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prettyinpwn · 2 months ago

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Hi! I don't remember if anyone asked this, but do you have any headcanons about Shermie Pines?

Ah, see, this is the part where I totally self-promote share this wonderful, totally not owned by me ask blog reply: https://askthestans.tumblr.com/post/756343677567336448/hey-stan-can-you-tell-us-stories-about-your

But here's a full summary of my headcanons on the guy:

Older brother to Ford and Stan. I know the timeline's screwy with that baby in the background of ATOTS, but I personally just headcanon that that's some other baby and Shermie's not around in the house because he's off in the military.

I definitely picture him being in the Navy. I picture he's got sailor's tattoos. And actual cool ones, no offense to Ford.

I can't find the reference for the life of me, but I swear to God I once read from Hirsch (I think it was a tweet?) that Stan learned the "you cuddle up to a girl, knock her up, suddenly your life's fallin' apart" oddly specific joke in Little Gift Shop of Horrors from Filbrick. Going with my headcanon that Shermie's the older brother, that means he's the oops baby.

Because of that, and Filbrick's general suckage, Shermie struggled a lot with his dad like the Stans did. I think like Stan, he wasn't especially exceptional - or at least in a way that could make them money like Ford's brains - and Filbrick might have projected a whole "my life fell apart after I had Shermie" thing on the poor guy. So... I don't imagine Shermie got along real well with Filbrick. I also headcanon the large gap in years between Shermie and the Stans as Filbrick's hesitation to have more kids. I think Caryn would have wanted more, and eventually convinced him to have another (and whaddaya know, two for the price of one!), but Filbrick all over just gives me the vibe of a guy that never wanted to be a father, and Shermie knew that even as a kid, so he felt rather unwanted.

In terms of personality, I see Shermie as like... a straight laced golden retriever. Like a pure heart of gold "sees an old lady struggling to walk across the street and gets out and helps her" type guy. Being Mabel and Dipper's grandfather, I think he shares Mabel's optimism but Dipper's sense of right and wrong, which is what makes him a bit of a square (see the Ask the Stans post linked above). Even so, he's not outgoing like Mabel, he's introverted like Ford and Dipper. Like... people picture introverts as moody and quiet with dark thoughts, but when Shermie's quiet he just has happy fantasies like his granddaughter, Mabel (except replace hamster balls and hot boys with, idk... probably baseball or a movie he saw one time and loved).

I see him as a family pillar of support type guy, too. As the older brother in a poor family, I think a lot of responsibility was put on his shoulders. He definitely helped run the pawn shop (though Filbrick got irritated whenever he gave too generous of a discount), and made extra money on the side for his family with a side job. Going into the military was not his choice - given the era, it was probably a draft - and he sent his money home. Caryn probably did Tarot readings on him every night between his letters home hoping they always turned up positive.

He sent little letters home to Stan and Ford, too. He'd make Stan promise to protect Ford for him since he couldn't while he was out at sea, which is what inspired Stan to be such a protector. Then, he made Ford promise to help Stan with his homework like he used to, but once again, couldn't while in the Navy. And he'd tell them about his "epic ocean adventures" to gloss over the horrors of what he was actually going through, which I like to headcanon partially inspired their obsession with fixing up the Stan-O-War so they could have epic ocean adventures someday like their big brother. It wasn't until they were older that they realized, oh... yeah, he wasn't swashbuckling with pirate ghosts in the US Navy. :(

Physically, I think he's the one who looks the most like Caryn. Stan and Ford are like Filbrick short king copy+pastes, but I picture Shermie more tall and lanky like their mother, and has her aquiline nose. Coloring-wise, he's a Pines: brown hair and brown eyes. And sailor tattoos, can't forget those.

I feel like he had to be a pseudo father-figure to the Stans because of Filbrick. Filbrick wasn't the type to teach them how to ride a bike or play a sport, scare "monsters" out of their closet, bring them home for dinner from the beach, etc. Like he fulfilled more of the emotional role of a father to them that Filbrick couldn't.

With Stan, I think he played defense for the kid against Filbrick. I don't think Shermie would have directly gotten angry with Filbrick, especially given his golden retriever-ness and the era, but he defended Stan in little ways. Say Stan broke something, Shermie might have stepped in and tried to smooth things over before Filbrick could get angry. But boy oh boy, if he saw anyone else picking on Stan (or Ford, for that matter), better watch out. He might be a golden retriever, but he's still a Pines, so he's got that whole, "Mess with my family and I'll send you to the hospital." thing going on.

With Ford, I think Shermie was like Stan to him, protecting him and generally trying to make him not feel weird for his polydactyly and nerdiness. While on the surface I think Shermie and Stan might have bonded more because they had more shared surface level interests, I think Ford really looked up to Shermie, especially since Shermie was - as an introvert - the closest to Ford in personality in their family. Shermie wholly supported his love of weirdness, even if he didn't understand what the hell he was talking about half the time, and often would go along with him and Stan on monster hunts as kids just to make sure they got home safe, even if he had no interest in the paranormal himself.

As far as flaws, I can see him having inherited Filbrick's temper and absolutely hating himself for it. Like normally he's a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy, but when he blows up he feels like such an ass afterwards because it reminds himself of his father. His golden retriever personality might have been a way of him trying his best to form an identity far, FAR away from Filbrick, so when parts of Filbrick come out, he feels gross. The Stans look the most like Filbrick, but Shermie - for as nice and sweet as he is - inherited more of Filbrick's bad personality traits than they did.

When Stan got kicked out, Shermie was out at sea and their mother hadn't told him about it, feeling awful she'd let Filbrick just kick Stan out. So when he got home, he was like, "Where the hell is Stan?", and Caryn had to tell him. Shermie always blamed himself for not being there to play defense for Stan like he always had in the past, but at the same time, he was P I S S E D that Stan broke Ford's science fair project. And given that Caryn felt guilty and didn't want to speak against Filbrick and Ford's opinions, and Filbrick is a dick, and Ford was still freshly wounded from the whole fight and disappointment... well, he got a biased view of Stan. He felt so betrayed by Stan for decades for having "hurt" Ford and the family. I think this would explain why he wouldn't have gone to Stan's "funeral" later on. Cue him feeling like an asshole after the events of Gravity Falls and Stan and Ford and/or the niblings tell their grandfather what went down the last three decades.

Even so, I think he tried to find Stan afterwards in his drifter grifter years, but to no avail. Stan didn't want Shermie to find him and disappoint him, and all the evidence Shermie did find seemed to prove what Ford and Filbrick said about Stan, so... :(

He worked in the IRS for his career after the Navy. It made Stan barf when he found out. But Shermie just wanted a good old normal family life and a boring job after what he went through in the war.

As for the way he interacts with Dipper and Mabel, just... pure cuteness. Picture the most stereotypical sweethearted grandfather. Stan and Ford are like the cool old relatives, but Shermie is the big softie old relative. He buys Mabel craptons of arts and crafts and knitting supplies for birthdays and holidays, and he buys Dipper whatever paranormal stuff or video games he wants. He fully sees Dipper as like a little Ford and a lot like his own son (D&M's dad), but he loves Mabel too, of course.

If I think of any more, I'll be sure to add them to this post. :D

#sherman pines #shermie pines #pipanswers

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dropthedemiurge · 9 months ago

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Love for Love's Sake | Things You Didn't Notice #6

Translations and comments for Episode 6 (I have ADHD don't come after me, I was too invested that I bingewatched episodes yesterday and now I need to rewatch the 3 and 4 to make thorough comments on the dialogues). I was prompted by @lurkingshan to pay more attention to the movie posters :D Please let me know your thoughts after!

At first, I wanted to say that the movie titles were translated (at least, in my version of subs) and there was nothing behind them beside obvious but I decided to research more and indeed found somewhat interesting things! (the post will be long so I'll pile screenshots together)

First thing we see – Myungha has agonizing thoughts about "I can't believe I am on a date with a guy (when I'm supposed to be just an NPC/Player in this game)" next to the movie poster with an interesting title "The Guy Who Will Give a Kiss for 10 000 won"

This movie doesn't exist :D However! The title and poster style is clearly based on the old manhwa from ~2006 that's called "The Guy Who Will Give a Kiss for 5 000 won" (lmao they doubled MC's price that's inflation for you).

The note at the bottom says "Top Secret Disclosure: Kissing Method" aka MC is the guy who promises to teach you how to kiss if you give him some money, and the same note is shown in the LFLS poster. I thought the guy on the poster looked similar to Myungha but I think they actually got Taevin (the actor) to pose for this fake poster xD

Which leads me to the first thought that these posters were born out of Myungha's imagination – come on, we just got the scene between him and Yeowoon where they kissed for the first time and Yeowoon asked Myungha to give him time to practice and improve kissing (Myungha with his slightly better experience probably feels like a mentor with some "shady" intentions who eventually falls in love xD) Coincidence? I don't think so.

The second poster on the wall is also about a non-existent movie but before diving into that, here's how Yeowoon comes into the picture.

Two things: "Wonderful Ghost" huge poster on the wall behind him and the caption on the wall next to him.

In case you haven't paid attention, it says "If you come at four in the afternoon, I'll begin to be happy by three," which is a popular romantic phrase that definitely reflects Yeowoon's feelings atm, aww.

Meanwhile, Wonderful Ghost movie (also called as "The SOUL-mate") actually exists! But it's not new, it was released in 2018 and the story is about a guy done with his life after tragic events who becomes haunted by an energetic ghost that changes his life and mindset. (I did phrase this summary deliberately non-specific to make you feel another connection to the current story of LFLS.)

The caption on the poster also says, literally translated, "Let's do it together until the end of the world". This movie has other poster versions with other captions as Google shows but this is the version shown in Love for Love's Sake. Actually, while we're on the topic – I have no idea where "Love for Love's Sake" title came from, does anyone know? Someone in my previous posts speculated about the story based on this title but the Korean title of this series is "연애 지상주의 구역" ("Dating Supremacy Zone", or just "Dating Zone") which is the term that comes up in alert whenever Myungha is close to Yeowoon.

Anyway, back to our zombies, gorillas and demons. The movie Myungha and Yeowoon actually went to watch on their date was "Zombie Gorilla VS Demon Crocodile". The caption on thte poster says "Who will protect the world?"

Again, this movie doesn't exist. Why would they make such a point of showing Myungha crying and experiencing genuine emotions (when he only shed tears after he got scared by the full-scale system error and when his grandma got into hospital)? Well, Myungha explains it to Yewoon by himself.

"Well, it was the first time I see someone crying for a zombie gorilla." "Do you know how epic this movie is? The crocodile was actually an extraterrestrial. He met the gorilla here and joined him to save the world." "The plot is really strange." "It was very emotional."

Does it ring a bell? I don't think I need to add any words. Myungha = someone who came from another world and joined Yeowoon to save him and complete the game with happy ending. Myungha relates a lot and cries. I just find it funny thinking about how "The plot is really strange" and "You have a very strange taste" can be also said to all the viewers of LFLS (well, we all are very invested in this a bit confusing mysterious story as well, aren't we?xD)

I also love how we keep being reminded about the "unreality" of the story, how system can experience bugs and things in the world can glitch and Myungha is never immersed in this new life or his new love story to the 100% (cue all the 'choose anyone but me, go date a better man' and patronizing way he treats all characters around him, instead focusing on preventing them and the world from bad events following author's instructions)

I don't think I have much to add to the rest of the episode, I mirrored the haters articles and messages which were written for the show but the comments are quite generic (I couldn't read all of them but I didn't notice anything unusual). One thing, the DM to Myungha technically says "Die, Tae Myungha".

All I can say is that the online anonymous bullying is really prominent and a huge problem in Korea that leads to celebrities' depression and sometimes suicide. All influencers (and there are a lot of them in SK) are held to unimaginable 'perfect' standard and forums often have anonymous commenting which makes messages even more cruel (but later they addressed the issue and I think at least under news articles in Entertainment/Celebrity section the anonymous function was turned off, still, there are a lot of ways to ruin someone's life online). It happens in every country, of course, but stalking/online bullying is something that can be understood very easily by Koreans because it's often on the news and in the community.

