#because I really do love developing concepts

[good0eye0sniper]

Okay I have some more comprehensive thoughts about Rapport now that I've slept on it...

- first thought is ART is a bit fucking scary!! I find it so fascinating how the difference in perspective to a third person/NOT MB (who can give a lot of insider information as another MI) lets us really see from a human perspective what Peri can do. Its ability to manipulate conversation and emotion is VERY advanced and the type of skynet shit I love because it's unsettling. Uncanny if you will.

I think the reason I've never gotten that feeling about Peri/ART before is partly because MB doesn't really care for or notice the intricacies of human interactions to the same degree. So its narration either wouldn't pick up on or wouldn't comment on ARTs practically dancing through human social cues to get its way. And partly of course because this spaceship is PINING and acting a fool about it.

- This brings me to observation #2 which is holy shit dude this spaceship is down so bad..."I met someone who taught me about trauma" and designing the deflector vests and learning about system infiltration and the drones and and and!!! Love as change and blah blah blah but it's so special to me their explicitly ace/qpr adjacent relationship being seen as so formative and important from both sides.

- IRIS. Iris is like the equivalent of a lion tamer for the giant eerily capable force that is also her sibling. If she was not there are Martyn and Seth equally capable of cutting through Peri's bullshit and seeing its emotions? If not I feel the relationship it would have with the crew overall would be less familiar and trusting. This novelette did an amazing job making me understand why she is Peri's favorite and why their relationship is so special. She is incredibly talented at infiltration and manipulation and it's clear she and Peri have developed that skill together. Girl is sharp as a tack and I appreciate her more than ever!

- Martha Wells the author that you are. I am consistently amazed by the humanity she can bring to very inhuman concepts and this shows she can also do the opposite. We got to see so much more of interpersonal interactions between the Perihelion crew members that are usually glossed over (MB doesn't particularly care to describe them I fear). I am impressed with how concisely and neatly she managed to convey this information in such a different POV than most of the series and how well it fits with the information we already have. Hats off to her fr

I think that's all for now but wow I definitely am having an emotion about that one. Imagine when the next full novel comes out I'll be intolerable.

[uncleasriel]

via @dogmasquerade

#for everyone in the tags who doesnt get it: futanari porn. its a reference to futanari porn

This little post has inspired to recount a (slightly) true tale of white guys pretending to know Japanese, and the delightful tension between actual facts of the matter and feeling like it sounds right to you.

I utterly loathe when business folks who know barely any Japanese try to bandy around perfectly ordinary Japanese words and ideas. They often do this to make themselves seem smart and worldly. In the corporate world, that type of Business Motivational Speaker loves to speak very authoritatively of that time they spent a few months in Japan. They barely learned even conversational Japanese, yet are all too happy to act like they are utter experts on the Japanese way of life. It's worse than even the extreme end of the weeaboo spectrum, because while the rabid anime fan may delude themselves and other their obnoxious certainty about what Japan is really like, they usually keep their nonsense in online fandom spaces. They don't try to leverage their misreadings of mundane Japanese words for ordinary concepts like cleanliness or orderliness or patience as profound philosophical concepts that are leveraged to justify the radical restructuring of businesses and people's livelihoods towards the simple end of making a quick buck for the next fiscal quarter.

Such was the stupid little man who I found was teaching the mandatory customer service course my perfectly productive group of records clerk coworkers were forced to spend an afternoon listening to. The company Needed A Change,you see; that is to say, the C-Suite wanted to look good for their investors, and that end, subjecting the hundred-plus workforce of the firm of to unnecessary job-specific training for no other purpose than to "keep our skils sharp" (a euphemism for "it looked good on paper. don't ask questions".)

And thus, the stupid little man teaching the course. He was ex-army, had been stationed in Japan, and even got his Business Degree while he was finishing off his tour of duty there. He'd not foot in the country since the 1990s, but such facts couldn't stand in the way of his believe that was an expert on East Asia and on Business. He loved to make allusions to the Art of War, and claimed it had so many hidden insights into how Asian people think and do business. I scoffed at this, because Sun Tzu's wrote Art of War to teach stupid young Chinese Aristocrats in the 3rd century CE how to avoid getting their nation's soldiers countless soldiers and their lands sacked by blindly pursuing glory. People who compare the act of running a corporation pillaging and conquering a nation understand neither activity, and an sensible person should take great pains to prevent such people from doing either.

Alas, saner powers had failed in this endeavor, and so this stupid little man had been permitted to tout how his New Customer Service Method to us. The Method involved adhering a rigid and inhuman-sounding script he'd developed, one which was scientifically proven to make us more efficient in answering internal information requests that came from within our company. It was hogwash,of course - our group got along very well, and even our section head often shared stories of praise he'd heard from other groups about how well we did our jobs. Alas, this did not spare us from this afternoon in an auditorium with the stupid little man. Between the rigid script, the man's insistence we adhere to it, and his insufferable recurring reference to how Japan made him understand The Philosophy of Business, I was beginning to get annoyed.

As this went on,and we were presented with handouts, I could see the rest of my team was not buying it. This was a mandatory meeting, after all, and our workflow had gotten more intense now that we had to take an afternoon off and listen to this drivel, while the rest of the company was whirring away doing business as usual. Staggering the training days between working groups was more important, and never bothering to think about the operational impacts was proof that our C-suite was Good At Business. So when the sweetest 50-something grandma in my group asked why we needed this fancy new script when the group was already performing very well, the stupid little man began to ramble in perfect business-speak.

Business speak is an art in the way war is an art - it is sometimes necessary for surviving a turbulent world, but too often messy, pointless and cruel. This was no exception. The stupid little man began to talk about corporate change, and how he'd seen so much of it over his career. So much so, in fact, that we went on to found his own company, with the intent of helping others along along. (Naturally his time in Japan was the main reference point.) He dithered and digressed and eventually managed to twist the account of Sun Tzu and the Imperial Concubines as Sun Tzu commanding an army and executing his generals for failing to correctly follow orders. The implication was clear: those who question their masters lose their fucking heads.

This was the point where I got really fucking livid. That stupid little man was not only wasting our time, not only answering honest questions with veiled threats, not only had taken his frustration at being challenged on the most inoffensive and loveliest person on the team..... he even got basic facts about his supposed area of expertise absolutely fucking wrong. This was unforgivable to me, both as a knowledge worker and as a human being. I could feel anger fermenting with in me, threatening to percolate into something nasty.

But I too had read Sun Tzu. And in that moment I recalled a fundamental lesson of the Art of War: all warfare is based on deception.

So I waited patiently. The stupid little man went with his lecture. It was tediously predictable, since most business speakers are tiresomely predictable. They try to be storytellers, and while they may polish their presentation, their stories tend are boringly similar. "The company was in this market sector. Things were doing well and then they didn't. They then looked into the thing they were doing, and learned something, and then did this other thing instead (one which you've paid lots of money for me to pretend I'm an expert on) and that's how they all became productive/profitable/prominent." Such was the stupid little man's lesson, and his captive audience sat and listened and we began to go over the rigid script and nod along like it was an insightful and transformative artefact that would improve our working lives thanks to the stupid little man's hard-won brilliance. "After doing this for a few weeks, you won't even need to read the script." He said,as his audience looked back with a mixture of dead-eyed compliance and nervous eagerness. "It'll just come automatically. You won't even need to think about it." I saw my moment to strike. Summoning my most professional demeanor of polite cordiality, I spoke up "Ah, yeah. it...it makes sense. This script..once we really get it, it becomes 'Golden Flow'... " I looked him dead in the eye, hungry for his reaction. "You know...it's like the Japanese philosophy of omorashi."

