#Just a bunch of tickling

[anormalf1sh]

In China we call this ‘恋爱脑’

[angoryt]

An illustration of the two old cats working together on a rare occasion.

I think I might possibly have gone a bit overboard with the affects. But who cares, have some green.

I am actually really proud of this one. And it all started with a sketch I had forgotten about. And then I found it again after half a year.

[lucabyte]

What's your favorite way to characterize your ocs? (if u want a challenge try not to answer with any homestuck related category)

mine is how many siblings they have!

Ok so this is a genuinely interesting question bc i had to actually like... Think about how to word this in a way that isn't complete nothing?

So. My favourite way to characterise my ocs is via their interests. (... something i think homestuck does very well via making sure every character has a grab bag of cool & uncool, intense & wayside interests instead of just a bunch of cool stuff they like equally, but i digress)

That said, it's not so simple as just giving them a likes and dislikes list. in fact i fucking hate likes and dislikes lists cant stand them, they always feel really flat to me. I know they have their uses but I usually can't flatten characters down that way. Likes are ephemeral-- Likes can be shit like 'warm days' which. Duh.

Something i'm a little mean about related to this is what i call "Likes: Friends Dislikes: Bullies" which is something you see on character likes and dislikes in one form or another a LOTTTT. This is because like... Yeah? That can be assumed of everyone? It tells me nothing about the character. Telling me your character likes Pleasant Weather or dislikes Gross Food is like. Uh Huh?

It's not specific! It tells me nothing! But that's the secret.

Specificity and Contradiction are where it's at. Now a character who hates pleasant weather and likes gross food? Now that's a weirdo. Or maybe even that they dislike 'gross food'-- But by their definition that's like... Anything that's not literally raw? Now that's characterisation! Now you get to ask why the fuck are they like that.

And this is how I like to approach things. I like to dig into a character's interests on the surface level by assigning them some, sure. But the fun comes from digging in and making them specific and contradictory. (And usually if a character is unfinished, to me, it's because they're still on that surface level of Just Having Some Interests) (Also, it goes without saying, one of the best places to find these interests for characters in the first place is by joking and riffing for as long as humanly possible. A core joke will carry you farrrrr)

so my actual favourite way to characterise characters? Giving them really specific dislikes, in relation to their interests.

So, for example, (because they are always the example...) Ali is a stagehand and decent actor, and loves plays. In fact, they love plays so much they are outright dismissive of other art forms. They don't play games, they don't really watch TV, their main intakes of media are books, screenplays, poetry and filmed productions or bootlegs. (and hey, bringing up bootlegs: that probably means they participate in the weird bootleg-trading-ring people have going on online. Look at that! A weird niche activity I can give them!)

But, they HATE musicals. Think they "lower" the art form-- Despite (or perhaps because) they're the most popular type of play to put on, especially in the local productions they help out on. They value the scary intimacy of a theatre production, being in a near silent room physically with the performers, they think it elevates it. Makes it unique. They don't like that musicals are like... fun and loud.

But let's go even more specific. Do they have any exceptions? Any begrudging respect?

Well, I think they'd respect musicals like Cats. Things that are pure spectacle, where the music and intefacing with the audience in a chaotic manner are the point. They like that Cats "Doesn't even pretend to have a story. It's not actually trying to compete with plays, it's doing its own thing. It's practically Theatre of Cruelty."

And furthermore, they also enjoy animated or movie-original musicals. Because, well, film is a medium they don't care about as much. It's okay if it lowers itself by being silly. Plus!! Animation is like, fake, for children, and has a heightented requirement for suspension of disbelief! It's perfect for musicals! They're nothing but spectacle! In fact, that's what makes them the perfect medium for them!

^ You may notice that the above is like, while logical, is very dismissive of other mediums! It's a little bit anti-art in places!

And thatt's the other thing. I like to make characters who don't hold the exact same opinions I do.

While there's parts of my actual opinions in there-- I do believe animated is a great medium for musicals due to the whole suspension of disbelief & fun thing-- Um. I would hope it's obvious that as an animation graduate I don't think animation is for children or inherently less serious of a medium.