Another little detail – even though Myungha does talk to students who are technically "younger" than him by one school year like he's old and wise, he doesn't use the word 'kid' nearly as much as you'd think xD (but the subs are doing the right thing anyway because how else are you supposed to show that subtle cultural difference between saying Cha Yeowoon and Yeowoon-ah, or Myungha calling Sangwoon by his name when he's frustrated with him instead of cursewords or titles?)

In the phrase "Get it together, kid!" Myungha actually uses the word 새끼 (saekki) which can be a curseword (like 'asshole, bastard', used by school gangster in previous eps) but it also literally means 'a child' that can be used by grandparents for their grandson or by parents, for example. So basically, think of 'son of a bitch' which can be used both as cursing and have literal meaning. Koreans have the same (개새끼 - son of a dog) phrase.

But it doesn't have an affectionate connotation when said by teenagers or adults (unless it's said to close friends without heat), and I am sure Myungha says it with more of "Get it together, you brat!" meaning. I just used this screenshot to tell you about Korean cursewords, he-he.

+ bonus: there is no translation or anything, but since we were talking about posters, I just found it funny and adorable how Yeowoon visually replaced here the poster behind him xD

#love for love's sake #love supremacy zone #love for love's sake comments #love for love's sake meta #dropthemeta #bl meta #kbl #korean bl #korean language #korean drama #language #kdrama

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narrycherries · 2 months ago

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love of my life

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✩ chapter 01: begin again ✩

word count: 4.4k

warnings/tags/info

Wild was an understatement. I had always heard that this city never really stops celebrating, and I learned quickly that it was quite true. It was not the season for the festive parties for Mardi Gras, yet anyone who was visiting would be greatly convinced it was. Stringed beads and glitter covered the streets and broad side walks. The smell of alcohol and fried sweets filled the air. Crowds of people moved so casually down each side of the road. Some were slipping into creepy little corner shops full of odd souvenirs, and others were hopping from one bar to the next.

I chuckled as I witnessed a very interesting woman with a snake wrapped around her neck, people gawked around her to watch. The driver must have heard me, because I caught his glance in the rear view mirror.

“I was surprised when they told me you haven’t spent much time here. It’s.. interesting, innit?” He smirked gently as he continued to travel towards the destination.

“Uh, yeah.” I shrugged slightly. “In the band.. we never had time to appreciate a lot of the cities. We always had to leave the next morning. And I.. haven’t ever made time to come here on my own either.”

He nodded as he listened to me. I didn’t know him well, he just started working with my travel team. “You’ll enjoy it. Two weeks, right?”

“Yeah. I wanted to.. explore and.. y’know, see as much as I can.”

“Where ya off to after this?” He was curious, which wasn’t surprising.

I thought for a moment. “If all goes well.. I’ll be off to Sydney. I want to.. travel more.” I lifted a brow as I said that last part.

Traveling was not anything new to me, but this sort of journeying was. I barely ever had the chance to do my own things in these cities. It’s usually all work and show related, but I wanted to change that. The world is full of incredible places, and New Orleans is like no other. I wanted to drive through the most touristy parts and see some staple spots before going to the hotel.

“I’ve been here a couple of times. They’ve got some epic drinking spots.”

I laughed at his statement. “M’not really here to get drunk.. at least not every night.”

“Well, lucky for you, they have some incredible restaurants and tourist spots. The cathedral is pretty damn awesome. My wife loves the French market. Aye, the ghost tours are fun, too.”

“I have plans to do all of that.” I smiled as he looked at me in the mirror again. “I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.”

The ride became silent again as I sighed heavily and rested my temple against the cold glass window. My eyes lazily gazed over people as we passed by. I could see into a store or restaurant every now and again, but eventually my eyes started to close. I felt like I had a ton of bricks on each eyelid. Sleep was taking over me before I even knew it.

My dream consisted of nothing specific. I could hardly remember any of it when I felt the car come to a stop - my body naturally reacting to the sudden stop of motion. I grunted as I peeled my eyelids back and came to my senses.

“Well, sir, it looks like we have arrived at your hotel.” His demeanor changed and suddenly he returned to a more professional behavior. It was almost as if our previous conversation never existed.

My eyes moved to look out of the dark tinted window and I was amazed by the beauty of the hotel. I shook my head at the extravagant exterior, only expecting the inside to be just as magnificent. My manager loves to say that the best deserve the best. I have yet to discover what I am best at.

As usual, and against my will, I had no involvement in unloading my luggage from the black suv that followed us all the way from the airport. I requested to be alone on this trip, but my team feared for my safety. My personal bodyguard is with me, and he is also being treated to a grand room here at this fancy hotel. I would never give him any less than myself. The driver is also in town, but only for the night. He will fly out in the morning and probably meet me again in Sydney.

“Mr. Styles, what an honor to serve you. Here, let me gather your bags.” Some guy in a suit met me at the door with a gold luggage cart.

I didn’t reply to him, only because I was tired. I walked inside of the impressive building with Chris hot on my heels. He stood close to me as I went to the reception desk. The older woman smiled kindly at me and got her hands positioned on the keyboard.

“Hello sir. We are so pleased to have you.” Her welcoming smile grew bigger. “You have to be Mr. Harry Styles, yes?”

“Um, yes ma’am, that’s me.” I slightly smiled back at her.

“Let me get your suite pulled up. I believe you booked one of the larger suites.”

I nodded. “Yes, that sounds right.”

She typed on the keyboard for a few moments, searching for my reservation to confirm my presence. I looked over my shoulder at Chris, who was standing broad and ready to pounce behind me.

“I’m sorry they made me come. I know you want your privacy.”

I shook my head lightly. “S’fine. I know the risks of being alone.”

“Here you go, Mr. Styles.” The woman caught my attention.

When I looked back at her, she extended her hand out and I saw she held the key to my room. I took it from her and gave the extra one to Chris. He slid it in his pocket quickly.

“Um, I should have another suite as well.” I said politely as she stared at me, seeming to be lost.

“Oh!” She looked at the screen. “That’s right. Here you go.” She passed me to two keys for Chris’s room, still eyeing me intensely.

Great, a new fan..

———

The balcony offered a refreshing change of pace. The cool breeze kept pushing my hair around, which I didn’t mind. I was high up enough that nobody could possibly recognize me with the naked eye. The city was glowing down below. This is a view I would never get from a stage. It’s incredible and relaxing, definitely something I need to see. I should escape more often. I wondered about the tourists and the locals. I wondered how long they stayed out partying and dancing in bars. Did the locals enjoy having tourists constantly, were they amused by them? Or were they tired of it? Surely not, I find it entertaining to observe people. What was it like to be so carefree and relaxed? Would it ever be possible for me to do that, to go out on the streets and enjoy myself without the fear of someone recognizing me or a crowd of girls flooding around me? Perhaps I’d take the risk while I’m here.

I sat down in one of the comfortable chairs and relaxed my back. I appreciated the view, truly - it was incredible. Just as I was about to close my eyes to soak up some of the peace, my phone buzzed on the table beside me. I picked it up and smiled when I saw the name.

“Mum, hi.”

“Hello, sweetie. Have you gotten settled?” I could hear the big smile on her mouth.

“Yeah. I’m enjoying the view now.” I chuckled lowly.

“Send me pictures, darling! I hope you have so much fun.”

“I will try to.. and you know I will send you every picture I take, Mum.”

She laughed for a moment, then sighed. “Your sister is in New York.. you’re gone.. I feel so alone.”

“I’ll call you everyday.. always do.”

“I know that, lovey.”

I slowly trailed my finger across my pants leg as I thought about something that was heavy on my mind. Mum could sense everything, even when she’s thousands of miles away. I wasn’t shocked to hear her ask me what was wrong.

“Harry, did you hear me, honey?” She sounded concerned.

“Um.. M’fine.”

“Don’t lie to me, baby.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Should I tell her? She is my mother, so it isn’t like she’ll judge me or anything. But I don’t want her to over think or get her hopes up for any reason. I gulped quietly as I made a decision.

“Just sorta.. hoping that I fall in love, Mum. Real love.”

“Honey, don’t rush yourself into anything. I know this past year has been.. hard.. but focus on yourself.. not on a relationship.”

“I dunno. I feel different here already.. This place could change everything.” I bit my cheek as I said those thoughts out loud.

“Any place could change everything, Harry. Be safe, have fun. I love you.”

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll try to.”

Any place could change everything.. Then why hasn’t anything changed? I’ve been to countless places trying to get away from the reality of a damaged heart, but nowhere has made a difference.

The shower I had before bed was much needed. The water burned my skin and calmed my muscles. I could’ve wasted away in there if I really wanted to. Sometimes, the best way to let out all the tension was just to stand under the water stream and melt your skin away.

I squeezed my eyes tightly, trying to force myself to go to sleep. The suite was dark, only the glow from lights outside the window was creeping in. My body was exhausted, but my mind was racing. I felt like I had a thousand things circling at once. Despite my body being utterly worn out, I couldn’t seem to fall asleep.

These past few months have really done a number on me. On top of a bunch of work related things, my personal life went through hell and back a few times. Every time I think I have it down right, something comes along and wrecks it. I just wanted to get away from everything. I craved a distraction. Maybe I was just chasing dreams, or maybe I’d come across something here that changed everything for the better.

———

A sigh slipped out of my mouth as I walked up to the entrance of the nice building. Chris stood beside me as we waited in a line to purchase an entrance ticket. I probably looked very suspicious and out of place with this hood over my head, but it was a necessity to disguise my identity as much as possible. The black sweats and hoodie were meant to conceal me more than keep me warm. Thankfully, it was a windy day.

“Did you get enough rest? You seem tired.” He said quietly.

I grunted. “I slept fine.. m’just.. sick of covering up.”

He patted my back. “I know. One day.. it’ll be better. People will.. forget about you eventually. A lot of celebrities say that.”

I shook my head at his assumption. “They’ll forget me when I’m dead.”

He chuckled. “You’re wrong.. they’ll stop chasing you.. they’ll never forget you.”

When we received our tickets, the man directed us towards the main entrance into the first exhibit. Chris had learned to love museums a while ago. At first, he would gripe about me going to one. He claimed they weren’t interesting. His opinion changed as we went to more and more over time. Art museums were his favorite, as well as mine. Someone told me I should check out the art museum here, so I decided it would be a nice start to my trip.

“Oh.” Chris got my attention as we started to observe some of the paintings on the wall. “They’re having a special exhibit today. The Best of the New Orleans.”

He showed me the pamphlet he picked up at the door. I gave it a glance and hummed at the thought of seeing some local artists in the house today. That would be quite interesting to see. I hope we get a chance to get to it.

“Appears that it’s a bunch of young artists from the city.. some of them set up in the French Quarter. They’ve been chosen as the best of the best.” He continued to tell me about the exhibit. I listened quietly as I looked over one of the sculptures in the middle of the room. “They’re each receiving portions of this week’s proceeds.. Getting an interview on some fancy art website.. Ah, they can even sell anything they’ve brought with them. How neat.”

“Hm.. Perhaps I could purchase something.” I licked my lips as I moved onto the next art piece on the wall. “I do enjoy and appreciate beautiful art.”

“Might find something magnificent.”

He folded the paper back up and turned his attention to the art in this small section. Chris and I both slowly started to walk towards the next room. We were quiet and observant, paying our respects to each wonderful creation displayed around us.

“You never know.” I casually shrugged.

I felt a few stares on me, but I was certain it was because of my clothing choices, not my actual identity. I really didn’t feel like being ambushed in an art exhibit, so I pray it was my clothes.

“S’alright. I’ve got my eye on everyone.” Chris mumbled beside me, being sure to keep quiet. He must have felt me tense up or something.

“I see a sign over there.” I pointed towards the exit of this exhibit. “We should check it out.”

He shrugged. “Sure, let’s go.”

