#brainstorm cards

[hinamie]

newest issue of first years fashion just dropped

[omgmegacruel]

What if this card is from Kotaro’s perspective?

Cause aki4’s other main focus is the reunion of kotaro, so what if this card is showcasing akito guiding kotaro into the light?

[shabawdy]

thinking what he should write to batman

[clumsypuppy]

ocs ive had cooking in my brain

[turquoisephoenix]

Tell me, Mario; do you believe in destiny immutable?

Cult of the Lamb tarot cards but they're Paper Mario characters.

-------

The Ghost Gulper: The hunger of an empty heart. Gain the ability to eat summoned ghosts still on the battlefield for health.

The Shadow Siren: Make your choice. No turning back. Deals fire damage to enemies struck. Fire behaves like poison but can spread to other enemies by touch and can stack with poison.

The Gilded Cage: A contract was signed. Make their power yours. At the adventure map, you can choose to sacrifice a follower to gain an overall damage increase by up to 3x.

[buskingalbatross]

Dan's favorite Balatro cards are Blueprint and Brainstorm, which are often personified and shipped together as lesbians.

note: there is an unacceptable total of only three fics dedicated to Balatro yuri on ao3. luckily, one of them is mine. 🎭

[kanerallels]

for the ask game, sabezra and a superhero AU perhaps? :)

*head in my hands* I'm so sorry

The thing is, where Ezra's involved, I have to limit myself. Because if I don't write a silly little ficlet, I blink and there's SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS AND I'M HALFWAY THROUGH IT. So...yeah. There is now a six chapter work on AO3 of this. All the chapters are up, but I'll put the first one here! Thank you so much for this request, it has consumed my mind and I'll never stop thinking about it. Ever. I wanna write more so badly

The first time it happened, Sabine was pretty sure it was an accident.

She was in the middle of an all out brawl on Main Street. Saxon and half a dozen of his most annoying goons were wreaking havoc, trying to rob a bank. One of these days, the villains in Lothal were going to be original.

Diving under another blast from the nearest goon’s gun (and WHY did every villain out there have the latest and greatest in tech? Couldn’t there be at least one scientist in the city who WASN’T evil?) Sabine grabbed a piece of rubble from the ground and squeezed it in her hand. She felt it grow warm, and threw it.

The glowing chunk of brick soared through the air, and clattered to the ground inches from where Saxon was filling his arms with bags of money. He glanced down at it briefly—and then his gaze snapped back, eyes going wide when he saw it was glowing. Sabine felt a surge of triumph as the rock exploded, sending Saxon flying back into two of his men.

Sometimes, being Force blessed was pretty handy. 

Sensing movement behind her, Sabine spun around, blocking a blow from one of Saxon’s goons with her forearm. The goons may have been bigger, and tough, but Sabine had been training in martial arts all her life. Weaving past a few more blows, she delivered a quick kick to the side of his knee, which crunched unpleasantly. The goon hit the ground with a howl, and Sabine grinned triumphantly. 

The next second she was moving again, flipping out of the way of blaster bolts and fists. Doing a quick backflip, she palmed two handfuls of gravel from the ground and sent energy into it. Her feet hit the ground and Sabine threw her handfuls. They sprayed out in a gritty, glowing cloud, and immediately exploded into a bigger cloud of smoke.

With two quick strides, Sabine was in the cloud, along with three of the goons. They were clearly unprepared for this, and blundered into each other uncertainly. Sabine, meanwhile, turned on the night vision on her mask, and took them on quickly and efficiently. Two minutes later, they were laying on the ground, groaning, and the cloud of smoke was only just beginning to dissipate.

That’s four down, she thought, scanning the area for her remaining opponents. The street was filled with the rubble of the back wall of the bank. Saxon’s crew had tried to blow open the safe, used the wrong material, and promptly blew up the wall, not the safe.

