#american tail cosplay

[bunnyflopcosplay]

Somewhere out there beneath the pale moonlight

Someone's thinking of me and loving me tonight

Somewhere out there someone's saying a prayer

That we'll find one another in that big somewhere out there

[princeofcyberpunk]

eepy guy eepy guy

uh anyway heres all the stuff i acquired from the con

i can nawt recall any artist names rn i apologize im just showing my silly things

that picture is horrid!!!!! my god

fun shiny raincode print. genuinely shrieked when i saw someone selling shit of this game and bought it on the spot. wonderful 11/10!!!

highlight of the entire con (besides the person who ran up to me cuz i was cosplaying Alice from American McGee's Alice and took a picture w/ me ;w; /vvvpos) was this Pokemon Legends: Arceus protagonist print. hoooolyyyy shit dude i cannot even begin to tell you how much i adore pla but its a lot !!! (a lot!! a lot of concussions!! /ref) and this art is gorgeous and i love it and AAAAAAAA

xiao print (feat. a usb cord lmao) i got cuz one of my besties bought two and got a third free so they chose xiao and gave it to me cuz hes my favorite genshin lad. hes so pretty !!!!!!!

i cannot begin to recreate the unholy noise i made when i noticed someone selling FUCKING KAGEROU PROJECT SHIT WHATTTTTTT /VVVVVPOSSS. in case u dont know what that is its this rlly complicated vocaloid album/manga/anime thats hard to explain but it goes hard. and by hard to explain i mean im a huge fan and i genuinely have no idea whats going on. anyway!! the character is Ayano Tateyama :3c and the print is gorgeous omg (i wanted to get either/both the momo and kano charms too but i banned myself from buying charms cuz im afraid im gonna lose them D:)

gorgeous p5 print that i cannot believe i didnt notice until the third day lmao???? i love everyones expressions so much dude theyre all so silly!!!!!!!!!! i apologize to the artist having to hold up their square reader over their display as i blanked on what my fucking email was for the receipt. call me the fool arcana cuz im a fuckin dumbass /j

[chasing-dreams-since-1995]

Here’s my Fievel Mousekewitz Cosplay! I went as him for RICC Sunday Day 3 and It was a huge hit. I may consider going as him again in the future. He was one of my favorite cosplays I’ve done so far.

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

From Carameldrew, here is Suki Lane as Nellie Brie and Furrball as Fievel

[ckret2]

Chapter 31 of human Bill grudgingly enduring being the Pines' prisoner because the Henchmaniacs won't take his call: Summerween night! Everyone gets ridiculous costumes!

The Summerween Trickster's buddies are attempting to resurrect him. Robbie's making a music video. Bill's attempting to woo Ford back into friendship, to terrify Dipper with cursed knowledge, and to recover his dignity from THE most gentle chastising imaginable, and he only succeeds in 1 out of 3 of these endeavors:

It's not this one. He's just gotta process these emotions while wearing that stupid wig.

####

Soos was putting the final touches on his cosplay (the suave and mysterious Masked Guy In A Suit, love interest of the heroine from the classic anime Teenage Planetary Soldier Girls) when he heard the phone ring in the office. "Hold on, I'll get it!" He hurried downstairs, ducked under a construction paper chain Mabel had strung over the door, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello?"

A mysterious voice droned, "The sun sets a deep blood red."

"Oh, no thanks, we don't want any." Soos hung up, sighed happily, and said, "Ah, Summerween. Always brings out the weirdos."

"Hey Soos!" Mabel ducked into the doorway. "Where's the candy bowl?"

"Oh, hey Hambone. It's in my bedroom." He put on a stage whisper. "I put it in there so Bill couldn't steal it."

"Thanks Soos!" She ran upstairs.

Dipper and Bill waited downstairs, the tension thick between them (on Dipper's side, anyway; Bill—watching a black-and-white horror movie, sipping at a can of cider, and brooding over going to voicemail—didn't notice). Dipper was waiting by the door in a folding chair; but he kept glancing toward Bill in the living room. When the silence got too much to bear, he asked, "Okay, what are you dressed as?"

Bill was wearing a brown bedsheet toga (the most historically-accurate part of his costume); a cheap wig of a teased mullet that had ended up mostly red with yellow streaks, forming a plume of hair right over his head and then a long straight tail he'd draped over his shoulder; and a bunch of paper faux-Greek homes taped all around the hem of his toga, forming a ring around his calves.

"And are those my sandals?" Dipper asked.

"Take it up with Mabel, she loaned them on your behalf," Bill said. "I'm not telling my costume. You have to guess it."

"Seriously?" Dipper sighed. It had to be a god, gods towered over their mortals' temples. What god would wear brown? "I don't know—Demeter?"

"What? No. Do I seem like the Demeter type? Pathetic." Bill waved off his guess. As Mabel ran downstairs, Bill said, "Hey, Shooting Star, you haven't made your official guess yet."

Without hesitation, Mabel said, "A time-traveling hair metal singer touring the Roman Empire and trying to find a way home before his hair dye runs out."

"Wrong, but I would love to live in the world you've dreamed up." He meandered into the entryway to join Mabel as she plopped down in the second chair by the door.

Dipper screwed up his face. "Are you helping us answer the door?"

"No, you're helping me answer the door. I'm cursed, remember?" Bill leaned over Mabel's shoulder, dug into the candy bowl, and popped a lollipop in his mouth. "But you're not getting rid of me, if that's what you're asking."

Soos headed to the door, cape billowing dramatically behind him. "Hey dudes. Hey Bill." He paused in the door, studying Bill. "Hey! Is that a Bobo the Uncouth Berserker cosplay?"

Bill blinked. "Who?"

"Bobo the Uncouth Berserker! You've gotta read Bobo. He's this primitive hero descended from lost Lemuria who goes on daring adventures through the lush impenetrable jungles of Central Europe. He's got this comic that was so popular it spawned an anime, which got an American movie adaptation, which formed the basis of a second comic continuity that isn't as critically acclaimed as the original but has drawn in a lot of new fans... and..." Soos petered out. "You're not Bobo, are you."

Bill shook his head. "Thanks for playing."

"Aw." Soos's shoulders slumped. "Anyway—me and Melody are gonna be at the cosplay contest at the theater. I'll keep my phone on in case of monsters."

"We'll be fine!" Mabel said. "Go have fun!"

"You too!" With a dramatic flourish of his cape, Soos disappeared into the night.

Bill watched Soos go enviously. He could have been given a human body that looked that good in a suit and top hat, but was he? No. It wasn't fair. And Soos didn't even wear the right hat size.

Dipper glanced sideways at Bill. "Hey. Is... Lemuria real?"

"Not anymore." Bill perked up as Stan passed by, dressed like Frankenstein's monster. "Hey, Stanley! You haven't guessed yet. What am I?"

Stan surveyed him. "White columned buildings, Statue of Liberty dress, and a red clown wig. I dunno, the American government?"

Bill squawked in laughter. "That's my favorite wrong answer so far. I like you, Stanley." He fished a chocolate bar out of the bowl and held it out.

Stan grunted in disapproval, but accepted the candy. "If any of you need me, I'm gonna be up on the roof, terrifying kids." He held up a boombox and a cassette that said "Spooky Sound Effects of Halloween". "If you hear screaming children, don't worry: that means I'm winning."

"Where's your brother?" Bill asked.

"Avoiding you." Stan passed through the living room and left.

Bill's shoulders slumped; but he just dug into the candy bowl for more chocolate. Then the first trick-or-treater knocked on the door, and Dipper jumped up in relief to answer it.

The shack didn't attract quite as many trick-or-treaters as the houses closer to the center of town, but they got a steady stream of children, and more than they'd gotten the year before. Between visitors, Bill dug into their candy stock, gleefully ignoring Dipper's complaints. After the fourth or fifth visitor, Dipper and Mabel realized that Bill was covering up the amount of candy he'd pilfered by meticulously re-folding the empty wrappers and putting them back in the bowl.

"It's fair play," Bill said. He untwisted one end of a Twisty Roll tube, squeezed out the candy, blew into the wrapper to re-inflate it, and twisted the end shut again. "The kids are trick-or-treating, right? Sometimes they get treats and sometimes they get tricks."

"Come on, seriously?" Dipper said. "Even for you this is low. You're literally taking candy from babies."

"The babies are trying to take candy from us. I have no sympathy." With the precision of an origami master, Bill refolded a paper fruit chew wrapper into a box and dropped it back into the bowl.

"They're supposed to take candy from us, that's how the holiday works." Dipper looked at Mabel for support.

But she was holding up an empty 3 Fencers wrapper and squeezing it lightly between her fingers. "Wow. How did you make the wrapper puffy again? It's so convincing."

Bill shot Dipper a nasty smile, then turned to Mabel and said magnanimously, "I'll teach you everything I know." He twirled a glue stick between his fingers.

Another trick-or-treater knocked, and Dipper answered.

"Trick or treat! Please give us the worst candy you have."

Mabel blinked, leaning around Dipper to see who was outside. "Wait, what?"

Outside stood a purple-furred monster with a dozen limbs from a dozen different creatures. He gasped in surprise. "Ohhh, twin costumes! That's so cute! What are you two, haunted dolls?"

Dipper took a surprised step back. "Limby Jimmy?"

The monster was silent a moment, taken aback. He took off a bear mask he'd made out of a paper plate. "Is it that obvious?"

Mabel asked, "Have we...?"

Dipper said, "Oh! Sorry—Mabel, this is Limby Jimmy, I ran into him last year in the Crawlspace under town when I was trying to get your face back—"

Helpfully, Bill threw in, "He's Gravity Falls' most accomplished arms dealer. And legs dealer, and tails dealer, and ears dealer..."

"Limby, this is my sister Mabel. Actually, I don't know if I ever introduced myself—"

Limby Jimmy cut in, "Ohhh, yeah, I remember you! You're Troll Boy, right?"

Dipper winced. "It's—it's Dipper, actually." He paused. "Wow. We meet a lot of weird people."

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy!" Mabel held out a hand. After a moment of thought, Jimmy elected to shake it with a tentacle and a dog's paw.

"What are you doing up here?" Dipper asked. "Is Summerween the one night of the year that Gravity Falls' monsters can walk among humans without fear?"

"Oh no, I'm terrified. I wouldn't be out here if I wasn't collecting donations," Jimmy said.

"Donations?"

Jimmy hesitated, then lowered his voice. "You've been in the Crawlspace, so, you and your sister are cool, but is the lady...?" He wiggled a hoof toward Bill.

