#but an extremely specific configuration of guy

[blue-mood-blue]

Whenever I actually write for this thing I want to write for (and it is coming, it is, that day is approaching accompanied by the jaws theme music) all of you will beg me to cease because it will just be like, twenty of the exact same au in slightly different forms.

You will look at my works and despair because, yes, it’s just that one thing.

Again.

Pushed two inches to the right.

“Two cakes” scenario where there are in fact twenty cakes and I am staring at you like the Trunchbull.

[slimewares]

eh, so I guess I'll make a pinned post

so yeah this is a narsty fetish blog whoohoo! which means do not interact if under 18, I will block blogs without ages in their bios/pinned post/etc.

I'm a 26 year old bisexual trans guy who loves horror, sci-fi, and being gross :)

my original posts/writing is tagged slimy wares and I use the tag slime goes to the movies for posts that are basically fan fiction

nsfw asks and submissions are very much so allowed, but again, only for users 18 and up, dms are chill but if you wanna be full tilt narsty, asks are probably better

I blog about/am interested in:

💚 creampies/breeding/impregnation (generally ftm breeding, but it extends to all gender configurations lol)

💚 cnc/rape fantasies and things that are like extensions of cnc like kidnapping, drugging/intoxication, somno, etc.

💚 petplay

💚 forcemasc, forcefem, and general gender fuckery

💚 monster fucking/teratophilia

💚 and I guess general sci-fi/body horrory things or whatever contrived device or plot I come up with to justify extremely specific fantasies

things I'm not into, but idrc if you're into them:

misgendering/detranstion kinks

incest/fauxcest/step fantasy (although sometimes this is a no go, it's very vibes based)

things I'm 110% not into, like full tilt dni if you're into (and obvi these go for both fantasies and real acts):

❌ ageplay and things like lolicon/shotacon, do not pass go, go straight to jail

❌ bestiality stuff (like obvi stuff like werewolves and things like catboys/wolfgirls is ok, but stuff about just like a regular dog... no)

❌ people who identify as terfs for like terfbreaking fantasies (like orientation play ranges from like meh to cool, but like idk be normal about trans people, ya know?)

❌ in general, cis people who are weird about trans people and our bodies

[pkmnprofloblolly]

(@icetypelover) Hello, since biology is your thing I wanted to ask, how uncommon is a mutation where a Pokémon has two heads? I've seen it happen in Ekans and similar Pokémon rarely, but someone I know has a two-headed Houndoom, he was born with them. He's a gift from her father, back when he was a little Houndour pup, he's very well raised and gentle, though some fire can leak from his mouth when he's excited.

He's from a family of breeders who have been working with her father's family for generations where Houndoom are a Pokémon of choice, and they can't remember if it has ever happened before. The heads don't snap at each other and he's given a bit more food than a Houndoom his size would need since he has two brains, split in half so each head can eat, and he has no health issues.

I'm curious because there are two mythos I know, of Houndoom-like creatures with two and three heads, so it has to come from somewhere right? Since they're both represented as similar to Houndoom, does that mean it's maybe a mutation that can happen not so impossibly rare you wouldn't believe it in Houndoom?

wow, that's very fortunate that the fellow's gotten one just fine with two heads! extremely cool, what an exceptional lil guy, i'm glad the two get along.

polycephaly (literally "multiple headed") is a condition found all over the animal kingdom- including in humans!- and it isn't actually a mutation (with a notable exception we'll get to later). mutations specifically refer to changes in the genetic code- whether that's the flipping of a base pair, duplication of chromosomes, or so on- while polycephaly is actually a way that conjoined twinning can be expressed.

so, identical twins. identical (also called monozygotic) twins happen when a fertilized egg splits into two separate wholes at some point early in development- compare with "typical" development, where 1 egg + 1 sperm = 1 baby. identical twins happen when 1 egg + 1 sperm = 2 baby. compare with fraternal (or dizygotic) twins, which are formed from two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm. identical twins share a genetic code while fraternal twins do not (like any other sort of sibling). identical twins aren't super uncommon, though their rate of occurrence changes depending on where in the world you go.

now, usually this separation of the zygote into 2 embryos is complete. rarely, though, this splitting happens particularly late and doesn't quite finish, resulting in the two twins being connected in some fashion. this can result in an organism with one body and two heads, such as in your houndoom example, but can express in tons of different ways- for example, you may be familiar with the term "siamese twins" for conjoined twins: this originates from a famous pair of conjoined human twins from 1800's siam, chang and eng bunker, who were joined around the chest. in other cases, twins can be fused at the back of the head, the abdomen, the back, and plenty of other configurations.

survivability of these conditions varies wildly. some are easily separated, some live fine while conjoined, some must be separated for either of the two to survive, and unfortunately some are unable to survive at all, dying soon after birth.

the last case is usually what happens with two-headed organisms (something something, twice as many stars), but obviously, there are exceptions. while rare, organisms (of any sort- it's most famous in reptiles as you mentioned, but mammals (including humans!) can obviously exhibit it too) can live with these conditions as well.

also worth noting- when two complete heads are present, two complete brains are present! they may share organs and sensation, but the brains do function independently- so it's good that in your example the two get along! two-headed examples of less social species will often be much more antagonistic towards one another, since the two heads can recognize their counterparts as potential competitors or aggressors. this can cause problems in wild pokemon, who may waste precious time and energy squabbling over who gets to eat something that's going to the same stomach anyways (assuming the individuals share a stomach- sometimes there are two), leaving them vulnerable to attack.

(you may be familiar with 12-string, a polycephalic seviper(s) owned by virbank gym leader roxie, who famously featured in some particularly intense PWT matches- two heads means two sets of venom glands, which means REALLY effective poison type attacks!)

this also raises the question of individuality- whether polycephalic organism(s) are considered one or two beings- and perspectives on this vary. some polycephalic twins consider themselves two separate people, while some consider themself one. in what way you consider polycephalic organisms without the ability to self-define in that way is up to you, really (which is to say, if a person with two heads considers themself one person, they are one person, and vice versa, but most nonhuman animals can't decide that for themselves and probably don't care how you refer to them).

now, uh, back to pokemon specifically, and those notable exceptions i mentioned. while polycephaly is exceptional in the vast majority of species, there are of course a few where having multiple heads is the norm: doduo/dodrio, deino/zweilous/hydreigon, and girafarig/farigiraf (there are a few others- like weezing or cherubi- but i'm talking about animals specifically here. also not to be confused with conglomerate pokemon like dugtrio or magneton, which are multiple separate individuals working as one). these instances are indeed genetically programmed.

the mechanism by which these pokemon develop their multiheadedness varies. doduo could be considered to be a conjoined twin- the zygote's partial split happens in much the same way, though enforced by genetics.

(this process can indeed lead to an inverse of polycephaly, in which the two heads of the doduo fail to separate while in development. while rare, this condition is rarely fatal, and dodrio evolving from single-headed doduo tend to be two-headed. note how the dodrio's heads are asymmetrical, with one middle and one left head.)

girafarig does not develop by partial fission- the anterior and posterior heads develop separately, just the same as you develop two of each limb, girafarig develops two heads.

in cases where a pokemon gains more heads as it evolves, such as in dodrio and zweilous, the process is somewhat similar to how it happens in embryos- the head essentially separates into two in the split-second process of instantaneous evolution, with new growth making up the material lost to each head (or in hyderigon's case, the middle head keeping all the brain). in doduo->dodrio and zweilous->hydreigon only one of the two heads separates: the right head in doduo, and the left in zweilous. you can see in the two-headed dodrio above that the singular "right" head split into the middle and right heads, leaving a "blank" space where the left head would be.

you also mentioned the various mythos surrounding multi-headed creatures- indeed, some think that mythological beasts like hades' hellish houndoom cerberus may have been inspired by real-life examples of polycephaly, though we don't know for sure. cases of polycephaly are indeed extremely rare, so it'd be entirely understandable for folks in ancient times to think they're some sort of legendary beast, and you can find records of conjoined twin animals labeled as miracles or similar in some medieval texts.