I had just compared the stupid little man's lesson plan to being sexually excited by the thought of pissing yourself.

He seemed surprised at first. For a brief moment I thought that the stupid little man had understood what I had said; that he would have acknowledge the knowing the Japanese words for a gross paraphilia or else must struggle to save maintain composure in front of a crowd that he'd just tried to bludgeon into compliance minutes previously. But my hopes of effacement were dashed when his reply of "Yes, exactly!" came with the same vacuous unblinking confidence that only a five-figure speaking fee can buy. He hadn't been surprised by my words; he'd been surprised that I'd spoken intelligently about a topic he claimed to be an expert on.

"It means 'going without thinking'." I added, eager to see what I could get away with. "It's quite popular among some Japanese business leaders."

"Really? That's so interesting. I've never heard of that." " He seemed surprised, yet his words were strangely incurious. I began to suspect he was unable to quite process that someone other than him knew about how they did business in Japan. Did I threaten his unearned sense of expertise? I redoubled my efforts, pushing harder into my feint.

"Buddhism is an old tradition with many different streams," I offered. "Like zen!" came his too-eager reply. "Well, omorashi was little known outside of obscure Buddhist schools, but since the internet began to spread it became quite popular among knowledge workers."

The stupid little man smiled as he seemed to process this. "Ah, that explains it then." He said, his baseless confidence returning. "I don't tend to work with that kind of industry,usually." A dangerous admission to make in front of a group of records clerks, but the stpud little man's stupidity was apparent. " You learn something new every day." He said, before he proceeded to return to his script, and the comforts of exerting petty power over a captive audience. I sank quietly back into silence. I had prevailed, and assured victory against the invading force.

We all forgot to use his script after a week and a half. Our manager quickly dropped reminding us to use it, and after a few months everyone in our department (and outside of it external customers) agreed that we were quite good at doing our jobs. The C-Suite was very happy they spent all that time and money training us, and as the metrics trickled in we were able to show improvements that wholly justified the expense. It's so wonderful to keep your job when your soverign CEO is impressed on their huge expenditures.

But every so often, I think about that petty, stupid little man and his petty, stupid class that wasted both our group's time and our company's money. And I smile.

Because, you see, I handle storing the financial records in the records for the Training department. And I noticed a memorandum on a file that explicitly stated Company would no longer be doing business with the stupid little man's training firm.

I made a few, and eventually heard back from a friend in IT. He wore a look between amusement and discomfort when when I asked the stupid little man, and his stupid little business, and it was in hushed tones that he explained how he'd been flagged by a notification on the company's firewall around the time the stupid little man was in a meeting with the Chief Financial Officer. My friend's supervisor had noticed the incident, and told him to remain quiet about what had transpired. But it seems that, on the day of the meeting, the little man's computer records showed that he accessed Japanese adult content on a work computer, right around the same time he was giving a presentation to the CIO. The response had been swift,quiet, and very effective.

Golden Flow. Going without thinking. Wisdom from the Art of War.

Truly, the way of omorashi is a philosophy without peer.

Guy trying to invent a plausible sounding Japanese name that won't inadvertently reveal they've definitely heard one Japanese word before in particular: Yeah "Wukanari" sounds good, post it.

[longagoitwastuesday]

Every day I am haunted by the fact JJK could be amazing but it will be just idk Bleach or something

[quiinncherie]

Exactly. Making the smart one a cyborg feels so tone deaf. Oh what, she’s a genius so she’s not human. Or what, a girl can’t excel in technology? The one thing she doesn’t want to be like is now her design. Tecna not knowing how to express herself, mistakenly thinking that she didn’t feel as much as other (while she has such strong emotions) is much more relatable. Her development from being someone who focuses too much on logic to being “scared of logic sometimes” (actual quote from the Italian version) is indefinitely more authentic and satisfying. Giving her cool techgadgets is a lot better than chopping her limb off for a robot arm. If anybody wants to argue that they want to explore the concept of someone adjusting to being a cyborg and open the discussion of natural vs artificial (which be honest, do you really think Rai would spend even a tiny speck of effort attempting to do all that), then the one who would have the most material for emotional struggles would be Flora, not Tecna. Tecna getting bullied just because she uses C1 vocabulary is already frustrating enough, I don’t need to see the cliché narrative of how a cyborg learns to love that is so overused at this point. Let a girl be good in tech!

Many seem to miss my point so I will add this. I know there’re a bunch of fanfics that give Tecna a prosthetic limb after she came back from Omega. And I enjoy them to an extent (I still think it’s a cliché). But do you guys realize that it is exactly because that Tecna is not a cyborg, that she has such a raw display of spiraling emotion at the notion of getting a robotic limb? It is exactly because she’s not a cyborg that the event of having to get a robotic limb devastated her so much that she was at the point of being self destructive. If she’s already a cyborg from the start then we’re losing the whole plot here. Of course, if the circumstances are she was forced to become one, then sure. But do you really think a cartoon aimed for kids and teens will explore that complex traumatic experience?

My 2 cent thought because I just noticed Tecna’s robotic arm in the older poster about why I am against the Tecna is a “cyborg” concept:

Everyone is probably aware of all the ruckus caused by Al in the creative fields. And contrary to popular belief, they are not that smart. Al doesn’t have the ability to think or feel any emotion at all! They give excellent results from complicated mathematic equations but they do not have the ability to think like a human. There are structures, models aiming to replicate the human’s neural network, but at the end of the day, AI cannot think like a human’s brain. So I genuinely hate this concept that Tecna should be a cyborg. Yes, she is rigid and too logical sometimes, but all geniuses are a bit weird like that. Most super smart people have troubles with social norms and that’s ok. She doesn’t need to be a robot to have problems understanding her emotions. In fact, as shown in season 1 and 2, she has very strong feelings for fighting against evil like when she got mad at Timmy for not risking his life with the Trix. She acted out of emotions a lot especially in the first season: barging in doors, confronting the Trix head on, chasing down the professor that she suspected to be the bad guy, etc.

So no, I hate the concept of Tecna being a cyborg. If you want to say something along the line of what if replacing her limbs for advanced robotic parts to be more efficient would make sense for Zenith, well have you heard of prosthetic failures? Trying to force anything unnatural is always inconvenient and not worth it unless you have to. Even mundane things like beauty surgeries involving injecting things inside your body has side effects, sometimes horrible side effects that may threaten your wellbeing. And for Zenith to be so advanced in technology, I think they must have some line they don’t cross in terms of using tech in their lives.