But Ali is a weird little snob who will hopefully get some slightly more nuanced opinons when they're not literally only 19. So it makes sense that they're being elitist about things. They're insecure, and hanging a lot of their self-esteem on being "an artist with good and refined taste". Of couuuurse they've got a stick up their ass about musicals (something I myself am not a superfan of, but usually enjoy when I watch them. I think Ali is missing out!)

But yeah, that's just from digging in and getting specific about one interest: Theatre.

By digging into the contradiction of "Likes Theatre and Dislikes Musicals" I can find a reason for why. And I can avoid making characters just Mouthpieces For My Own Opinions by giving them opinions i disagree with.

I follow this logic a lot, though not always so straightforwardly.

Chrome is a musician who doesn't really like music, and thinks all artists are just vapidly doing it for attention. (Which should immediately clue you in to what's wrong with him.) It's a more selfish version of the same kind of reasoning Ali has, but one Ali would find ghoulish.

Ess, meanwhile, is a Pedologist. A soil scientist-- A very specific thing you usually get to via being like... A geologist, or chemist, or something more general-- But I've said he was basically on that shit immediately-- Which is a funny concept to me. He didn't go on a journey of scientific discovery to find a niche area of study-- He just loved that niche ever since he was a kid.

So, you'd expect that I'd maybe make Ess dislike other sciences then? Nah, I think he's more nuanced than that. Because, following his very polite and politically aware demeanor, I think it would make more sense for him to be very respectful of all sciences, even if he has no real interest in them outside of how they relate to his field. Instead, he is conciously trying very hard not to form a grudge with more 'popular' sciences-- He knows why they're more popular, and he knows it's not the fault of the people who love the field that they get a lot more funding than him. It's not their fault, it's just a result of science having to be so capitalistic.....

See! Polite little man, very nuanced. That's because most of his contradictions come instead from being a terrified and anxious soul who is doing illegal shit right now while being very scared because they know it's for the greater good. (see! politically aware again. He knows trespassing is illegal, but his morality does not line up with legality. He's exposing governmental malpractice, ffs. But! Not a cool punk! In fact a very scared guy!)

Ess there does get to be a bit of a mouthpiece for me, since obviously I also believe you should trespass to go get evidence of the government knowingly dumping biohazards into the fucking water supply for cost cutting reasons. But he gets to balance it out because every time I have to do research into soil science my fucking head hurts.

Pulling back away from Ess and back to Ali and Chrome again I think I have one last really good example of letting characters have opinions that are different to mine, that's about something that isn't an interest, per se, but hits on the reason I like to do this so much.

It is so fucking fun to make characters argue.

In an earlier purrgatorio that im not going to re-look-at because its early enough the writing quality might make me dry heave, i let ali and chrome have a bit of an argument (with tabitha as a weird mediator who has the closest to my real opinions LOL.)

So. Chrome has what i can describe as "Basically my opinions, but worded in the most bad faith way possible." If I saw someone arguing my point like this i'd want to either smack them or disagree with them on principle.

Whereas Ali has "The opposite to my opinion, but worded with all of the arguments for that point of view that I genuinely respect." They're the talking points I've observed that I genuinely find to be decent reasoning, and I would be hard pressed to disagree with in polite conversation.

They're arguing about religion. Ali is religious, following a small gnostic sect that's basically only practiced by their immediate family. Chrome is bluntly atheistic, but coming at it from a conception of religion that only has room for (a pastiche of) american big-box puritan protestantism, and is assuming every religion to be the same way.

I am an atheist myself, but cannot fucking stand the culturally-christian reddit atheist talking points. So I gave that kind of thing to Chrome (part of this irony being, Chrome is far more spiritual than he thinks-- having internalised a LOT of protestant work ethic), and Ali is from a small cultural religion that couldn't be further from it-- And is also a modern-day internet user with a bitchy streak-- So of course they've memorised every rational and reasonable counter-argument to this kind of thing.

(The full on irony being, that they are fictional and thus Ali is acutally in a sense... Right that there is a demiurge. Lol.)

Even if I do ultimately take the side that uh. Idk dude i dont think god is real. Giving that opinion to the guy who's being a shithead about it makes it more interesting to write?