[maareyas]

Hey hey hey its been a hot minute, i hope life is treating you well? (It better - if not ill fight life for you in the ring)

I’m giving you the opportunity to info dump about anything. And i mean anything be it something to do with one of your aus (we love lore) or even about any interests you may have (i know you like the fun-guys, whats your favourite shroom👀?)

Sidenote i just thought of this when typing the shroom question, i really thought that during feb that you mightve dabbled with the funguary prompts. Idk i thought you’d really like those. Like pair up a shroom with a character or something and go wham with it. Idk where i was going with this… yeah

I JUST STRAIGHT UP FORGOT to answer this ask hhdhdhdg whoops. I lost whatever idea I had to ramble about so I'm going to use this as an excuse to ramble about my thought process thus far behind the merhog Shadow I'm working on

(I keep forgetting Funguary exists and my database of Fungi Knowledge is unfortunately not specific enough for me to parcipate ahfhjdjsjsj)

Anyways. With merhog designs, I tend to have a "speculative biology" approach to it, i.e the different merhog design elements make some sense in context. I think I mentioned before that designing Creatures and Robots scratch a similar itch in my brain; and this is why. You can tell a bunch about how a Creature moves, eats, and lives just based on their physical traits. Same goes for robots!

Of course, I'm still an artist first and foremost. So when it comes to creature design, I still put aesthetics and Vibes™️ first before realism XD

with that out of the way, here's the rambles about the In-Progress merhog shadow design. No images because I'm lazy ahdhdjs

My first thought with the merhog shadow design was that "I have to throw a little bit of Godzilla inspo in there". I've had Godzilla on the brain since I watched the new movie with Kong a few weeks ago lol. And bc I like bioluminescence way too much, he's gonna be a glowy boiiiii.

I'm thinking he does actually have atomic breath and can subsist off/absorb nuclear energy. In the hypothetical au this design is from, the ARK would be an underwater facility that was destroyed in a nuclear explosion of some sort. Shadow was the only survivor and he "haunts" the spot to this day.

Shadow's concept isn't as clear to me as Silver's was. Vaguely, I want him to be more reptile-adjacent as a callback to the Biolizard and the Black Arms. I feel like going full reptile would make him look too bulky and slow so I'm still working it out.

This is the current iteration of the design so far:

barely anything, but it's what I got XD

I like the idea of merhog Shadow having two huge front flippers that can sort of act like extra hands. the flippers were partially based by a winged Black Arms enemy I forgot the name of + humpback whale fins. the little bumps on the front side of the fins? they're for speed, like with actual humpbacks. The little claw is NOT biologically realistic at all, but it looks cool and im already planning to take inspo from godzilla anyways so. yeah.

In general I think I might just take a more fantastical approach to Shadow? It feels fitting with his canon origins being weird.

For his head, I decided to turn his quills into tentacles, specifically of the Vampire Squid. There are spikes underneath to protect the back of his head from roundhouse kicks (bc he's the only one allowed to do that lmao). I'm thinking he might also have a false eye pattern in the center of the tentacles? A deterrent to potential predators + as a callback to Doom's Eye.

His eye markings get a little change too. They can emit red light, just like Stoplight Loosejaw (yes that's a real fish name) which have organs underneath their eyes that emit red light to hunt prey with. I imagine merhog Shadow would also have its extremely messed up jaw configuration ✨ I don't know how I would draw it though ✨✨✨

As far as solid inspiration goes, that's what I have so far. I'm considering giving Shadow more whale-adjacent features. With how huge his front flippers are, I think it'd make sense that he'd be more of a power swimmer? aka he has a big tail that does most of the work propelling him forward, and the flippers are to reduce the energy cost while also increasing speed and maneuverability. It would be a close enough analog to his skating, maybe????

He doesn't sound very fast but then again, I imagine neither is merhog Silver lol

[blockgamepirate]

So we were talking on Discord about a DSMP superpowers AU, specifically Syndicate as an anarchist superhero team who are perceived as villains by pretty much everybody. (There were a bunch of people involved in the brainstorming but I wanna particularly credit @macachee for the idea for Techno’s superpowers, even though I ended up using a slightly different version than theirs.)

Anyway I know I don't really write fanfic anymore and I'm extremely rusty but uh... my hand slipped?

(CW: nothing major but there are repeated mentions of fire and some pretty tame violence)

×××

"Professor Underscore, I presume?"

The distinctive deep voice of an infamous supervillain was really not something anyone wanted to hear after 14 hours of last minute bug-fixing on a prototype superweapon in a secret laboratory. Especially when all your assistants had already called it a day and gone home.

Without even looking around, Tubbo reached for the gun in his desk drawer but before he could pull it out, a blade smashed into the wood right next to his hand.

"Nope", said the voice, "you don't get to have weapons, I get to have weapons. And speaking of weapons..."

Tubbo carefully turned around on his chair to face his attacker. As expected, it was a huge, hulking pigman dressed in flashy red and a golden mask.

"You are Protesilaus, aren't you? From the Syndicate?"

Protesilaus blinked at him. "You're a LOT younger than I expected, professor."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I mean it's very impressive though, good for you."

"Thanks."

"So anyway, I'm here for the weapons."

"The weapons are kinda reserved already. You know, for the military."

"Don't give a shit", said a voice from the door. "Gib."

Protesilaus sighed. "Zephyrus, you're supposed to be the secret back-up."

The man hiding by the door frame laughed. "We already took care of the guards. There's nobody here but him, it's fiiine."

"But what if HE has his own secret back-up? What then? Well, it's too late now so just keep a look-out, alright?"

Zephyrus laughed again. "Sure."

"Alright." Protesilaus pointed his sword at Tubbo. "Show us to the weapons."

×××

There wasn't much he could think of doing to stall except try and tap in the pin codes on the doors as slowly as humanly possible. To be fair he didn't even really know what he was stalling for exactly. Secret back-up would have been nice but if they’d really taken out all the guards then none was likely to come.

Protesilaus was following him, sword in hand, making random small talk on the way as if he didn't know how to deal with the silence. Tubbo had only caught a few glimpses of Zephyrus, the winged man, in the background or in reflections. He seemed to be tampering with the security systems on the way, meaning that Tubbo really might be completely alone on this if the sabotage was successful. Zephyrus was also pulling along a big wheeled container of some sort that was probably intended for the weapons.

The two of them were the known members of the Syndicate, a team of anarchist terrorists who gave nightmares to the local police forces, the national guard and occasionally the military, but it was also widely theorized to have a secret third member with fire powers. Nobody had ever managed to catch them in the act, the only evidence of the secret member's existence was the trail of smoking ruins following the pair, their targets always burned down in a blaze of extremely memorable pink flames.