Coolly, Bill said, "I'm actually an ancient interdimensional energy being cursed to wear a human form."

Dipper and Mabel flinched in alarm and rounded on Bill, hissing, "Bill!" "Shhh!"

Ignoring them, Bill said, "So, continue."

"Oh," Jimmy said brightly. "That's all right then, yuk yuk." He wiggled his multitude of right arms. "I don't know if you humans have heard yet, but the Summerween Trickster got eaten to death last summer! It's really sad!"

Dipper and Mabel, who had watched as he was eaten to death, stayed quiet.

"But probably happy for him?" Jimmy mused. "Since I think that's what he wanted? But it's sad for the rest of his poker group, we all miss him! So I'm out here with Doug—"

"Who?" Dipper asked, looking around the porch for a second monster.

"Oh, he's back there." Jimmy pointed toward a tree at the edge of the clearing around the Mystery Shack. The tree chittered unnervingly. "We're going around collecting donations to resurrect the Trickster! Or... re-summon him? Or however this works. We never really asked him how he came to exist, it seemed rude."

"Naturally," Bill said. "You can't just ask a freak what made him so freaky. It's a sensitive topic."

"Right! You understand," Jimmy said. "Anyway, we need a lot of crappy candy!" He looked at their bowl. "Which pieces have the kids been ignoring this year?"

Mabel had started bouncing on the balls of her dusty Victorian ghost shoes; and the moment she had a turn to speak, she squealed in excitement. "You're the Summerween Trickster's friend! That's perfect! Stay here, I'll be right back!" She shoved the candy bowl into Bill's arms and zoomed up the stairs. "I've got some stuff for him!"

Bill looked at the bowl, looked at the stairs, shoved the candy in Dipper's arms, and followed Mabel. "Hey, Shooting Star? What are you doing?"

Her voice drifted down the stairs: "Getting a donation! I'll be just a minute!"

"Hold on, you're actually helping that guy?" Bill laughed. "Why?" He climbed high enough to poke his head above the attic floor  and lowered his voice so Jimmy couldn't hear. "I wasn't paying that much attention last Summerween, but I got the impression from your little costume store brawl that the Trickster was trying to kill you kids. Am I missing something?"

"I mean, yeah, he was—but he was in a really bad place back then, that doesn't mean he deserves to be dead for it. And now he knows someone out there wants to eat him, so maybe he'll be less insecure and evil." Mabel laughed, "Anyway, the Trickster isn't that bad! He didn't try to kill me half as hard as you did!"

Bill froze a couple of steps from the top of the stairs. He didn't move for a few seconds; and then wordlessly, he slunk back downstairs.

Dipper watched as Bill, face beet red, trudged into the living room. "Hey. What's Mabel...?"

"How should I know." Bill curled up on the couch, picked up the can of cider he'd been drinking earlier, shotgunned it, and glowered at the horror movie on TV.

Dipper considered Bill—all alone in the living room and not doing anything important—and considered Mabel, upstairs; and said, "Hey, Jimmy. Do you mind waiting out here until Mabel gets back."

"Sure! I don't have any plans." Jimmy rocked back on his many heels.

"Cool. Thanks." Dipper shut the door.

He sidled oh so very casually into the living room and leaned against the TV. "Guess it's just the two of us right now."

Bill's gaze didn't waver from the TV. "Terrific counting skills, Troll Boy." He popped open another cider can.

Dipper grit his teeth. Let it go. "Sooo! You're from the second dimension, huh? What's that like?" (His voice cracked embarrassingly on "that.") "Just—just curious. Making friendly conversation. Caaasual conversation." He flashed a pair of finger guns at Bill, to underscore just how casual he was. "Yyyep." Witness the junior paranormal investigator in action.

Bill turned the cold, empty eyes of a killer on Dipper. He took a long, slow sip from his cider. And he asked himself: what can I say that will make this stupid boy regret ever daring to speak to me?

Bill smiled. "Yeah. Sure. Okay," he said. "You wanna know what it's like? Have you ever read the Allegory of the Cave?"

Dipper hesitated. "By... Plato?"

"That one. You know—ignorance is like being a prisoner chained in a cave, watching shadow puppets being cast on a wall, and thinking they're reality; and having knowledge is like being outside the cave in the sunlight, seeing the real shapes that are casting the shadows—"

"I have read it, actually," Dipper said, a tad defensively. "It was for extra credit in—"

"English class, I know."

Dipper frowned; but he soldiered on. "So... living in the second dimension is like being chained in a cave, staring at the shadows on the wall, and thinking that's reality? Bleak."

Bill laughed so loudly that Dipper started. "Wow, you're so dumb! Use your brain, kid: it's the second dimension. You're not the prisoner: you're the shadow on the wall." Bill's lip curled in a sneer, "An illusion in somebody else's allegory. And the only one who can see the cave's exit... is you. That's what the second dimension is like!" He laughed again. It sounded forced.

"Oh," Dipper mumbled. He tried to wrap his head around the idea of being a living metaphor for ignorance. "Sounds... pretty bad?"

"Awful," Bill agreed. "Doesn't hold a candle to what your dimension has going on, though."

"Wh... why, what's going on in the third dimension?"

Bill gave him a malicious smile, and Dipper had the sinking feeling he'd just walked into an obvious trap. "You idiot, you still think you're in the third dimension? Really?"

Was that a trick question? What answer was Bill looking for? What could this be if not the third dimension? "Nnooo?"

"Wow. I can really see why you're a straight-A's honors student," Bill said. "You're so good at figuring out what answer the test wants and regurgitating it—even if you don't actually understand it at all." He heaved himself back to his feet; and Dipper was sure there was something threatening in the movement—something that reminded Dipper that he was talking to a dangerously unstable extinction level event precariously packed into an unsteady human body. "Although copying the year of the Louisiana Purchase off of Brandon's test in fifth grade  probably didn't hurt, did it."

Dipper's stomach dropped. The secret shame buried beneath the foundation of his honors roll-worthy record. Pull that out and his entire academic career came toppling down. He'd get kicked out of the honors classes. He'd go to jail. Was cheating against the law? "H... how did—?"

"What year was the Louisiana Purchase?"

Dipper's brain immediately went blank. He was silent, trapped in the paralyzing intensity of Bill's gaze. After several terrifying seconds, he croaked, "1803?" and hoped he was right.

"Attaboy. Too bad you couldn't have learned that a little sooner, isn't it?" As he spoke, Bill had closed in on Dipper until he'd backed him into the corner behind the TV set, filling Dipper's exit route with one hand on the TV and the other on the wall. "But we were talking about dimensions, weren't we! Whaddaya like to read, kid," Bill asked too casually, "do you like cosmic horror? Do you know what real 'cosmic horror' is?"

Dipper regretted this conversation completely.

"It's having an eyeball on the inside of your body, and seeing another dimension through it. And ohoho, I think you'd be amazed at the things I can see from here—"

Dipper got the distinct impression that if he didn't get out of this conversation, he would only hear things he'd be telling his therapist about for months. "Cool! Good talk, man. Hey Mabel?" (That was an absolutely humiliating voice crack.) "How's it going?"

A pause. "I think I need help!"

"Coming!" Dipper ran behind the TV to escape Bill and gratefully bolted upstairs.

The kid had caved so fast. And Bill had only just been getting started. He smirked, sat, and turned back to the movie.

A moment later, Mabel and Dipper came back downstairs, carrying four bulging plastic grocery bags. Mabel set one by her feet, opened the door, and shoved the first bag into Jimmy's arms. "Here! You can give these to the Trickster!" She shoved over the second bag.

Jimmy stumbled back under the weight. "Whoa there! What is this?"

"Candy chalk-hearts! I completely bought out the leftovers after Valentine's Day," Mabel said. "I wanted to make sure that if we met the Trickster again, I could let him know he's loved and appreciated as the terrifying avatar of spooky holiday spirit that he is! And that I also respect that he's made out of gross candy nobody likes to eat." She picked up a chalk-heart box and waved it in Jimmy's face. "So here's a gross candy that expresses love! See, the little hearts say things like 'You smell nice' and 'I heart ur face,' but they taste like if dehydration was a flavor."

Dipper handed his bags to Jimmy. "Wait—Mabel, that's why you got all these? You've been planning to help the Trickster since February? I thought you were gonna build a chalk-heart house or something."

"Oooh, that's such a good idea. I should do that next year!" To Jimmy, she said, "I was gonna give these to him personally, but if he's still dead, I guess you can add it to his candy sacrifice pile or whatever? And make sure he gets this!" She handed Jimmy a store bought Shimmery Twinkleheart Valentine's card. It read, "I BELIEVE in our friendship! Happy Valentine's Day!" Mabel had scratched out "Valentine's" and written "Summerween".

Choked up, Jimmy said, "Oh—wow. That's the nicest thing anyone's done for us all night. I'm sure the Trickster will really appreciate it when he's not dead anymore."

Dipper was a little more vengeful. Dipper didn't want to do anything for one of the many guys that had tried to kill them last year. But, on the other hand, Mabel had just gone all in on this, and Jimmy seemed nice enough, so... Dipper sighed. Whatever, it was Summerween and this was a trick-or-treater. "Hey," he picked up the candy bowl. "There's really only one bag of good candy in here. The bottom of the bowl is filled with after-dinner mints our great uncle's been stealing from restaurants for the last six months. The Trickster would probably love that, right?"

"Aww—thanks so much, you guys! We'll have the poker group back together in no time!" Jimmy dug past the good candy and started scooping mints into his bag. "Oh—since I'm here, can I ask about our other poker buddy? Do either of you know Mr. What's-His-Face? He disappeared around the time you were visiting the Crawlspace, maybe one of you saw something? Any information would be helpful." Jimmy looked at them with weird, plus-shaped, but very hopeful eyes. "Between the Trickster's death and Whatsis disappearing, the local paranormal community's been hit hard. Especially us guys in their friend group. I'm—I'm not gonna lie," Jimmy heaved a sigh, "It's been a really hard year."

Dipper and Mabel, who were directly and personally at fault for Mr. What's-His-Face's disappearance and knew he was frozen in stasis in Ford's bunker at that very moment, exchanged a look and came to a silent agreement.

"Nope, don't know anything," Mabel said.

"Sorry, buddy," Dipper said.

Like the Summerween Trickster, Mr. What's-His-Face was a weird faceless shapeshifty monster that had tried to kill them. But they felt like that was where the similarities ended.