We were sort of just walking around, following the signs trying to find that exhibit. Chris was sighing as we walked into the wrong room, again. I kept my eyes on the signs and tried my best to figure out how to get to the room.

Entering the room, I immediately knew we were in that special, limited run exhibit that Chris spoke about earlier. He nudged my side gently as we stood towards the side of the room, purposely staying away from the center. This area was larger and was divided by fake walls, to provide each artist with their own area. I noticed that the artists were standing among their works. Some were talking and explaining processes, while others were telling the stories that inspired their pieces. We happened to be closer to a girl who appeared to favor a painting, so we moved into that small group of people.

Most of the viewers were younger people, fresh into college maybe. I saw a lot of them jotting notes and sketching in paper pads as they listened and stared at her displayed work. They were all quite beautiful, the paintings. She was pointing at different aspects of the piece next to her, which had most of the people's attentions.

“S’very nice.. that one on the end.” Chris said as he nodded towards a big painting of an amazing ocean scene.

The waves were splashing, and the sun was setting beautifully in the background. I looked over the other ones. They were each so different, so unique yet I could see her style. She didn’t seem to care about perfection and the perfect blend. She was messy in some places and precise in others. She seemed very talented. Her landscapes and seascapes were accompanied by portraiture and floral pieces. There were some gorgeous original concepts mixed in, some with ethereal and fantasy aspects.

“S’lovely.” I mumbled back, curious to know more about the painting.

He gave me a look. “Want me to ask about it?”

I thought for a moment, my eyes glued on the painting. I imagined how it would look in that empty space in my living room back in Los Angeles, or how pleased my mother would be with the gift, my sister even..

“Go ahead.. I’ll double the offer.” I told him quietly as my eyes roamed over the rest of her displayed pieces.

Chris walked towards the front of the crowd. Luckily, he wasn’t interrupting anything. She had just sat down at a table, writing out something. I shifted a little closer so I could hear, thankfully people were talking quietly.

“Hello. What a wondrous display you’ve got here.” I could hear his genuine smile.

My vision was focused on a large painting of a farmhouse in a field. The golden rolling waves of wheat in the distance were bright against the muted blue sky and the dull brown of the house. It was eye catching for sure. There was a piece of laminated paper attached to the bottom that said “sold, on loan for display” on it.

“Thank you!” Her voice was kind, she was also smiling.

“I’m wondering if you’re offering that ocean scene for sale, the one on the end? It’s quite lovely.”

Curiously, I looked their way. I saw her pretty face flush gently as she smiled, probably flustered from the admiration. She looked towards the painting before opening a small notebook.

“Yes. I am selling that one.” She nodded, that smile still on her lips.

“My, um, boss is willing to double your price. He loves art.. and appreciates the talents behind a piece.”

She laughed gently to ease the tension. “Well, that’s very flattering. Is your boss here? I would like to try to talk him out of that.. I price my work at a cost that I consider to be reasonable.. based on what I think it’s worth.”

He looked over his shoulder and immediately caught my gaze. “He might not be willing to talk. He’s a private man.”

She furrowed her brows gently. “Oh.. well.. perhaps he shouldn’t be a client of mine, then. I like to have face to face negotiations.”

I jumped on the offer and started the walk to them. I ignored whatever Chris was telling the girl. For a second I thought of walking off and forgetting it, but that would be stupid. I really admired the piece and I wanted to purchase it. When I approached them, Chris let his eyes go wide. Usually I stayed behind and let him handle things for the sake of my identity. I yanked the hood off my head to appear more serious and professional.

“Such nonsense you speak.” I chuckled as I patted his broad shoulder.

He gave me an odd look. “Are you alri-“

I cut him off as I turned my attention to the girl. Her thick pink lips shaped into a smile as she stared at me. I gulped at the thought of her recognizing me, but I tried to ignore it.

“I love the painting.” I said suddenly. “I love them all. I would love to purchase the ocean one. It’s magnificent. Double the price.. no negotiations.”

She laughed through a breath. “So.. I don’t have any say in my own sales?”

“Of course you do.. but m’sure you wouldn’t turn down extra money. M’sure you have bills to pay.. perhaps children to care for.. school loans to pay off. It wouldn’t hurt my pockets.” I gave her a shrug, while still smiling. I wasn’t being sassy, just quite honest.

The blonde girl shook her head and let her eyes drop to the floor for a moment, a grin plastered over her nice lips. When she lifted her head to look at me, I felt a sting in my chest. She was very beautiful. Oddly enough, she wasn’t my usual type.. she was different. Thick and pale.. short, curvy. Her chest and hips were heavier than average, but she was beautiful. And let me not forget that bold, very independent personality. I adored that.

“No children.. no loans.. but yes, bills.” She clarified my assumptions with a blushing face.

“Excuse my rudeness.” I sighed as I realized the mistake I made. She lifted a brow, curious to know what I meant. “What’s your name?”

She smiled slightly. “Um, Jennifer.”

“I’m Harry.” I motioned to my security guard. “This is Chris.”

“Nice to meet you.” She nodded back.

“Now..” I chuckled as her cheeks blushed, and I was sure she didn’t realize it. I was convinced she didn’t recognize me, because she didn’t react in the usual way. “I want the ocean. Double your price. So, what is your price?”

She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s three hundred.”

“That’s all?” I was honestly surprised.

A soft laugh slipped past her lips. “Yes.”

“S’quite big.. you’re only charging three hundred?” I was baffled by her words, truly shocked - it was a huge painting.

“I price my work based on the time I spent doing it and what materials I used. That didn’t take very long.. hence the price.”

“You’re insane. You should get a business partner to help you with profit margins.” I joked, smiling as she gave me a gentle smirk.

She was very beautiful, I wonder if she knew? She went back to the small table and sat down in a metal chair. She flipped open a folder and pulled out a thin stack of stapled papers. Her pretty eyes moved up to mine and she offered them to me, along with a pen.

“Just some legal things.. a guarantee of purchase and all that.” She smiled professionally at me, suggesting that I sign the papers if I wanted the painting.

Chris picked up the papers and quickly glanced over everything. My attention didn’t turn away from her. She watched him, waiting patiently for a response of some kind. I decided to speak up, since I was the one buying the piece anyways.

“Would it be alright if I offered a price to you? A bid.. if you will.”

Jennifer’s eyes shifted to me and she rolled them gently. “I told you-“

“Please.” I cut her off. “Just let me do this for you. It’s not insulting or anything. I’d love to pay for your creation.. and it’s worth far more than three hundred dollars.”

My stomach churned as I heard her sigh and watched her eyes fall to her small notebook. I couldn’t read it from my angle, but her handwriting was lovely. She tapped a pen against the edge of the paper, probably thinking about what I said. I didn’t want to just give her the money she requested - that would be stupid. Her painting was incredible, no matter how long she spent on it, and she deserved an incredible price.

“What’s your offer?” Her sudden question surprised me.

“A thousand.”

“You said double.”

“Well.. I changed my mind.” I shrugged when her eyes returned to mine.

She looked me up and down, then over at Chris who was done reading the papers. I looked his way as well, curious to know about the stack in his hand.

Without me having to verbally ask, he told me about it. “Just an agreement to pay.. and shipping costs. She’s very professional.”

Jennifer and I looked back at each other at the same time. Her cheeks slightly flushed as she dropped her eyes to her notebook.

“I’ll do double then.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay.. that’s fine.”

I smiled, quite pleased about the painting. “Perfect. Do you accept checks?”

She nodded, seeming a little nervous all of a sudden. I tried to look past that and focus on the purchase. I took my wallet out and grabbed one of the loose checks. I never carry more than a few, and they’re just in case I don’t have enough cash on me. I hardly have cash, so it’s helpful I guess.

“Just, um, sign the papers. Print and signature.”

“Yes ma’am.” I mumbled as I leaned over to write on the table.

She stood up as soon as I did and cleared her throat. “Thank you for coming to my exhibit.” Her voice was directed towards Chris.

“Don’t thank us. Your work is incredible. How long is the exhibit lasting?”

A soft laugh came from her. “Today’s the last day, actually.”

I took the opportunity of her being distracted to write a larger sum on the check. I wrote down more than what I had offered her. I decided to have it shipped to Los Angeles for now, so I filled out my address on the other paper as well as signed my name a few times to agree to different terms and conditions. She was a business woman, and I’m sure she didn’t even realize it. I jotted down my personal and business phone numbers in case something goes wrong with the bank whenever she cashes the check.

I folded the check and sat it on top of the stack of papers. “Alright, everything’s done.”

“Thank you, Mr. Styles.”

What an intriguing thing she was.. I never told her my last name, and she didn’t glance at anything I wrote..

She gave me a smile as she sat down and picked up the check, holding it between her fingers as she flipped through the packet to make sure I signed everything. I watched her as she picked up her pen and signed a few lines - her signature was beautiful and elegant.

“Thank you for your business. I will send you an email as soon as it has shipped. It will take a couple of days.” She smiled again as she looked up at me.

“Thank you.” I made sure to smile back.

Chris thanked her as well. She handed him a piece of paper. It had some information about the piece and about herself on it as well as some contact information.

“Perhaps I will look into your work some more.” I said as I noticed a stack of business cards on the table. I picked one up and saw that she had a website. “You’re an amazing artist.”

She pushed a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, revealing a couple sets of earrings. I gulped gently and put on a smile for her.

“Have a good day.” I gave her one last glance before turning around and heading for the exit. I had no desire to see the rest of the museum - I was flushing from the interactions with her, and I needed to be back at my hotel room to cool off.

My chest tightened as I looked over my shoulder just in time to see her unfold the check. Her head shot up and her lips fell apart. I smirked at her, dropping my eye to a wink, before looking back in front of me.

Three hundred wasn’t enough, nor was a thousand. I was extremely generous, but five thousand isn’t a lot to me.. I should’ve given her more.

——

[a/n: after this long unexpected delay, the story is finally yours! i hope you enjoy it. i’m so proud of this piece of work and it means a lot to me.. so please be kind and refrain from negative comments, if you don’t like what i post then simply don’t read it. i can’t wait to see how you guys react to it. i hope i did well! thank u for your continuous patience for my crazy chaotic life curveballs i get thrown pretty much every month.. enjoy! love u!]

⭐️ taglist: @devilsqueen722 @prettygurl-2009 @ottawaoutlander

notified for all posts: @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @victoriasigaard @ariiscringe @harlowsgirl @lomllover @haniaaa04 @sideboobrry11

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helpami-flaffy · 8 days ago

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EPIC THE MUSICAL OPINIONS, VERY OPINIONS, VERY MINE.

IF YOU DON'T WANT SOME NEGATIVITY DON'T READ. THIS IS NOT PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE I SWEAR.

MOSTLY COMPILED AT NIGHT, SOME REVISION.

PLEASE DO NOT COME AT ME.

.....................

After this saga I'm left kind of perplexed about epic.

What is epic trying to say here? What's the musical's stance on ruthlessness?

Because it isn't very clear to me anymore.

Is it bad? Is it good and just? Is it a necessary evil? Is it worth becoming something monstrous just to achieve your goals?

The thing I'm trying to say is:

Is epic a tragedy or a triumph?

Until the vengeance saga I thought it was the former, but now I'm not so sure.

Throughout the story Odysseus takes desicions that either side with what I'll call the 'open arm mentality' or the 'ruthless' mentality.

He gets punished for both a number of times.

He kills Astianax so he doesn't have to fear his future vengeance.

He spares Polyphemus and that leads to 558 men dying.

He appeals to Circe's humanity and that leads her to freeing his men and helping him get to the underworld.

He sacrificed 6 men to Scylla and that leads to 'mutiny' and 'thunder bringer' where the rest of his crew dies and he ends up in calypso's island where she imprisoned him for 7 years.