Tubbo had a theory that there were actually two secret members in the Syndicate, because if you're going to have one secret member you might as well have two, right? Maybe even three! It just made sense.

His assistants hadn't seemed convinced by this logic.

They arrived at the large hall leading up to the main vault where the prototypes were hidden and Tubbo finally had a plan. Somebody (probably him, honestly) had left the remote control of his battle bots lying around on a sidetable. He took advantage of his captors checking the space for surprise guards and inched slowly towards the remote.

"Everything good up there?" Protesilaus called out to Zephyrus who had flown up to the rafters.

"All good."

"Alright, seems safe enough", said Protesilaus. "Now, open the vault."

Tubbo just needed to stall a little bit longer until he could grab the remote undetected. "Actually, maybe I just won't be able to live with the fact that I let you guys get your hands on superweapons? What if I'd rather die than let you have them?"

Protesilaus sighed. "Look, don't worry, it's for a good cause, I promise."

"I mean, you guys are supervillains."

"Oh yeah sure, you're literally making weapons for an imperialist government but we're the villains?"

"What about that orphanage you burned down?" Tubbo kept moving towards the sidetable, trying to make it look like he was just pacing nervously.

"I have NEVER burned down any orphanages, I do NOT have an irrational hatred of small children, in fact I LOVE orphans in particular, you can ask anyone."

"You did, though! That was like two years ago, back when you were part of the Sleepy Bois Inc!"

Tubbo actually knew quite a lot about the Sleepy Bois, the infamous villain team who were particularly known for conning people into taking part in some sort of strange experiments, like that time they somehow transported a hundred people to the moon and told them to terraform a random area. The group had broken up a while back and two of the four had since reformed. Well, more or less reformed anyway. Actually not really reformed, but they were at least sticking to smaller crimes these days.

Anyway Mr. Business was now one of Tubbo's best friends, although nobody was supposed to know that. And Dirty Crime Boy seemed like a surprisingly nice guy. He was out there running what seemed to be some kind of a drug van but Tubbo had chosen not to worry about it too much.

The other two members, however...

"Sleepy Boys? Doesn't ring a bell." Protesilaus' face was suspiciously blank.

"You know, back when you called yourself the Blood God."

"Nah nah nah, I'm Protesilaus, not the Blood God."

"Come on, you're OBVIOUSLY the Blood God."

"I've never even heard of that guy."

"You're LITERALLY a pigman with superhealing powers and a shiny magical sword, you wear a crown AND you're hanging out with a blond guy with wings who looks just like the Angel of Death."

"Wow, wild coincidence", said Protesilaus

“Not gonna lie, the Angel of Death is a really cool name“, said Zephyrus.

Tubbo ignored them. "And you sound exactly like the Blood God."

"I don't hear it", said Protesilaus.

"You said you don't even know who he is!"

"Exactly."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'EXACTLY'??? THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!!!"

"Well I can't hear it if I've never even heard him speak. That's just logic."

Up in the rafters Zephyrus was cackling like a madman.

"You annoy me so much", said Tubbo.

"Aaaanyways, just give us a little peek into the vault, alright? Just out of curiosity, you know."

Tubbo had made it to the remote, he just needed one more distraction to cover for him grabbing it. "Uh..." Then he had an idea: he just took a quick sudden glance at the exit, as if he'd seen something over there and sure enough both of the criminals immediately turned to check. It was just long enough. He got the remote. "Okay fine, you can see the vault."

"Nice, nice." Protesilaus was still glancing around suspiciously but he had no idea what he should have been suspicious of.

Tubbo was more than happy to open the vault now. It might be holding the prototypes but it was also filled with a small army of robots.

All of which came to life with the press of a button.

"Ah", said Protesilaus. "There's his secret back-up."

"Oh Jesus", said Zephyrus. "I think we fucked up."

"You could say that", said Tubbo. "If you just leave peacefully I might let you go", he added in a sudden fit of uncharacteristic levels of confidence.

Protesilaus raised his sword. "Well you see, I really want those weapons, though."

"I guess you'll just have to fight the robots for it then", said Tubbo, configuring the targetting system.

"Mate, they've got guns on them", Zephyrus called out from above.

"Take cover then", said Protesilaus, very much not taking any cover at all himself.

Tubbo, pretty sure the bots knew which people to fight, released them on the criminals.

Protesilaus immediately managed to dodge the first few lazer bolts from the bots, but the third hit him on the arm. He flinched a bit but didn't seem too bothered. "Ouch. Okay so they can actually aim."

Still dancing around the shots, he held his hand to the wound and once he took it off, only the singed hole on his sleeve remained. The Blood God had been known for some kind of healing powers and coincidentally Protesilaus of the Syndicate, who apparently definitely wasn't the Blood God, just happened to also have healing powers. This fight was going to be hard even for thirty robots.

The pigman finally took some cover, hiding behind a pillar. The robots would have to move closer and Tubbo could already tell that if he'd manage to single them out, Protesilaus would easily take them down one by one.

Even worse, Zephyrus had hidden behind a different pillar up near the ceiling and was sniping the bots from above. They were supposed to be bulletproof but the man was absolutely cracked and managed to keep hitting them in the joints and in the eyes.

But at least the bots had given Tubbo some room to work with. He bolted into the vault and headed straight for a very specific section.

"So I just wanna know, professor", Protesilaus called out from the hall, "how are you NOT the evil mastermind here? You have a LITERAL horde of robots in your control that you can just let loose on people!"

"What do you MEAN? They're for fighting people like you! In this exact kind of situation!" Tubbo found what he was looking for and quickly unbuckled the huge harnesses holding it in place. He had to get a stool to reach the highest ones and nearly tripped on it in his hurry.

"Oh and how many of these have you sold to the government? And what if they just decide that they'd be very convenient for taking care of dissenters?"

"Well if the dissenters are literal supervillains, that sounds great." He climbed the ladder on the wall up to the platform by the mech suit and jumped inside.

He couldn't hear what Protesilaus responded after he pulled down the dome of the suit over his body. The sounds of fighting and the bulletproof glass drowned it all out from this distance, and the sound system wasn’t turned on yet. Now the odds should be a lot more even, though. Let’s see how they deal with this, he thought. He settled in and launched the mech--

... and then maneuvered awkwardly through the mess of secret weapons and machines inside his vault. He was pretty sure he didn't break too many things on the way, it was fine. In the corner of his eye he thought he saw a flash of pink and for a second he worried that the pigman had followed him into the vault where it would be almost impossible for him to fight in the suit but luckily he could still hear the sound of sword clanging into metal from outside.

He moved over to the vault door as sneakily as he could while piloting a 12-foot-tall machine in a tight space and looked out into the hall. The floor was littered with broken robots, and there were several blinded ones aimlessly wandering around and getting in the way of the ones that still functioned properly. Protesilaus was towards the back of the hall, stabbing a bot in the armpit and tearing off its arm, Zephyrus on the other hand, still perching on the rafters, had moved around the pillar he had hidden behind, now aiming away from the vault. Neither of them were looking at Tubbo. He took aim and shot at one of the huge grey wings.

"Ah! Fuck!" Zephyrus spun around. "You little shit!"

"Zephyrus, are you okay??" Protesilaus immediately looked over to his ally and took another hit himself.

"I'm FINE, dude!" Zephyrus sounded exasperated but fond. "Look out yourself! Also the kid has a fucking mech."

"A what?"