By the time of the Trickster's death, Mabel and Dipper had realized that his deepest inner longing was to be called good enough to eat. Mr. What's-His-Face's deepest inner longing was to steal innocent people's faces. If Mabel and Dipper helped resurrect the Trickster, he'd probably go back to ensuring everyone displayed sufficient holiday spirit, while hopefully mellowing out about eating people now that he'd been consumed once. On the other hand, if Mabel and Dipper helped free Mr. What's-His-Face, he'd probably just keep stealing faces.

And on top of all that, they could help resurrect the Trickster without admitting they knew the guy who ate him. They couldn't really lead Jimmy to Mr. What's-His-Face without admitting their great uncle was keeping him captive. And that would be a problem for the whole family.

"Oh," Jimmy said. "Okay, that's fine. Thanks for all your help. You know where to reach us if you hear anything."

Mabel shook her head. Dipper nodded. "Yeah, we'll let you know."

Jimmy hopped off the porch, shouted, "Hey Doug, can you help me carry these?" and chucked a couple of bags of chalk-hearts toward the tree line. Dipper and Mabel stared. Nothing emerged to pick the bags up.

They shut the door.

"Man," Dipper said. "We kinda devastated the paranormal poker group last summer, didn't we?"

"Yeah." Mabel sucked in a breath between her teeth. "Wow. Feels... kinda bad."

Dipper offered her the candy bowl. "Drown our feelings in chocolate?"

"Please."

They grabbed a piece of candy each, tore open the wrappers—and frowned. Mabel stomped a foot. "Dang it—Bill!"

"Hm?"

"How many of these wrappers are empty?!"

Bill poked his head out of the living room and said, smugly, "Like candy from a baby!"

####

A knock, and Dipper opened the door. "Wendy! Hey! Good timing—"

"Hey." Wendy lowered her voice. "Quick question—this is super important—is Goldie here?"

"Uh—yeah, why—?"

"Yello?" Bill carefully wove his way out of the living room, already less steady on his feet than when he'd sat down. "I heard my name, who's summoning me?"

Wendy pointed over the twins at Bill and turned to shout into the dark, "Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you! Live and in person... Toga Lady!"

A half dozen teenagers immediately went bananas. Hooting and hollering and cheering and whistling: "To-ga! To-ga! To-ga!"

Bill's entire face lit up. Without missing a beat, he pushed past the baffled twins out onto the porch and spread his arms wide, basking in the cheering. "That's right, keep it coming! Worship me! I'm the greatest!"

"Yes!" Robbie pumped a fist in the air. "The legends were true!" Nate immediately added, "The prophecy! The prophecy!" Tambry snapped photos of Toga Lady's fresh look as fast as her phone could save them, muttering, "Everyone's gonna flip when they find out you're still in town."

Wendy waited, grinning, until her friends' faux hysterics had died down. "Okay—okay, after getting you hyped up, I should probably say that Toga Lady is actually Toga Guy." She glanced questioningly at Bill. "I think?"

"Eh, I'm not picky."

"Anyway this is Goldie, he was stuck in another dimension for thirty years, it's crazy, and now he's like my illegal backup cashier. He actually... doesn't usually wear togas?"

Bill laughed. "If you can't wear a bedsheet on Summerween, when can you?"

Lee said, "Thompson wore a bedsheet to homecoming."

"Hey."

Bill pointed at Thompson. "A man of impeccable fashion! I like it!" Thompson gave him a look of eternal gratitude.

"And Goldie, this is the gang! That's Thompson, he's the guy with the van; Robbie and Tambry, they're like, gender-swapped versions of each other, they even share their hair dye..."

As Wendy did introductions, Mabel whispered to Dipper, "Did you know she was gonna introduce Goldie to everyone?"

"No! This is bad, I told her not to trust him..."

Bill was responding to a question, "No, no, you've gotta guess, I'm making everyone guess!"

The teens considered the question. Robbie offered first, "Punk caveman?"

"Nope!"

Hesitantly, Thompson tried, "Nero fiddling over the burning of Rome?" He winced when Lee laughed.

"I like where your head's at, but no! I can't fiddle."

"The gremlin king from Huge Maze?" Tambry said.

Mabel piped up, "No, but the wig came from a gremlin king costume and I appreciate you for recognizing that!" Tambry nodded in cool approval.

Bill dispensed of Lee, Nate, and Wendy's guesses—Greek Christmas tree, that one guy who keeps painting burning banks, and hair metal Hades—before Robbie loudly cleared his throat to cut in. "Anyway, would love to stay and chat, but we've gotta move if we wanna be in position before sunset. Dipper, Mabel, you ready?"

"Ready to ghost it up!" Mabel said, squeezing around Bill with Dipper onto the porch.

Robbie surveyed their makeup—deathly white skin, ashen grey lips, and dark circles around their eye sockets. "Yeah, that's pretty good. Could use a little color, maybe. Like bloody tears?" He turned toward Tambry.

She said, "I think I've got some red eyeliner."

"'In position'?" Bill asked, giving Dipper and Mabel a questioning look.

Wendy said, "We're helping Robbie film this music video tonight."

"We're the creepy ghost twins!" Mabel announced proudly. "We get to sing the chorus."

Robbie said, "Yeah, the song's about childhood and growing up, but like, with ghosts? Because once you've grown up, your childhood is all dead? It's metal, but introspective. I'm calling the genre 'intrometal.'" He flipped his bangs dramatically. "It's a super deep song. Metaphorical layers."

"Oh yeah?" Bill stared Robbie down. "Sing some of it."

Robbie blinked. "Oh. Yeah, okay uh, I haven't warmed up my voice but, the hook is like—" He pantomimed playing a guitar and whisper-screamed, "'BABY DOLLS! BASKET BALLS! BASKET CASE! HUMAN RACE!' Like that."

Bill nodded slowly, face expressionless. "Ah, yeah, I see. Really deep stuff. Makes you think."

"Thanks." Robbie looked at Dipper and Mabel. "Anyway, if we're gonna get any footage in the graveyard before the jack-o'-melons start burning out, we've gotta move. Let's go, Creepy Ghost Twins."

"Wait, you're going out?" Bill asked Mabel. "Like out-out? Leaving me here? By myself? On Summerween?"

"Wh—yeah, we're only handing out candy for half the night," Mabel said. "I told you that."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"When?"

Mabel thought. "No I didn't," she admitted. "Sorry!"

Wendy punched Bill's arm. "Sorry to steal them. We'll be back in a couple of hours," she said. "Or you could come help—?"

"No!" Dipper and Mabel both shoved Bill back into the house before he could accept. Dipper said, "You've gotta—guard the house." Mabel added, "And hand out candy!"

"Right," Bill said flatly. "Yes. That. Ha."

"See you later!" Mabel said, and then shut the door in his face.

The last thing he heard was Wendy explaining to her friends, "He's on house arrest for, like, academic plagiarism and war crimes or something..." and then they were gone.

Bill's shoulders slumped. Well, now what? He couldn't celebrate a holiday by himself. What was the point of wearing a costume if no one sees you in it. He picked up a piece of candy, discovered it was one of his decoys, and picked up another. 

Someone knocked on the door.

"Yeah, yeah," Bill sighed. He picked up the candy bowl, turned toward the door, and paused. Ah. Right. What was he supposed to do with this impenetrable portal-blocking slab of wood.

Who was left in the house? Stan on the roof, Ford in the basement, Abuelita probably already in bed... were any of them worth harassing to help him answer the door? Maybe Stan, he'd gotten all dressed up, he liked the holiday even if he didn't like Bill—

The trick-or-treater knocked more insistently.

Or. Or.

He could pick up the bowl, peer out the small window in the door, and make direct eye contact with the children outside while he ate candy.

As a piece of mid-tier chocolate melted on his tongue, he saw three trick-or-treaters' faces fall as their faith in a kind, caring universe died. He grinned at them and ate another chocolate.

Oh yeah. He grabbed the rest of his cider from the living room and set up post next to the door. This would keep him entertained the rest of the night.

####

He made seven small children cry.

####

Stan watched from his post on the roof as yet another sobbing kid ran away from the shack. "HA! Gottem! Sucker!" He affectionately patted his boombox. "Creepy ghoulish laughter, you never disappoint! Terrifying moochers since 1989!" He paused the cassette and rewound it a few seconds to replay the best part.

He heard a scraping sound above him, and looked up just in time to see Ford sliding down the roof to join him. "Oh, hey! I didn't think we'd see you again tonight."

"Mabel made me promise to celebrate Summerween a little."

"Good for her!"

Stan had already claimed the sun lounger, so Ford brushed some dust and leaves off the roof's cooler and sat. "So, what are we doing? Scaring trick-or-treaters?"

"Yep. This year I'm taking a more atmospheric approach." He gestured at his boombox, which by now was playing haunting organ music. "Nothing like screaming zombies and rattling chains from nowhere to freak out the kids."

Ford nodded. "Psychological torment. I approve."

"Not quite as good as getting to see the terror in their eyes, but." Stan shrugged. "Bill was hanging out with the kids. I didn't want to put up with him."

"Mm. There's a reason I was spending the holiday in the basement."

"Heh. Well, there's always Halloween."

They were silent for a moment, listening as the cassette moved on from organ music to werewolf howls. Stan asked, "Think we'll be rid of him by then? I know we were hoping to be done with him before the Fourth of July—but since I haven't heard anything lately, I figure you hit a roadblock."

Ford winced. "Guilty as charged." He was still relearning how to keep other people in the loop. Even Stan. "You're right. I have a weapon that can destroy him, but I can't find a fuel source without restarting the portal. I'm hoping Fiddleford will come up with a solution I haven't."

Stan nodded. Ford had told him he was getting Fiddleford involved; even as reluctant as Ford was to admit how little progress he'd made, he wasn't going to tell someone outside the family about Bill without letting Stan know. "Any breakthroughs on his end?"

####

During the credits between episodes of the retired samurai period drama (most recently, the samurai had been asked to use his sword to help cut flowers for a bouquet), Fiddleford leaned over and whispered to Ford, "So I've been a-lookin' at those blueprints you left me."

"And...?"

"And I've constructicated a power adaptor. Just jimmy out the fuel tank, swap it for the adaptor's cord, and you can power that weapon by pluggin' it into the wall! It'll just drain all the power from the town for a few seconds, that's all."

"Fiddleford, that's amazing—"

"Now, hold on. There's bad news," Fiddleford said. "Try as I might, I can't quite get it to draw enough power to activate those energy-destroying features what you'd need to disintegrate Bill. It'll work like a powerful laser, but nothin' else."

Ford sighed. "It's a starting point, I suppose."

"I'll send you home with the adaptor anyway. Never know when you'll need a big laser."

"Very true. Do you have any promising leads on other alternative fuels?"