I treat a lot of things like this. Chrome has a bad anti-art anti-intellectual streak that I follow the logic of, but think is dangerous and flawed. Markus loves scientific knowledge and biology, but is too naive to really know how to chase it-- or when to stop. Miao has a lack of academic smarts, and deeply undervalues her other skills because she's internalised that they don't matter in comparison. Lupus believes there's good in everyone, and can't comprehend the logic of cruelty-- Leading her to equivicate legality with morality in a very childish manner.

Everyone gets an ideology. I should be able to follow the logic of everyone's ideology even if I don't agree with it. And interests are both an extension of ideology, and a window into it.

Chrome's anti-art anti-intellectualism leads him to barely partake in media-- But also undersell his own academic smarts because his skills in physiology are "just dumb meathead shit about how to stay jacked". Lupus' disagreements with Mafioso over criminals being 'cool' betray her inflexibility in categorising actions as 'good' or 'bad', because she wants no-one to suffer-- And assuming an unjust police absolutely turns that to dust.

It's all about putting characters together like a big jigsaw to make them have unique worldviews-- To then be able to look at a real world thing and go "who of my characters would like that/act like that/think that?"

(Now. Uh. I can't say I'm like. The Bestest At This-- That would be a touch egotistical given my lack of Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is And Writing A Big Story For Everyone To Look At. But um. We'll get there? I hope lol.)

But yeah, TL;DR:

My favourite ways to characterise characters are:

Give them specific, contradictory and ironic interests

Interrogate their reasonings and how it informs their self-perception

Give them opinions that don't always align with mine

Interrogate whether they are actually coherent when discussing these opinions

[pastafossa]

pasta I’m SCREAMING

my local comic con just announced that Charlie’s going to be there and let me tell you I IMMEDIATELY bought a photo op with him I’m so fucking excited to meet him

FUCK YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS OH MY GOD! You're going to absolutely LOVE IT, he's seriously the nicest celeb I've ever met. And he's so sweet when you go to get your pic, I told him thank you after and that I hoped he had a good day and he said, 'you as well my dear' and I MELTED, 10/10 EXPERIENCE. 😭Fuck I'm so gd excited for you, ANOTHER ONE OF US GETS TO MEET HIM, THIS ALWAYS MAKES ME WANT TO DANCE, LOVE LOVE LOVE

[radiant-fanon-maker]

RAHHHHHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS IT'S SO CUTE

@radiant-fanon-maker, I’m done!

“Okay, where did polar bears keep their money?” Lizzy asked. V ignored her and held her stern glare at the ceiling from her spot on Lizzy’s carpet. After a few minutes of silence, Lizzy finished the joke.”In the snowbank!” She said. The corner of V’s mouth twitched upwards, but quickly went back down. Her friend groaned and put her phone down on her nightstand.“Come on, V! That was a good one!” She said.

V rolled her eyes and flicked her tail against the carpet floor to subtly let some of her lingering frustration out. Lizzy moved to lay next to her and looked at her confused.”How are you still bitter about loosing Mario Kart? That thing was literally centuries old and didn’t work very well in the first place.” She asked in slight disbelief. It’s been around an hour since that happened, and even someone as irritable as Uzi got over something like that after, what, thirty minutes?

How V could still be mad about it, especially when it barely functioned enough for the game to play without lagging, Lizzy couldn’t understand.“I’m not usually the looser.” V grumbled.

Lizzy looked at her with an expression that said “Are you serious?”, which quickly changed and softened slightly. Suddenly, she sat up.“I’ve got just the thing!” She said. V ignored her claim, thinking it was another awful and definitely not funny joke, until she felt two hands lift her head and back up. She glanced over at Lizzy, who had moved closer and adjusted herself so she could place her legs under V’s back.

She grabbed one of V’s arms and began moving it so most of it would be under her legs.“What are you doing?” V asked. She gave her arm a slight tug, but Lizzy grabbed her again and placed it under her legs. She looked pretty confident for what she was about to do and reached for V’s other arm.“Something that has worked for my friends and family many times. Trust me, it’ll work.” She said, placing V’s other arm beneath her legs. In this position, V’s upper body was in Lizzy’s lap and lifted up a bit, except for her head, which she needed to hold up if she wanted to see what was happening.

