#RAN IS ALERT

[johnny-depplyloveyou]

When Gale uses the orb with Tav by his side during the final battle...

· We might still have a chance.

· It's been an honour.

· Do it, Gale.

😭😭😭

[blondeaxolotl]

FINALLY DROPPING THIS!! Not really a new AU since I've done doodles before but this time I'm actually putting effort in it

Anyways! This is my Wonderland AU! It's both based off Alice in Wonderland AND Alice: Madness Returns! (Mostly AMR)

Ran-Mao and Elizabeth are the two main protagonists, Ran-Mao being based on AMR!Alice and Lizzie being based on your OG!Alice! (Or like Disney Alice). The gist of this au is basically seeing the difference between the two Alices (Ran-Mao and Lizzie) Wonderlands, everyone has their own ver of Wonderland but the difference is shown the most between these two. This mostly takes point in Ran-Mao's view, meaning we'll be seeing her world the most! Reason for that is because the story has it that Elizabeth (Along with her Wonderlands Cheshire Cat) ends up accidentally falling into Ran-Mao's Wonderland, and therefore has to find out a way out of it and make it back to her own world (Spoiler she ends up getting distracted and instead follows Ran-Mao around because she thinks she's cool).

OKAY ONTO THE DRAWING, the characters shown on here are the ones that appear first in the real world, each of them having a connection to Ran-Mao in some way. Ran-Mao's connections:

Angelina Dalles - She and Ran-Mao have a mother and daughter type of relationship almost, Ann visits her as much as she can at the orphanage since she's not allowed to take Ran-Mao in yet to live with her instead. Ran-Mao also views Angelina as the only family she has left and finds comfort in her the most, she appreciates it when Ann reads to her

Aleister Chamber (Yes, I had to draw him, no I'm not happy about it) - Ran-Mao's psychiatrist and the owner of the orphanage in which she currently stays in, she finds his sessions meaningless but he refuses to let Angelina take her in until he believes she's finally "sane" enough to be let go (which is never)

Gary Scholes - Ran-Mao's family lawyer, was a close friend to Ran-Mao's parents but has truly only shown interest in her inheritance rather than actually helping her

Ms. Abbie - The one who got her a place to stay in at Aleister's orphanage, she's a strange old lady with an obsession with pigeons but at least she means well..?

Ran-Mao and Lizzie don't interact much in the real world, only time they see eachother is when Lizzie accidentally runs into her, apologised and then started to talk to her (or at least attempted to) before she got dragged away by Edward (who apologised on Lizzie's behalf for bothering her, again she just thought she was cool!!!!)

Anyways this is only the start of the au! More will be coming.. hehehehe

also bonus doodle because I almost forgot to do one

[hiphopcherrrypop]

save me bottle blond bass player

[placesyoucallhome]

Well take me out tonight This ship of fools I'm on will sink A millstone around my neck Be my breath, there's nothing I wouldn't give

[anotherpapercut]

thinking of when my friend came over to my place for the first time and started picking up my prescription bottles and reading the labels (?????) and he was like "why do you have someone else's medications" and I just stared at him for a minute. and that's how he learned my deadname

[theoryandahalf]

I would lowkey watch a tv show of Tom & Santi bickering - it is so entertaining.

Actually all of team theorists, they are all so chaotic & I love it

Ah...did you see FT's last TikTok?

This is how Ash feels about your TV show idea.

[mobydyke]

[rinupi]

Putting my two faves together

[theres-a-bea]

I'M SORRY?? MAIN STORY 14?

ALERT BITCH WE FINALLY HAVE IT

(PV under the cut)

cw! contains CN server spoilers, read at your own risk!

THIS BETTER BE GODDAMN FUCKING GOOD BC I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THIS IS GOING TO HURT ME.

also, look how pretty

subtitle translation here

Artem is going to be OUT THERE risking everything to Get Him Back (Father Figure Version) while his own father still hasn't fucking shown up 😐

[sunnydayzes]

Just a little teaser for what's to come in lovestruck next week 👀

[welcometoteyvat]

either charlotte is aro or she's at least a little bit gay for keqing

a) oh Wow this is such a good shot...... (photographer tunnel vision) b) oh Wow she's kind of pretty (oblivious) (also photographer tunnel vision)

[shouldwemaybe]

charlie my girl...

[abirddogmoment]

an extremely fun video showing a HUGE gap in our noseworktraining. I neglected to teach Mav how to do a proper container search so for a while there he just alerted to all containers, whether they had scent in them or not.

we eventually got it sorted and he finished his novice and open nosework titles, but this was funny to me while it lasted

[cleverthylacine]

I'm not well versed in Transformers, but who is your favorite Autobot? What's one thing that if Hasbro called you up right now and said they would do whatever you suggested, you tell them?