Fiddleford shook his head. "It's the NowUSeeitNowUDontium or nothing. But I've got a hunch we could synthesize it under lab conditions. I'll letcha know in a few days."

And then the next episode started, and they dropped the conversation.

####

Ford let out a heavy sigh. "He's only had a partial success so far. But I'm hopeful he's on the right track."

"So, if he's working on this weapon, what are you doing?"

"Waiting, mostly. I don't know what else I can do."

Stan frowned. "What—that's it? You've been downstairs all day every day—if you're not figuring out how to destroy him, what are you doing?"

"Passing time somewhere I can be on call if he gets up to something—but I don't have to look at him," Ford said wryly. "And—as long as I'm waiting to hear back from Fiddleford, I've been... picking apart that list of spells Bill gave me. To see if any of them are tricks or traps."

Stan couldn't say he was surprised. That was his workaholic brother. A pamphlet of demon magic was like catnip to him. If anything, Stan was almost glad Ford had that letter to distract him. Over the past year...

Well, Ford was fine on land—when he temporarily had a mystery to solve, an adventure to pursue, an anomaly to study, a distraction to fill his time—but at sea, when his mind was unoccupied, he was listless. He had books he didn't read, field notes he didn't enter into his journal, games he didn't play. He fed himself and exercised and did chores around the ship like a robot programmed to take care of itself, and he stared out at the sea.

Last summer, Ford hadn't seemed happy but he'd seemed alive. Tired and angry, but alive. But after Weirdmageddon, a light in his eyes went out. Stan didn't know if it was the end of summer, or guilt over the memory gun, or the gap between finishing a thirty-year-long quest and discovering the next one. All Stan knew was the light hadn't come back on until the moment Bill Cipher, clad in a new body and a purple cartoon bedsheet, tried to cave Ford's skull in.

Ever since they were children, Ford had had a tendency to develop obsessions. It was somehow simultaneously both what made him most interesting and what made him boring. Depended on the obsession. But these all-consuming interests had always tended to last a few months, at most a year; and he'd never seemed to be without one, much less for nine months. Stan had no idea what carrying a single obsession for three decades might have done to Ford's mind.

Stan was glad something had woken Ford back up, and he worried that losing that focal point again might leave Ford permanently adrift. But another part of him worried that, this time, Ford wouldn't let the object of his obsession go. He tended to collect things related to his obsessions.

But then, he usually tended to like his obsessions. He hadn't seemed bothered to burn the contents of his creepy Bill shrine last summer. Ford wouldn't do anything stupid, Stan told himself. Ford hated Bill. "So? Were any of the spells traps?"

"Not... so far, no." Ford sounded irritated by this.

Stan shrugged. "Makes sense. He's trying to butter us up. If that idiot thinks being nice to us for a week or two is gonna make up for the years of grief he's given us—"

A loud rattle-clattering below made them both start. Stan sat bolt upright. "What the—?"

Ford inched to the edge of the dormer roof, knelt down, and leaned over the edge just far enough to see the window.

Bill's face was pressed to the glass, eye rolled up toward the roofline. He grinned in surprised delight and shouted through the glass, "HEY, STANFORD! What are you doing up here?! I thought you were downstairs!"

"Ugh." Ford turned to grimace at Stan. "Speak of the devil."

Bill pounded on the glass again. "Hey, Sixer! SIXER! Open the window!"

"Why?"

"I wanna talk!"

"No."

"Come ooon, the kids ditched me and I'm bored! There's no one in the house to talk to! The old lady's asleep and Stanley's on the roof, so—" He abruptly fell silent, squinting with deep suspicion at Ford-who-should-be-in-the-basement kneeling on the-roof-where-Stan-should-be, and said, "Wait. Are you Stanley right now? Show me your hand."

Ford did not. "Go away, Bill." He left the edge of the roof for his cooler seat.

"Get back here!" The pounding redoubled. "I don't care which Stan you are! If you don't wanna talk, I can always go wake up Dolores!"

Ford looked at Stan. "Mrs. Ramirez's name is Dolores?" He had gotten used to everyone calling her Abuelita.

Stan stomped on the roof, "Shaddup!"

Bill did not shaddup. "Come ooon!"

Stan sighed in defeat and heaved himself to his feet. "If he keeps that racket up he's gonna break that window, never mind that hex you put on him." When they'd taken out the original Bill-shaped window, Stan had replaced it with the cheapest window he could find. He didn't think it was very durable. "How much trouble can he get in with one open window twenty feet above the ground and both of us watching him?"

Ford Frowned.

"Don't gimme that look. Do you want to pay for a broken window?" Stan flipped through his keys for his key-shaped emergency lock pick, leaned over the edge of the roof, and wedged the pick into the window frame. The latch popped open. Lucky this window was so cheap, that wouldn't have worked on one with deluxe features like "airtight weatherstripping" or "a properly-fitting frame." Stan swung open the window. "Okay, you have our attention. Now what's the fastest way we can get rid of you?"

Bill clumsily climbed out to sit on the windowsill with his legs in the shack, and leaned back so he could see up onto the roof. "Hiya Fo—" He lost his balance, flailed, and yelped as he toppled backwards.

Stan and Ford lunged forward to seize an arm each. Stan snapped, "What are you doing, you maniac?!"

Bill stared up at them both in wide-eyed amazement. "You do like me."

Stan made a noise of disgust, let go, and wiped his hands on his pants like Bill had cooties.

Ford said, "We like you trapped in that body and not free to cause the apocalypse."

"I heard 'we like you'!"

"Shut up." Ford managed to haul Bill back upright. (Touching Bill felt wrong—all soft flesh and skin and the suggestion of bones underneath. Even when looking right at Bill's human body, Ford still expected him to feel like heavy shadows and heatless flames.) From this close, Bill reeked of cider. "Just how much have you had to drink?"

"Not so much I won't remember whatever you say in the morning, so be nice to me!" Bill laughed. He leaned back, this time hanging by one hand off the window frame to precariously maintain his balance, and grinned up at Ford. "So! The least fun person in the house has finally emerged from his lair? And you didn't even come into the house to join in the Summerween festivities! 'All work and no play'..."

Ford had to crouch at the edge of the roof, hovering nearby in case Bill lost his balance again. "I wanted to participate in Summerween, actually. It just so happens that the last person I'd ever spend a holiday with is in the house."

"Listen, Stanford. I know you're holing up in your study for days on end just to hurt me. But let's be honest, you're hurting yourself more! When's the last time you saw the sunlight! Look at how pale you're getting, you look like a vampire."

Stiffly, Ford said, "It's costume makeup. That's my vampire costume." Stan laughed.

"It what." Bill flipped up his eyepatch and squinted blearily at Ford's face.

Wordlessly, Ford bared his teeth to show off his plastic vampire teeth.

"Oh." Somewhat deflated, Bill said, "Nice work, it's convincing."

"Thanks," Ford said grudgingly. Giving in to his curiosity, he gestured toward Bill's (somewhat disheveled) reddish-yellow wig. "What are you."

"Oh!" Bill perked back up. "You've got to see the whole thing. Hold on—" He turned around in the window, ignoring how Ford half reached for him in case he needed steadying, until he got his legs outside to dangle on the roof. "What do you think!"

Ford looked over the brown toga flared out like a cone, the eruption of red hair, the small paper city below, and said, "Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii? Very clever."

Bill's face lit up. "Finally! You're the first person all day to get it!" He smoothed out the skirt proudly, his jerky gestures just a bit more exaggerated than usual. "Do you know how long I've wanted to go to a costume party as Vesuvius? But nobody off Earth would get it! And now that I'm finally here, I can't go to parties and I'm shaped more like a mandrake than a volcano." He flung up his hands, wobbled, and caught himself before Ford had to intervene. "But at least you got it. I knew I could count on you, IQ."

He sounded so sincerely grateful. Ford regretted calling the costume clever. It was, but Bill didn't need the ego boost.

"Oh! By the by—I didn't think you'd emerge before the day was over, so I saved this." Bill fished around in his toga until he retrieved a mini pack of jelly beans. "Here!"

Ford eyed the pack. "Why is it open?"

"Because you only like the weird-shaped jelly beans, so I ate all the normal beans and saved the weird ones in one bag."

"I don't want this. You touched every one of the beans, that would be disgusting even if they weren't coming from you," Ford said. "Anyway, this is a patently transparent attempt to buy your way into my good favor—"

"It sure is, Ford, and if you don't accept it I'll get to be annoying about your ingratitude for weeks! Is that what you want? You know I'll do it. Everyone will be on my side—"

Ford sighed, but snatched the bag from Bill's hand. "Fine. Now drop it."

"That's more like it!" Bill favored Ford with an approving smile. "Anyway, it's just about the only candy left in the house, I ate everything else—hey, have you ever been cross faded on cider and a sugar rush?"

Ford was still trying to decide whether he wanted to engage in this one-sided conversation enough to ask Bill what "cross faded" meant when Bill moved on without him: "It's—not that interesting, actually. 6 out of 10. Anyway, all that's left in the bowl is mints and wrappers. And Mabel even managed to give most of the mints away—hey, she's so nice, did you know she's helping to resurrect the Summerween Trickster?"

She was doing what? "No. Why?"

"She's so nice."

"You just said that."

"What is she so nice for. What's she getting out of it," Bill asked, more to the universe at large than to Ford. "If more humans were half as nice to freaks as she is, your rotten planet wouldn't need people like you and me to save it."

Ford didn't even know where to begin with that. He looked to Stan for help.

Stan was sitting straddling his lounger, elbow on one knee and chin in his hand, watching this exchange like he was watching a weird bug on the wall try to navigate around a picture frame. At Ford's glance, he rolled his eyes and pantomimed sipping from a drink.

He could say that again. Ford cleared his throat. "Bill, maybe you should..."

"Hey," Bill said. "Great talk, we really should catch up more sometime. And pull your weight next time, I always have to do all the talking. But right now, I'm..." He gestured vaguely off to the side. "I'm gonna lie down and try not to throw up. Ciao!" He swayed as he tried to get back in the window, tumbled backward into the shack, and thudded heavily on the floor. "Ow."

Ford gingerly shut the window.

Stan turned up the boombox. "Chatty drunk, isn't he."

"He's chatty sober, too." But in front of the kids? Neither of them saw Bill as a role model, but they still didn't need to be exposed to that kind of behavior. Especially when the responsible adults were outside or asleep... "Did we really leave Bill alone in the house with the kids?"

"W—I—" Stan shrugged defensively. "They were all right! They can take him! They're doing karate or whatever! You didn't see how Mabel flipped him at the mall! It was like David wrestling Goliath."