Now of course, if it’s because she lost her limbs in battles and has to get a prosthetic then yeah, sure (emphasizing on the “has to” part). But if it’s just you guys failing for the propaganda that inanimated objects or Al can have feelings then no, thank you.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer Multiamory Month, Day Twenty-One: Dreams (Multiplayer Wonderland AU)

We're heading into the home stretch of @polyamships's Multiamory March, and today's prompt is a nice simple one -- "Dreams!" And wouldn't you know it, I looked at that and went "oh, I could do something with the Multiplayer Wonderland AU for that." XD That's been a popular AU this month, it must be said... Anyway, here's Victor, Victoria, Emily, Alice, and Smiler all hanging out in Wonderland for a picnic via dream-spell, talking about how things are going in their various domains:

--

“So, how are things on the Moon, Emily?”

“Oh, excellent,” Emily responded, beaming as she picked up a blueberry jam sandwich. “Do you remember how barren it was when I first claimed it?”

“I do,” Victoria said with a nod, claiming a cucumber sandwich for herself. “Nothing but silvery sands as far as the eye could see.”

“Exactly! Which had a beauty of its own, yes, but now – now I’ve got a proper garden up there! With the most beautiful white flowers and blue trees! And there’s a village under construction – Alice, thank you so much for sending some of your gnome friends up to take a look at those cheese mines I found!”

“Oh, it was my pleasure,” Alice said, popping a fresh strawberry into her mouth. “And theirs too, from what the Elder tells me. Mining for cheese is much easier – and tastier – than mining for opals, after all.”

“I’m sure,” Emily tittered. “And they’ve been a wonderful help with fighting off those awful rat creatures. I keep trying to eradicate them entirely, but…” She sighed. “One more always pops up.”

“Unfortunately, psyches are not so easily cleansed as that,” Alice said sympathetically, eyes drifting to the bloodstains still marring the face of the weeping statue nearby. “Believe me, I know.”

“So do I,” Victoria agreed. “The Dollhouse is so much nicer these days, but I still have to deal with those horrible strangling veil monsters. They’re easily snipped up by my Scissors, yes, but…” She shrugged.

“At least destroying them is simple,” Victor said, sipping his apple juice. “I’m still rooting out an infestation of Nightmare Spiders in the Butterfly Jungle.” He grimaced. “I’ve been bitten twice so far.”

The others all winced. “Well, that’s not good,” Smiler said, setting down their lemonade in favor of taking his hand. “Things are pretty quiet on Smile Street right now – want me to come over with my Syringe? I bet a little Joy Serum would nicely counteract their venom.”

“And if that doesn’t work, a Vorpal Blade to the abdomen generally does,” Alice added, flicking her wrist.

“As I well know,” Victor nodded. “And I’d appreciate the help, but – tomorrow night. Tonight was supposed to be for our picnic here. And, uh, I don’t want to wake up mid-fight with a spider.”

“Me either,” Smiler admitted, pulling a face. “All right – tomorrow then. Not like it costs us that much to use the dream spell.”

“And it doesn’t cost me anything at all,” Emily added cheekily.

“No, you just have to spend all your magic on joining us in the real world,” Alice responded, giving her a little poke.

“Worth it.” Emily watched some Mock Sparrows fly by. “Though I would not mind if all of you could just live here too.”

“I don’t think any of us would mind that.” Alice leaned back, looking up at the perfect blue sky above, before smiling back down at her companions. “Maybe one day. In the meantime, who wants cake?”

[lunalunawillow]

Just read Kick It Up a Notch and while the event's story was good why did it do the thing that a good chunk of VBS stories do (especially the more recent ones since Walk On and On) of just dragging the fuck on certain points 😭

Project Sekai's pacing is overall pretty great considering how story heavy and extensive it is! With Leo/Need and Nightcord being perfectly paced and WxS and MMJ having minor yet negligible hiccups but then Vivid Bad Squad's is just all over the place?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying their story is bad (trust me they do have banger,good paced stories and I'm excited for the heartbreaking plot twist coming up in June) but some of them just drag on for far too long

For example, Toya getting inspiration from the hospital guy is interesting but it loses it's appeal when it feels like 75% is focused on him and not Toya making music (and later getting to appreciate his bond with Akito) which was supposed to be the plot of the event??

And also the aforementioned recent Kohane event with the middle just feeling like meandering to have the ending randomly feel like her version of Vivid Old Tale minus the nostalgic undertone turned sad by more recent info and the much better pacing that event had

I have more examples of this but I don't want make this rant(?) much longer but TLDR vbs please stop making parts of your events go on for far too long 😭

[adanseying]

hmm random but does anyone have any ideas or headcanons about what Adam and Jordan’s dynamic would be like?

[seilon]

if one more class forces the fucking hero's journey down my throat in one way or another im gonna fucking lose it

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

hmmm once again seeing some opinions that really really baffle me

[fakecrfan]

I know most people on here don't like to go to the gym because you're all gay nerds. I like to go to the gym. For the purpose of understanding this post please try to imagine that you, too, enjoy going to the gym so that you can empathize with my point here.

Anyway, so imagine you are going to the gym. You're pumped about the concept of getting some muscle on you. Plus, the gym has this "lift weights every day!" challenge with a feasible plan to slowly and safely increase the amount of weight you can lift by the end of the month. Cool!

So anyway you go there, and you're having a good time. But then you notice something. Some people are coming in with these guys in shirts that say LIFT FOR HIRE. You're curious, and you notice over time that some people are actually paying these guys to come in and do the lifting challenge for them.

"Huh," you say to your mega hot, muscled gym buddy. "That's so weird. What's in it for the people paying these guys?"

"Dunno," says your friend, mid bicep curl.

"Um, actually!" says the gym owner. "Some people are disabled, so the only way they can lift weights it to pay LIFT FOR HIRE, inc."

"But wait," you say. "They still aren't lifting the weights though? Paying someone else to lift for you doesn't mean you've lifted the weights."

The gym owner gasps. "How could you SAY that?"

"Because... it's true?" you say. "Uh, if you pay guys to lift your weights, that's probably really good for the guys you are paying. But it's not going to develop your ability to lift at all. Your muscles aren't going to grow, you're just going to lose money and get no results."

"That's ABLEIST," they say. "How DARE you! Some people are LITERALLY paralyzed, did you think of that?"

"Well, yeah, some people are, and that means definitionally they can't lift weights," you explain. "And paying someone else doesn't change that. Maybe if they wanted to like, move something in their house it would make total sense to hire these guys! But if you hire them to do your workout you get nothing, because the purpose of a workout is personal development. I'm not morally condemning people who do it, but it seems like a waste of money when this event is, again, about improving one's personal abilities."

"This is absolutely DISGUSTING, CLASSIST rhetoric!" the gym owner roars, and then turns to one of the LIFT FOR HIRE guys, "Pay no attention this disgusting person, dear sponsor, we support your business and we totally want you to keep funding our gym!"

"Sponsor?" says your hot muscled friend who was way too busy actually doing their workout and getting gains to engage in dumb discourse. "Oh, now it makes sense."

"Shut up, you don't understand our love!" says the gym owner, before sloppily making out with a LIFT FOR HIRE guy in front of you.

Anyway, that's what learning about the whole AI nanowrimo controversy was like for me.

[deathlywounded]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how Du Drow never really liked Halsin and had this conception that all Druids were annoying hippies because I think my little death-obsessed mushroom herding killing machine Revna and him would get along very well. (In Athios' case he would develop a certain kind of fascination when faced with another Durge. Would have the friendly competitiveness of an odd kid finally meeting another equally odd kid.)