It was extremely embarrassing to witness, honestly. Especially since Sabine was pretty sure the ensuing explosion had taken out one of Saxon’s men. Which leaves just one more and him.

It wasn’t hard to find him. He and his remaining goon were frantically trying to pack up what they could of the money. “Going somewhere?” Sabine asked, and saw Saxon cast a look back at her.

She strolled forward, knowing there was nowhere he could go. Sirens were already sounding—the cops would be here any minute, which meant it was time for both of them to make themselves scarce. Sabine wasn’t super popular with local law enforcement. Probably because her power involved explosives.

Saxon hesitated, hands full of cash. And then, to Sabine’s utter shock, he dropped it and lunged for the sidewalk, where a group of passers-by were watching the fight. Sabine’s stomach dropped as he grabbed the nearest one and the others scattered with screams of shock.

Kriff. I should have seen that coming, Sabine thought, irritation flooding her as Saxon pressed the barrel of his gun against the head of his captive. He was just a kid, with scruffy bluish hair and two scars on one cheek. “Easy,” Sabine said, fixing her gaze on Saxon. Focus. You can do this. “Let him go.”

“Let us leave, and I will,” Saxon countered. “You’re new to this, child.”

“It’s Scarlet Starbird, actually,” Sabine said coolly.

Snorting, Saxon said, “You can use all the flashy names you want. None of that will change the fact you’re out of your depth.”

“I thought she was doing pretty good,” offered the kid, and Sabine’s gaze snapped back at him, startled.

He didn’t look scared. That was the first thing that stood out to her, even before she registered just how much orange he was wearing (which was a truly ridiculous amount of orange, even for her). If anything, he was actually grinning, like he was enjoying himself. Like this was just a walk in the park instead of a life or death situation. “Maybe stop talking,” she told him.

“Just wanted to be encouraging,” he said. “I mean, Saxon’s pretty villain of the week—”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?”

“But there were still seven of them! And they’re pretty good fighters, all things considered,” the kid continued. “Just, you know, not too strong in the brains department—”

“Shut up,” Saxon snarled, lifting his hand to deliver a blow. The hand holding the blaster, Sabine realized.

She moved, diving forward, just as the kid dropped to the ground suddenly. His move pulled him out of Saxon’s grip, and he staggered back—just in time for Sabine’s fist to slam into his jaw.

The man crumpled, eyes rolling back in his head, and hit the ground with a clatter of armor. Now who’s out of their depth? Sabine thought, satisfaction warming her chest.

“Nice punch,” the kid said approvingly, and Sabine spun around. He was standing, slightly dusty from the rubble, off to the side.

Eyeing him, she said, “Pretty gutsy move, kid.”

Shrugging, he said, “I try. You’re new, right? I’ve only seen Scarlet Starbird mentioned on the news a couple times.”

“You keep track of all the superheroes that closely?” Sabine said sarcastically.

“I’m a fan. Plus I’m in the school newspaper. It’s good business to learn about stuff like that,” the kid assured her. “I’m Ezra.”

“Good for you.” The sirens were growing louder, and Saxon’s final goon was wavering next to the pile of cash, staring at the nearest alleyway. Bending over, Sabine picked up a rock. “You should get out of here,” she told the kid.

“But you didn’t tell me your name!” he protested.

“You’ve got the only name you’re going to get,” Sabine said unsympathetically. Without charging the rock, she threw it, and it cracked against the last goon’s head. He hit the ground with a thud, and Sabine turned on her heel. Time to go.

“Good luck!” she heard the kid call after her. But Sabine was already focusing on her next mission.