"David and Goliath didn't wrestle."

"You know what I mean."

Ford supposed he didn't think Bill was any threat to the children. At least, not right now, and not physically. He felt like he'd know if Bill was about to try anything.

He looked at his open bag of gross felt-up jelly beans. Speaking of trying to butter them up... Ford wound up and chucked the bag as hard as he could.

He stared into the dark after it.

A small part of him was beginning to wonder whether this wasn't all just an attempt to get Ford's guard down. The gifts, sure, that was as clear-cut a case of bribery as you could get. Nothing ambiguous there.

But the endless chatter... Back when Ford had called Bill his Muse, this was exactly how he'd wanted Bill to talk to him. Not in the flighty half-distracted way of a friendly businessman catching up on a work project's progress before hurrying on to the next meeting; but just talking for talking's sake, talking for the company.

Getting what he once had longed for made his skin crawl. And he couldn't even tell if Bill was acting.

The boombox let out a ghastly banshee shriek. Ford and Stan both jumped, then laughed awkwardly.

Ford sat on the cooler again. "Is it just me, or... did Bill completely ignore you as soon as he realized I was up here."

"Well. I wasn't gonna mention it. I didn't wanna sound jealous of the attention. But yeah—he's been doing that since he got here. If you're in the room, he tunes everyone else out."

"I thought it was in my head." And he hadn't wanted to sound like he wanted to imagine Bill was favoring him.

"And you do the same thing around him," Stan said, and laughed at Ford's flinch of alarm. "It's—it's fine, I get it. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right? You've got some kind of superhero-supervillain nemesis thing."

Ford got the distinct impression that Stan was offering him a convenient excuse for the tunnel vision. He took it. "I suppose that's true." The way his jaw clenched and his shoulders tensed around Bill certainly felt like a "nemesis" reaction.

But if Stan thought Ford was a bit too preoccupied by Bill... well, maybe he was right. Once Ford had gotten over his initial wave of fear, of despair, of outrage at the injustice, at finding Bill was still alive—there was a part of him that was almost relieved. A part of him that had been on guard against nothing for the past year, twisting around looking for an absent threat. Now that it knew where the threat was, that part of him could finally settle down and watch Bill with steady, certain eyes. Having nothing to worry about made him more anxious than having one thing to always worry about.

(Maybe Shermie's kid had been on to something when he suggested Ford might benefit from therapy.)

Knowing Bill was back didn't put the old starlight and awe back in that hole Bill had left in Ford's chest. But dread could fill a hole all the same.

Ford tried to push Bill out of his mind and the conversation. "You think I'm like a superhero?"

"You run around fighting monsters with a space laser. What else would you be?"

"Huh." Well. That made his night.

"Just as long as you don't pull that 'hero spares the villain to show how good he is' shtick."

"Never." Ford laughed ruefully. "I think I left 'good' behind a few felonies back." He'd probably left "good" behind the night he accepted the portal blueprints.

"Couple stragglers," Stan said, nodding out into the dark. It took Ford a moment to spot the costumed kids and remember it was Summerween. "I recognize those costumes, I scared them off an hour ago. What are they doing back?"

Ford squinted at them. "Are those toilet paper rolls?"

"Wh—Hey! What are you little runts— Hey!" Stan leaped to his feet, shaking his fist at the kids below. "Get away from my car! Stop that! I'll have you know that's a classic— No, not the eggs!"

Ford slid out his freeze ray, turned down the power, and offered it to Stan. "Here. At this power and distance, it'll feel like getting pelted with invisible snowballs."

Stan snatched up the weapon. "Eat this, twerps!"

The Summerween night air was filled with the screams of terrified children and the evil laughter of an old man.

####

Wow. It sure sounded like everybody was having fun. Outside. Without him.

Bill was nauseous.

He stared at the spinning ceiling, flat on his back, one leg on a cushion and the rest of him on the floor. 

Bill was nauseous and alone. The loneliness tore at his throat. Even Mabel had ditched him. Of course she did—he'd tried to kill her. He'd barely even remembered he'd tried to kill her until she brought it up. Had he tried to kill her? No, surely not—he liked the kid, he'd always liked her—he'd been faking to force Ford's hand, he never would have gone through with it. He would've teleported her into another room and pretended he'd disintegrated her. She didn't know he hadn't meant it. She was just mad he'd scared her. She couldn't take a joke.

But, Ford talked to him. Ford even liked his costume. It wasn't much, but it would get Bill through the night.

When he saw Kryptos again—when, not if—he was slicing him into a jigsaw puzzle for not taking Bill's call. The nerve of that guy, hanging up on a human without even waiting a few words to see if they had anything interesting to say. 

(What if it hadn't been an accident, he wondered? What if Kryptos had realized it was Bill and still hung up?)

(No. Of course it was an accident.)

He shut his eyes. He was probably too drunk to dream tonight. Well, he could try again tomorrow. His little lucid dreaming guide was currently teaching him to influence the next night's dream by focusing on a topic before sleep. Maybe tomorrow he could dream about the Nightmare Realm.

He missed home.

####

(Congratulations to the approximately 50% of respondents who correctly figured out Bill's costume when I posted the art on Halloween, you're officially smarter than everybody in Gravity Falls except Ford. This is one of those chapters with a whole lot going on so if you enjoyed, I'd love to hear your comments!!)

[starsfic]

Halloween Night at Pigsy's

Summary:

The city, after the mayor's vacation in America, decides to throw Halloween, including trick or treating. The Traffic Light Trio is just focused on all the kids dressed up like them.

AO3/Ko-Fi

The announcement came three days after October 31st.

The mayor- the actual mayor, Long Xiaojiao had checked- had apparently been on vacation in the United States. She had been there in time to watch the American holiday of Halloween in full display, including trick or treating. It was usually overshadowed by the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Double Ninth Festival, until this year. She had gotten the idea to do mainly the trick or treating through the city’s main businesses- with candy provided by the city- to stimulate cash flow and, more importantly, as a way to bond over the past year or two of city and country-wide trauma.

"Hey, stop that sad look," Xiaojiao said, nudging Qi Xiaotian away from studying the announcement. "Not all of it is your fault. Isn't that what you're talking about with your therapist?"

"I mean, I guess." Xiaotian huffed, turning off his phone. "So, are you going to dress up?"

"Obviously!" Xiaojiao said, typing on her phone. "What about you guys?"

“Pf,” Pigsy snorted, bagging up some noodles. “If you’ll catch me dressing up on that day. It’ll be a fire hazard.” He paused, glancing over at Tang munching down on his third bowl of noodles of the morning, and then groaned. “But I will be offering a discount on noodles to those who dress up.”

Tang looked up with a gasp.

“DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT-”

“I wonder if I can get Wukong over to help pass out candy?” Xiaotian wondered as Tang started to gush at the idea. “He loves kids, and I think a lot of kids would be excited!” Even if they weren’t big fans like he was as a kid, it was still the Monkey King.

He was suddenly excited for this.

Things worked quickly in the city.

Almost by magic, every shop in the city was decorated with orange and black, green and purple, pumpkins and bats a few hours after the mayor’s announcement. Xiaotian couldn’t help but soak it in as he made his deliveries, enjoying the “spooky music” that shops began to play and the deals that were announced mirroring Pigsy’s own decision.

At least capitalism knew when to jump onto something.

Finally, the day arrived.

As he hoped, Sun Wukong agreed to come. He even ordered a truckload of candy to be delivered to the noodle shop, only adding to the sheer amount that Pigsy’s Noodles were willing to give.

An hour before trick or treating started, Xiaotian hurried down the stairs. Xiaojiao had offered to take him costume shopping, but he had refused. He had a perfectly great Monkey King cosplay! Sure, the real one would be there, but he was over the embarrassment of owning several pieces of merch.

Hopefully.

The noodle shop was all decked out, excluding Tang in his usual seat. Sandy was hurrying around, adding more cobwebs and purple glitter here and there, dressed up in a witch dress that complimented his biceps. Xiaojiao, dressed up as She-Ra, snickered from her spot as she snapped a picture of Mo in his little witch hat.

“Huh,” Pigsy said, looking around as he chopped bok choy. “I thought that six-eared weirdo would be here.”

“Bai He texted me,” Xiaotian admitted. “She’s under the cut-off, so she decided to invite Macaque trick or treating with her family.” He had even been willing to transform as a bat to compliment Bai He’s Count Dracula costume and that picture was going in the blackmail folder.

“Woah, bud! Looking good!”

Xiaotian looked up and nearly felt his heart stop at his own reflection. For a second, he was convinced that he had summoned a clone, then a flick caught his eye. Sticking out of his trademark red pants was a familiar golden monkey tail. Now that he looked closer, he could also see the blue eyeshadow and eyeliner.

“Monkey King!” Xiaojiao called, unaware of her best friend gaping. “It’s no fun if you use shapeshifting!”

“Aw…well, you got a point.” In a flash of gold, there was Sun Wukong, still wearing his clothes. “How do I look, bud? I don’t pull off orange as well as you do, but-” He paused, staring at him like he was deeply concerned…which he probably was. “You okay there, bud?”

Xiaotian sniffled. “I’mgreat.”

Wukong smiled and patted his shoulder as he walked past before calling to ask Pigsy how he could help.

The hour flew by once Xiaotian calmed down. He had to stop Wukong from making a bowl of candy with his hair, but that was fine. Soon enough, the clock struck six and a small yellow bundle rang the little bell that Sandy had rigged up.

“Trick or treat!” the kid called.

Xiaotian grabbed a bowl of candy. “Well, happy-” He looked down and nearly burst into tears again, cutting off his response.

The jacket. The bandana. The hair flap.

This little girl was dressed up as him.

“She really loves you,” one of the adults, her dad he was guessing, said with a smile. “The minute she heard about you, she insisted on getting a costume of you.”

“That…that’s cool!” No, he wasn’t crying. Pigsy was just cutting onions for the noodles. “You look really great!” He grabbed a handful of candy and threw it in her bag and grabbed a second handful. His mentor dressing up as him was one thing, this small child looking up to him was another. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to resist the urge to dump the whole thing in.”

“That’s fine!” Mini Him chirped and then she tugged under her arm and pulled out a cardboard tube. “Look, I even have my own staff!”

“Oh, that’s perfect!” It looked a little wonky, but what did it matter? This kid loved him and loved him enough to make a version of his staff!

And then she asked the question.

“Can I hold your staff?”