I’ve been wanting to do a tribute comic featuring this guy for a while now, but reading the latest response Meanboss gave to a fellow Druid enjoyer made it feel like a physical necessity.

Du Drow belongs to @meanbossart

Thank you for sharing Drow with the community! I have an endless love for artists and creators who create full lore-filled stories for their characters. 🖤

Now the only thing left in my mind is a question, would he eat the mushrooms? 🍄👹

[uncannydevotion]

“ i'll love you 'til the day that i die! ”

a/n: this one is a mixture of dark content and light content so i really do recommend reading the warnings for this. the mh ones might be a little vague in canon bc it's been a little over two years since my last rewatch so!!

synopsis: realizations of love and what comes with.

includes: slenderman, jeff the killer, jane the killer, nina the killer, homicidal liu, sully, the bloody painter, nurse ann, eyeless jack, laughing jack, hobo heart, ticci toby, clockwork, jason the toymaker, the puppeteer, the doll maker, zalgo, x-virus, laughing jill, candy pop, dr smiley, kagekao, nathan the nobody, zero, judge angels, kate the chaser, rouge the proxy, tim wright, brian thomas, jay merrick, alex kralie, jessica locke.

warnings: gn!reader, varying lengths, multiple mentions of unhealthy relationships, mentions of murder, blood, cults (zalgo), harm against reader (jane, nathan), reader death (dr smiley, alex kralie), obsession (nina, zalgo, dr smiley, nathan, helen), possessive behavior (zalgo, dr smiley, jason, zero, candy), references to a work on my old blog in the puppeteer's part, jealousy (x-virus), jay's death, numerous mentions of unhealthy co-dependency.

SLENDERMAN — does not understand the concept of love. this isn't to say it can't feel it, it just... won't be able to immediately identify when it starts to develop such an emotion for you. it goes through many experiences where it has a moment of 'you are... an interesting being' towards you, and those are like mini realizations. it won't realize it loves you until someone explains to it what love is.

and once it does understand that the strange feeling you made it feel was love, well... it's a bit hesitant to indulge, to be honest. slender has never felt something like this before. it didn't even know it was capable of such an emotion. it's something it always viewed as a weakness. it'll take a while for slender to accept its feelings for you, to be honest.

JEFF THE KILLER — realizes he's in love with you when he shows up at your place one evening to find you struggling to stay awake while waiting for him. it hits him suddenly, seeing you drifting in and out of sleep while staring at your phone. you hadn't realized he was there yet, and honestly, he doesn't want you to know. because if you look over at him, you'll see the disgusting fondness in his gaze.

he won't tell you he loves you for a long time. it's something that makes him feel weak. he'd always believed he had nothing to lose, and now that he does... it's just not something he was ready to acknowledge. those three words will only slip past his lips when he thinks he's about to lose you, because that's the only way you'd probably get him to admit he loves you.

JANE THE KILLER — only realizes she's in love with you when jeff threatens your life. you two were friends, and she cared deeply for you, but it was nothing more than that, surely. but then that rat bastard dared to hurt you, and suddenly she's a teenager again, losing everything she's ever loved. your blood on her hands is something she never wants to experience again.

but you survive, and jane is telling you that she loves you the moment your eyes open. you don't have to love her back, but she needs to get these feelings off her chest because it felt like she'd drown in them if she didn't. whether you reciprocate them or not doesn't matter to her, because jane will make a vow to ensure that no harm comes to you ever again.

NINA THE KILLER — likes to say she knew she loved you from the start, but that was just infatuation. nina is a bit desperate for a relationship, truth be told, so she's deeply invested in anyone who shows her an ounce of kindness because she thinks it could lead to something more. it's led to her being disappointed far too many times, and everyone had assumed it would be the same with you.

but as the weeks went by, her infatuation never went away. you didn't try pushing her away when she was around, and you always included her in the conversation. you went out of your way to make sure she didn't feel neglected. at this point, she doesn't care if it's genuine love or not. all she knows is that you and her are meant to be together, and she will stop at nothing to make sure that happens.

HOMICIDAL LIU — has numerous reasons as to why he doesn't realize he's in love with you until it literally smacks him in the face. he's busy trying to kill jeff, he's never been in a relationship before, he thinks he doesn't deserve the happiness a relationship might give him. just about all of that, all wrapped up into one giant mess of a ball. the way he realizes he's in love with you is sully literally screaming at him in his head and giving him the world's worst migraine.

even with this realization, he hesitates to indulge. once he does, he'll be baring all his flaws to you. you'll see every nasty part of him that he doesn't want you to know about, and you'll realize that he's no good for you. but when those words of love quietly escape him, and you smile at him and tell him you feel the same, he can't stop himself from being selfish. just this once, he decides. and if you ever want to leave, he'll let you go. he hopes.

SULLY — experiences something akin to love at first sight, actually. the moment he met you, he liked you. it was a strange fascination, one that had his heart racing when he was fronting. of course, he's not delusional enough to think it was actually love. still, it doesn't stop him from admiring you, and constantly telling you that he likes you whenever the chance presented itself. the moment it turns to genuine love, however, it's like this switch flips.

the playful glint in his eyes whenever he'd dramatically drape himself over you, the smug smile when he'd get you flustered, it was different. his touch lingered now, like he wanted to just be glued to your side. his smile was softer, like seeing you flustered was something more than a joke. his eyes held an emotion in them that was bordered on uncanny, like he wanted to devour you whole. his love for you could easily become twisted, if under the right circumstances.

THE BLOODY PAINTER — has absolutely no interest in romance whatsoever until you. helen's entire childhood revolved around being good enough for his parents, so he never had the opportunity to read romance novels or watch romance movies. now it's simply not something he cared about. the only thing that had his attention was his art. it was a part of his very being, after all. and the way you interact with his art is actually what made him fall for you.

he's used to people complimenting his work. empty words, things that meant nothing to him. but you criticized him. you pointed out certain things about his paintings that you didn't like, and highlighted the things you did. you were honest with him. and honesty is a quality he finds to be very attractive, apparently, because you end up stuck in his mind, the focal piece of all his work. his muse. something that bordered on obsession.

NURSE ANN — has a hard time feeling emotions to begin with, so she probably won't realize she loves you for a long time. her emotions are... dull, to put it simply. vague things that she struggles to identify. if it's not anger, then it'll take her a while to identify how she feels. it takes even longer for her to even articulate her emotions into something she can explain to you, considering she can't speak.

but ann realizes she's in love with you randomly one night, when you're not around. you're in her mind a lot more than she would like, but it's not something that upsets her. she spent a good chunk of the night wandering the halls of the abandoned hospital just... thinking about how she feels about you, and what the proper way to describe that feeling would be. she's not sure if she's ever been in love before, but she'd like to experience it with you.