First act of ruthlessness= good outcome

First act of open arms= bad outcome

Second act of open arms= good outcome

Second act of ruthlessness= bad outcome

(I forgot to add the sirens, that encounter is kinda strange tho. Ody kills all of them but I wouldn't call that ruthlessness. Ruthlessness is doing whatever needs doing to get what you want. He needed to know how to get home, and killing the sirens after doesn't matter in that context. I guess it's good for future sailors? I'll count this as an altruistic positive I guess)

This breakdown isn't perfect, lots of other things happen and some things Ody does can't really be neatly categorized by this simple metric imo, but I'll continue anyway as it feels to me the story breaks down his actions in a sort of similar dichotomy.

All in all the 'good to bad' ratio seems pretty balanced, right? It's not always ruthlessness that wins the day, and 'open arms' solutions don't always work out.

So why does it feel like we're supposed to root for ruthless Odysseus? Why does it feel like the story wants us to believe that being the monster is a good if 'somewhat sad' outcome?

Why am I saying this? Well, it's 600 strikes.

Actually just- all the vengeance saga.

Why is what Ody does here supposed to be cool and awesome? Because, like, that is absolutely the angle here.

Complete with a, honestly absurd, anime power up and fighting-god-one-on-one moment.

Why does the story break down it's logic, breaks suspension of disbelief (at least for me), to get Odysseus into a position were he can torture Poseidon into letting him go?

Wich?? Btw should not work??

Why is this how he wins?

Why are the ghosts of his friends and family no longer spectres of regrets for but terrifying promises of death?

What does this say? Was Odysseus wrong about their sacrifice? Was regret ever only a noose around his neck? I'm looking too deeply into this one lol.

In 'get in the water' we even get the obligatory appeal to Poseidon's mercy just to hammer down once again that 'open arms' doesn't work, even tho it's Athena's appeal to her father's mercy that set Odysseus free in the first place.

The saga ends with Poseidon asking Odysseus how he'll sleep at night after all of this and Ody, in admittedly the coldest line ever written on paper, says:

"Next to my wife"

...

This is cool.

Extremely cool even.

But that's kind of the problem I have with it.

The song ends in a badass way. This is meant to be the final zing to seal Odysseus' cool ass victory.

And in all of this, not once, does the story seem to recognize that...well...

Poseidon won.

Hell not even Poseidon recognized it!

I'm not even saying "OoOh if it was realistic Poseidon would have have won!" (Tho yeah, ask me about that, lol)

In the great ideological battle that's at the center of Epic: the musical, Poseidon was the ultimate victor.

Ruthless is what wins at the end, it's what gets Odysseus home. Odysseus might be a monster but he's a victorious one.

I feel people and the musical both don't really acknowledge that.

That even if Poseidon lost the battle he ultimately won the war.

Were is the irony? Where's the bitterness and sorrow? We're Poseidon's bloodied, mocking smirk revelling in his victory?

Is Epic a tragedy or a power fantasy?

#epic the musical #epic the vengeance saga #negativity tw #i guess #Yes i think Poseidon should have had the last laugh #i have many thoughts #i dunno maan #yell #anyway the music slapped hard as hell as was expected #Steven Rodriguez i love you #critical

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bladekindeyewear · 1 month ago

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HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2024-09-29

(Previous post - current page 666)

Section 6 is finally here! (And the part at the bottom is gone, possibly never meant to be clickable?!) Time for possibly the last or second-to-last portion of one of my favorite Homestuck storytelling sections so far, let's see if and how this situation ends!

Time to see if it really HAS been a whole eight years before she finishes her therapy like the joke Davepeta left on last time, or if it'll add up to 6 for the whole thing to go with the Hell/purgatory/666 theme, I suppose! *click*

"LATER"

Well, I suppose it isn't going to tell us HOW LONG just yet...

Ooh Davepeta's theme again, it sounds a bit jazzier than usual if I'm not imagining it, like a slight remix!

Gosh she looks so proud and happy! (Even though the next line could easily pull the rug out from under us.) I can't wait to see grown-up Vriska having almost-sort-of resolved her biggest issues! (No change in her sprite when I compare to my earlier screenshots, although that doesn't tell us much about how much time has passed since there was always a good chance she had grown as much as she's going to physically the prior new sprite switchup.)

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < its b33n a long ass time but were cr33ping up behind the grand finale DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < that finale is never gonna s33 it coming

VRISKA: The final 8oss.

Ooh, who is it? I mean, probably herself obviously. But who else could it be? There are possibilities I'm sure but they're not coming to mind easily. I'm reminded very much, the way I have been this entire time, of the conversation in original Homestuck where the retcon-returned Vriska berated her possibly-inverted ghost self, insulting her and shouting her down in a way that was wrong and proved all the ways the version of her who HADN'T survived had grown and the one who HAD survived hadn't. She insisted that being the hero and hiding her self-hatred to go have an Epic Final Story Battle with Lord English was the only way forward for her while everyone else was escaping the bounds of canon to enjoy a life and hopefully true happiness outside the story's confines, and what she'd gone up to before The Plot Point was her reward, consigned to irrelevance again and now WITHIN the Plot Point shown that none of what she'd been pursuing up until now would have ever made her happy, or into a better person. Now she has to finish learning that lesson, or at least get close enough, of what to actually do and what true freedom ("Ultimate Freedom") and happiness is to finally do what's right for her and potentially everyone around her.

I guess that means I expect her to have to "fight" herself, because she's been the enemy this whole time, right? Everyone she's "reconciled" with has been, in effect, the reflection of those people that exists within HER Heart, much like Jake was able to invoke Brain Ghost Dirk. Lines in here in previous sections indicated that she really is "alone", that these people she's talking to are an illusion and really besides her tagalong therapists she's the "only one here", the only one keeping herself here and torturing herself. Because SHE'S always been the one torturing herself, and SHE needs to learn how and when and why NOT TO in order to be the best version of herself. The Jung in Homestuck shows itself again in the form of the shadow, in the lesson of merging to ascend, of accepting yourself and your flaws with a humility that doesn't deny your ability to affect the world around you, to understand how to leave your mark on reality and how you're WORTH doing so, without stamping down the wills of others.

I'm rambling and stalling, let's see what they have for us.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < master hand, your days are fucking numbered

I know this is just a smash reference, but does Vriska think she needs to go at Doc Scratch again? His chess playing with her on the board is sort of some "master hand" shit, I'd think.

VRISKA: More like minutes!

A clock hand joke perhaps?

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < finally ready to take that final step

whatisitwhatisitwhatisit :D

VRISKA: I needed a 8reather!

Huh. I didn't think that maybe she had been just, not going back in AT ALL after the Doc Scratch thing and maybe just, resting for a LONG time that's about to be divulged after the first try, or perhaps multiple tries?

Oh wait is that a Breath aspect and freedom pun hint too? You can't always buckle down and go at your responsibilities (Blood) all the time or you'll snap like a rusty chain.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < you sure did!

I know I'm stopping like, every line, but... I'm sensing a punchline coming of THE BREATHER'S BEEN X YEARS.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < *a tear begins to well up in dps eye behind their shades* DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < *they f33l like a mom s33ing their freshly pupated charge about to finish their final trials and march off to the subgrubs or maybe a dope ass cave* DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < *dp wonders will they be safe out there? will she make use of all the lessons theyve learned here?*

Dave and Nepeta as a fusion is never not fun and interesting to listen to.

I don't expect The Plot Point to have "fully cured her" so to speak because not even comprehensive therapy is the full answer to solving your issues, and because we still have a good amount of plot LEFT besides all the attention Vriska is sucking up here of it. But if she leaves The Plot Point having identified her issues, confronted them, and with a true resolution to accept herself AND her flaws and do better out there in the real or quasi-real world, with a bit more of an understanding of how to ACTUALLY strive to be the best version of herself (the answer to the ultimate riddle) and begin honestly trying without much leftover regret, then yeah. That may be all she needs from here. We'll see.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < *will she remember to wipe the lid?*

O-of what? The toilet? Huh? >_>"

(Is this a stealthy reference to Vriska being a trans gal in side content as per Toblerone and urinating standing up...?)

FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < 383

WAIT WHAT? Was she always here?!? Did I forget a comment about her showing up before? Is she real?? She's a sprite who DIED, isn't she, which would mean that since this isn't a reflection of Vriska's, sprites still HAVE ghosts that went to the Furthest Ring and could be sucked down here?! This is a heck of a random sprites-having-ghosts confirmation!

...I could have sworn that the joke of Fefeta being so talkative but never doing so onscreen was repeated SOMEWHERE in HS^2 since Beyond Canon and my liveblog of it resumed, but I can't freakin' remember where. I think I was just coincidentally talking with a friend about Fefeta's explosion recently on a random subject matter and I'm confusing it with having read/heard SOME mention of her again in the comic. Like from Roxy or something. Roxy might have brought up her past with Fefeta to remind us she existed so she could be dropped again on us in here, or... fuck I'm confused. Someone let me know if we had any clue Fefeta was here or mention of her elsewhere in Beyond Canon, or if her living again had been confirmed elsewhere before this, because my memory could NOT be failing me harder right now.

VRISKA: *The Thief proudly puffs out her chest with her hands on her hips and her 8ack to the sun, looking heroic and 8adass.*

--Okay I know that Vriska HAS roleplayed before, or we've been told enough that she has, but doing so ONSCREEN so shamelessly with Davepeta speaks of a really really strong friendship she'd have to be pretty vulnerable with them to do this, I think. Which is adorable.

Also, her back to the sun, huh? Nah, no need to dig into that.

VRISKA: Ha! You've got nothing to fear. VRISKA: I'm older and wiser now.

And the time it's taken punchline is coming aaany second now...

VRISKA: I want to thank you, too.

AWW! Gosh she's improved SO MUCH to be talking so freely vulnerably; the last time she approached this sort of opening-up was the moirallegiance with Terezi that was always too one-sided because she never intended to listen to her moirail's advice, back in the last stretch of original Homestuck.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < what for DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i barely did shit

HAH! Don't be modest, you kept her (relatively) sane this whole time! Davepeta looks genuinely confused, that's hilarious.

VRISKA: Haha yeah, 8ut I'm glad you were here anyway. VRISKA: You and everyone else! FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < 383

EXACTLY. You all spent X years with her in here just to keep her company!!! That's not nothing, that's a whole fucking ton of something! Even if I get the feeling that The Plot Point was partially a sink of sorts to suck up all the ghosts from the Ghost Rain and keep them from mucking up the place.

But no seriously, was Fefeta here before??? Did I genuinely forget she was? Because I'm finding it hard to believe I hadn't noticed her and the implications a formerly exploded sprite surviving here would have had before.

VRISKA: ........

Yeah I'm apparently with you there. XD Is she running into the same confusion as me? (Or is the fact that there are sort of two half-Nepetas here about to invite a conversation about Heart and the Ultimate Self again?)

VRISKA: So, DP, you're half Nepeta, right?

Oh, it is!!! :D (And Fefeta's just a sprite, or a ghost of one, not a sprite squared and thus automatic Ultimate Self of both Dave AND Nepeta.) We're about to get some Heart aspect to help stick in Vriska's mind to break down the ultimate answers for her and the audience I bet.

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < yeah VRISKA: Well, more of a whole Nepeta, along with a whole other dude. DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < ... yeah? FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < 383 VRISKA: 8ut Fefeta's also a whole Nepeta!

It feels like Vriska shouldn't be too confused on this, unless she's gotten lucky and subconsciously sensed that there's an answer she needs for herself, here.

FEFETASPRITE: 3833 < ...

Just don't explode on us again :p

VRISKA: So like... how does that work?

Vriska, you've met who knows how many alternate copies of literally everyone, right?

Nooooo don't make her Fefetasplode again!

VRISKA: Why are there two Nepetas?

A MEOW SOUND EFFECT AND THEN SHE FADES INTO NOTHING. Dammit!!!