Tubbo slammed the vault door shut. Good luck getting in there now, Syndicate. Then he tossed aside some robot carcasses to clear out the floor and threw one at Protesilaus who dodged it easily but in the process took another hit from a different robot. He was starting to look tired and he was obviously distracted by Zephyrus getting hurt. That was promising.

Tubbo started climbing the pillar up to the ceiling. Zephyrus cursed again and tried to hop around the pillar to run across to the other side but his hurt wing didn't open properly so he lost his balance, slipped up and fell. "Shit!"

"ZEPHYRUS!"

The man managed to open his wings and soften the fall but the injury made him veer dangerously to the left and crash into a pile of broken robots. Protesilaus leaped over to him, dropping his sword and laying his hands on his friend's wing and back. A faint red glow emitted from the touch points.

Tubbo jumped back down to the ground and stormed at them. He punched the pigman right in the chin, sending him flying across the room. He then tried to grab Zephyrus but the man had already slipped away and had apparently managed to pick up his friend's sword. "You motherfucker", the man said, "I'm going to take that fucking suit apart and then it's your turn."

"Zeph!" Protesilaus called from the side and Zephyrus tossed the sword to him without taking his eyes of off Tubbo. Then the man pulled up his sniper rifle again and Tubbo quickly covered his weak points with his armoured arms and jumped behind a pillar. He needed to disarm Zephyrus ASAP.

Behind them, Protesilaus was taking care of the last few robots. Tubbo didn't have much time, but he couldn't do anything until Zephyrus would have to reload, the guy was just too accurate...

"Oh fuck", said Zephyrus suddenly. "Prot, the door!"

They all turned to look at the exit.

There, at the door, was Ranboo, widened eyes flicking between Tubbo, the broken robots and the Syndicade. He was holding a bowl of biscuits and a cup of tea. "Uh... hello? Hi?"

Ranboo was actually NOT allowed in the vaults but how do you stop someone who can literally teleport anyway? Tubbo was glad to see him sneaking in, though.

"Ranboo! Help! They're trying to steal the weapons!"

"I..." Ranboo seemed frozen in place.

"Ranboo!" Tubbo was starting to get worried. His husband wasn't even taking any shelter. He drove the mech over to him to at least give him some protection.

"I just came to bring you cookies? Coz I thought maybe you were staying late to make the deadline and I thought--"

"Ranboo, I'm being attacked by supervillains right now!"

"Look, what if we just talked this through? I'm sure everybody here would rather not kill each other, right?" Ranboo was tall enough to lay a hand on Tubbo's shoulder even when he was wearing the mech suit which kind of pissed Tubbo off to be quite honest.

"Sure", said Protesilaus, "I love negotiating. Give us the weapons and their blueprints and we're more than happy to go."

"See? That's good, right? Tubbo, we can just let them have the weapons."

"Ranboo, sometimes you're a bit too quirky for my liking. Stop being quirky, help me fight them. You can use your... T-E-L-I-P-O-R-T-A-T-I-O-N powers."

Everybody just stared at him for a second.

"Shouldn't it be T-E-L-E?" said Protesilaus.

"Tubbo, you realise they can spell words too, you know, like most people who graduated elementary school?" said Ranboo.

"I'M SORRY! I'M TIRED, OKAY?"

“You could have just said ‘use your powers’, I mean, I know what my powers are.”

“IT'S BEEN A REALLY LONG DAY!“

"Zephyrus, I think this guy might be too much for us, I've never met such intimidating intellect", said Protesilaus. Zephyrus seemed to already be dying of laughter and his ally's words did not help.

"Now that's just rude," said Tubbo.

He'd barely finished his sentence when a horrible whistling sound hit them all like an invisible cargo train. After a second Tubbo managed to reassemble his braincells long enough to figure it out: "The fire alarm!"

Then he noticed the grin on his enemy's face. "Well, good job, everyone! Let's go home, Zephyrus", said Protesilaus cheerfully.

"Sure, mate."

The secret third member of the Syndicate, Tubbo suddenly remembered. The container they'd brought with them was gone too. Well, fuck. "This whole thing was a diversion??"

"Yep." The Protesilaus was already at the exit and Zephyrus was following right behind him. "See ya, losers!"

Something inside the vault exploded, making a muffled bang through the door, as if just to prove where exactly the fire had been lit.

"Oh man..." Tubbo flopped down on his seat. "I spent SO LONG building all those things!"

"Tubbo, we need to get out." Ranboo took him by the hand of his mech suit and pulled him along.

"No, we could still go in and save the--"

"No, Tubbo. Let's NOT run into the vault full of dangerous chemicals that's literally on fire, actually."

×××

By the time the fire department showed up, pink flames had enveloped the entire lab complex. The terrorists presumably had at least one of the prototypes now and all the remaining ones were a lost cause.

It's not like all the work was gone to waste, they'd made some backups at least, but it would be a pain to find a new lab and order all the extremely volatile chemicals again. So much paperwork. Tubbo was really not good at paperwork.

"Well, there goes my summer holidays I guess", he said.

"Yeah", said Ranboo. "There they go."

×××

"So... Lethe", said Techno at the next Syndicate meeting, "you never happened to mention you were friends with Professor Underscore."

Ranboo shifted nervously in his chair. "I mean... in my defence, you never said you were going to raid his lab?"

"True, true. It didn't seem like relevant information at the time I suppose. You know, because you're kinda more in the group just for the book club and Bake Off Fridays and not so much for the vigilante thing."

"How do you know Professor Underscore, Lethe?" asked Niki gently.

Ranboo looked around the table. He was fairly certain that the others wouldn't kill him for fraternizing with the enemy. He was pretty sure anyway. At least 70% sure.

Also they were all staring at him now.

"Uh... he's my... husband?"

The staring continued.

"Oh!" said Niki.

"Well", said Techno. "This is awkward."

"Uh huh?" Ranboo responded, his entire body tense and slightly wobbly.

"Techno", Phil said softly. Techno brushed him off.

"So uh, are you attached to him, Lethe?"

"Y-yes?" Ranboo straightened his back. "Yes." he said again, more firmly.

"Alright. I guess in the future we should try not to kill him then."

[the-prophesied-disco-gay]

What a beautiful wonderful post! Oh my gosh I'm so happy to have seen this!

I don't talk much about being a system because 1) I'm terrified of real world repercussions if this blog is ever linked back to my real name because the general population is NOT chill *at all* about plurals and 2) because I've dealt with this on my own as long as I can remember and I don't know all the terminology and politics of the community and don't want to accidentally step in it or hurt somebody

So I'm gonna go ahead and throw all that out the window and just be real with y'all on this here tag for a minute. Defenestrate your doubts babes <3

I usually use singular first person pronouns (I/me/my) for the most part, for safety. I don't want to slip in regular conversation and drop a "we" with the wrong person and create a safety issue for myself. However I will use we/us/our for clarity sometimes when specifically discussing this topic.

I have no idea what my system origin is! There is...um...lots of trauma in my background. Including things that go back to before my actual memory (nonconsensual operation to "normalize" my genital configuration as an intersex baby as well as continued supression of those traits and questions as I grew, as well as sexual abuse by a relative when I was very young). In addition to the stuff when I was little there are also several traumas that happened when I could remember them. However! I don't know when my system formed so I don't know if any of that was the cause or if there was a singular cause. I know I have never been able to intentionally create so much as an imaginary friend so probably traumagenic?