Xiatian froze. Both because more kids were running up, calling his name- was that a replica dragon sword- and also…no. Just, no. That would lead to a squished kid and his guilt would not be able to handle that. “I don’t think…” he said, trying to think of the best way to word this refusal as he passed out handfuls to the kids running up. “I don’t…”

“Yeah!”

“Xiaojiao?!” he sputtered at his best friend’s sudden interruption.

“We can make it work!” Xiaojiao said, plucking the candy bowl out of his hands and passing it to Wukong, who beamed and grabbed some candy. “Okay? I have some ideas…”

-_-

“Okay!” Xiaotian called, angling his body to be out of the shot of Xiaojiao and Mini Him’s mom. “Everyone say, here comes Monkie Kid!”

“HERE COMES MONKIE KID!”

The cry repeated several times once kids noticed what was happening. Thankfully, nobody threw a fit at not being able to actually hold the staff. Every time, Xiaojiao asked the parents if she could post the picture on her social media, and almost every parent agreed, claiming that they were also going to post the picture on social media.

Across China and even further out for that night and the next few weeks, several demons tuned into social media and nearly had a mass heart attack.

"Just how many rocks does that damn simian have up on his mountain?" 

"Dear god, it's spreading."

“Nope. Nope. Nope nope nope-”

Nezha snickered at the image on the phone Wukong insisted he get and liked it before sending the link to his father’s phone. He felt a grin form at his father’s horrified scream from across Heaven.

Back to the now, there was a loud cry of “THANKS!” as the kids rushed away.

“You having fun?” Xiaotian asked, looking around and feeling his heart lift at so many cheerful children’s faces.

“Duh,” Xiaojiao said, raising her hand. A boy dressed like her, carrying the third replica dragon sword he had seen tonight, wasted no time in slapping it before rushing up to another mini Xiaotian to grab his hand. “Look at Wukong’s face, he’s so happy.” Xiaotian glanced over and chuckled at the sight of his mentor, throwing handfuls of candy at the kids. His eyes gleamed in a way he had never seen before.

“Of course he is,” a familiar voice said. “My uncle has always had a weakness for the smiles of children.”

“Red Son!” Xiaotian cried, whirling around. Red looked awkward, standing in the middle of the street, but he was also dressed up. It was hard to figure out who he was, but the hair horns were a good giveaway. “I didn’t think you would show up!”

“Ugh, the Dragon Girl threatened me,” the fire demon sighed. “She has way too much-”

“Excuse me?”

They all turned to see a little boy, staring at them like they were the answer to life. He held a basket full of candy and something in the crook of his arm, but his outfit was styled in a familiar way with a red coat and purple pants. He even had his hair arranged to look like flames, much like Red Son’s ponytail.

“Yes?”

“Are you Red Son?” the little boy asked, starting to bounce on his feet. If all the mini hims and little Xiaojiaos hadn’t melted his heart already, Xiaotian was pretty sure his heart was a massive puddle.

“Yes?” the fire demon said, sounding baffled.

“Oh! I dressed up like you!” The boy spun, his coat even doing the dramatic flip like Red Son’s coat did sometimes. “You’re super cool!”

“Of course!” Red said, a grin forming. “Who wouldn't wanna be like me, the great villainous Red So-”

“You’re my favorite hero!”

Red froze. 

Xiaojiao snapped a picture of his frozen expression, chuckling to herself. Xiaotian leaned over. “Can you-?”

“Already sending.”

The fire demon finally unstiffened, staring at the lil him as though he talked in Pig Latin. Xiaotian was honestly prepared for him to burst into flames in rage, like every time he and Xiaojiao claimed he was a hero, but nothing happened. Instead, there was a baffled “Excuse me?”

“You’re my favorite hero!” the child repeated, pulling the thing out of the crook of his arm. “You helped save everyone when your dad was possessed!” Aw, he even had a little bull plush that was dressed up like DBK.

“Yes, uh, but that was my father, I conquered the city before-”

“And you helped save everyone from the Spider Queen!”

“That- my father-”

The kid continued talking, and Red kept stammering, caught off guard by the child’s insistence. It didn’t help that other kids, including ones dressed like him and Xiaojiao, were running up. Wukong walked up and pressed a bowl of candy in Red’s hands, sniggering quietly, and the fire demon began to pass handouts of candy while staring into the void that was this child’s insistence that he was a hero.

“What is going on here?”

At least, until a familiar voice boomed out.

“Father!” Red Son yelped, whirling around and, thankfully, not dropping the bowl of candy. Around them, several parents and adults had stopped. Xiaotian felt his stomach sink at the sight of looks of concern and fear. Fuck, he had no idea why DBK had come- his money was on Wukong inviting him for some reason or him looking for his son- but he couldn’t let him-

A scream splintered the silence. Xiaotian jumped at the noise and held his staff close, looking around as the noise dragged on. It took him a second to realize that there was something off about the scream as several children pushed past him. 

It wasn’t a scream of fear or pain.

It was a scream of absolute delight.

Several little Reds and even hims and Xiaojiaos were hopping around DBK, all looking overjoyed at the sight of the giant bull. Xiaotian felt his eyes go wide as DBK’s face visibly softened, leaning down so he could talk to the children.

“Are you adorable?” he said to the first lil Red, who grinned like all his wishes had come true. “Are you dressed up like my son?”

“Yeah!” The question was only aimed at one child, but ten more voices responded. “He’s my favorite hero!” Lil Red said with a huge beam.

“I’M NOT A HERO!”

Unlike what Xiaotian would think of how DBK would react at the idea of his son being called a hero, the bull demon actually grinned. “Yes, he is. Encourage him, children.”

“FATHER!”

Xiaotian felt a grin form as he sighed in relief, turning to grab another bowl of candy to help pass it out.

The street was getting crowded in a way that felt like a mini-block party. DBK and Red Son were being wonderful to the kids despite the latter's repeated insistence that he wasn't a hero. Xiaotian occasionally had to dip into the shop to help Pigsy with the noodle orders, dodging Pigsy's annoyed yelling as Tang kept swapping his costume out to cash in on half price noodles.

It wasn't until Wukong and Red came in for refills on the candy bowls that a problem presented itself.

"I could've sworn we had more," Xiaotian said, staring at where the candy was. Or, where the candy had been. "Pigsy bought an extra five big bags alongside the candy the mayor provided. We can't have run out that quickly."

"Hey!" Xiaotian poked his head out to see the boar guy from across the street rush over with a frantic look. "Do you guys have an extra candy? I could have sworn I had more, but it's all gone!"

"We're all out too," Xiaotian said, pushing himself out the doorway to look around. "Mabe Mr. Xi has some?" Nope. Five minutes ago, the candy store window had been full of candy, thanks to the elderly man stocking up in mass. Now, he was staring at the store and its empty displays like it was the end of time.

"Excuse me?" A few parents had hurried up. "Did any of our kids accidentally drop some candy here? Their bags are empty," the mom in charge said. "But I've seen you and them pass out candy."

"Plus," a dad spoke up. "They got a lot before we entered this street, so their bags shouldn't be empty like that."

Xiaotian looked out at the entire street. A wave of shock and confusion was rolling through the crowd as more kids looked in their bags and realized that they were suddenly and mysteriously tempting, prompting other kids to check their bags. Angry grumbles and tears were sparking to life, ready to become a blaze of emotion.

"We haven't," Wukong was saying when Xiaotian turned back to the conversation. "We just checked, and all of our candy has disappeared too."

"And I know I grabbed enough for leftovers," Pigsy said, looking both concerned and very annoyed. He glanced at Red Son, who puffed up his chest in annoyance.

"My father and I have better things to do than steal candy from-"

"IT WAS US!"

...of fucking course.

Yin and Jin stood at the end of the street, both dressed like American greasers (at least, if greasers looked like huge nerds). Behind them was a giant canvas bag, easily taller than every building here.

"Monkie Kid! It's your greatest rivals..."

"Yin-"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Xiaotian had to interrupt. "This is the rudest thing you guys have ever done!"

"Who cares?!" Jin called. "We have all the candy! We're the winners!"

Fuck, this was ridiculous. And crossed a line. Qi Xiaotian pulled out his staff. “Give that-”

“GIVE THAT BACK!”

The little girl, his first mini-him, glared at Yin and Jin. There was a frightening look in her eyes, and Xiaotian realized, with a bolt of unease, that it was spreading as every kid on the street turned and stared down the demon twins.

Either Yin was incredibly brave or incredibly stupid (Xiaotian was willing to bet the latter), because he leaned forward. “Oh, yeah, lil Monkie Kid? What are you gonna do? Huh? What are you-”

An ax went flying from the crowd, beaning him right in the face and sending Yin stumbling back.

That was enough.

“GET THEM!” Mini Him yelled, hoisting up her staff.

A stampede of children went running at Yin and Jin. Not all of them were dressed like him, Xiaojiao, or Red. It didn’t matter. The sugar-hungry children launched themselves in a wave at the demon twins. Jin froze, gripping a bloody-nosed Yin, and whimpered, “Mommy.”

The twins disappeared under the wave, several staffs and swords and other fake weapons being used for their intended purpose.

Xiaotian stepped forward but froze at a particularly loud scream.

Yeah, he didn’t want to get in the middle of that.

“GO! GO! GO BABY DRAGONS!” Apparently, Xiaojiao didn’t either. Instead, she hovered at the edge of the mosh pit, her phone up and recording. Red cackled next to her, his hair shooting off sparks.

The crowd briefly parted to reveal Jin, covered in bruises and sobbing his eyes out. “Help me!” he called, reaching out for Xiaotian. Before he could consider it, Jin was yanked back into the crowd.

A few children eventually broke away from the crowd to attack the giant bag of candy. Xiaotian did approach at that, helping the kids pull open the bag to reveal the honestly huge amount. “Who wants candy!” he called.

“I do.”

He blinked at the sight of the demon accountant, dressed up in a pink silk jacket. “Uh…” he said, glancing at Yin and Jin, still being whacked with a bunch of plastic and cardboard weapons.

“Don’t even ask,” she said, holding up a bag. “Just please give me some chan pui mui and brown sugar candy. I’m leaving those idiots to their fate.”

Fair enough. Xiaotian dumped a bunch of candy in her bag without question.

The rest of the children eventually got bored of beating up Yin and Jin and wandered over to collect their candy. If their weapons were dented and they had slight traces of blood on them, Xiaotian didn’t say a thing. He simply handed out candy and ignored the sobbing demon twins.

The kids finally left when the clock struck midnight. Mini Him insisted on one last hug from both him and Wukong. Xiaotian accepted it. “You did really good tonight, helping your friends get their candy back,” he said, unsure of what exactly to say. “Keep being brave?” Was that a good thing to say? Yeah.