I mean, solid joke, sure, except on the Fefeta lovers, but. Is this a consequence of Davepeta being an Ultimate Nepeta and sucking up any spare nonliving Nepeta air in the room passively when it's pointed out? All of HS^2, plus the Epilogues, had a theme in part of Dirk concentrating his power as an Ultimate Self by taking parts of himself back in from places like Candy where it wasn't convenient to exist to achieve his ultimate (hah) goal, which it was IMPLIED made him more powerful-- and we just saw alt!Calliope lose power when she divided herself and have to spend time meditating to reunite enough of herself to control any sort of Jade body again. (Which again, makes her super vulnerable to being disrupted by a Prince of Heart, by the way, which I have no clue how she can be so arrogant as to dismiss and think she can do this with just her squad.)

(Did I mention that there's a TINY chance that Ultimate Davebot's chosen purpose, in alt!Callie's quest to tie up all the loose ends and bring the plot back together, might be to have him scratch Caliborn's session so that alt!Calliope could properly exist? You know, my old debunked-and-defunct Third Scratch theory, the three scratches on Gamzee's face? Oh shit that post has old broken image links I need to fix too, I'll do that by tonight. It's only a small chance, though. EDIT 20240930: After sleeping on it, it seems even less likely than I thought, actually. Alt!Calliope's ship with Davebot and Aradia on it is headed for Dirk and Rose's new planet-- for Davebot to pull off what I just proposed, he'd normally need to use time travel on Earth C to leap to the distant near-death of its star when the cherubs lived and get an easy route into Caliborn's session. I can't say it 100% rules it out, especially if Davebot might (or might not) be able to rewind his entire ship journey when he's done with it to make a full Spacetime move instead of just Time; and that's given that when they entered the Meat timeline they even started at the Meat version of Earth C anyway, too, which is only really an assumption. But it doesn't seem to add up to alt!Callie's need for Davebot in the confrontation itself, at least.)

Okay back to poor, sweet Fefeta just having vanished under the slightest bit of scrutiny.

VRISKA: ... What the fuck was that? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < you just fucking sent dear sw33t precious fefeta to sprite city.

Is that a literal Sprite City like the kingdoms founded on Earth C where Jasprose was hanging out, or a figurative Sprite City as in sprites tend to die?

Does an Ultimate Nepeta's presence here mean that unless avoiding scrutiny (Voidily) they all become part of the present Ultimate Nepeta and can't exist in this space at the same time? Also with the Umineko connection pointed out last time as something this whole sequence is apparently referencing, I know from my partial experience from the series that there's precedent for someone unable to exist and falling apart if their true paradoxical origins are revealed.

VRISKA: ???????? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < hahahaha anyway

NO NOT ANYWAY, EXPLAIN

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i was just fucking around earlier but honestly, im actually gonna miss you

Yeah, much like her ghost self from the pre-retcon timeline, this Vriska was likely a lot more gratifying to hang out with. (NO EXPLANATION AT ALL FOR FEFETAFADEOUT, GREAT)

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i think im f33ling a goodbye glomp coming on

Yeah, they would. (Sorry for quoting and commenting on basically every irrelevant line it's become ingrained habit already and we've only been back here a few times aaaa)

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < oh yeah sorry

This is too fun a reaction for me not to screenshot, though. Yeah, personal space, Davepeta! Consent of contact!

Ohhhkay I think this is my sign that if I don't stop screencapping and retyping every single line of dialogue I'm never going to get through this final section. Time for more selective quoting and paraphrasing of action!!! (I promise! Kinda!)

VRISKA: Alright fine, one hug 8efore I crush this and I'm outta here.

Daww. :D

I wonder where everyone here is going to go... I don't think Davepeta is going to voluntarily stop existing, but they're pretty hard to pin down.

Yaaaay! :D :D :D

Davepeta you are by NO means allowed to stop existing once the Plot Point is resolved by the way. You can be as plot irrelevant as you want, just don't stop existing.

Oh shit, it's somewhat literal.

One of the eight-balls she compulsively broke, "increasing her bad luck" and leaving things to step on earlier that Kanaya pointed out she could have found her perceived luck returning just by cleaning up. The metaphor that she's been the one putting HERSELF through hell for much of her life, especially ever since she escaped her parent.

VRISKA: I've 8een waiting for this one.

You know who it is?! Is it you?

VRISKA: I have a pretty good feeling I know who's waiting on the other side.

Oh come on, I didn't break the habit of retyping every single line of dialogue at all!!! She's just guessing. Which raises the chance significantly that this might instead be Terezi she has to confront, within herself, to help bring this full circle and decide what she has to do. Everything about their arcs seems to be leading the two of them together again, and not just in their ghost versions, I feel like.

It's just as possible though that when we finally see the message Vriska left Terezi at the end of the epilogues, though, still unseen, that that represents the final word between the Scourge Sisters and these versions of themselves are meant to find their own paths, even though Terezi spent all those years searching the wreckage of the Furthest Ring for her. I can't say for sure.

Okay I'm going to start paraphrasing... pff, Davepeta lampshading the Silent Hill mind prison -ness of this, yeah plenty of works have had this sort of trope and that's certainly a good one (so much as I've heard/read of it anyway).

The quite possibly final goodbye from Vriska to Davepeta! Hope "see you around" remains literal and Davepeta doesn't go to Sprite City </euphemism>.

Wishing her luck!

Black screen, Vriska waits...

A tree fading in in the distance... multiple colors of tree... this feels like Terezi.

VRISKA: Hey!!!!!!!!

VRISKA: Is that you?

Ohh fuuuck the touching slow piano music is kicking in. D':

It's time for emotions

VRISKA: I knew it would 8e you!

I can't tell from here if it's her or if it's Ghost (Vriska) but... oh wait. Wait if all the ghosts are here. Could she be confronting, possibly... ACTUAL ghost Vriska with the actual ghost Terezi that reunited with her? That would be a knife-twist she'd learn a lesson from. Clicking further...

VRISKA: You were the one thing missing from this!

D': What a thing to say.

VRISKA: Even if you're just a phantom designed explicitly to torture me, I'mso happy to see-

It's not her like you wanted, is it? And you're the one who picked a path that you thought would lead yourself away from her forever. YOU kicked her away for the sake of your own glory. So maybe it wouldn't be as simple as just seeing her again here and making amends, hm? Let's see.

VRISKA: you...?

Oh this is totally DEFINITELY the ghost (Vriska) that she chewed out in ways that everything she just spent time in The Plot Point showed were completely wrong. The time she REJECTED her inverse shadow self instead of ACCEPTING and merging with all the parts of herself she hated most, showing how and why she was on the path to fighting Lord English and abandoning Terezi instead of finding any sort of true happiness for herself. Let me find the part in Homestuck AND where I talked about it, to link y'all... GOSH without the full text of Homestuck on command-F/control-F it's so much harder to find stuff like "(VRISKA)"...

Yep, "VRISKA" first showed up to see ghost "(VRISKA)" when I wrote this upd8 reaction in June 2015, then went on for the bulk of the conversation over here on my blog, and here in the comic. I explained how she was dressed like a Page, representing her shadow self, her inner Page of Void-- and still on a happier path than the main Vriska who gave HERSELF such an unjustified verbal beatdown for seeming "pathetic". If you want more from back then, look at my posts tagged Vriska from late June 2015.

It completely fits that Vriska would find the disappointment of not having Terezi here, AND simultaneously have to confront herself in this form as the so-called final boss.

Heck... I figured this hell was driven by Vriska's Heart, her ultimate existence across all timelines, but what if (VRISKA) has been having some specific hand in showing the other Vriska how she can finally be happy, like she figured out?

(Anyway that search took like an hour, I'm finally clicking forward now.)

Oh the way the music just STOPS when (Vriska) turns to the camera. THAT'S a sure sign Vriska isn't taking this well. But she's going to be able to figure this one out without any return trips, this time, I'm sure of it. *click*

Oh, THIS music is different from what I expected. Interesting. It's too slow for my mind to figure out if it's a play on Vriska's old walkaround theme.

GOSH SHE'S SO FREAKIN' TINY D':

Clicking... they stare back and forth a bit more...

Aww, Vriska's awkwardly holding her arm. (I'll resist the urge to screenshot absolutely everything.) She may really be catching onto the fact that she has to apologize to herself. Learn from herself-- from ALL of herself. The parts of herself she used to loathe most because she saw her own weakness in them. That's her Jungian Shadow.

And... perhaps it's also in part why we were reminded again of an Ultimate Self's being all of someone just before she dove in.

VRISKA: Alright, fine. VRISKA: Makes sense I'd have to do this eventually.

Yeah, you're smart enough to get it a bit already.

VRISKA: I'm sorry. VRISKA: For all that shit I said to- did to you.

No-- I mean, sure, that's a start, Vriska, but you don't just have to APOLOGIZE to yourself, your shadow, your perceived flaws. You have to ACCEPT yourself. That's more than a quick apology can do.

VRISKA: It was wrong of me to hate you for getting soft. VRISKA: For knowing when to quit.

Holy shit. SHE FUCKING GETS IT. WOW HAS SHE COME SO FAR. This is exactly what we've been saying since nearly a DECADE ago when that argument happened, just like what I said from my upd8 reaction back then to above!

And (Vriska) gives her back an expansive, pained shrug, huh?

VRISKA: HUH???????? What the hell...

Or... wait. No, she couldn't be. That wasn't a shrug was it. Was (Vriska) offering... a HUG?

That's the answer, isn't it? And why we got a Davepeta hug too? That on the inside, when you finally reach a hand out and offer to accept your shadow as an essential-but-not-predominant part of yourself... your shadow is willing to reach back. She was willing to accept Vriska all along if Vriska just tried. But the fear of one's flaws is a horribly hard thing to conquer, to love yourself-- your ENTIRE self-- enough to take that crucial step.

--yeah, that's an offer to hug it out, isn't it? Vriska probably needs a bit to accept that it's really THAT EASY. Because it wasn't. It wasn't easy. Vriska needed to spend ALL those years to really understand enough to do something like this.

And I'm heavily betting that when Vriska and (Vriska) hug, there's a good chance THEY'LL MERGE. Embracing and assimilating the Jungian Shadow, just like the ascent to God-Tier and merging with the dreamself, except this is part of how you become, in a sense-- at least closer to-- your Ultimate Self. Jung-- "while "no one should deny the danger of the descent [...] every descent is followed by an ascent", and assimilation of – rather than possession by – the shadow becomes a possibility." "NANNASPRITE: All the gates do, John. To ascend, each time you must first descend!" Jung-- "We begin to travel [up] through the healing spirals...straight up." Right from the spirograph gates above their houses to their dreamselves and merging to God-Tier, Sburb and Homestuck has been loaded with intentional Jungian psychology references, and this is just the latest instance of the story spelling it out for us.

Anyway, clicking forward. Yeah, Vriska's nervous. She isn't huggy, and this is one of the hardest embraces one can possibly make, whether she realizes it now or not given all the work she's done to get here.

VRISKA: You're asking for too much. VRISKA: You're really going to make me do this? VRISKA: ...

See? It's no wonder this is so hard for her. She was always in the way of herself.

What will you do?

HAH!

Clicking... she hesitates further, of course...

VRISKA: I...

You're so damn close. But that's the reason this is the final 8oss, isn't it? Accepting the shadow is the hardest step. Accepting that she deserves it, that she can deserve to forgive even herself for hurting herself.

VRISKA: I can't.

You can!

And... OH WOW SHE ACTUALLY OLLIES OUTIE?!?!?!??!?!?

It really IS that hard for her to accept herself. I've long covered exactly why it can be the hardest thing of all. Not inverting, but integrating, balancing, accepting ALL of yourself, the good and the bad, your right to make a difference and the importance of recognizing where you may do wrong. Everything Doc Scratch lectured her to fear about herself in part 5.

So she's back at the beach. Clicking...

And that's the end of the upd8. That was... excellent. I loved it.

Seems like we need to wait one more step for her to finally embrace herself. But that's all that's left! Just one more step.

See you next time!