My favourite Autobot is easy because I don't like most of them very much. I love Decepticons.

It's either Jazz or Ratchet or Rodimus, depending on the phase of the moon and whether my brain is in RavWaves mode or Deadlock mode.

Jazz and Ratchet and Rodimus are all people who probably would have been Decepticons if it weren't for a stroke of fate.

I also love Rosanna, but she's a civilian and she's been in like 3 things, one of which almost everyone hates.

The problems with Autobots:

they tend to use the same colour schemes which makes them hard to tell apart

many of them are boring af

the Decepticon movement was a legitimate revolution against an extremely bigoted and oppressive government, and the Autobots were the liberals who patted them on the hand and said "we can do this the nice way" even though most of them were from social classes that were literally disposable.

some of them are fucking fascists

some of them are just such goodie two shoes rule bound characters you have to laugh (Star Saber in anything other than IDW was probably the robot version of Sheldon Cooper once)

It's really only in TFA that I don't think Optimus Prime is a giant hypocrite. I don't hate him. I think he's an awesome character. I enjoy him a lot! I also write a lot of fic where he gets his aft handed to him, at least verbally.

But I don't really sympathise with him. Because even when he's unfailingly sweet, like in TFP, he's still...a part of the problem, not the solution.

In some series the Decepticons did become horrible and genocidal, which is wrong, of course, but that led in IDW at least to both sides playing atrocity chicken.

In other series the Decepticons are anti-human mostly because we're in their way and we like the Autobots. In the Bumblebee movie they never even wanted to come here, but they had to--it is Prime's fault that their war came to Earth.

If Hasbro was willing to do whatever I said I would ask them to create a series of all the femme characters most people don't know about. And not make them teeny tiny Core Class dolls. (I own a few of them because they're cute, but.)

I would get them to include Ravage now that ES has confirmed her for a femme. (She is ACAB, assigned cat at birth.)

This would also include:

Esmeral, who should really be a leaderclass because her husband is the size of a small planet (from the Victory manga)

General Strika, who is the least feminine female character in all of transformers and a butch goddess of war (from TFA and Beast Machines)

Botanica because she's cool AF

Rosanna and her evil twin Flipsides (Rosanna's in KP but both of them are in... TFA, I thought? For a heartbeat.)

Howlback (done like her twin sister Ravi, with biped-to-quad transformation that does not involve extra limbs hanging off, because both MMC and Xtransbots have done it just fine) from the Cobalt Sentries who never got a show

Lyzack (from Victory -- the twin sister of Leozack who defends the home front and is a teal and pink seeker)

Nautica (from the IDW comics, who is the most adorable of nerds even if she is Ravage's unwanted aemula/kismesis/hatecrush until they make friends)

the Megatronia combiner which includes Megaempress, Trickdiamond, Lunaclub, Flowspade and Moonheart)

Minerva (yes there's a legacy but it's tiny and they made it a walgreens exclusive)

Clobber (from Cyberverse)

Nightbird (G1 not ROTB)

Termagax (Megatron's mom from the IDW 2019 series)

I have nothing against Elita-1, Arcee, Windblade, Chromia, Moonracer and Slipstream but some people can name hundreds of male characters and only those six and not even all of them.

If I was also G-d of the Transformers franchise as a whole, I would revive Kiss Players, cut out all the bad sex jokes and dropped panties of teenagers, rename a few things -- we do not need a base called "the spiral vagina" -- and take the plot we were actually given in between sex jokes, which was very cool, and write it all out as a comic/story/cartoon. They did the plot in the last few episodes of the radio show after kind of leading up to it very slowly between dirty jokes.

Everyone says Kiss Players is the worst thing Transformers ever made. I'm sorry, that's RID 2015, which is a Transformers show for the "Blue Lives Matter" crowd where the entire plot of the show is to find all these low-class Decepticons who are from denigrated castes that escaped from a prison ship and throw them all back in jail. Like seriously fuck you very much.

I will take perverted panty jokes over asskissing the cops any day. Besides some of the stuff that looks so bad and gross looks so bad and gross because it is--you're not supposed to be down with it, you're supposed to guess that a certain person is being groomed looooong before she figures it out. and the main human characters are actually Secretly Lesbians

I'm sorry this is way more info than you asked for but this is my main hyperfixation other than thylacines, fossas, small wild cats that can't eat you, and other cute weird predators.