“Maybe one day you’ll be a hero like Xiaotian!” Wukong said as he hugged her before a yelp came out, loud enough that Xiaotian flinched. Mini Him giggled and pulled back, revealing that a large chunk of golden fur was clenched in her hand. “What was that for?” Monkey King whined, rubbing his tail.

“Shrine!” she chirped before turning and skipping away. Her parents sent apologetic looks before trailing after her.

Xiaotian refused to say a thing, except…

“I think you got tricked back for trying to replace the candy.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Wukong sighed, standing up. “Now, who wants to eat all of the leftover candy and watch horror movies?”

“WE DO!”

[adjl-week]

ADJL 20th Anniversary Celebration

Hello American Dragon: Jake Long fans! I think Jake Long deserves a small, concentrated explosion of fanworks, read on if you do too. You may or may not be aware that January 21st 2025 is the 20th anniversary of Jake Long! Not only that, but this anniversary also marks the 'tail' end of the Year of the Dragon, which has its last day on January 28th, 2025.

((Art by @caroline-draws-stuff))

In light of all this, we are running a week-long fandom event starting from the 20th anniversary date, hosted on tumblr! The event is planned to feature 7 prompts, where fans will post a fanwork inspired by that prompt for every day of ADJL Week! Fanart, fanfics, drabbles, sketches, playlists, edits, giftsets, cosplay, and anything else you can think of are all welcome. You can participate for the entire week, or just for one or two days, its entirely up to you! We are now taking suggestions for one or two-word prompts! (Some examples are Rain, Unlikely Duo, Reunion, etc.)

We'll be posting a followup poll after prompt suggestions are collected so the community can vote on their favorites. Be sure to follow the @adjl-week blog and keep an eye on the #adjlweek tag so you don't miss the poll, or the results. Anything Jake Long related is fair game to be created during the event, except NSFW/18+ works! This is so the event can be accessible to as many fans as possible. That means crossovers, AUs, fan-characters, etc. are all welcome and encouraged!

[yuki-teru]

Lasko and listener headcanons

Here are just some headcanons that I have for them both (mainly listener) <3

~ The listener enjoys bubbles, I feel they can control and form them just to watch them

~ Listener would also bring in a coffee and a packed lunch (like a sandwich and something sweet) with a sticky note on it and leave it for Lasko because he is always caught up with work.

~Add-on to the one above, they both sticky notes for one another to make it easier for Lasko. The listener loves this <3

~Listener would have a collection of large plushes, and has given Lasko a big Snorlax pokemon plush

~Listener plays slime rancher and they also have a puddle slime plush (ironically)

~ Listener gently drags their nails over Lasko's hair while he lays in their lap to help him relax

~ Lasko taught the listener how to make a DnD character and they strike me as the one to play an elf druid.

~ That the listener likes (sea) animals such as bobtail squid, dumbo octopuses and (avian) Australian birds such as the yellow tailed black cockatoo, rainbow lorikeets and honeyeaters.

~ Personally I like to think that the listener is from Australia (Or the UK)

~ Makes me think that even with them being slightly confused with certain American things, they would ask Lasko about them. Even if it was something random (Such as driving on the right rather than the left, food and animals)

~(Makes me think that the Listener would get treats that aren't in America for Lasko to try)

~ Personally (again), I view the listener as someone would freckles and longer hair that would work well with a cosplay (such as DnD characters-)

Hoped others liked these <3

[starry-skies-116]

There’s several differences between my Jack and canon Miko that I feel like highlighting just so people don’t mistake them for ‘the same personality:’

They’re both reckless idiots, but while Miko puts herself and others in danger to get in on the action and try to prove herself, Jack does so because he feels personally responsible for the wellbeing of other people- especially those he cares about. It’s basically a situation of acting on an inferiority complex vs a hero complex.

Jack makes way more absurd and borderline idiotic decisions than Miko: jumping off of speeding motorcycles, licking spilled chemical samples off the floor to try and identify its properties without a scanner, trying to ingest laundry detergent to build immunity, digging through the trash for spare parts, throwing himself into danger multiple times just to try and do the jobs of the other Autobots- he puts himself in harm’s way a LOT.

You know that ‘exaggerated swagger of a black teen’ meme? Yeah- that’s season 1 Jack in a nutshell. Bro’s an unchecked theater kid on top of being a mad scientist- if Ratchet thought Miko was bad, this Jack would be enough to give him an aneurysm.

“Oh, you look like you’re having fun! What are you doing?” “eating laundry detergent” *panicking “NOW WHY IN THE NAME OF PRIMUS WOULD YOU EVEN-”

He’d definitely insult Miko’s hair, too. Like- he’d take one look at the pigtail and rat-tail combo coupled with the razor-cut scene bangs and instantly think: “That is the most ghetto sh█t I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” He’d be acting like he didn’t try to cut his hair with a cosplay sword on his own back when he was twelve.

Their definitions of punk are very different, too. Wild outfits, speed metal, loud music and American pop culture are primarily what Miko thinks of punk culture. Jack holds a philosophy similar to Hobie- that being punk is doing whatever you like to do and doing right by what you believe, even if it irritates other people. He takes the sentence ‘freedom is the right of all sentient beings’ and makes it a creed that he lives by.

He applies this trait to the other Autobots as well- he doesn’t ‘other’ them into separate categories and solely think of them as war machines. He recognizes their capabilities and their strength, sure- but he also recognizes how much pain they’ve been through, all the mistakes they’ve made, and still chooses to see them as people worthy of being loved. That’s one of the main reasons why the Autobots develop such strong emotional connections with him.

The death of Jack’s father absolutely destroyed him to the point where he doesn’t really value his life anymore. Like- at all. He’s so willing to throw away his own livelihood, compress himself into a box and try to cover every single one of his insecurities and shortcomings entirely on his own just so he can feel secure about the fact that people don’t have to worry about him anymore.

The worst part is- by the time Season 3 rolls around, Jack is so critical of his own flaws and mistakes that he genuinely believes that every bad thing that has ever happened to the Autobots is his fault and that it would be better if he never existed.

This one’s a no-brainer: Miko’s terrified of spiders- Jack thinks they’re cute.

If he was present during the ‘band practice’ scene, once Miko starts shredding on the guitar he’d start singing all of his favorite Celestial Odyssey OST’s to his little heart’s content. No doubt about it.

[admirange]

Mcl style contest outfit dump pt. 5

Devil's night

Looked it up if it means something specific. Found out there's a book (?) series with this title, saw some fanarts and every character was in black, kinda military like clothes. Also devil's night was a day on October the 30th or 31th where in some american towns ppl did mischief and vandalism and stuff. At least that's what I read, idk about these stuff. But I continued this thought process and thought the Purge movies would fit with this theme too? The vibe I was going for is a little extra, going to parties, doing whatever the hell she wants, killing, anything. Taki robbed a bank.

Got well ranked with top 20%

Devil's advocate

Took the theme quite literally. But also didn't want to do a normal formal outfit, this is the DEVIL's advocate after all. So sort of formal, but still extremely slack. Taki shows off how rich they are.

Got well ranked with top 15%

Hollow lantern

I used very extra, overly-decorated clothes to give that feeling of those beautifully decorated lanterns. A bronze color would've matched more, but white is what I have. A little over-dressed for my taste, I don't know how to feel about it. I don't expect great ranking with it.

Got well ranked with top 25%

Demonic entity

My first thought was the nun Valak! Did a test run but it's really hard to make a decent nun without cloaks. Give us cloaks pls!! I also thought about the Babadook so I went with that idea after the nun didn't really work out. It's still kind of a mix between those two. Gave her that sunshader because it felt really empty, to have her just stand there. I actually pondered a lot if I should give her that or stay without stuff but I don't know, somehow it felt more sinister with the shader. Maybe just for me.

Got low ranking with it. The podium is a disaster. But not surprising since every second outfit in this theme was a fairy sparkle butterfly princess. Are we familiar what a demon is?

Dragon slayer

Although I watched it like 10 years ago, my first thought was still Fairy Tail... then Lance also came into my mind since yk... he killed his lil bro. Who was a dragon. So he's a dragon slayer. No? Okay. Searched for a picture of Gajeel from the anime and used it for reference. Not a 100% but it wasn't my intention anyway.

Got well ranked with top 28%

Pirate

Harr! The theme song of Pirates of the Caribbean was the ringbell for the end of the class in my school for 3 years. Went for a classic pirate, I honestly don't have much to say about it. I like it!

Got well ranked with top 22%

Ghost

Not much to add, tried to do something a little bit different since it's getting a little repetitive. We had like 3 different ghost themes so far. The goal was to put the whole character in white and look kind of old. The lore is that this is a library lady ghost, I just had to come up with something because yeah. It's getting boring.

Got well ranked with top 22%

Dark rituals

Pretty messy and a lot is going on, but that was my intention. As I said I'm getting a little bored with the clothes I have so I just tried doing a little more chaotic look. She doesn't even have a lore :(

Got well ranked with top 28%

Vampire

NADJA FROM WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS!!!! I can't even describe how much I love vampires. Both portrayed seriously and in a comedic way. I love playing with vampires in the sims and I love forgotten hollow. I love looking like a vampire. The scented wax I'm using rn is called vampire blood. The outfit is obviously referenced from Nadja, but only from my memory. Taki reminded me of Guillermo because of the vest and the glasses! I hope hope hope some ppl will recognize my vision 🥹 this may be my all time favorite outfit so far.

Got well ranked with top 12% (so much only for the basic looks to win again... I saw so many great cosplays, it's so disappointing but not surprising)*

Black widow

Looked up some inspos. I didn't want to do anything extra, an elegant but more tight fitting outfit. She's like the sims we make to marry the rich ones then kill them in the pool. Taki is enjoying their money. Idk about the background, it's something between a rich home and a funeral house? Like she's still at the husband's funeral lol. Spent an awful lot of time creating the outfit and it isn't even my best one.

Got well ranked with top 30%

*I don't wish to attack anyone with this, it just genuinely feels like I'm seeing the same outfits over and over again in different colors. Seems like a lot of people dress as the "color" of the theme rather than the theme itself... I promise a demon does not need butterflies and flowers, red or not it does not fit the idea.