[determunition]

INSCRYPTOBER week 2: ELEMENTS

went through a few concepts and ended up going SUPER try-hard on this one lmao, i don't usually draw stuff from the cards but i thought it would be a fun challenge!

the idea was to group together mixed element cards that connect together in a looping chain; it doesn't quite work bc there's no combination beast and magick cards, but it's not my fault leshy and mag have weird beef with each other

in any case i had fun with this one! hope you guys like how i stylized these card guys :D

some closeups below the cut:

[sadie-shrimp]

Blueprint and Brainstorm yuri single-handedly saved the balatro subreddit from bigotry and I love them for that

[meowdei]

Planning gifts for my dad on Father’s Day is like impossible bc if you get him anything too expensive he will just . Not use it. Like it will just sit there as a trophy of some sorts and he’ll be too scared to use it so we have to budget it wisely so that it’s nice but not even remotely expensive or his ass is never gonna find use in it 😭😭😭

[epitomees]

((....chat I have a horrible idea I'm going to put into motion and yes, it's not going to be fun for everyone except for me~))

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: November Wrap-Up.

Hi, y'all! I'm actually shocked that I managed to get through four (4) books this month, because it was NANO and I also WROTE A WHOLE BOOK!! The (written) book in its two notebooks is pictured beneath the pen and NaNo Earrings :)

All of these reads were NaNo-adjacent, somehow (I like to stack my reading with my writing project so all the Vibes are Correct)--either Space, or Haunted, or Fucked Up Fungi (I wrote a weird book this month)(I had a great time).

Photos and/or reviews linked:

A HALF-BUILT GARDEN - ★★★½ I enjoyed this! It was very slow and contemplative, and I was surprised by how long it took me to read (#NaNoProblems), but I'm glad I did, and Rhamnetin was a DELIGHT.

JUST LIKE HOME - ★★★★ Reread for me, holds up very well! Star rating unchanged from first time through. I actually do recommend rereading this one, knowing exactly when Daphne dies.

GRAVEYARD SHIFT - ★★★½ I enjoyed this one too! Short fun weird little insomnia romp. Love a good fucked up fungus and a motley POV crew.

THE NIGHT GUEST - ★★★★ This was DEEPLY fucked up and AMAZINGLY crafted horror/suspense, and I definitely had delayed nightmares about it. I also love a good spec fic in translation (this one's from Icelandic!). Cats are NOT safe, very graphically so, so proceed with caution if that's a warning you need.

Under the Cut: A Note About ~*★Stars★*~

Historically, I have been Very Bad™ about assigning things Star Ratings, because it's so Vibes Heavy for me and therefore Contingent Upon my Whims. (Example: I don't like that stars are Odd, because that makes three the midpoint and things are rarely so truly mid for me)(I have hacked my way around this with a ½). Here is, generally, how I conceptualize stars:

★ - This was Bad. I would actively recommend that you do NOT read this one, no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not worth the slog. Save Yourself, It's Too Late For Me. Book goes in the garbage (donate bin).

★★ - This was Not Good. I would not recommend it, but it wasn't a total waste or wash--something in here held my interest/kept my attention/sparked some joy. I will not be rereading this ever. Save Yourself (Or Join Me In Suffering, That Seems Like A Cool Bonding Activity).

★★★ - This was Good/Fine/Okay/Meh. I don't care about this enough to recommend it one way or another. Perfectly serviceable book, held my interest, I probably enjoyed myself (or at least didn't actively loathe the reading). I don't have especially strong feelings. You probably don't need to save yourself from this one--if it sounds like your jam, give it a shot! Just didn't resonate with me particularly powerfully. I probably won't reread this unless I'm after something in particular.

★★★½ - I liked this! I'll probably recommend it if I know it matches someone's vibes or specific requests, but I didn't commit to a star rating on Goodreads. More likely to reread, but not guaranteed.

★★★★ - I really enjoyed this!! I would recommend it (sometimes with caveats about content warnings or such--I tend to like weird fucked up funny shit, and I don't have many hard readerly NO's). Not a perfect book for me by any means, but Very Good. This is something I would reread! Join me!!