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #Homestuck^2 #upd8 #spoiler #spoilers #Vriska #Light and Void #Terezi #Alt!Calliope

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aprocessionofthoughts · 15 days ago

Text

Star City

ectoberhaunt24 day 22- steampunk fandom- dc x dp tw- none summary- Danny encounters a Clockwork wannabe

masterlist ao3 part 3 of TCAB

Danny slept soundly after the wonderful day he’d had. He fell asleep in a nice little ectoplasmic hammock he’d constructed in the woods. He woke up to birdsong and a racoon sniffing at the tethers of his hammock. What a wonderful morning! He couldn’t wait to see what city he arrived at next.

This dimension was so goofy! All the villains and heroes he’d encountered dressed like they were middle schoolers who’d made their own halloween costumes! Danny could grudgingly admit to himself that Clockwork had been right. This was definitely relaxing compared to his kingly duties.

He stopped by the next city to have some delicious hot dogs for breakfast, and after exploring for a little and finding nothing interesting, he went on to the next town.

As he approached, the sounds of chaos reached him and he couldn’t help grinning. Hopefully this would be another goofy fight. Because this was meant to be relaxing and Danny knew that if he came across anything serious he’d feel the need to help, and that would not be relaxing.

When he got closer he couldn’t help snorting in laughter. There, fighting on a rooftop was a Robin Hood wannabe and a guy in clockprint pajamas wearing what looked like a very uncomfortable clock-like looking helmet.

Yup, this was definitely another goofy fight. He watched as Robin Hood shot arrows at Clockface who deflected them with a sword that looked like a clock hand. Clockwork would definitely hate this guy. Danny would be sure to tell the ghost all about his biggest fan.

At least the arrows exploded or erupted with sticky slime stuff. Clocky was also throwing grenades that looked like, you guessed it, alarm clocks! It was hilarious and Danny had never laughed so hard, albeit silently without air, in his life!

“You can’t stop me, Green Arrow! Your time has run out! Your seconds have ticked away! You are all out of time! I will be victorious this time, and you will meet your doom!” Clockface laughed maniacally.

“You will never win, Clock King! You’ll be locked up again. This time for an even longer time!” Arrow Boy responded.

Their fight continued, and Danny wondered what he could do. He’d already used his ice, and he doubted Clockwork would do him the favor of letting him use any of the old ghost’s time related gadgets. Hmmm… Danny tapped his chin. What other fun powers did he have? It was always so hard to keep them straight.

He observed the scene again, noting the bags stuffed with money. Below, another arrow exploded covering another section of the roof in sticky slime.

Aha!

Danny floated down to the money bags and made himself visible.

The men ignored him, continuing to throw arrows and bombs and quips at each other.

Danny frowned. “Ahem!” he cleared his throat loudly. The men still ignored him. Danny put his hands on his hips. “AHEM!” he cleared his throat louder. He was still ignored. Danny rolled his eyes, then flexed his fingers and shot ectoplasmic slime at the two men.

“Ack!”

“What is this!”

“It stinks!”

“What did you do!”

“I didn’t do anything! What did you do!”

Great Ancients above! Were these men so obsessed with each other that they couldn’t pay any attention to their surroundings and the epicness that was Danny!

“Well then,” Danny called out, “I guess I’ll just take this money and go.”

Finally! Finally, the two men looked at him.

“Who are you!?”

“Get out of here, kid.”

“Don’t touch my money!”

“It’s not your money! It’s the people’s”

“But I took it, so it’s mine now!

“That’s not how it works!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

Ancients above and below! Could they not see how amazing Danny was! He’d encased them in slime! What more did they want!

“Well, since it looks like you too are busy, I’ll just be on my way.” Danny said, levitating the bags of money.

“Hey!” they both called at once.

“Yup. I’m taking it. You can finish whatever this is.” he said, gesturing between the two men.

Danny floated higher up, taking the bags with him. Danny was amazing, and if people couldn’t appreciate that then Danny didn’t have to stick around.

He ignored the men calling to him and looked around. There on the street were a few police officers. They were chatting amongst themselves and drinking coffee. Probably waiting for Robin Arrow Hood Man to finish up his fight. Danny decided to help them out and flew himself and the bags down towards them.

The officers startled as he came closer but didn’t draw their weapons. They must be used to weirdness, Danny thought with approval.

“Here you go, officers. The guys up there are still quite stuck squabbling.” Danny said, snorting to himself since they were both literally stuck.

“Well, thanks. Any chance you know when Clock King will be subdued so we can arrest him?”

“You should be able to head up.” Danny said. Then paused.

He had decided to be a villain in this dimension, and he just ended up helping! He frowned. These officers seemed too nice to mess with. What else could he do?

He looked around and noticed a big sign with a stupid blonde man’s face on it. It looked like a toothpaste advertisement. The man in the picture was grinning and had a speech bubble saying, ‘Queen approved!’.

That was it! He could vandalize this stupid sign!

He flew up towards it and gave the blonde man a slime mustache, unibrow, crooked teeth, horrible hair, and an eye patch.

There we go! Danny had now completed his villainous act! He floated back, to admire his work. It might not have been his greatest act of artistry, but it was still funny, and it wouldn’t come off. It was the perfect act of villainy! It definitely deserved a mad cackle.

“Mwahahahahahhahahhahahahhahahahhahhahahhahaha!” Danny cackled as he faded out of visibility.

#ectoberhaunt24 #ectoberhaunt 2024 #ectoberhaunt2024 #eh past #steampunk #ectoberhaunt #danny phantom #danny fenton #fanfic #batman #dp x dc #dc x dp #Oliver queen #clock king #dimension travel #crack #humor

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featherquillpen · 3 months ago

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Hello! I just wanted to ask: is Daemorphing finished? I love that series so much!

That's a very good question!

My intention has been to write an epilogue to the series, tying up loose threads and showing the state of the world at the end. However, all my attempts to write such an epilogue have failed. I have a graveyard of abandoned epilogue drafts on my computer. It's like I have a mental block.

I suspect the source of the mental block is that Daemorphing is so epic and has been so important to my life that my brain doesn't want to like... admit it's over? And so if I can never write the epilogue, then I don't have to admit it's over.

One thing I can say for sure: all the major plot developments of the series are over. The epilogue is just about the way the world works now, and little emotional codas of people moving on with their lives in various directions. I wish I could reassure you that I will definitely get to the epilogue soon, but I'm not sure I ever will, given how badly I'm blocked about it! If it's any consolation, here is an excerpt from one of my languishing epilogue drafts:

Eva and Cassie stood at the edge of the Sky Hive Nirx Pool, once called the Hett Simplat Pool, and stared at each other. Mercurio stood in front of a device with a screen that stood on a flexible arm emerging from the dark waters of the Pool, as if to block the screen from view. Quincy flew over the Pool near the edge, seeking the presence of a Yeerk he could not sense.

Finally, Cassie said, “Aftran wouldn’t want us to fight over this. Let’s just use the interface.”

Eva exhaled slowly through her nose. “I’ve used it before. But with her, it just feels so… impersonal.”

Mercurio sighed. “Look at us, fighting to have our privacy violated. It’s honestly sad.” He stepped aside to give them access to the interface. Eva reached out and woke the screen with a touch. It cycled through multiple languages, both spoken and displayed on the screen, asking her to choose her language and sensorium.

“English, audiovisual,” Eva said.

Quincy returned to Cassie’s shoulder. “It feels like I should be able to find her myself. But I can’t.”

“Summons,” Cassie said. “Aftran 942. Visitors: Cassie and Quincy. Eva and Mercurio.”

“Summons sent.”

The Pool interface had been invented by the Yeerks of Sky Hive. They had collaborated with the Taxxons for their technical expertise. Cassie and Eva had arranged a donation of materials, as there was not yet any mechanism in place for humans to trade formally with aliens—the negotiations were ongoing.

A hologram appeared in the air before the interface. To Cassie and Eva, she looked like any other Yeerk, and anyway sight was not how Yeerks recognized each other either. But seeing her was for them a comfort.

“Cassie, Eva,” Aftran said, or rather keyed into a Pool terminal, which converted it to sound. “Thank you for coming in person.”

“Would you rather infest one of us?” Cassie said. “This feels…”

“I know I have your permission,” Aftran said, “but now that there’s a real alternative, I don’t want to do that to you anymore. I am humbled by your trust, but I’ve been inside both of your heads, and I have seen for myself that my presence in your minds is hard on you.”

Cassie wanted to protest that it wasn’t. Aftran couldn’t violate her privacy anymore, even if she tried. “But how many times,” Quincy said in her ear, “did we agree infestation was the least worst option?”

“What does the interface show you about us?” Eva said, examining the hologram.

“I can’t naturally detect electric charges through air,” Aftran said, “but the interface can. It converts the impression of your negative charges through air into a waterborne rendition. As if you were floating in the Pool with me as electric ghosts.”

“It’s kind of like that up here too,” Cassie said.

#daemorphing

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galactic-rhea · 2 months ago

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possibly the most obvious ship i could send for the ask meme but anidala/vaderdala!

ohohoh of course, them!!!!

when I started shipping it if I did:

Probably since I started watching TCW and saw some fanarts! Which I know it's a bit odd because most people apparently dislike them in TCW (and yeah, when I finally watched the movies I get why!), but that very first iteration of them in i think, the second episode of TCW with them kissing in an enemy ship, with Obi-Wan a few metres away, and all because she randomly ran into danger, was very, very fun to me, so I shipped them in a "they're dorks" way.

Then a saw all the epic tragedy romance stuff and, yeah, i'm sold.

my thoughts:

I think I have said it before, but there's something very "bigger than life" about their romance, which is what kept me hooked beyond "is just funny". They're extremelly passionate people, with the height of the world on their shoulders, and with sides of them that no one but the other knew about each other. Particularly with Padmé becuase she's very cold and compossed most of the time (it's her politician facade!). Anakin overall is just very painfully obvious and easy to read, but he still kept many things from the world, and Padmé knew most of that iceberg, so to speak, and they still loved each other madly despite the ugly side.

What makes me happy about them:

They're just,,,very romantic and silly! When they're actually together and in a situation where they're allowed to relax, they're just very dumb and in love 😆 I think what it makes me so happy about them is that you could tell how happy they were with each other, despite being so miserable most of the time, they just loved each other so much and that's nice.

What makes me sad about them:

This doesn't need answer, lmao 😭😂 But yeah, the,,,tragedy and damnation, Anakin turning on her despite doing all of that for her on the first place hurts so much

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

I'll be honest, I haven't read that many fics that focus anidala? At least no yet, it's been less than a year since a got into this. But I guess it could be that,,,many times they're tagged and then in the fic it's barely mentioned, like sometimes it will be just Anakin randomly thinkin "ah yes, padmé" lol

Another thing could be that,,,ehhh Padmé rendered to just girlboss/dominatrix/ the one that just gives Anakin a glare to keep him on check as if he's a manchild. And the diametrically opposite of this which is just sad, crying, poor wife in a domestic abusive situation and Anakin being the epitiome of Evil Bad Boy Sexy Cool Kidnapper

things I look for in fanfic:

Honestly i just want them being fairly in-character, I feel like they're very easily misinterpreted. But again, everyone has a different opinon on them, I guess, so -shrugs- Probably more situations in which Anakin is the one kidnapped/wounded/in danger and Padmé has to do something about it, so hurt/comfort!

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Ah....-scratches head- They're so obssesed with each other that it's hard for me to think about that. Like, sometimes I fancy for the giggles and jokes some other ships for them in like a passing crush way, like Anakin and Rex, or Padmé and Breha, but, their narratives are so damn tangled into each other's that it's hard to, but that's just me.

My happily ever after for them:

Anakin leaves the order, Padmé steps away from politics and run away to Naboo to raise their twins, like they always wanted 🥺

Alternatively, I like to believe their ghosts are very happilly looking over Luke and Leia,,,,,,,and also haunting and scaring some random privileged senators passing awful bills in Coruscant. They love writing messages on mirrors with red lipstick

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

I think Padmé likes to be the big spoon just to more easily bite and headbutt him. But they switch, i suppose, because I'm sure Anakin sometimes just really really wants to hpld her.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

Domestic: Just talking, the most boring and mundane stuff, but they just like talking.