But much like snowglobe-system said, the existence of endogenic systems is extremely comforting to me. My headmates exist, that I am very sure of, so it doesn't really matter how they came to be! Love that for us tbh.

Also my mom is also a system! Definitely traumagenic and it didn't manifest until much later in life for her. But it makes me wonder if there is a hereditary element to this. Neither of us knew the other was a system until we had been years established, so it definitely wasn't something influenced by talking to each other about it.

I have no idea what my headmates names are, so I've given them names from characters in media that seemed to fit the closest. They're not those characters made manifest in my psyche, though from what I have read that can happen? Very cool. But for me it's more like that scene in The Last Samuri where the American dude is talking to the Japanese dude despite neither of them speaking each others language, and he goes "how about Bob, can I call you Bob?" because he can't actually ask for the guys name lol. I'm still learning how to directly communicate with my headmates on purpose, so I don't know what to call them other than names I've assigned 😅

There is an assortment of genders among us and at least one anthro in here. That took some serious getting used to because I, the one who fronts the most, used to hate furries and anthros in a very "I am legit afraid of them" sort of irrational way, which I think was me just desperately trying to be what I considered normal at the time.

I also have OCD, which shows up in every single headmate in the same way, very consistently. This is, ironically, very soothing to my OCD. It helps me keep a cohesive sense of self even when someone is fronting who isn't aware they are part of a system. We still know our routines and what we consider the "correct" way of doing things.

I get memory loss/gaps when someone else is fronting, but not when cofronting.

The easiest way to tell when I've switched (is that the right term?) is the change to my word choice and the way I speak. Apparently if you know me well, the shift in mannerisms and expressions is also a clear indicator.

So that's me! I consider the brain an incredible thing, capable of so many things we don't fully understand, and I think that's really cool! I think hating on other systems for how they came to be or how they function as systems is both arrogant to the extreme and morally wrong. I think there are many, many more plurals out there than we are aware of. I think greater acceptance and understanding will go a long way toward making the world a better place.

Thanks @snowglobe-system for starting this conversation!

Hello sysconversation! I'm a massive fan of this tag being coined, I think there's a lot of room for some really great discussion here, so I'm gonna try to kickstart a conversation myself!

I'm a traumagenic DID system. I experience a lot of denial. But you know what really really helps me? The existence of endo systems. No I'm not kidding.

Because I can say oh I must be faking this disorder. It must not be real. But I also believe that intentional systems are 100% real and that they exist, so... even if I don't have DID, I'm still creating my system right now. I'm real. My parts are real. No matter what disorders we do or don't have.

If you're traumagenic you ever been helped in some way by endo systems and/or their resources? If you're endogenic, have you ever been helped in some ways by traumagenic systems and/or their resources? We talk all the time about how we're different, I think it'd be great to have a chat about how we can be alike and how the intersection of our communities can help each other!

[rwby-redux]

So, Tai and Summer were omitted from the weapons list? Also, I can guess at some of your reasoning for the weapon changes for Coco and Glynda, but I'd very much love to hear your thoughts there. :D (and just anything else you're dying to talk about from that post tbh, hit me with it) (what the fuck even WAS Leo's tbh)

Howdy there!

Tai and Summer were omitted for the time being because I’m waiting to see if the canon will unveil their weapons. I might change them in the Redux, depending on what they are and whether or not we’ll actually get that confirmation. In the event that Tai’s weapon isn't revealed, I’ll be giving him gauntlets similar to Yang’s, because I really love the idea that Yang and Ruby both modeled their fighting styles after people in their family.

(and just anything else you're dying to talk about from that post tbh, hit me with it)

LET’S DO THIS BABY

The gist is that most of the overhauls were done to fix what I considered glaring issues with the canon—weapons being impractical (Leo), weapons not having any usefulness (Glynda), weapons never being used by the wielder (Vine), weapons being copy-pasted between wielders (Joanna, Fiona, May), weapons lacking names (multiple), and weapons being offensive either in-universe or out-of-universe (Marrow, Coco). Additionally, I wanted to give weapons more specific categorizations beyond just “sword” and “gun,” so I spent a few hours trying to accurately classify them based on their morphology and function.

There were also a few changes I made directly to characters—Coco, Ilia, Amber, and Robyn—which I’ll address separately. First, let’s go over changes to weapons.

Weapons

Myrtenaster — Because I changed how the Schnee family Semblance works, Myrtenaster no longer acts as a means of conducting her glyphs. Weiss’ Semblance is now used exclusively to summon thralls of defeated Grimm, rather than augmenting Dust. Myrtenaster’s only ranged capabilities come in the form of elemental ammunition fired from the revolver. Weiss’ fighting style relies heavily on fencing, similar to Winter’s as seen in V3.E3.

Gianduja — The handbag turning into a gatling gun (apart from being ridiculous) doesn’t actually seem all that useful when you consider that the vast majority of Huntsmen are mobile fighters, and Coco’s weapon requires her to be stationary. Her canon weapon is also no longer compatible with her fighting style in the Redux, as she now relies on a familiar for mounted combat. A recurve bow that transforms into paired swords gives her greater versatility—and more importantly, maneuverability—in a fight.

Omen — In the Redux, blades forged from Dust are no longer feasible due to the changes I made to Dust’s physiochemical properties. Like, we know that in the canon Dust is extremely reactive. It explodes if it’s subjected to too much mechanical stress. Therefore, it wouldn’t make any sense for a bladed weapon to be made of Dust, simply because if the show actually bothered to adhere to its own worldbuilding, then those blades would literally explode any time they hit something. And hitting things is literally all that swords are made to do. Thus, Omen is now just a standard ōdachi, with a shotgun configuration that parallels Qrow’s.

Stalwart — LEO WHY THE FUCK DOES YOUR SHIELD LOOK LIKE A YU-GI-OH DUEL DISK? I hate this thing so much. It makes Leo look pathetic. This guy’s an academy headmaster, but you wouldn’t know it when you watch him fight since he’s more incompetent than Jaune. It’s impossible to take him seriously as a threat when he’s shooting fucking meteors at people with all the finesse of the Earthbenders in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender. Stalwart’s redesign (a longsword that morphs into a longbow) was borrowed from this Monster Hunter concept art by Zhuhai-Syseros. Not necessarily the look, so much as the morphing mechanics between its melee and ranged forms.

Minerva — There are, admittedly, a lot of things I dislike about Glynda’s canonical weapon. My biggest complaint is that it actually doesn’t have any offensive capabilities, and exists purely as a means of conducting her Semblance. Which begs the question—can Glynda not use her Semblance without it? It would be weird for her telekinetic powers to be dependent on a conduit, especially since we’ve seen other characters with kinetic Semblances—like Pyrrha, whose Semblance is ferrokinetic—manipulate objects without channeling their powers through a proxy. That aside, I also really dislike how—for lack of better words—sexualized her weapon is. With Glynda’s new weapon, Minerva, I wanted to emphasize something that we rarely see in the canon—a wielder’s weapon complimenting their Semblance. When used as a javelin, Glynda can throw her weapon at opponents from afar, and then recall it with her telekinesis. In its quarterstaff form, it can be used for blocking and striking. In its spear form, it can be used for impaling. Its name, Minerva, is a reference to the eponymous Roman god of wisdom and strategic warfare. (Whose symbol, fittingly, was also a spear.)