★★★★★ - I LOVED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS, IT REWIRED MY BRAIN, WILL RECOMMEND TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE AT THE SLIGHTEST PROVOCATION (content warning caveats still apply--see 4-star disclaimer). Excellent book, I'll reread it regularly, I'll buy copies for all my friends, I'll try to convince all of Booklr to read it, PLEASE join me!!

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

Hi hello I watched all of carmilla in a weekend when I was 17 because a student teacher who in retrospect I had a bit of a crush on mentioned that she knew one of the actresses. also I am pretty invested in all your recent vampire stuff because I watched iwtv in 2 days last week because your edit intrigued me

oh hiiii 🫶 thank you for indulging me. thats so cool that you watched iwtv! did it live up to the expectation?

i also watched carmilla at 17! or like, 17-19. i found it when s2 had just started and followed it to the end. did something permanent to my brain but i think it was a good thing. on rewatch now im like, i was right to like this. like it's a solid show, it's good. it has its flaws obviously but it's well written, the emotional moments still get me, i can see why i liked it and i still like it now even when it's not anymore, you know, meeting every need that baby gay me didnt even know they had

what it doesnt reaallyy do though - i dont remember if i posted abt this or if i left it in my drafts but - is explore vampirism as a concept. their subject matter is more lesbianism than vampirism. which is great! thats what they wanted to do and they did it and it's very good. but reading interview with the vampire the book rn im realising how much potential vampires have to be metaphors for like so many things and i started wondering like 'wait, did carmilla just not really engage with it or did it all go over my head'. but it just didnt really engage with it all that much. which again is fine bc that wasnt what they were doing. im glad they were more about the lesbianism than the vampirism

but there's this interesting difference in framing, because in iwtv they keep calling armand 'ancient' right? and emphasising how old he is. and he's like 500? and i was like 'wait isnt carmilla like 400?'. she isnt, shes 340, but still, thats getting there, you know? and we know quite a lot about her history, but kind of just the Big Events. when she was turned, the events of the novella, coffin of blood, silas. thats sort of what we know. but none of the long lonely slog of history day to day you know? with armand i feel like we can really feel how much time everything takes. how every one of those years is made up of single days. with carmilla i dont feel that as much. i keep kind of thinking about daniel, when louis calls him a boy in the first episode, saying "im an old man, with all the triggers that come with it"

because carmilla might look 18 (or mid twenties at this point) but she has lived all that time. shes also seen her native land be claimed by like a succession of ruling powers, right? like armand. shes been buried alive, like louis. when lestat is born, shes already 80 years old, shes lived a whole human lifetime, and the entire adult part of it shes been a vampire. shes lived through 1680-1870 being a lure. i compared her to abigail hobbs in some tags on a post, i dont know if youre familiar with hannibal the tv show, but i do also kinda keep thinking about that comparison

if youre not familiar, in the first episode of hannibal the murderer of the week is this guy garrett jacob hobbs who kills and cannibalises girls who resemble his daughter. and later on it turns out she was made to be his lure. like they'd go places and he'd sent her to the victims to make friends and maybe get them back to their home or smth. not sure if they specified all the details. but that's what carmilla did for mother. and in s2 we hear from mattie that while every couple of decades carmilla had to lure victims for the fish god, she also seemed to just enjoy humans between those times, right? like the doctor, gets lonely, gets a new companion. but we've only sort of got mattie's mocking word for it ("dont eat him, hes a poet! or her, shes got such a wonderful voice. or that one, shes just too pretty to ruin"), we don't know exactly from carmilla's point of view what she was doing or why. if mattie's talking about stuff that happened after the blood coffin, 1950-now, then i think it's a fair assumption based on what carmilla says in the s1 sock puppet show that after she'd figured out what the real situation was and what her role in it was, when she'd started trying to save girls from being sacrificed, that she mightve been doing the same trying to save people from becoming mattie's victims. it's probably more likely that she was just trying to find excuses to stop mattie from sucking someone dry rather than actually having like an aesthetic based morality. but it might be a bit of both. im still trying to figure out what her philosophy actually is, like i dont know what existentialism actually means ghkfjghkj but i will