[quelend-underground]

oughr i'm so gay for him, she's so fucking gorgeous <3333

my undying love for them aside, Honestly probably my best humanoid drawing to date. I have never gotten how the hell to do humans but with some help from a discord server i got it down!! the face was the biggest challenge idk why people think the hands are the hardest they were soo easy (i say as i was using atleast like 3 refs for both sobbb)

also sorry babes, he is married to his husband who literally made a cult just to worship her beautyyy but can you blame himm? like look at that face who wouldn't marry and start a cult for that?

also spot the difference, you cant! \/

[blackjackkent]

So. Cazador's body is not where I killed him, which makes sense, because he's a vampire. Which means presumably I missed him turning into a fog cloud and heading back to his sarcophagus.

I was briefly worried about this before I realized that

there's a giant glowing sarcophagus in the center of the ritual area.

"No, no. No healing sleep for you. Wake up!"

Without hesitation, Astarion grabs Cazador by the collar and hurls him from the coffin out onto the stone floor.

"Get your hands off me, worm," Cazador growls - though the effect is a little lost as he is hunched on his knees before Astarion standing over him.

Astarion laughs hoarsely. "I'm not the one in the dirt." Without taking his eyes from Cazador, he leans down, picks up a strange ornate dagger which was resting next to the sarcophagus. Hector parses it at a glance. It is a blade meant for killing vampires - perhaps a safety measure for Cazador, should one of his spawn try to rebel. Within the twisting metal of the blade is a polished stake of wood.

"One last thrust..." Astarion whispers, "and I'll be free of you. I'll never have to fear you again." His voice is unsteady; Hector can hear the decades of pain and exhaustion underlaying it. The realization of a hope of peace that never seemed possible.

And then... a counterpoint against it; the elf's voice hardens suddenly, retreating from the pain into the safer, easier anger, the desire for his own control. "But if I finish the ritual you started, I'll never have to fear anyone. Ever."

From his knees, Cazador laughs - even now not believing Astarion capable of what he is threatening. "You think me a fool?" he says. His high voice is mocking and cold. "That I would allow anyone to usurp me, speak the words, and ascend in my place? The runes I carved into your flesh bind you and all seven thousand souls to the ritual! Complete it and those bearing the scars will be sacrificed - you included." His lips curl maliciously. "You are simply a means to an end. I made you to be consumed."

Astarion surges forward, the tip of the blade pointed at Cazador's heart. "I am SO much more than what you made me," he snaps out. Perhaps the words surprise even him, because he stiffens suddenly, and his eyes flick to Hector, an appeal for support.

"Get over here," he says sharply. "We can do this."

For a long moment, Hector doesn't move. He is torn in so many different directions at present - the desire for Cazador's death, the concern for Astarion, fear for what ascension would do to him, protective instinct towards the spawn in the cells and the antithetical unease at releasing them...

"Didn't you hear him?" he asks slowly, judging that an appeal to Astarion's self-interest is more likely to get anywhere than a plea for sympathy towards the other spawn. "If you complete the ritual, you'll be consumed."

Astarion laughs harshly. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Hector doubts that very much. "You can't finish the ritual," he insists. "You'll kill all those people!"

"If we release them, how many more will they kill?" Astarion demands. "Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?" He shakes his head. "But if I complete the ritual, think of the power I'll have. With me by your side, we can save the city!" His voice lowers, his shoulders hunching again just slightly. "We can save ourselves..."

Hector sighs inwardly. The point about the spawn is, in truth, a significant one - but he is convinced that it is a separate question. Whatever must be done with them has no bearing on the fact that Astarion cannot be allowed to do this - for his own sake. The power would corrupt him. And Hector has traveled alongside him for so long, believed in him for so long; the two of them aren't friends, not really, but they are partners in this whole terrible journey. He knows Astarion is capable of better.

He knows it better than Astarion knows it himself.

[INSIGHT] Look into his eyes - try to see what's driving this.

Narrator: You can see the fear in his eyes - but also the hunger. The thick smell of blood in the air and the promise of power being so close is intoxicating to him. All he can see is the power of the ritual, and the freedom that power brings. The freedom to do anything - to be anything.

Hector draws a slow breath, considering his words carefully before he speaks. Were he a better orator, he is sure he could deliver some stirring speech that might convince Astarion to see all the possibilities that lie outside this one path - that being his own man, indebted not even to his own lust for power, is in the long run far more valuable. But he has no such skill, and so he speaks simply and plainly, answering as best he can what he sees as the true need in Astarion's heart.

[PERSUASION] "I know you think this will set you free," he says quietly, "but it won't. This power will trap you, just like it trapped Cazador."

Astarion flinches, his eyes dropping away from Hector's. For a moment the knife falls to his side. He swallows. "You-- you're right," he mutters. "I can be better than him..."

Hector can see a muscle in his jaw start to tremble as he considers the ramifications of this, the things it means gaining - and the things it means losing. His pale hands turn even paler at the knuckles as he grips the hilt of the blade. "But I'm not above enjoying this," he mutters with sudden ferocity.