Not so domestic: These two are wild souls, they probably enjoy randomly rushing to help some planet/cause/random battle, whatever. In an ideal scenario, this usually means rushing into the ship to go and bail their children out of jail, organize a heist, or a little slave liberation. While holding hands.

#thanks for the ask!#ask game #star wars #anidala #ahhh i ramble so much i love emmm

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puffyducks · 4 months ago

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DCRC Week #8 (Part 1)

ODIN WEEK! ODIN WEEK! ODIN WEEK!!! It's PKNA #5: Portrait of the Hero as a Young Duck btw. Please enjoy my epic edit- I mean real panel I mean totally real screenshotted and unedited comic panel.

Also, I try to put spoilers for the comics I'm reading about as they happen in the story, but this time I couldn't help myself so beware of reading this if you haven't read the whole chapter yet.

I already have this panel saved in my folder, it's so iconic in my head. He wanna be Batman sooooo bad.

Gotta love these military guys opening fire like their lives depend on it and PK is just behind them making silly little jokes like :D

Wow this guy seems interesting I wonder what his opinions on AI art are

Gorgeous panel and some gorgeous one-point perspective here. Sorry for being an art student but we made a lot of drawings like this and it made me learn that drawing buildings makes me want to die. So this is even more impressive to me in that regard.

Lowkey cute asf for Odin to just put a whimsical little garden in place of where Ducklair tower used to be

Donald is so SAD it breaka my heart 💔 RIP Uno who is totally super dead 💔💔💔

Donald is SO SMALL. Shoutout to the PKNA writers for pushing the entire main Duckverse cast to the side so that they could create an all-new roster of characters that all fucking TOWER over Donald in height. Lyla, Angus, Xadhoom, Styvesant, soon to be Odin in like a few pages. If you need to know anything it's that Paperinik is a little SHRIMP and he is so tiny and small and the most specialest boy ever.

haha..... yeah..................

DEFEND UNO'S LEGACY DONALD!!!!! Also Lyla... okay and I guess Geena cause she's the ACTUAL robot he's defending-

This is the part where I look at the camera like it's an episode of The Office btw. If you know you know.

babygirl

OOOOH SHIT IT'S YA BOI!!! I forgot about him trying to meet Donald by just slamming his ship into theirs. Like I GUESS that's a surefire method to speak to someone...

Cheeky son of a-

GEENA YOU FUCKING NARC

Snitches get stitches Geena... (imagine a little text pops up on screen like in a video game and says "Geena will remember that")

Hmmmm where have I seen this shot before.... *flashback to issue #0.1 which I put a filter over to make sure you know it's a flashback to an earlier chapter*

oh right.

Crying over this shot they BOTH wanna be Batman man 😭 two dumdums that were made for each other

He's so cheeky I hate him (affectionate)

So obviously they bring up that Odin just means "One" (or Uno) but it's also worth pointing out what an Eidolon is. Eidolon is a Greek term, meaning "a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form" (at least according to Wikipedia).

"ODIN EIDOLON" LITERALLY TRANSLATES TO "UNO'S GHOST" I FUCKING HATE HIM. I'M SMASHING HIM WITH HAMMERS. AFFECTIONATELY.

Anyways to wrap up with some final thoughts-

Something that doesn't really get addressed in this comic (probably for plot reasons, it's not super relevant) is just how comforting it must be for Donald to travel to the future and see that the Evronian Empire is all but wiped out, a shell of its former self. Obviously timelines can still change, we saw that in Day of the Cold Sun, but it still must be nice to see that all the fighting he does is going to pay off in a big way.

Btw remember that bit in an earlier chapter about Uno finding Lyla attractive? Yeah well I should think so considering that YOU'RE THE ONE THAT BUILT HER- Okay well he's not the DESIGNER but still I think that connection is funny ok. I wonder if Uno scanned Odin's gun and was like "oh"

I like this comic, I think it's another really good one. I mean it's no Earthquake but still, between Day of the Cold Sun, Earthquake, and then this volume I feel like we've just had banger after banger after banger. I'm also super stoked to have Odin in the story now, even if thinking about Uno way outliving Donald and being excited to see him again after 200 years makes me really depressed if I think about it too hard. I'm happy that he got to escape the confines of Ducklair tower and even got a cunty green suit in the process though, good for him. Donald is REALLY gonna regret not accepting that explanation from Uno though, RIP 🙏 SUUURELY he'll figure it out one of these days guys. Like EVENTUALLY. Right???

#dcrc #dcrc week 8 #paperinik

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theconstantsidekick · 2 years ago

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no because, supernatural is absolutely a train wreck. it's a colossal accident that is happening in front of you that you can't look away from. it is homophobic and non-sensical and downright laughable at times but you know what? I love it. I absolute love it.

season 1 was absolutely beautiful. you don't understand, really, you don't. they had a piss poor budget, you can see that in every frame. but does that stop it from being fucking beautiful? no. it is stylised and ambitious and a fucking visual treat.

and this is like the first fucking episode. the shots have so much character! and that's nothing to say of the characters themselves. from the first fucking scene you can clearly distinguish sam and dean's character clear as day. their motivations, their dreams, their hopes, all of it. it's established so well. their dynamic is unmatched. does it also have a lot of garbage? yes for sure. because what in the name of hell was that episode with bugs? what glue were they sniffing when they green lit that one? no seriously... I wanna try some.

but then they recovered, cause they did faith. my god, what an episode. WHAT AN EPISODE. that motherfucking reaper haunts my every waking hour

like yeah, I love me some baby dean and baby sam going on their small scale ghost hunts while learning deep lessons about who they are as people and what they want from life.

also that 'laugh I nearly died' needle drop? where sam sees jess? god tier editing, GOD TIER.

then they came back with season 2. and here is my most controversial opinion that should not be controversial at all, season 2 is the best season of supernatural to ever supernatural.

what is and what should never be, hollywood babylon, heart, nightshifter, and the whole fucking season actually. not a single miss in my humble opinion. and that finale? THAT FINALE. beautiful, magnificent. ground breaking character writing, everything comes full circle while simultaneously opening up new plot lines to explore.

and my god, yellow eyes is an epic villain. he is a very viciously written villain like, he's... my god. it ain't a walk in the park writing villains, believe you me patient readers, villains are harder to write than the protagonists, always. well, at least the compelling ones are.

now season 3 suffered because of the writer's strike, but didn't miss much either. like yeah some of the hits don't hit as hard as the season 2, but hey, mystery spot, time is on my side, ghostfacers, bedtime stories are nothing to laugh about. those episodes are fucking solid, like most of the season. and there is so much raw emotion is sam's need to save dean, it just makes my weak winchester brothers loving heart throb a little too hard. also...

need I say more?

does the show did look little more washed out and boring? yes. but it's cool, cause we're moving on to season 4.

listen, I kinda just wanna leave all my season's critique at this. i mean, yeah this. this is it. this is the long and short of it; castiel. i don't think i need to get anymore into it

so season 5 is just—

i'm kidding. obviously i'm gonna talk about season 4, at length.

listen, being able to introduce angels this late in the game and then have them be a such perfectly hidden players is a masterstroke of genius. it just is. i am a writer guys... apart from the relentless fanfic as well lol. and when i tell you, introducing a new big player which is also (not so) secretly the next big bad and playing it off as smoothly as they did in season 4, is beyond hard. but the biggest home run these fuckers hit is castiel and the best part is they weren't aiming for a one lol. and oh oh, the way they use their very VERY limited budget to show wings with just flashing the fucking light? CINEMA! that's fucking cinema right there man. i work on film sets, i am telling you, this is the smartest filmmaking choice they make on the entire show. it adds so much visual intrigue while being so awfully easy to execute. BRILLIANt.

now i cannot talk about supernatural without talking about the deancas romance of it all, which i understand not everyone can see or wants to, which is fine. to each their own. you consume art the way you want to, i don't care much as long as you can acknowledge that castiel and dean's friendship was just some of the best written television that mankind has ever seen. is that too grand a statement? yes. does that make it any less true? no.

they even brought back the moody lighting.

and then there's the episodes this season, most of which are home runs in their own regard. just like beautiful writing, the character development for cas, for dean, for sam, even the late john winchester is wild. anna is a wonderful addition, so is uriel, and alastair? they don't make villains like him anymore, they just fucking don't. AND THAT GODDAMN PLOT TWIST AT THE END? man! the finale was just... too good. Chuck's introduction is absolutely wonderful, even if they ruin him by the end but that happens a decade later so wtv, who cares? But,,,, Jimmy. Fucking. Novak. That's all. that's the tweet. yeah. i'm gonna end the season 4 fan fair with jimmy.

moving to season 5.

subjectively speaking, this is my fucking favorite. this season is a writer's dream while also being their goddamn nightmare. so many WONDERFUL characters to play with and such a grand plot but you get to see it all on a very small, consumable scale which is just... it's too smart for me to not mention. i won't start naming the plot points and neither will i name my favourite episodes because what even is the point? all of it was fucking perfect. you don't understand how hard it is to develop characters to such an extent that they become so familiar to the audience that they know their next move before you even put it on the screen. and supernatural had that. they tied everything together with so much care and consideration, just... AAAH so good.

a special shoutout goes to endverse!cas, crowley and death this season. you all know it in your bones that those three were just the absolute scene stealers. especially death's introduction... immaculate.

they did lose a few points for not being as aesthetically pleasing as the past few seasons but hey, gabriel was enough to make a smooth recovery.

but this... this is the end of the road for me people. season 5 is where it should have ended. in no way shape or form am i saying that there aren't a few good episodes here and there after this, because there are. i think season 5 was so fucking solid, tied up so many goddamn lose ends and then just put a cute little hell shaped bow on top and i just... yeah. this was and should have been the end of the road. do not get me wrong, i love me some jack kline, charlie bradbury, kevin tran, rowena macleod and eileen lahey but were they worth the bullshit ending i had to sit through? not really.

i absolutely think if there weren't more episodes of supernatural I would never have become a destiel fan, because i started shipping them when dean made cas a mixtape in season TWELVE! but my god, the good times were so scattered amongst the horseshit that even when i found those hidden gems, they were so fucking drenched in the stink that they lost their value.

the worst of it all is that, i cannot explain to you what supernatural means to me in a million words, because it is a part of me, heart and soul. i fucking AM castiel. i am a gay little angel you hear me? i love this show. i do. i'm glad it went on for however long it did but i feel like once in a while i need to write shit like this or read shit like this to remind myself of the show that it used to be. of it's beautiful cinematography, of it's clever little storytelling techniques. of it's wonderful cast. of how epic their song choices used to be.

FUcking RENEGADE? iconic. wanted, dead or alive? cannot hear the song without hearing sam's off tune goat bleating that he called singing along.

i need to remind myself of how afraid i used to be of lucifer. of how much i cried while watching dark side of the moon; when dean and sam burst the crackers, and how i learnt the lyrics to knocking on heaven's door just because of that scene.

sometimes i just have to walk through memory lane and look back at gabriel's death, the good one, the only one. it was so fucking meaningful. i have to think of "we are making it up as we go" to be able to breathe properly because those moments were so fucking beautiful.

fuck the big ones, i even remind myself of the small ones, of dean's handwriting being in all caps, just like him. of sam's fucking huge laptop with that weird blue black sticker in the middle. of castiel's tie, that just was the right shade of blue, and hung all wrong but just naturally enough to add so much more to his character than any fucking dialogue could. every small little detail of supernatural that made it so damn supernatural. i miss it all.

idk. i'm rambling. whatever.

#superntural #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #deancas #destiel #spn #spn season 1 #spn season 2 #spn season 3 #spn season 4 #spn season 5 #dean #cas #sam #dean and sam #i think it'll add onto this post later #as i think of more things #because you best believe i will

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undertale-fic-librarby · 25 days ago

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Hey! I was wondering if you could find any fics with Epic? Safe for work (can be teen just not mature), please :) Can be ship or x reader just anything with a focus on the guy lol.