i also found it pretty striking in the movie when shes turning back into a vampire she says like "this was supposed to be done, you know? the blood lust, the self-loathing, the sleeping tied to a chair in my own bedroom". thats what defines her vampirism, wanting blood and hating yourself for it (the third part is a joke/reference to s1 but also i think meaningful for how she sees her relationship with laura when she IS a vampire. little bit of that 'she will reject me for my monstrousness' shining through). and thats what defines vampirism for lots of vampires across the genre obviously, but i dont know, it struck me. we dont get a lot from carmilla's pov, we know a fair amount about her, but the story is always told through laura. we get laura's diaries, but just snippets here and there from carmilla, what shes thinking, how shes feeling

and i love that shes a philosopher. i love that thats how she seems to try and find something to hold onto, in a world that kind of moves around her, having been murdered, kidnapped, turned and groomed to be a lure on the cusp of adulthood, never having been properly loved (the relationship with her father wasnt good she says in s3, and her mortal mother i dont think has ever been mentioned (like laura's)). the only good relationship she seems to have had for the better part of 3 centuries seems to have been mattie, and mattie seems to love being a vampire. i can imagine carmilla just sort of going along with anything mattie wants to do just because shes so desperate for that friendship. not like, against her will necessarily really. but more like, she hasnt even had the space to develop her own will, you know? and philosophy lets you do that. philosophy gives you frameworks to understand the world and to develop your own opinions on it. and by the 21st century she seems to have developed those opinions, she has a sense of her own values, but shes also still stuck in that same situation. shes jaded and cynical in the face of laura's optimism and strong moral code a lot of the time in s1 because she feels probably pretty powerless. like she does what she can to save some girls but at the end of the day shes scared of her mother and she has nowhere else to go really, right?

i like how she grapples with that over the course of the series, in tandem with laura grappling with her black and white morality. she sort of jumps ship from her mother to laura bc theyve fallen in love, but then laura still stuck in her hero thinking refuses to see her monstrous side. not literally bc i think the biological vampirism never seemed to be a problem for laura, but morally. the having murdered. carmilla needs laura to see that and love her while seeing it bc the last girl she loved rejected her for being a vampire.

but you see her kind of swing back and forth in s2. she softens first with laura but then they break up and she leans back hard into the sarcastic cynic defense mechanisms, leans hard into "im a monster, dont expect heroism from me". but thats like, it's sort of learned helplessness i think. it's powerlessness, resignation. bc morally shes not a monster. maybe she doesnt have as strong a drive to help other people as laura does and is a little more selfishly hedonistic in that she just wants to enjoy her/their life, but she doesnt hurt people for fun, she never has. she just sort of didnt have another option for a Really long time. so she pretends she doesnt care. "im a vampire, this is what i do, this is who i am". but clearly from the way she talks about it when she turns back into one, she doesnt enjoy it

and i like how she goes even further in s3, where she starts swinging even more to the heroic side, bc she sees hope. shes like "wow if we kill my mother, i'd be free". theres hope and she becomes like a lot more active. and shes like that at the start of the movie too, a lot happier, a lot more relaxed, and then vampirism is back and bam depression gfhgkjh like shes immediately more gloomy, ashamed of her past and her self, retreats into herself

sorry i just took this as an opportunity to dump all the carmilla thoughts floating in my head on you. you didnt ask fhkghgjh consider this an open invitation to you or anyone else to come talk to me about carmilla

[warhammersnippets]

The Changer of Ways often sends glimpses of possible futures to his most loyal acolytes, visions that would destroy lesser minds. From: Brainstorm, MtG Trading card (40k print)

[cielosuerte]

so fucking busy the rest of the year. being alive is awesome :]

[crueclown22]

i need to be pet i need to be HELD