comfortable with how digital drawing works.

This was a tumultuous year for my art 💦 Before starting digitally, I had some nerve issues that made traditional art became severely uncomfortable, even painful at times. But with digital art, I found there were settings that could make pen pressure more comfortable. Drawing on a screen was much more forgiving that what I could do traditionally, with lots more shortcuts too. After figuring out a lot more accommodations for myself, I can draw again! 😊

Most recently, I’ve been hard on myself for not feeling skilled enough in art. But to be honest with myself, I do very little study and experimentation- anything I learned has been accidental this entire year! 😅 Everyone I admire puts so much work and study into their craft- how embarrassing it is to forget that sometimes 🙈💕 So my goals are to be kinder to myself, and to put in actual study of color, poses, etc. I think it’s easy to be swept away by the incredible work of others. But when I made this summary, I thought about how a year back, I couldn’t even draw or even write traditionally for days or weeks at a time. In retrospect, I think I need to slow down and be more mindful 😆

I couldn’t exactly show it in the summary, but I am so proud of my accomplishments of finishing and published my first animatics! Three, so far! :0 It’s truly a dream come true in every way! 😊

I’m still trying to discover what sort of art I want to do. Recently, I’ve been taken with a painting-like style, but Im trying to figure out what direction I want with it…So my goals for the new year aren’t at all defined, since I want to discover things along the way naturally 😊 But here are some goals I have:

-Do color studies, study some fundamentals

-Participate in a zine(s?)

-“Huevember” (I don’t know what term to use Ahahxhf- but I want to try to experiment with differing colors for sketches or pieces, but not in a daily-challenge type of way. Color theory in general is a big goal this year)

-Be more kind and patient towards myself and draw what I love💥💥💥

-Try and take more breaks between artworks 💦

If you read this far, please take this borb for your journey ☺️ This has been a whole year of learning art- and Crowley’s design BABXHDH. I’m still not able to depict his handsomeness 💥💥💥 I need another year of training then (● ˃̶͈̀ロ˂̶͈́)੭ꠥ⁾⁾ 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