EYELESS JACK — realizes he loves you in bits and pieces, over the course of your companionship. originally, he had wanted to eat you. but for one reason or another, he opted not to, and it led to a strange friendship blossoming instead. you took his demonic nature in stride, and never seemed repulsed by his less than human qualities. you appeared curious, more often than not. your curiosity is the first thing he finds himself falling in love with.

but the thing that solidified his feelings for you was when he paid you a visit one night, and you had excitedly guided him to this mini freezer you had bough a while ago. inside was just... numerous things of raw meat. animal meat, you had explained, because you weren't willing to dabble in illegal activities to get human meat. you just wanted him to be able to snack on something whenever he decided to spend the night, and he just... he ends up kissing you right then and there, yeah.

LAUGHING JACK — refuses to believe that he could ever fall in love with you. he's evil, he's cruel, he's never going to experience such stupid feelings like love. but it's like the universe is always out to make a fool out of him, because you come crashing into his life and suddenly colors start appearing again, and he hates it. he hates you, hates that you make him feel something after spending centuries feeling nothing.

and yet, he's somehow always finding excuses to be in the same room as you. he's stubborn enough to not admit that he's in love with you for a long time, but trust that his abandonment issues will make it known that he would kill you if you ever thought about leaving him. love him, hate him, he doesn't care as long as you're with him.

HOBO HEART — didn't think he could fall in love again after what happened with celina. he spent decades roaming the earth, taking the hearts of those who didn't deserve it, just to prolong his own existence before he met you. he could sense the purity in your heart, and it's what drew him to you to begin with. he was waiting for you to reveal your true colors, to give him a reason to kill you and take your heart but... it never came.

instead, you just proved to him that he could fall in love even without having a heart of his own. it's different from the first time he felt like this, and yet it was oh so familiar. the only possible downside to hobo being in love with you is the fact that he takes everything very literally, so anything you say is like the law of existence to him. he'll give you the hearts of hundreds of people to prove his devotion to you.

TICCI TOBY — realizes he's in love with you when he finds himself seeking out your presence. love is a scary thing to him, because he's not sure it's something he can handle. not anymore. he built up so many walls just to protect himself that it was... terrifying, really, how easily you were able to worm your way into his life. what confused him the most was the fact that he welcomed you.

it'll take him a while to actually come to terms with his feelings for you. he may even go as far as to avoid you entirely during the process, simply because you being around made it hard for him to focus. he never wanted a relationship, not that he can remember. being a proxy is all he knows, but now he's thinking about kissing you, and spending time with you, and wondering if you'll try talking to him today, and... it's all you.

CLOCKWORK — knows that she's in love with you when you don't distance yourself from her when you see her ugly side. her angry outbursts, her random breakdowns, things that she doesn't like people seeing. you've seen it all, and you've never let that change the way you viewed her. a part of her hates that you're so accepting, because it makes it so damn easy to get attached to you, and she's always wondering when the other shoe will drop.

natalie doesn't like feeling weak, but god... you make it so easy to just let loose, and it's a feeling she starts to crave when she's away from you for too long. i don't think she'll tell you she loves you, mostly because she's got this idea instilled in her head that if she does, you'll drop her immediately. if this relationship were to go anywhere, you'd have to take the first step.

JASON THE TOYMAKER — is telling you he loves you the moment he decides you're the one for him. he does this with all of his victims. but you won't be like the rest, surely. you'll stay, and never need anyone other than him. but he doesn't realize that he's truly, deeply, in love with you until it just hits him while he's in the middle of sewing up some random stuffed animal. jason loves you. it's a revelation that shouldn't shock him, but it does.

and the next time he sees you, the words are tumbling out of him mouth as he wraps his arms around you, squeezing you so tightly that you felt like you'd suffocate in his arms. you were the one for him. you had to be. nobody has ever made him feel like this before. the place where his heart should be burned whenever you were around, and it's such an odd feeling that he was becoming obsessed with. you can't leave him, and he won't let you even if you tried.

THE PUPPETEER — staunchly refuses to acknowledge his feelings for you for a very long time. he's always had a bit of a soft spot for you the moment he made you his proxy, but he ignored it. he'd even get angry if anyone brought it up, because no. he is not in love with you. you're merely a tool for him to use, nothing more. but as time went on, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the aching in his chest whenever you were around.

it all tips over when he catches you carefully tending to emra's injuries while he had been away. he's been known to be very possessive of his creations, not letting anyone touch them but him. but you hadn't known when he'd be back, and emra needed her hand fixed, and he just... you were being so careful with her, treating her like the masterpiece that she was. he'll never say the words, but you'll know in the way he's gentler with you. the way his touch lingers, and the way golden strings always seem to coil around you whenever he's near.

THE DOLL MAKER — seems like the type of person who will only truly fall in love with someone who is as passionate about his work as he is. the moment he catches you carefully moving one of his dolls around like it was something to be treasured, or if you decide to make little accessories to match the outfits he designs... well, the wedding is already planned out in his head and he's wondering when to pop the question.

in all seriousness, he'd take his time before he ever told you how he felt. vine isn't experienced in the world of romance, so he doesn't know when the right timing would be to confess his love. he just hopes that it's something that he's made obvious in his other actions. but when he does decide to tell you those three words, he hopes that you'll say them back.

ZALGO — similarly to slender, did not think he could feel such an emotion. he was a being that transcended human understanding, after all. he made people go insane with a single thought, so how could he ever possibly feel something such as love? the mere idea was enough to have him laughing. no. something such as that wasn't possible. but then you come into his life. a strange, curious human with far too much confidence around an eldritch horror.

zalgo will make you understand the horrors that come with having him love you. you became a deity in the eyes of his numerous cults, essentially. there's no telling how many people have been sacrificed in your honor. how many loved ones you've lost, simply because you had made a creature beyond your understanding love you. it's not pretty. it's cruel, and gruesome, and you will never be able to leave him.

X-VIRUS — is that slow burn sort of realization. honestly, he seems like he's the type to be oblivious to romance unless it's laid on thick. to him, for a long time, you're just a really close friend who sometimes helps him with his experiments. cody will only realize his feelings for you if you start spending time with someone other than him. your absence is something he becomes painfully aware of, to the point that it makes it impossible to focus on anything.

he's not the possessive type by any means, but there's this feeling of jealousy in his gut when he sees you with someone else. that's when it clicks in his mind, 'oh. i'm in love.'. i want you to picture a classic friends to lovers romance, with a side of medical experimentation and murder. cody would like to think his confession was super romantic and the greatest thing ever, but no. no, he stumbles over his words, he's nervous, and he's just hoping you'll reciprocate his feelings.

LAUGHING JILL — finds herself falling in love with you when she realizes she can feel when you're around. the usual bitterness and anger that she felt on a constant always seemed to die down around you, and that joy that she came into existence with bubbled to the surface. it was childish, almost, the way she got excited whenever you wanted to include her in something. no matter how small, she took any excuse she could just to spend time with you.

it's too the point where jill feels as if she cannot exist without you. you've become so intertwined with her existence that she feels as if she'll die without you. it's unhealthy, and she knows this, but she finds it hard to care when the happiness you bring with you was just too addicting for her to give up.