Solemn Vow — Hazel’s weapon of choice. In the Redux, Hazel no longer roids himself up with Dust crystals, so I gave him a pair of gauntlets to compliment his berserker CQC. In the interest of not spoiling things too much, I won’t be saying any more about his weapon. But I will leave you with this: they once belonged to Gretchen.

Aegis — Marrow’s canon weapon (his boomerang) is part of a recurring issue with RWBY’s inability to handle racism, especially within the context of the fictional ethnicity they created. It’s established during the very first episode of the show that a large number of Faunus reject being compared to animals (as evidenced by the sign a protestor carries, which reads “We Are Not Animals”). So it always struck me as rather odd that the writers would consciously decide to conflate their POC-coded in-universe minority with a dog, by giving him a boomerang named fetch. Like, unless Marrow was choosing for himself to reclaim the association, then it doesn’t make sense for a Faunus living within a racially-prejudiced country to have a weapon that doubles-down on the dog comparison. That, to me, seems more like an insensitive oversight on the writers’ part than a deliberate commentary on reappropriation. (On a semi-related note, why the hell is Marrow a dog Faunus? Dogs are animals descended from wolves, selectively domesticated by people. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Marrow to be a wolf Faunus?) Digression aside, it felt rather tasteless to keep Marrow’s old weapon, so it got axed. His new weapon, Aegis, is a shield that has all the ricochet physics of Captain America’s shield in the MCU.

Thorn — Did you know that when writing the weapons post, I had to actually look up what Vine’s was because I couldn’t remember? Imagine my surprise when I read the wiki article and realized it was only used once in the entire series. Which, you know, not great. To fix that, I decided that I wanted Vine to have a weapon that accentuated his acrobatic fighting style, so I gave him a glaive. The way he wields it in battle is reminiscent of the insect glaives in Monster Hunter (minus the insect).

Sagitta — Joanna, Fiona, and May all have the same problem in that they suffer from Minor Character Syndrome. Because they weren’t important enough to the story, they were given generic weapons. Not only that, but the exact same generic weapon. Somehow that fact gets even more egregious when you realize that these characters—who were relevant for two entire seasons—didn’t get unique weapons, but Team BRNZ (whose members only show up during one episode) somehow did. In the Redux, Joanna has been given Robyn’s canonical weapon, her crossbow.

Gravedigger — Fiona’s weapon of choice is a spade that separates into a shield-and-spear combination. The spade is a continuation of RWBY’s theme of weapons being adapted from improvised items.

Invicta — May’s weapon of choice is a pair of claws similar to Brawnz Ni’s. The name of her weapon, Invicta, means unconquerable in Latin, and the grammatical declension was deliberately made female.

Vae Victis — Tock’s weapon of choice, previously unnamed. In the canon, she dual wields what appears to be a cutlass and a katana. Given that one of her weapons looks like a Japanese sword, and she uses both simultaneously, I thought it would be more interesting to change her cutlass into a wakizashi, and base her fighting style on the kenjutsu technique nitō ichi. The name for her weapons comes from Latin, woe to the conquered.

Solstice — Winter’s weapon of choice, previously unnamed. The name itself doesn’t have any overt symbolism to it. I liked how it sounded, and thought that it suited her.

Haliastur — Amber’s weapon of choice, previously unnamed. Haliastur is a genus of kites, or birds of prey, native to Southeast Asia and Oceania. The species that it’s named after is the whistling kite. In Australia, the whistling kite is one of three species colloquially known as firehawks, so called because they pick up burning sticks and spread wildfires in order to flush out prey. The name was chosen because Amber’s staff canonically uses Fire and Wind Dust.

Encore — Flynt’s weapon of choice, previously unnamed. Its name is sort of a joke based on his weapon being a musical instrument, and his Semblance allowing him to form clones, letting him literally give a repeat performance.

Memento — Neon’s weapon of choice, previously unnamed. I’ll admit that I struggled a bit when trying to come up with something creative for Neon. In the end, I settled on Memento because whenever I went to concerts or boardwalks as a kid, I always somehow managed to get my hands on a glowstick, which by the end of the night I ended up bringing home with me. And because I can’t resist the opportunity for a pun—Neon’s character is based on a meme. Ergo, Memento.

Hartsbane — Nicholas’ weapon of choice. I found it interesting that both Weiss and Winter use fencing swords, so I thought it would be cool if it was a family tradition. Nicholas’ estoc was named after the centuries-old Hartless that he single-handedly slew.

Icicle — Willow’s weapon of choice. In keeping with the family tradition, Willow took up a court sword when she was younger.

Reckoning — Harriet’s weapon of choice. Hers is the only one on this list that remained physically the same as its canon counterpart, but had its name changed. And let’s be honest—“Fast Knuckles” really doesn’t roll off the tongue.

Well, I think that about does it for weapons. Now on to the characters.

Characters

Coco’s entire redesign (her surname, her appearance, her weapon) was done in an effort to disassociate her character from her namesake, Coco Chanel. For anyone who wasn’t aware, Chanel was a Nazi spy. Rooster Teeth has been coming under fire for years now because they were made aware of the issue, and refused to redesign the character, or quietly drop her from the series. I mean, for fuck’s sake, Coco’s weapon is literally a WWII gatling gun.

To rectify the issue, Coco has been renamed Adler, after Irene Adler of Sherlock Holmes, who she now draws some inspiration from. Her combat attire and weapon have also been similarly modified.

Ilia’s surname was changed from Amitola to Amirauld—which I talked about here—and Amber was given a surname, which she previously lacked: Ochoa.

The reason why Robyn isn’t on this list is because in the Redux, she’s not a Huntress, nor is she the leader of the Happy Huntresses (and for the record, that name got ditched). That role now belongs to Joanna, who graduated from Atlas Academy on a team with Fiona and May. Robyn just so happens to be their friend (and Fiona's girlfriend).

That being said, Robyn's still important to the story, particularly during the Redux's equivalent of V7 and V8.

As for May’s name change—I actually just checked my inbox and saw an ask inquiring about it, so she gets her own special, separate post. :)

And believe me; there’s a lot to talk about.

[wingsofkpop]

Hiraeth - I.IX: Bloodborne

pairing(s): Hybrid!Im Jaebeom x Reader, Witch!Mark Tuan x Reader, Werewolf!Jackson Wang x Reader, Vampire!Park Jinyoung x Reader, Supernatural!Got7 x Reader

genre: Supernatural!AU, Dark Magic!AU, heavy Angst, eventual Smut

warnings: Mature language, mentions of death and murder, violence, explicit descriptions of fighting, blood and gore, some satanic themes, mentions of trauma, etc. 

word count: 6,5k

synopsis: How far are you willing to go to find out the truth about Moon Dye Bay?…

chapter directory

“—so once Youngjae channels enough power from the blood moon tonight, he’ll be able to lower the veil between the Other Side and the physical plane long enough to resurrect your spirit into a mortal body.” You explain, glancing over your notes at the unusually quiet figure sitting on your bed. Something about his expression seems distant—almost sorrowful. 

After your return from the hospital, and after the long chat with your roommate convincing her that your absence all night was due to a last minute work emergency, a certain ghost phased into your bedroom. You wouldn’t allow yourself to be this concerned, but during his visits, Jackson usually never shuts up. If you were all alone with no one to talk to, you probably wouldn’t either. 

You lower your notebook and shake your head, “You haven’t said one word since you showed up. What’s wrong?”