Thanks for reading and/or looking through my creations! <3

[mortallyminiaturewerewolf]

Akumakon 2024 Photos

Warning there are pictures and big load of text after this

So that was my Natasha Kerenksy cosplay, yeah it's pretty meh, the jumpsuit is baggy and the Wolf Mask is just because of my terrible camera shyness. But it was still the best Battletech Cosplay I saw that day, cause it was the only one I saw, but maybe there were others. It could've been like An American Tail where some other Battletech cosplayer was right around the corner from me to only be distracted right as I walk past. (Did that happen in that movie or did I imagine it idk) I'm rambling cause my brain is cooked from sweating in this jumpsuit all day.

Also I had a little count thing where I kept note of how many times I saw certain cosplays, I didn't really keep concrete count

4-5 Homestucks

2 Sanses Undertales??? (could've just be guys wearing blue hoodies)

Infinite Hatsune Mikus

At least 2 Pomnis from Digital Circus

Homestucks are eternal and will be around until the sun swallows the earth whole, possibly even afterwards. But unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the digital circus cosplayers cause their costumes were really good, like this is a franchise that has existed for like 4 months and you have already nailed how to cosplay this character it was amazing. It actually inspired me to watch the pilot and now I know who I'm cosplaying next.

Anyways I have a sword now.

[chasing-dreams-since-1995]

Today I’ll be going as Fievel from An American Tail in search of looking for his family in a crowded place known as RICC. I was informed that there would be no cats at this convention! 😜 That’s what my papa told me.

[willard-begins]

okay i dont know how to tag this but point is i need to get this out, but i think i MIGHT Be able to pick apart the eeveelutions based on what real animal theyre based on, domestic or not

here i go!

Eevee. we all know what eevee looks like. i mean i hope you would 'cause then why are you reading this...

from what i see, eevee is shaped similarly to a lot of younger animals, which makes some sense since its supposed to be the first of an evolution like, which tends to be more cutesy, like how puppies and kittens are. i'm getting a lot of rabbit from it? it has a large amount of neck fur, which could be seen as a dewlap, but maybe im just looking too far into it. dewlaps are common in domestic rabbits and are usually seen on females. they can come in different sizes, too. the large, fluffy tail on eevee can bee seen on cartoony depictions of rabbits sometimes, albeit much smaller. the long ears are also rabbit-like. it's sort of shaped like a small dog, too.

what i get from eevee is like.. a weird mix of a puppy and a rabbit.

umbreons are next! (i added this late because i misremembered the alphabet)

umbreons appear to be VERY similar to bombay cats. its body shape is very cat-like, but i pick up a hint of dog from it. specifically a doberman. it has a pointy-ish snout like how doberman dogs do.

catdog...

NEXT! jolteon. who i've actually thought about the most out of these.

jolteons look a LOT like american bullies to me. not the ones who are bred to have wide shoulders, but the more nooormal looking ones? i dont know if thats the word im looking for. they have stubby snouts with wide mouths, and slightly broader shoulders than most of the eeveelutions. i think they also look to have slightly smaller eyes than the others. they have big paws too, which looks like a bully thing?

all i can see in jolteon is an american bully but thats okay

flareon has something in common with both eevee and jolteon.

flareon appears to have a HUMONGOUS dewlap, and the same broadish shoulders as jolteon does. It has the same big paws that jolteon does, and long ears like how eevee does. I can also see some fennec fox with how the face is shaped and how fluffy the tail and ears are.

flareon is a weird bully-rabbit-fox thing. and also seems to be who i'd pick as eevee's sole evolution if eevee only had one.

next up leafeon. i think our first cat!

leafeon's got a weird face. i'd compare it to those cats with flat faces, like persian cats, but leafeon has shorter fur. I think leafeon reminds me of those cats that have longer fur in some spots, especially on the chest to where it sticks out like a weird little moustache. the leaves on its legs remind me of feathers on horses. leafeon also has some fennec fox-like features, like head and ear shapes.

leafeon is primarily cat-like, but has a smidge of fox in there.

glafoen

glaceon feels more dog-like than leafeon did. it likely has something to do with stance. it kind of reminds me of a poodle in a weird way? honestly dont get me wrong glaceon's awesome but its kind of hard to work with.. its a little more. basic. than the other eeveelutions. i also think it wouldve been interesting to have the. side bangs. things. be the ears for glaceon.

the best i can give for glaceon is a mutt or a domestic shorthair.

espeon

oriental shorthair. next question

hskv

sylveons are VERY clearly meant to be like a show animal. like, y'know how cosplay pikachu is supposed to be like used in performances 'n' stuff? thats what sylveons are but for eeveelutions. i can see a bit of chihuahua (or deer) in it because of the tail, and maybe a smidge of rabbit from the ears..

cosplay eevee

AND THATS ALL! But wait! What about vaporeon? thats right, you might be wondering where vaporeon is. don't get me wrong, i love vaporeon, with my whole heart, but i can't see any other animal in there but fish and a frilled lizard..

i mean, i guess i can see some cat.. and if you really want to, i'd say seal is probably related, too.

sorry for dissing on glaceon and sylveon a bit

im so tired

[allisian]

K/DA Lore

A while ago I impulsively wrote an entire series of lore headcanons for the KDA girl group. It started off with a pre popstar Ahri and I went from there.

I took inspiration from the KDA comics, the bios of the connected skins (popstar ahri) the official websites and the dev interviews etc to form my personal take on kda's story.

So here it is. I'll be posting in parts. Starting with...Ahri.

Ever since she was a little girl Ahri would post homemade performance videos of her singing and playing either the *guitar or piano. After gaining a small following the indie singer went on to entering cover contests when her cover for *"tell me your wish" blew up. That's when talent scouts from (record label) discovered the gumiho and offered to write her a contract. In *2013 Ahri the popstar would release her first hit album and go on her spirit rush tour around America. It was 2015 and Ahri would had go on to sign 2 more annual contracts and was in the production of her third album when she suddenly broke her contract with (record label) and wouldn't return to the music industry until 2018 with K/DA'S hit POPSTARS with another comeback in 2020.

*Ahris use in guitar and piano comes from the kda comics and her twitter campaign: 1 2 3

*"Tell me your wish" is a reference to her popstar Ahri skin which was based of the costumes from this music video. I imagine her doing an acoustic guitar cover of this song for the contest entry.

*2013 is the year popstar Ahri released on lol.

*Ahri's story is inspired by the indie youtuber to popstar trope and the teen popstar.

*Real life celebrities that influenced my take on Ahri include: Taylor Swift and Britney Spears.

*Ahri is Korean in this AU but posted her videos on to American Youtube because she was inspired by both western and Korean pop and is how an American record label discovered her.

*Ahri is a Gumiho/Nine tailed fox from the Korean folklore. As to how a supernatural creature can exist in a modern universe without people questioning it. I've made it that her identity as a fox is a secret and isn't known to the public.

She looks like a normal girl using some kind of magic to hide her ears and tails at will. When she joins the record label they give her a fox costume as her "gimmick" and so she cosplays her iconic pinky fluffy tails and a headband with blonde fox ears throughout her contract with the record label.

When she leaves the record label in 2015 (just like in the comics) she ditches her costume and fully embraces her gumiho form in POPSTARS.

More to be explained in the next part...Evelynn's story.

Art by me (redraw of a frame in Ahri's comic)

Heres a link to my playlist of the music I think suits this era of Ahri

(Edit links to the other KDA girls)

Evelynn

Kai'sa

Akali

[professional-jaywalker]

Hey there, woodpecker therian here! Clothes/accessory ideas, please?

Huh well let's see.

So as usual for me, i always recommend masks, not quite a cloth/accessory idea but I'll still take a second for it, like last time i'll mention dragonartist15 if you have the materials to 3d print out and assemble a mask (in France we have free access 3d printer in some places, gotta pay the material but not the machine). They have a woodpecker mask, will come up if you just type their username, Etsy, and woodpecker. For other therian watching, works with other species, especially birds and dinosaurians but there are skulls and non avian creatures too.

If you want a sillier, less realistic mask, there are one of those dumb rubber mask for woodpeckers, apparently, in the pidgeon or horse mask fashion.

Now for the more low key general stuff :

birdlifestore.com seems to be a site for graphic t-shirt based on eco-friendly/conservation messages, and birds. There is one woodpecker t-shirt on here, but will mention for Bird Purpose overall. Not much but hey.

Shovava makes wearable shawls and clothing with a lot of inspiration from birds. I own the saffron wings one, that superficially look like roadrunner wings. There's also a few non bird ones (butterfly, snow leopard, wolf/deer...). They are expensive, but worthwhile and very good quality.

Birdcollective.com is another bird clothing site. A bit expensive, but very cool designs. They have woodpecker patches and a t shirt. (And even some roadrunners :]). They seem mostly based on American fauna, and have a monthly patch subscription if you're into that.

gotta mention effinbirds.com for Funny Swearing Bird t-shirt. Do not worry about the NFT tab on the site. just click on it.

Redbubble has stuff but be warned that you will wade through ton of woody woodpecker stuff. As a roadrunner and beep beep and coyote victim, i feel your pain. Here's a few user with woodpecker and general bird content (mcm653, Steven stanich, lottibrown... You can find it easier through going through Google image honestly)

Bird pins and patches are pretty easy to find usually, since bird watchers aren't rare by any mean.

I'm pretty sure it should be possible to create a "bird tail" to attach to one's hips in the way canine attach theirs. Wouldn't recommend taxidermy or real feathers for "like 99% sure whatever you are it's illegal" reasons but if you have feathers that are in fact not illegal have fun. Otherwise, making a fake in the same way cosplay artist make fake feathers for costumes should work. Honestly just one accurately colored long tail or wing feather as a keychain attached somewhere would look pretty damn cool

But yeah that's about what i have for you.

[shakespearefreak]

One of my biggest childhood dreams has been achieved! I am now the proud owner of an American Girl horse. 🐴 ❤️

Any name suggestions? I get the sense it's a male horse, and he's going to belong mostly to Josefina (though if I ever get a doll sleigh for Samantha, he'll also be the one to pull it).

Thanks to tips from a couple of doll-centric Facebook Groups, and some tricks I picked up styling cosplay wigs, I managed to almost entirely de-frizz the mane and tail. Here’s what they looked like before:

He does have some markings on his lower legs; some look like scratches and others might be brown marker. Does anyone know if there's a fix for that, other than things that would remove the factory paint?

Also, does anyone know if an American Girl doll can actually ride this horse? I tried with his current saddle, and it doesn't work because their knees don't bend, but as far as I can tell it isn't an official AG brand saddle, so I'm wondering if maybe AG saddles are made in such a way that their dolls can balance properly.

Oh, and special shout-out to my friend John, who doesn't get my doll obsession and lowkey thinks it’s weird, but was willing to pick up the horse for me anyway after a job interview took him nearby the seller's house!