CANDY POP — wasn't the type to grow attached to people easily. he had friends, sure, but it had taken him ages to actually refer to them as such. to him, everyone is a toy for him to play with however he pleases. you were meant to be just that, and yet you somehow turned the tables on him and he ended up falling in love with you like a pathetic fool. it's a realization that has him reeling, because he didn't think love was something he was capable of.

candy tries to be the picture perfect suitor you could only dream of having, he really does, but if you're not reciprocating his feelings within the first week of him confessing to you, he's dropping the act and just taking you for himself. you lost all choice in the matter the moment he entered your life, actually. and if you're really adamant on getting away from him, then trust that he will not hesitate to drag you into the abyss he's tethered to.

DR SMILEY — won't realize he's in love with you until you're already dead. you were just a victim of his that he kept around far longer than he normally did, but the silence that surrounded him when you were no longer around was... haunting. he tries to replace you, thinking another victim crying and begging for mercy would fill the silence but it just wasn't the same.

they didn't make his heart race the way you had. he didn't feel that excitement he had felt when he was with you. he won't call it love, but it was a strong enough feeling that it had him gathering the pieces of your body. he's a doctor. he'll stitch you back together, and bring you back to him. and when you wake from the dead to see the sharp smile of the man who killed you, you'll realize that there's truly no escaping him.

KAGEKAO — isn't a stranger to romance. he's had his fair share of relationships, what with sadie and then realizing he's gay and the awkward breakup that came with that, plus the numerous flings and situationships. you were meant to be nothing more than another situationship, and maybe even a victim if he got bored of you, but... that boredom never came. and neither did the end of your weird relationship.

kagekao somehow always ended up at your place whenever he wasn't off tormenting some poor soul. then he started to pop up whenever he was bored, and he'd somehow always end up staying the night. there were times when he'd even bring over some cheap takeout and wine. he knew he was gone when you rested your head on his lap while you two were watching some silent film, and the movie suddenly seemed irrelevant to the feeling of you. ah... you'll keep him entertained for a while, he's sure of it.

NATHAN THE NOBODY — is so obsessed with finding the people who kidnapped his sister that he never has the energy to focus on anything else. anyone he perceived to be part of the organization was an immediate target, and that's basically everyone he meets. so you have to be real special right off the bat for him to even not think about killing you. and lucky for you, you were his sister's best friend. you weren't part of the organization, you were safe. you could be trusted.

so when someone tries hurting you, it's like the entire world narrows down to that person. crystal would hate if anything happened to you, and nathan... seeing your face contort in pain had this sick feeling in his chest. you were terrified of him, the blood on his hands sticking to your skin as he pulls you into a suffocating hug, his heart pounding. the thought of losing you had never occurred to him, and while he doesn't label the feeling as love, he definitely doesn't plan on letting anything happen to you. no matter what, he'll keep you safe.

ZERO — cannot feel love the way other people feel it. love isn't even in her vocabulary. her only interest in this world is to kill anyone she comes across, to revel in their pain and agony because that's just how she is. yet somehow, she took an interest in you. you can kiss your normal life goodbye, because the moment she decides you're worth keeping around, she's not letting you go until she wants you dead. in her mind, you belong to her now.

so it's not love. not a healthy kind, at least. it's a desire to own, a need to claim. don't worry, though, she'll make sure to take good care of you. anyone who causes you trouble is nothing more than another story for the local news, and all she wants in return is a simple thank you and kiss on the cheek. she loves playing house with you! she'll be a great girlfriend as long as you play along.

JUDGE ANGELS — is wholly oblivious to romance as a whole. her entire life, she was sheltered. even years after becoming the murderer she is today, she never formed any bonds with people. none that were positive, at least. but then you came along. someone that dina found herself getting attached to the longer she spent time with you. she didn't understand why her heart raced whenever you got too close to her, and the feeling was overwhelming enough that she ended up pushing you away because she thought it was something bad.

with enough time, and exposure, she'll come to realize that the feelings she has for you aren't bad. she'll always be worrying about doing something wrong that'll make you hate her enough to leave her. you're the first person she's ever loved, the first person to love her. she can't lose that. just promise that you won't leave her, even if you stop loving her.

KATE THE CHASER — shouldn't have fallen in love to begin with. her sole reason of existence was slenderman, so she shouldn't care for anything else. she kept herself distant from the other proxies for that reason, because she didn't feel the need to connect with anyone. she was fine in her solitude. she wasn't meant to fall in love, so why does she feel so alive when you spend time with her?

you were always accommodating to her, visiting her when it was dark out and making sure you never shined your flashlight at her whenever you two went on walks through the forest. it's a relationship that will never work out, because proxies aren't meant to be anything but a vessel for slender. and yet, as time goes on, her feelings only get stronger and stronger, and she wonders... maybe it's okay to be selfish and indulge in you.

ROUGE THE PROXY — certainly didn't think she would fall in love after everything she's been through, and yet here she is, hovering around you like a guard dog as you dealt with the target you were meant to kill. she knew you could handle yourself, you're a proxy after all, yet she stood there, waiting. even after the mission was over, she would linger for a bit just to make sure you were safe.

her feelings for you are no secret. every proxy, including you, were aware of the special place you had in her heart. yet your relationship with her was so vague. she hasn't asked you out, but you two already act as if you're dating. it's this really strange 'will they, won't they' situation that all the proxies have made bets on. she's content with how things are now, though, so it might take time for her to actually verbalize her feelings for you.

TIM WRIGHT — is a little more confident before the events of marble hornets, so if he realizes he's in love with you during that time period, he won't have too much trouble telling you. maybe he'll need brian to hype him up a bit, and maybe he'll be a bit awkward when he does tell you that he's head over heels in love with you, but he still manages to tell you.

but tim during and after the events of marble hornets? total opposite. everyone he knew and loved died, and it's all his fault. how could he ever allow himself the privilege of your love when it's something he knows he doesn't deserve? even if you were to try and take the initiative, he'd turn you down. you can do so much better than him. getting close to him is basically signing your death certificate, and he's already lost so much. he's not sure if he can bear the pain of losing you, too.

BRIAN THOMAS — out of the entire marble hornets cast, save for maybe jessica, is the most in tune with his emotions. the moment he developed a romantic interest in you, he was asking you out. when he wasn't helping alex with marble hornets or hanging out with tim, he was taking you out on dates and solidifying his interest in you. he had actually planned on dropping the love bomb after the filming wrapped up, but...

even though he can't remember, he knows you. the man in the hoodie feels something for you. it's different from the protectiveness he feels for tim. for some reason, he doesn't want you involved in this mess. the moment jay reaches out to you and drags you in, he's doing everything he can to get you out. there were cryptic warnings directed towards you specifically, and when jay or tim weren't around, you'd sometimes catch him watching. you were scared, but you had made a vow that you wouldn't back out until you find brain.

JAY MERRICK — didn't think he'd really fall in love with someone while investigating the tapes, but he did. hard. he had met you early on since you were the first person part of the marble hornets crew he was able to get into contact with. it's almost scary how easily you guys hit it off. before things went to shit, jay really thought you two would become good friends. and unfortunately, jay doesn't realize he's in love with you until he's dying.

his entire life flashed before his eyes the moment alex shot that gun, and all he could think about was you. you, who stood by his side throughout this whole experience. you, who desperately tried to keep him from getting in too deep. you, who he had carelessly shrugged off because the operator's influence was far too strong. he can only hope you make it out of this hell alive.