Jackson purses his lips, as if nervous to relay the thoughts swirling through his mind. Another brief moment of silence passes before he finally murmurs, “It’s the witches. They’re starting to get suspicious again… I don’t know how long I have before they figure out I’ve been crossing over to this plane.”  

“Then we’ll just have to bring you back before they find out.” You grab your phone from your desk, checking through your notifications to see if a certain siphoner has yet responded to your dozens of texts and calls. No dice. 

You haven’t been able to reach Youngjae since yesterday morning, which is odd considering the guy is the type to respond within three seconds of receiving a message. It would be one thing if he let you know that he’s busy, but it’s complete radio silence. It’s not like Youngjae at all. 

“You’re worried about something.” 

Your eyes dartup at Jackson’s observation, discovering his concerned gaze focused on you. 

“It’s Youngjae.” You sigh, “I haven’t heard from him, but I’m sure he’s just busy brewing potions or something.” You expect to earn at least a chuckle from the ghost, but his silence remains along with the blank expression along his face. His same distant demeanor also lingers, and this time, your concern grows to panic. “What is it, Jackson? What’s going on?” 

“I didn’t want to say anything cause I was sure it was all in my head, but I feel that something is… weird.” 

“Weird?” 

“It’s hard to explain.” He continues, “But as a ghost, I can feel things around me… like right now, the universe just seems off—” His voice cuts out as he frantically shakes his head, “Anyway, I just want you to be careful. Mark used to tell me that disrupting the balance of nature is like opening Pandora’s box.” 

“Yeah. We will be doing none of that.” You set your phone down before crossing the room to kneel in front of Jackson. A grin lifts to your lips as you hum to the ghost, “So what do you feel when you’re around me?...” 

Jackson raises an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” 

“You said you feel things around you… Do you feel anything special when you’re with me?” 

You’re surprised at the eagerness that swells in your chest as he takes his time to think over your question. The inquiry was supposed to be a joke to lighten the mood, but you’re actually curious about your companion’s ghastly perceptions. After maybe a minute or two, Jackson sends you a small smile: 

“I feel… light.” 

“Light? What is that supposed to mean?” 

“You have this aura around you.” Jackson affirms, mindlessly reaching forward thumb at your cheek. You obviously can’t feel his touch, but something in your gut tells you that if you could, you would feel nothing but warmth. “I feel powerful when I’m with you…” 

“Is that a good thing?”  

He grins, “I think so.” 

You continue to stare at one another for a moment, almost attempting to read the depths in each other’s eyes. It’s not until a harsh knock resonates from the front door do you finally break the gaze, offering Jackson a final hum, “I’ll bring you back as soon as I can. I promise.” 

Jackson nods, “I know you will. But like I said, please be careful.” 

“I will. See you soon.” You wait for Jackson to disappear completely before exiting your bedroom, cursing Sana for leaving you to deal with whoever is incessantly banging on your door. It’s probably the old lady from across the hall wanting to borrow another cup of sugar. You roll your eyes at the thought and open the door, ready to politely decline your neighbor’s request.

Your words die on your tongue—definitely not the old lady from across the hall.  

“Mark? What are you—?” 

“What? Not expecting to see me?” Mark’s hostile growl takes you by surprise, as does the furious expression etched along his features. “That’s not surprising since you’ve been ignoring me.” 

“I’ve been busy.” 

“Oh. I’m sure.” 

You cross your arms over your chest. “What the hell is your problem?” 

“You wanna know what my problem is?” Mark takes a step closer to you before pointing a finger in your direction, “The fact that you not only lie to me, but you go behind my back and then deliberately avoid me for days on end.” 

“What are you even talking about, Mark?” 

“I’m talking about you and Youngjae playing God and resurrecting Jackson.” 

Your muscles instantly freeze, as if Mark had taken a tub of ice water and thrown it over your head. The annoyance inside your chest shifts to guilt, and your once cold features cannot help but soften. 

You shake your head, “Mark, I—” 

“Do you know how dangerous it is to bring someone back from the dead, (Y/N)?” Mark lowers his voice, but his tone remains as frigid as his gaze. “Do you know the consequences that happen when you fuck with the balance of nature?” 

“I get that, but—it’s complicated, Mark… There’s things you don’t understand—” 

“I don’t understand!?” He scoffs, “Last I checked, I’m the goddamn witch here, (Y/N)! You know nothing about magic and its sacrifice!” 

“Maybe not, but I do know that there is a chance I could bring Jackson back!” You shake your head again, “Please, just give me a chance to explain—” 

“No. Because it’s not fucking happening.” Mark interrupts, furiously shaking his own head. “I forbid you to do this.” 

It’s like a switch goes off in your mind. Your guilt immediately transforms, but this time, it configures into rage: 

“You forbid me!? Who the flying fuck do you think you are!?”

“I won’t sit back and allow you to get yourself killed—!” 

“And last I checked, you don’t have the right to control what I do and the decisions I make!” You seethe, stepping further back into your apartment. “This is my choice. I’m resurrecting Jackson whether you like it or not.” 

“Fine! Get yourself fucking killed for all I care!” The witch raises his hands in mock surrender. “At least then I won’t have to deal with your reckless, moronic ass!”

“Fuck you, Mark.” You don’t allow the witch to say anything further and slam the door in his face. Your chest remains unbearably heavy, both physically and mentally, but you ignore the sweltering emotions and begin to traverse around the apartment, gathering your bag and other assorted belongings. 

A confused and rather concerned Sana emerges from her bedroom a few seconds later. “Are you okay? What was with all that yelling?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” You huff, shoving your arms through the sleeves of your jacket. “Just Mark being a douchebag, as per usual.” 

“Where are you going?” 

“To find Youngjae.”

“Isn’t it kind of late?” 

“I’m an adult, Sana.” You snap before throwing your bag over your shoulder. “Don’t wait up for me.” 

Similar to Mark, you don’t allow Sana the chance to question you further and sprint out the front door, praying that Youngjae will be up to bringing Jackson back in the next few hours. 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

Mark has never exercised the greatest control over his emotions. It first began when he was twelve, after his dad walked out on his mom. He found himself sobbing his eyes out some days, and beating the shit out of other kids on others. His mood ranged from intense rage to extreme depression. There was no in between. 

In an effort to help, his mom enrolled him in a program designed to teach teens how to handle their emotions. But to no one’s surprise, the therapy didn’t do shit and Mark continued to initiate fights and cry himself to sleep most nights. He never understood why he felt this way—he still doesn’t, to be honest. His dad and him were never close, nor did he ever really care about his sudden departure. Maybe he was just an angry kid with depression. Maybe it was something else. 

It wasn’t until his mom was killed did Mark begin to pull his life together, which also happened to be around the same time he met the too-friendly, homeschooled kid with an ego the size of Jupiter, Jackson Wang. Sure, the two of them butted heads every so often, but with Jackson being a werewolf, Mark learned the importance of managing the chaos within. ‘Emotion is like a loaded gun,’ he remembers Jackson once said, ‘If you let yourself pull the trigger without first aiming down sights, then you risk sinking a bullet into someone you love.’ Those words remain with him—remind him what means to stay in control. 

But when it involves the people he loves, Mark can’t always regulate the ticking bomb counting down in his soul. 

An ache settles in his chest as he recalls the passionate fire in your gaze. There’s always been some parts of you that reminds Mark of his past friend, specifically your stubbornness and inability to think before you act. He’s never found himself hating those parts of you until now—and he shouldn’t, Mark knows that, but he’s so fucking angry and so fucking scared of losing yet another one of the most important people in his life.