Surging forward, he seizes Cazador by the hair. Yanking his head back, he sinks the blade deep into the vampire lord's chest. Black blood spurts out over the knife, over his hands, his bare chest, his face as he stabs again, and again, and again, and again, a roar of fury growing up through him and exploding out of his throat.

Finally he stands, spent and panting and bloodsoaked, over Cazador's tattered body. The vampire lord is dead at last, and Astarion is free. His lips tremble and his chest heaves and blood drips across his skin.

He staggers, sways, sinks to his knees... and sobs...

Hector takes a cautious step forward, then another, until he is standing next to Astarion in the slowly spreading pool of blood. His instinct is to reach out, to lay a hand on the other man's shoulder... but Astarion would not welcome a touch. He never does. So instead Hector just stands there - a silent presence, a reminder that he is not alone.

Gods. Perhaps I will never have the chance to say it aloud, he thinks suddenly. And perhaps you wouldn't welcome it if I did. But I am so proud of you. So proud. I see the courage you showed here. It is not lost on me. And I see how much it cost you...

There are others, too. The other six spawn have been released from their chains and are moving to surround their fallen master.

"Is... is it over?" one of them, a young-looking elven woman, asks nervously. "Is he..."

"Yes..." Astarion whispers hoarsely. Slowly, slowly, he starts pushing himself to his feet. "He's gone."

"What does that mean for us?" another of them asks.

Say nothing.

Hector waits in silence. Should the spawn turn violent, he is ready to respond - exhausted though he feels after the battle with Cazador. But this remains Astarion's conversation to have, not his.

"It means you have a choice," Astarion says, his voice surprisingly quiet and steady. "You can hide here, living in the shadows like parasites... or you can be more than what he made us to be." He shrugs. "You can choose differently, of course, but the consequences are on your head."

"And... what does it mean for them?" the elven woman asks cautiously, jerking her head to indicate the cells in the corridor.

Astarion hesitates - and this time his eyes flick to Hector, a brief flickering moment of uncertainty. "Now that's a better question," he says. "Seven thousand spawn, from ancient conquests to stolen children..."

Narrator: Cazador's staff controlled everything during the ritual. If it controls the cells too, you could decide their fate...

Hector frowns. In truth, he has no idea what the responsible decision is here. He is sure that there is no chance that all seven thousand spawn are self-disciplined enough to restrain themselves to boar and rabbit the way Astarion has. And yet... some of them will, and the idea of condemning them to death or eternal imprisonment, for no greater crime than having been in the wrong place at the wrong time... it feels like a cruelty he cannot sanction.

And he does not want Astarion's new life to begin with such cruelty.

"Let's release them," he mutters. "They deserve the same chance you got."

"And what of the living they'll feast on, should they not prove as admirable as Astarion?" Jaheira adds, equally low, behind him. "They deserve a chance too."

Hector shakes his head. She is, of course, right to point this out-- but he suspects that in truth they are really of the same mind in this - releasing the spawn is dangerous, but leaving them here is unconscionable. There is no right answer; there is only the answer they can live with. He turns his head and looks at Astarion fixedly.

Astarion nods slowly. "The poor wretches in the cells are innocent," he says. "They shouldn't have to suffer just because I--" He stops, swallows tightly before continuing. "--lured them here..."

He leans over, picks up the staff lying on the ground, and turns it in his fingers thoughtfully for a long moment. Then he slams its end down into the ground, and a burst of red light erupts around him, spreading outwards into the cells around them. Hector can hear the sound of voices down the corridor as the freed spawn see their doors opening, one by one.

"They'll need someone to lead them," Astarion goes on quietly - this to the others of his brethren gathered around them. "Take the tunnels into the Underdark. Find somewhere... well, not safe, but less perilous."

"What?" one of the spawn says fearfully. "No, we can't--"

"Just try to keep them out of trouble," Astarion says, with uncharacteristic gentleness, looking around at them all.

There's a long pause, and then nods begin to spread around the small group, and they start to file with weary hope towards the door.

Yes, Hector thinks. Yes... it is best this way. They will be free, and they will help each other to be better than what Cazador would have made them - monsters or sacrifices. And they have the model of Astarion to follow; they have seen him do it successfully before them already. They know it is possible, because of him.

Astarion leans heavily on the staff, wipes absently at a dribble of blood about to drip into his eye. "I think we're done here..." he whispers, and there's a wonder in his voice, and the abject exhaustion of a man who has reached a climax of conflict that has been building for two hundred years.

He doesn't look at Hector, or any of them, just lets the staff clatter heavily to the floor and walks away. "Let's go."