ALEX KRALIE — will never realize he's in love with you post-operator. the feelings will be there, but he's already too far gone to go deep into what they might mean. all he knows is that he's desperate to kill you first, to get you out of this mess early on. it's because you two are close friends, that's all. and the hollow feeling left afterwards if he's successful is a price he's willing to pay.

but pre-operator alex will find himself falling in love with you when you support his passions. the moment he talks about marble hornets with you, you're passionate about supporting him, and it had him getting all nervous. he'll even offer you a role in the project, either as an actor or just crew if you're not comfortable with being filmed. anything to be able to spend more time with you. he had planned on asking you out on an official date when filming wrapped up.

JESSICA LOCKE — is stuttering over her own words the moment she locks eyes with you for the first time, because she is just that captivated by you. it's not love at first sight, but she definitely wants to take you out on a date. it's only with amy's encouragement that she actually does, and you two just... naturally hit it off that it sorta became a casual thing.

but she realizes she's in love with you when all this shit with marble hornets has blown over, and you're the first person she thinks of. she'd been missing for months, and you probably thought she had ghosted you. it's a little mortifying, honestly. she can't explain what happened, but she hopes you'll be willing to let her back into your life. because she really really really wants to be your girlfriend.

[honourablejester]

I’m realising as I browse around that I really love lore when it comes to ttrpgs, games and game worlds. And by that I don’t mean I like to obsessively learn lists of dates and wars, and the names of leaders of factions, I mean …

I like learning weird, juicy details about the worlds of games. I like finding little nuggets that say things about the set-up and culture and assumptions of the world. I like finding fragments of ideas to hang whole story and character concepts off.

I love that in D&D 5e’s Spelljammer, the Astral Sea is full of the corpses of dead gods that you can fully sail up to in your ship. Just. Floating out there. Waiting for you to rock up to them.

I love that in Sunless Sea, the king of the drowned is the way he is because he fell in love with an eldritch sea urchin from space, and successfully married it. His niece is an angry sentient floating mountain whose mother is a goddess-mountain and whose father is a face-stealing humanoid abomination. This is fine and normal.

I love that in Starfinder, there are mysterious bubble cities in the surface of the sun that the church of the sun goddess discovered and cheerfully occupied despite having no idea who the hell built them or for what purpose.

I love that in Dishonored, the entire industrial revolution that has built the empire we’re in the midst of saving or destroying was built on the properties of whale oil harvested from eldritch tentacled whales that live half in the oceans and half in an eldritch void personified in the form of a weird-ass black-eyed shit-stirrer of a deity who was formed from a murdered and sacrificed child. And this is largely a background detail.

I love in the Elder Scrolls that the dwarves up and fucking vanished, as a race, at some point in history and absolutely nobody has any clue what happened to them or where they went, but their technology is so insane that ideas like ‘they time-travelled’ or ‘they erased themselves from existence’ are absolutely on the table.

I love that in Numenera, so many incredibly advanced civilisations have risen and fallen on this world that it’s absolutely littered with bonkers science fiction artefacts that have caused the current medieval-esque society built over top of them to develop in bizarre ways, and also you can find a mysterious artefact that absolutely baffles and delights your character, but that you the player will fully recognise as a slightly-more-advanced thermos flask.

I love that in Fallout, an irradiated post-nuclear apolocalypic hellscape, there’s a cult that worships the god of radiation as they have come to understand it, and they are mysteriously immune to radiation with absolutely no explanation whatsoever. They’re not ghouls, the usual result of fatally irradiated humans with some resistance, they’re perfectly normal humans who can somehow just tank rads all damn day. It could be a mutation, but Lovecraftian gods apparently do also fully exist in this setting, so it’s also possible that maybe they were on to something with this Atom thing.

I love that in Heart The City Beneath, there’s a mass transit train system that they tried to hook up to the eldritch beating god-thing buried under the city so that they could metaphysically chain the stations together more easily, which went horrifically and metaphysically wrong in entirely predictable fashion, and now there’s a whole order of train-knights who have to keep people safe from the extradimensional weirdness magnet the network has become.

That, and all the fantastic little details you can stumble across. There’s a biotech augmentation in Starfinder called an angler’s light that gives you a little angler-fish bioluminescent antenna on your forehead, and it was developed by asteroid miners who needed light but also both hands free for work. In Dishonored there’s a festival that everyone pretends is outside of time so nothing you do during it can be held against you. There’s a god of snuffed candles mentioned in a single line from Heart The City Beneath who has pacifist cannibal priests, and that is literally all the information you get on him.

While things like the history and geography and timeline of a world do also fascinate me, I’m not really here to memorise stuff like that. I’m here to find weird little nuggets of information and worldbuilding and delight in them. Give me funerary customs and weird myths and oddly specific circumstances and baffling little objects and absolutely bonkers cosmological implications. Give me the corpses of dead gods, and aesthetic movements with highly specific backstories, and bureaucratic fuck-ups of titanic scale, and mysterious things that seem to break all other rules of your setting with absolutely no explanation because people in-universe have no fucking clue how they work either. Why are the Children of Atom immune to radiation without ghoulifying? Not a clue, but Confessor Cromwell has been cheerfully standing in that irradiated pond that kills the player character with about 10 minutes of exposure for the last year and he’s still absolutely fine.

I just. I really love lore. I like my settings to have some meat in them, some juicy details to dig into, some inexplicable elements to have fun trying to explain. Particularly that last bit. I feel like a lot of people when building worlds feel like the rules have to be absolute and everything has to have an explanation, but nah. Putting some weird shit in makes everything immediately feel bigger, more real, because we don’t have even half an idea of how our world truly works, there’s always something we just don’t fully understand yet, and you can put that in a fictional world too. Some mysteries, some contradictions, some randomness, some weirdness. There’s a line, obviously, this depends on execution, but a little bit of mystery really does help.

Lore is awesome. And weird lore is even more so. Heh.

[viridianvisions]

This is AMAZING, I love the lore-linking of the episodes while also adding in a fun, ordinary day-in-the-life style approach, which is all the fandom wants and needs to see of this family! 🤭💚 Aaaah!

Encanto TV Show Part 2

Heres Season 2 of the show ideas. This one has some overarching lore :>

Season 2

1 - The Stranger (Whole Fam Feat: The Stranger) Now that the mountain is open, people can come in. They get a few travelers and some newcomers but then a Stranger blows in.

2 - Laundry Day (Pepa)   Pepa deals with the laundry of the casa and insists that she will have a normal happy day (not suppressing, just wanting a calm day.) 3 - Imperfection (Isabela)    The village doesn’t know how to deal with Isabela's new… attitude. They’re so used to senorita perfecta. 

4 - Julieta Gets Sick (Julieta Feat: Agustin + Whole fam)    The town healer gets sick and now the whole family has to take care of her. 

5 - Flashback 4: (Bruno Feat: Dolores)   A day in the life of Bruno in the walls where Dolores helps him with supplies.

6 - Hearing Things (Dolores Feat: Stranger) Lore   Dolores keeps hearing weird things but can never seem to pinpoint them. It keeps her on edge until the Stranger gives her a (fake) explanation. 

7 - Trapped in (Pepa and Bruno)   Pepa and Bruno get trapped somewhere by one of the natural storms that isn’t Pepa's to control.