Lizzy turned around and reached up onto her bed for a pillow. She grabbed the closest one, a fuzzy pink one, and placed it under V’s head so it would be leveled a bit.“There. Comfy?” She asked. V nodded, but she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about both her arms basically being trapped. True, Lizzy would never hurt her, but was it really necessary for her arms to be held down like this?“Good. Now just relax.” Lizzy said.

Yeah, what was V thinking? There’s definitely bound to be some sort of cultural difference or something that would look weird that worker drones do that is actually really nice. Maybe this was one of them. V closed her eyes and decided to let L do whatever she was going to do. Besides, the pillow was very soft, so she paid no mind to the slight weight on her belly.

That was a mistake.

V’s eyes shot open and she looked at Lizzy, who had taken advantage of her position and started tickling her belly.”Hehehehey!! Lihihihizzyhyhy!! Hahahahahahaha!!” She tried to pull her arms up to protect herself, but she couldn’t. They were stuck, and it was all part of Lizzy’s plan. She had been tricked.”Hahahahaha!! Stohohohohop!! Yohohou trahahahaitor!! Hahahahahaha!!” V said. Lizzy lifted one of her hands and placed a finger on her chin.”Hmm, no.~” She said in a teasingly manner. She gave V a smug grin and continued using both hands to tickle her.”Wanna hear a joke instead?” She asked.

“Nohohoho!!” V laughed. Lizzy gave her sides a quick squeeze as a way of saying “excuse me?” and resumed attacking her belly with tickles.”Too bad! Why was six afraid of seven?” Lizzy asked.

“Whyhyhyhy?” V asked through her laughing. She tried again to pull her arms out from underneath, but Lizzy pushed her legs down to keep them underneath.“Because seven eight nine!” Lizzy replied. V’s laughter picked up a bit hearing the punchline.

It was a pretty good joke, but at the same time, it was bad. So bad that it worked.“Hahahaha!! That’s awfuhuhul!!” V laughed. Lizzy gasped dramatically and put on a fake expression of irritation. She slowed the tickling down to where V was only giggling a bit.“How dare you! I’m being a good friend trying to cheer you up, and you have the nerve to say that these jokes are terrible?!” She said in a mocking tone. V couldn’t help but giggle more at her silly antics, until she lowered her head down to her belly and grinned.

V immediately knew what she was doing and tried to wiggle free, but she couldn’t. Lizzy took in a deep breath and V knew she was done for.“Lizzy, don’t you dare.” V warned. Her friend ignored her and blew a raspberry on her belly.

V broke out laughing and started kicking her legs against the carpet.”AHAHAHA!!! NOHOHOHO!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!” She laughed hard and thumped her tail against the carpet floor. Lizzy blew another and V threw her head back against the pillow supporting her.“Now that you know what happens, no more insulting my jokes.” Lizzy said.

“Ihihihi meheheant bahahad in a goohoohood waHAHAHAHAY!!! NOHOHOHO!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” V immediately regretted trying to explain. Lizzy probably already knew anyways and was just using it as a way to blow a raspberry again.“Now. What do you call a big pile of cats?” Lizzy asked. V tried to shrug, but she barely managed to move.”A meow-tain!” Her friend said. V’s laughter picked up again and Lizzy smiled.”See? You’re feeling better!” She said.

“Behehecahahause ohohof your ahahawfuhuhul johohokes!!” V snapped back. She quickly regretted her decision when Lizzy stopped tickling her and slowly turned her head to face her.”Wait a minute, Lizzy! You know what I actually mean by that!” V said frantically. Lizzy maintained a cold face and slowly lowered her head.”Wait, wait, wait-- NOHOHOHO!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! LIHIHIZZY!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” V laughed hysterically and tried to pull her arms out. Again, she failed.

Lizzy blew another one.“HAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!” V’s tail was practically slapping on the floor with how much it was wagging. Lizzy blew a third raspberry before stopping and giving her a moment to breathe, otherwise she might be thrown across the room in all of V’s attempts to get out.

While V had calmed down, Lizzy let her move her arms out from under her legs. She was pretty surprised that V decided not to get up and stay there as she caught her breath. She smiled smugly and crossed her arms.”Feel better?” She asked confidently. V would forever deny that she nodded, but Lizzy knew she saw it.