Howdy, thanks for asking! Here are some fics that might fit what you're looking for!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back by ChocoholicLogophile (Teen And Up, Complete)

Annoyance and guilt is a tumultuous concoction that roils in his nonexistent gut and combusts outward into a vexed growl before he could stop it. He tried to hide his limp wings further but they laid, broken and useless just like him, tucked into his sides from where his draconic bottom half sat. “I already told you and Chara both, they’ll heal on their own.” “I know,” Epic soothed. “I won’t try an’ heal them. I just wanted to clean ‘em a bit, that’s all.” Epic’s smile falls at the corners as he gazes purposefully over his body. The inspection has Cross defensively straightening his back and feathers bristling before he can think of why he’d do that. “Figured you probably weren’t feeling too great after not showering for a hot minute.” With dawning horror and shame, Cross realizes he hadn’t exactly been able to bathe after…everything. Shit, he hopes he doesn’t smell that bad after a month. When Epic’s turned back around to fiddle with his machinery, Cross takes a quick sniff under his left humerus and winces. Nope, he smelled that bad.

Letters by ChocoholicLogophile (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

What if Cross’s ‘secret admirer’ when he was in the Royal Guard was none other than Epic, a scientist attempting to establish communication with alternate universes?

Visitation of the Ghost by Glitchy_phantom (Teen And Up, Incomplete)

Epic has died, that’s nothing new but this time it’s permanent. He would’ve accepted this had his Gaster not been released in his au. Now he has to find his way back to his au without his magic eye. To make things easier he collects some new friends who help him on his journey. Honestly this could’ve been easier without The Grim Reaper chasing him. Or, Epic travels the multiverse as a dead dude and along his travels drags some random new friends with him. Fun times.

I'll Fall Asleep (And Choke Myself with the Pillowcase) by SomethingSomethingwhoooo (Teen And Up, Complete)

This eye would be the death of him, so why couldn't he find it in himself to care? Or I'm back on my Epic agenda shit, and for future reference this work is very different than my other story and fair warning very dark.

Between Heroes and You (Which do I Choose?) by SirSquidsalot (General Audiences, Complete)

Epic isn’t quite “the world’s greatest hero” and Cross isn't quite “the most dangerous villain”. He is a very dangerous and well-known (in the Underground) mercenary for hire, though. And he did just realize that the guy he’s married to has tried to arrest him at least six times. Inspired by a Tumblr prompt "You are the most dangerous supervillain and have been happily married to the world's greatest hero for years. You've found out your spouse's secret identity and are desperate to hide the truth from them for life be ause you fear they may end the world if they found out." (writing-prompt-s)

#fic rec #fic recommendation #ao3 fic recs #utmv #epic sans #ask #mod sleepy

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that-one-english-nerd · 6 months ago

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The Outsiders x EPIC : The Musical -

so i was listening to the new EPIC saga yesterday and naturally, because i can’t listen to music w/o relating it to my hyperfixations, i started thinking about the outsiders. specifically, i was listening to luck runs out and my friend and i were talking… and we were like “this song is so soda talking to darry about going to war,” so this sparked this post!

so i got to re-listening to the entirety of epic and was thinking how much it fits if soda were to genuinely survive the war but come back only a shell of himself… so this is what were going with.

(i will say before we even begin, i have limited knowledge on the vietnam war so if some of this is vague or inaccurate, forgive me)

i think there two ways you could picture this, a greek mythology au and realistic, vietnam war au. i was thinking, if we’re talking in reality standpoint, all the gods or even monsters are visions in soda’s mind (due to ptsd, other mental illness gained from war or physical injuries) as he’s traveling and committing more and more violence. is some of this a strench…? yes but this is js for kicks and giggles, humor me here lolol

either way, these are my assignments of characters. i need you to HEAR ME OUT (there’s explanations of songs under the list of characters) on these -

odysseus : soda

polites : steve

eurylochus : tim

zeus : dally

polyphemus : ……..bob

athena : darry

aeolus : cherry

circe : marcia

hermes : two-bit

penelope & telemachus : ponyboy & darry (these can be switched, doesn’t matter rlly)

calypso: sandy (…get it, cause calypso lives on an island)

poseidon : dally

tiersus : johnny (cause i HAD to include him somewhere)

song and character explanations under cut ~

song explanations :

the horse and the infant - i like to think that, while it was awful and so much worst than soda could of ever imagined, because of his constant optimism and general skills, he was someone many of his fellow soldiers looked up to. i’ll get into details when i get to luck runs out, but if we’re relating this specifically to epic, making him apart of the navy would work best (being all the time they spend traveling and at seas). anyways, therefore, overtime, due to his higher morale and just general skills, he gets a higher rank and a crew to care for. soda is rallying his crew for an attack, and thinking of who he was fighting for, ponyboy and darry.

now this is where it would differ from a greek mythology au, but just for the sake of making it easier on myself, this is the more realistic possibility. i like to think that being how in epic, this is the end of the trojan war, this would be a kind of flash forward, after soda had already been dealing w all this trauma. but, as i’ve mentioned, i like to envision dally‘s ghost (a vision soda has of him at least) as zeus, specifically before soda has to do something terrible to the enemy. dally is like, “you’re in a war man, just *do it*.”

for a less interesting but more realistic answer, you could say zeus was one of soda’s commanding officer or something but that’s less fun lolol

anyways, this is the beginning, as it is for odysseus, of soda completely losing his innocence.

just a man - (tw for child-related violence and war crimes) so, as it is in epic, you could picture this as an enemy leader’s son, and how this boy reminds soda of ponyboy in a way. this song is kinda self explanatory tho, soda takes this blow, and this guilt plagues his mind for the rest of the first act.

full speed ahead - so, with the vietnam war, there was an insaneeee draft process. and in relation to the story, those who were poor were more likely to be drafted than those who were going to college and able to pay tutition, being how they got an exemption from the draft. so i think the idea as tim of all people getting drafted and getting put under soda’s command (which is a shock to both of them) really interesting, being how we never really got to see their dynamic in the outsiders. so having tim, whose more on the ruthless side, as soda’s right hand and being more quick to violence makes sense to me. on the other hand, my favorite character headcanon, steve as polities. i think the idea of steve not giving a second thought to following soda into war makes a lot of sense, and being how soda had more of a responsibility on his shoulders, steve keeps more of his naiveness and “innocence” than soda does.

open arms - my stevepop heart loves this so much. over the time of war, soda became less and less like his normal self and steve knows that. he could always tell. so once they finally have time to themselves, he tries to remind soda of how life used to be, how there’s still good. the roles switch from soda normally being the optimistic one, reassuring everyone else, to steve doing the same for him. they mean sm to your honor :((

warrior of the mind - now, from a plot standpoint, i can fs see this as what soda pictures how darry would think of him now, or even how ponyboy would. soda kinda flashes back to their childhood, how both darry and soda were really close when they were kids, being how they both balanced each other out. but after their parents died, darry became a parental figure instead, athena-like you could say.

but ignoring plot, i think song really fits darry and ponyboy, espically with the “don’t disappoint me” and “he’s a warrior of the mind” because of ponyboy’s academic achievements.

polyphemus - now do i know how this would fit into the plot to be honest.. i just think the idea of bob (bob’s ghost if you will) or some soc showing up in soda’s path makes sense.

butttt once again, if you want something more realistic, you could make it someone on the enemy side.

survive - soda just seems like he’d be hella good with battle morale and strategy, what can i say? …also, as much as it breaks my heart, steve following soda into war and dying an early death makes sense but is equally as heartbreaking ;(

remember them - i think the slow fade-in near the beginning of the song gives very big soda energy. disassociating but then switching right back into gear (masking emotions for the sake of others) is something that comes natural to him. i also commented on this earlier but for as much as soda calls himself dumb, i think his street smarts are really good and being able to talk his way out of things or tricking people into believing lies is something he’s great at (which makes sense in context of the cyclops plot). plus the stupid decision of having mercy on…bob, a soc, an enemy, idfk, and then telling them his name makes more sense in the context of just losing steve and therefore making rash decisions because of this sudden lose.

my goodbye - soda seeming to “lose” darry’s positive view of him, at least in soda’s mind, because of all he had done and lost. this, of course, is simply what soda thinks darry would say if he was there. because of this, he pushes the “what would darry do?” mindset out of his head.

storm - not much to highlight in this song except for how soda is a badass captain™️

luck runs out - now of course, i keep mentioning this song as the beginning of this war au because while s.e. hinton technically said soda was drafted, i think it’s very possible that soda and his optimism view on life would easily be more swayed to propaganda to enlist rather than be drafted. plus, with becoming a soldier, a certain amount of money is given to you monthly (at least i think-). this, i think, is another pro to the idea of enlisting in soda’s mind because he wants to help better provide for his brothers.

but generally plot wise, soda taking on this positive mindset of “i can just go and ask for help” is almost a tribute to steve and what he wanted. but on the other hand, you have tim, who knows that not everyone is as welcome to help, especially after dally died from police brutality.

keep your friends close - not much to say about this either but for the fact that aeolous being cherry is very fun to think about. while the meaning of this lyric means very different things in the context of the outsiders versus epic, the line “keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” does really fit with cherry. ponyboy being the “enemy” that she quickly befriends and keeping him close. but soon, she starts giving info to the greasers, the socs in her eyes almost becoming the real “enemy”. might be wrong though, interpret it however you like, i just think it fits cherry!

also the “everything’s changed since polities” line really fits into how i think soda would grieve for steve while still at war. he has to stay strong for his crew but they all sense, *know* something’s off with soda, and put the pieces together that this is because of steve. without steve, soda doesn’t have as high of a morale on life in general, and therefore the crew doesn’t. which fits in with them (kinda accidentally) turning on him.

ruthlessness - now HERE ME OUT HERE, if bob is the cyclops, rather than dally seeing him as a “son”, him being like “you had mercy on a SOC.” but the “you had mercy on the enemy?!” also works. just in general, i think dally’s memory coming back to haunt soda, espically paired with dally also being zeus, is fitting honestly. while dally wasn’t always ruthless, we gotta keep in mind in this au, this is in soda’s mind. these “gods” or visions of people he once knew, in my eyes, are people coming back to haunt him in his most shameful state. no matter what dally would’ve really said, i picture soda thinking how disappointed the people he loved most would be in him if they saw him in that very moment. also, “ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves” is SO dally.

puppeteer - now again, being how circe is a witch, it’s a bit hard to fit this into a realistic setting but i js thought having marcia as her would be fun bc paired with…

wouldn’t you like - two-bit as hermes, i just think i’d be hilarious. i like to picture this as soda and two-bit on two ends of a phone, and for whatever reason, marcia is there distracting the crew from their goal. soda on one line would be like “so do you know of a soc named marcia” and two-bit on the other end like, “OMG WE WENT OUT ONE TIME, this is how to scare her off”

done for - self-explanatory, not much to say here tbh. marcia’s just iconic.

there are others ways - (with my stevepop heart) if like to think that *right after* steve’s death, it would be pretty much impossible for soda to be “seduced” as well as the idea of pony and darry waiting for him would keep him focused on the end goal in that moment.

the underworld - i kinda like the idea of the underworld not being the actual underworld but a very dark and dangerous place, with the visions of the dead and soda’s past traumas coming back to bite him in that moment. the line between reality and fiction is a hard line to draw in that very moment. ALSO STEVE AND SODA’S MOM😭😭

no longer you - you know i HAD to include him somewhere, so here’s johnny finallyyyyy. i don’t really have much of an explanation other than being johnny’s quieter personality, him seeing everything in a way, him being tierras just makes sense.

monster - soda losing his mind finally and willing to do anything to drive these ghosts of the past out of his mind and get home to his brothers. self-explanatory :)

being how all the songs aren’t out yet, i’m just gonna stop here. thanks for listening to my yapping my boredom has created :) enjoy listening!

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