8 - Camilos Crush (Camilo)   Camilo gets a crush, but the girl actually just wants to use his powers.

9 - Felix Feelings (Felix Feat: Pepa)     Felix and Pepa have their first real fight in a long time and Felix stresses over the fact that he emotionally regulates Pepa all the time. 

10 - For Pedro (Whole Fam Feat: Abuela)    The family celebrate Abuelo Pedro's life and death on his birthday.

11 - Flashback 5 (Alma and Pedro)   Alma and Pedro prepare for their little bundles and live their life as a happy couple. 

12 - Luisa’s Bookworm (Luisa Feat: New Character)   Luisa falls for the shy and smart Librarians son. 

13 - Emerald Nothings (Bruno Feat: Stranger) Lore   Bruno does a vision for the stranger but… he can’t see the strangers future. He watches The Stranger closely until (falsely) deciding he’s innocent.

14 - The Festival (Side Characters Feat: Osma Pezmuerto, Osvalso, and Senor Flores)   The village people put on a festival for the Madrigals since the Madrigals do so much for them already. 

15 - Abuelas Day Out (Alma and Isabela)   Isabela takes Abuela out so she can learn to relax more. Things have been tense between them since Isabela has become more free so they learn to connect better.

16 - Flashback 6 (Agustin Feat: His family)   Young Agustin and his family travel and make it to the Encanto (background of how Encanto lets people needing refuge in)

17 - Christmas in Encanto (Whole Fam)  The Madrigal Family celebrates Christmas. It is, of course, about as chaotic as you would expect.

18 - Falling Sand [Lore Finale Part 1]   Bruno goes missing and the whole family is worried thinking he’s run off again. Turns out he’s been kidnapped by the stranger for his powers.

19 - The Hourglass [Lore Finale Part 2]   The Whole family bands together and leaves the Encanto to rescue Bruno. They manage to get to him and save him before returning home.

20 - Family Portrait (Mirabel Feat: Whole Fam)   Mirabel decides to paint a family portrait and strains to try and get it perfect.

[sqgeism]

so i recently read a post about how aglaea represents divinity through humanity's flesh and blood and anaxa represents humanity through the mask of a porcelain doll.

Soooo this has got me very curious, how would anaxa react to his partner (reader) literally being the human equivalent of a porcelain doll? glassy eyes, long lashes, pasty pale/white skin. maybe they even visibly crack in response to stressors/trauma!! ive totally developed this into my own oc and would love to read your thoughts! ty as always

𐙚 𓏵𓏵𓏵 𐙚 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐥𝐝, 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥, 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 | amphoreus men x gender neutral reader

love mail — hii :3 i'm alive again! i had (married) femme reader in mind but honestly could pass as (still married) gn reader ＼(^o^)／ i suuper love this concept nd i hope it lives up to your expectations, anonnie :D kiss muwa ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ also anaxa's is rly long bc i intended for it to be standalone but added the others in the end ;p they're all (except anaxa) rlly short sorry LMAOAOA characters in order : anaxa, mydei, phainon

from the day anaxa met you, to the day of your wedding, and every moment after — he's learned to be careful. he's always described himself as 'experimental', ready to do it all for the sake of knowledge and further understanding. but when he met you, he couldn't be that. he was fascinated with you in seconds, your porcelain skin was delicate, the kind that shatters because of hands like his. you were his opposite, and ever since he fell in love with you, his treasure.

anaxa had built some sort of.. habit with you. when his sister was alive, she showed him different hairstyles that she wanted. anaxa, the loving boy he was, tried his very best to learn. unfortunately, as you've come to know, he never got to really do them. his own way of healing from that grief was through you, when you first allowed him to brush your hair for you — he found himself tying it into a beautiful braid. he won't forget the glimmer in your glassy eyes, thanking him so softly that he was sure even his cold, dead heart was touched. you had that affect on him, always have.

but that joy was short lived, as when you smiled- your face cracked. his face drops and so does he, falling to his knees right infront of you as his hands cup your cheek. "what happened? does it hurt? how can i help?" there's a noticeable shift in that indifferent demeanor that anaxa's always seen with.

and that makes you smile more, but the emotion is so strong that it causes you to shatter more. anaxa won't deny that he feels himself a little flustered at such a beautiful display that is your smile, but the cracking isn't stopping.

he eventually learns that you two are alike for different reasons. anaxa's nonchalance to most situations is caused by the fact he's lost all ability to care, he's lost everything that's ever mattered to him — why care about losing anything more? it'll make him just hurt all over again. he never wants to remember what it's like to drown in emotion ever again.

but your still expressions are the way they are because you feel too much. an overbundance of joy makes you smile, pressuring your porcelain complextion and causing it to crack. same with stress, sadness, any form of emotion makes you feel like you're breaking. but you wish to experience every single one deeply, you want to turn into nothing but pieces just to know what it's like to completely, and utterly, feel.

but around each other, there is a balance. while you were used to a disproportion of emotion, anaxa kept you calm in every situation, but still allowed you to feel. you wouldn't crack, no, but you still felt your heart race every time anaxa kissed your fingers or ran his hand through your hair. and so, you can come to the quick conclusion that you allowed him to experience what you have had too much of. you bring him comfort, unease, and affection all at once and he's willing to indulge in it. he doesn't want to completely experience it all, but you let him worry just enough to make something else but a thin line and an empty gaze in his expression.

he adores you, really. he'd punish the stars for ever trying to rival the beauty that is sparkle in your eyes.

mydei's in a similar position, but if you allow him- he'd love to bring you around to meet the children. if you're at all insecure about the way you exist as a person, he's sure that they can help. they're too young to understand or villainize you in any way, they're just.. in awe of you. the same manner that he was. a big, life sized doll? with pretty clothes and brushable hair? they're all over you in a moments notice. and mydei adores every second.

he has his head on your lap while they brush through your hair, humming a lullaby while you sit there, unmoving but enjoying yourself in silence. the breeze is cool, the grass is green and the flowers that surround you, mydei, and the little ones make the scene feel straight out of a painting.

a warrior and his muse, his weakness, his heart. everything that you are mends perfectly into an emptiness inside of him, and you fix the scars that have lingered for him to heal.

phainon's in a similar boat, except he's like the children. he ADOOOORES you. buys you outfits every week, learned to do your hair, sits by your vanity mirror with eyes of pure and utter admiration as you do makeup.. he's soo enamored by you, it's insane. though he does tend to worry that when he makes you laugh (which is a lot, he appreciates it), you start to crack. they do eventually heal, but he's noticed you've become insecure about it. growing a habit of wearing veils or large hats to hide that beautiful face he adores.

he likes to call your cracks 'smile lines', since they tend to happen after you laugh or smile. it's a human thing, but he's trying to describe the similarities to you. he'll tell you that when humans smile all throughout their life, they get smile lines.. and while some are insecure about them, phainon thinks they should be proud. that the aeon's have given them the gift of so many happy, special moments, that they make sure all of the world gets to see it. that they know they've lived a good, happy life. and you shouldn't be ashamed of yours either.

nothing could shatter how perfectly imperfect you are to him. to phainon, you embody his every need and want.