Bonus (I used Google Translate at the end and tried different variations):

Uzi looked at her phone to see who sent the message while she was working on the pod. She saw it was from Doll and opened it up. It was a picture of Lizzy blowing a raspberry on V’s belly, and V looked like she was trapped with her arms beneath Lizzy’s legs and loosing it. Uzi noticed the text message that was sent after it and nearly laughed at it.

На Copper Nine, рабочие дроны щекочут дронов-убийц.

Uzi put her phone back down and put her hand against her forehead.“That’s such an old joke.” She said, shaking her head.

“What’s such an old joke?” N asked. Uzi got an idea and slowly turned around. A mischievous grin made its way onto her face.

(On Copper Nine, the worker drones tickle the murder drones.)

[august-anon]

going back to my workweek after a weekend of hanging out with y’all on tumblr is torture 😭 I just wanna play headacanon tag in the replies and answer my asks again jfkkdkfk

[radiant-fanon-maker]

nawww they are adorable! I love the gal on the right, she has cool clothes. And V is just so cute c:

Thank you for the gift °v°

~☆Gift for @radiant-fanon-maker i hope you like it:3☆~

[in-tua-deep]

i have a star wars fic idea floating around my brain that is just a time travel fic centering around bodhi rook where part of the explanation for a suddenly-force-sensitive-bodhi is "the monster tore parts of me out and maybe that made more space for the force to fill in the gaps"

[kanene-yaaay]

T E H E H E E

What a deliiight!!!

[putergenius]

got exposed as an old hag today

[m-i-r-p]

Writer block is killing me. Pls send prompts

Can’t believe I ran out of tags. Send me whatever about anyone, I’m not picky and I’m in too many fandoms to put them all in

[fuckthatroomupgood]

Mike Stoklasa: the internet's peepaw

[ace-of-feathers]

Tumblr truly is an interesting place

[radiant-fanon-maker]

New Deal

Merry Late Christmas :D

Poppy: Is no one gonna go under it?

Boxten: Maybe not. I think everyone knows it's there.

P: But we added the new rule!

P: If no two people stay under it, I swearrrrr

Shrimpo: You're not in x-mas stuff either!!

Rodger: You don't even look cozy for the holidays, Shrimpo.

P: HEH!!

P: Finally!

S: Why are you yelling?

R: No. No, I'm not kissing this toon.

S: WHAT!

P: No, even better~ You have to tickle!

R: Oh. Um.

S: WHY

R: This... um... isn't christmas-y.. Not that Shrimpo cares.

S: Well, if you care so much about that, I won't touch you!!

P: COME ON!!

sigh

R: MMP!

R: MM MM MMM Hah ho ho hah ha

S: You laugh like Santa, HAH!

R: SHRIMPO!!

R: ho ho ho hoh

S: Teehee hee

[Later]

S [mind]: Stupid phantom tickles, so annoying

R: Hey. ... So that was... interesting

R: ....Did I do too much..?

S: ...You were fine.

....

R: Shri-Shrimpo w-would you... Ugh... I've never been this bad at speaking... I-I want you to.. to...

S: You want tickles.

...

R: mm mmhmmm

S: Well, you better do the same back to me! Or you won't get any!

R: Deal.

[robogenko]

Really enjoying this sims 4 Occult AU where Briar is a spellcaster and MacCready is a werewolf. Briar got a big inheritance and they decided to open up one of those New Age/Occult stores but mostly they are just outright scamming people.

MacCready has the werewolf ability for scavenging around and digging up treasure, so he just digs up a bunch of shit and they sell it for a massive mark-up. If you pay the big bucks then you get the real magical items that Briar makes, but all the other stuff is just whatever they could buy in bulk for cheap or dig out of their yard.

There has been some surprisingly touching moments too, even when it comes to letting them autonomously have sex and wicked whims just happened to pick interesting/perfect animations.

Like this heart to heart they had right after the first time MacCready transformed into a wolf and scared the piss out of Briar. Now Briar is an official "Werewolf Ally".

[jils-things]

why is steven being angry so cute . why. i should not like it. but its. (old man gif tumbling over)