He’s experienced his fair share of loss, but losing you… It would break him. Completely. 

Mark tries to push the intrusive thoughts from the forefront of his mind and focus on navigating his way through the dark maze of headstones and crumbling tombs. Right after you slammed your front door in his face, he received a text from Youngjae summoning him, Jisung and Lia to an emergency meeting at the edge of the cemetery. He’s still mad at the siphoner for assisting with your reckless scheme, but he won’t allow his pettiness to interfere with the safety of the coven. 

A sigh falls from his lips—he does regret ever saying those ending words to you though… because what if they’re the last ones you hear from him. 

‘I’m so sorry, Jackson…’ 

Mark’s misery is forgotten when he notices a group of people up ahead. He recognizes Lia, Jisung and Youngjae flocked together inside a chalk-white circle surrounded by lit torches. For a moment, Mark wonders if they’re in the middle of performing some type of seance, but his curiosity dwindles into confusion when he grows aware of the panic present in each set of their features. 

He breaks into a sprint to cover more distance, approaching the strangely placed trio in no time. At the sight of him, Lia immediately bursts into tears, furthering the anxiety bubbling at the back of his throat. 

“What the hell is going on!?” 

“Hyung! You have to get out of here right now!” Mark notices the swollen, angry flesh of Youngjae’s bottom lip as he speaks, along with the ugly bruise underneath his left eye. 

“What happened?” He ignores the siphoner’s warnings, attempting to reach inside the circle and grab Lia’s arm. However, his hand is met with resistance—a boundary spell. “Who did this to you?” 

Lia sobs, “Just go, Mark! Before he hurts you!” 

“Before who hurts me!? What are you—” His demands die in his throat as another figure appears from behind a large, marble gravestone. He immediately recognizes the newcomer, which sends even more confusion through his veins. “Seo Changbin? What the hell is this?” 

“It’s an emergency meeting, hyung.” Mark feels his entire body freeze when the familiar, conniving voice enters his ears. “You had me a little worried… I almost thought you wouldn’t show up.” 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Mark whirls around to face a smirking Minho cockily leaning against the wall of an empty tomb. “What kind of game do you think you’re playing, Minho?”

The younger witch shrugs before pushing off the wall to pace around the area. As he draws closer and closer, Mark can spy an ancient, navy blue ring sitting heavily on his forefinger. He’s never seen any piece of jewelry like it before, but something in his gut told him it wasn’t just a simple ring—and that he’s definitely in some kind of trouble. 

“Mind explaining to me what we’re doing here? Or are you just going to continue pacing around the place like a cocky bastard?” 

“Tonight is a special night, hyung… You wanna know why?” He watches Minho point to the night sky, “In just a few minutes, the moon will drift into the Earth’s shadow and the light of the sun will reflect across the moon’s surface, thus causing a blood moon… It’s actually pretty cool—” 

“For Christsake, Minho—get to the goddamn point.”

“You know, for years I had to deal with all your bullshit excuses and justifications of putting our coven in danger—it was only a matter of time until one of us ended up dead, don’t you think?” 

A bitter memory of Nayeon’s corpse resurfaces, but Mark remains silent. 

“Everyone was too fucking blind, but I saw right through you.” Mark doesn’t move a muscle when Minho suddenly approaches, crowding his space until his nose is mere inches from brushing his own. The younger witch’s harsh glare bleeds into his soul as he continues, “You’re a poor fucking excuse for a leader, hyung—a leader who can’t even protect his own people.” 

“And you think you can do better, huh?” Mark growls, glaring his own daggers into Minho’s gaze. “You have no fucking clue what it takes to run this coven… Admit it, you’re just pissed they chose me over you.” 

“And look where that got them.” 

“You need to cut out whatever petty bullshit this is and let Youngjae, Jisung and Lia go.” Mark murmurs, “Whatever problems you have are with me, so let’s just talk it out, okay?” 

“Oh, Mark-hyung…” Minho’s gaze is unwavering from his own as he lifts a hand to rest on Mark’s shoulder. It’s a second too late that Mark realizes it is the same hand in which holds the mysterious ring: 

“I’m over talking it out.” 

Youngjae’s screams and Lia’s sobs echo in his ears along with the words that spill from Minho’s lips—they’re foreign, but Mark recognizes the spell right away. He tries to squirm and fight against the perpetrator’s grip, but another pair of hands keep his body in place—Changbin. 

Bit by bit, Mark feels the buzz of his magic lift from his veins like a flock of doves. His limbs grow weak and his head fuzzy. Soon enough, his own knees no longer bear the strength to hold his weight. Once both Minho and Changbin release him, Mark collapses to the ground—empty and unable to rise. 

“What did you do to him!?” Mark hears Jisung’s voice for the first time, although his brain is not fully able to comprehend the inquiry. 

“I took his magic. He won’t be needing it anymore.” 

Mark manages to find enough strength to reposition his body in a way that allows him to watch both Minho and Changbin approach a makeshift altar composed of an old, concrete coffin. Through the blur of his vision, he catches the witch stirring some kind of crimson mixture—likely blood. Minho looks to the moon, which is slowly brightening to a shade of maroon, before resting his gaze on his companion: 

“It’s time.” He offers the mixture to Changbin, “Once you drink this, I can begin the transformation.” 

“And you’re sure this spell will give me everything I need to take down the Primes?” 

“One hundred percent.” 

Take down the Primes?… Fucking hell. 

“Minho! Don’t do this!” Mark can’t make out his own voice between the ringing of his ears and the beating of his heart, but he can only hope they’re audible enough for his audience. “The transformation—it won’t work!” 

Youngjae shakes his head. “I don’t understand… What are you talking about, hyung?” 

“He’s going to try to recreate the spell I used on Jackson on Changbin.” With a huff and a puff, Mark pushes himself to his hands and knees. He attempts to crawl forward, but the spinning of his head sends his body sprawling along the ground once again. He abandons any more thoughts of movement and speaks to Minho directly, “It will kill him—do you understand me!? You can’t—” 

“You failed because you couldn’t draw enough power to complete the transformation.” Minho doesn’t even bother to look in his direction, “It will work—I know it will.”

Understanding there’s no possible way to convince the witch, Mark looks to the werewolf instead, “I’m warning you, Changbin! If you go through with this, you will die!” 

“Don’t listen to him. Just drink the blood.” 

“No! For fucksake, this is suicide!” 

“Think of Jackson.” Minho murmurs to a torn Changbin, reaching across the altar to place a supportive hand on his shoulder. “Do it for him.” 

“Changbin, don’t—!” 

Mark watches in horror as Changbin throws back the mixture and downs its entirety in two gulps. His heart shatters like the glass vial the werewolf launches to the ground. He peers to his left, discovering the same shocked expressions across Youngjae, Jisung and Lia’s faces, and shakes his head in defeat as Lia begins to sob again. 

“Filia maximo… Filia maximo… Morsus, morsus—” The wind begins to screech as Minho chants, tearing at Mark’s hair and nudging at his clothes, as if pleading for him to stop the spell. But there’s nothing he can do. For once, Mark is powerless. “—morsus… Advenio donec duo est revertus mors…” With a loud scream, Changbin collapses to the earth. He squirms and writhes in pain underneath the flaming light of the moon—and Mark can’t help but attempt to block out the snaps of his cracking bones. 

The scene seems to last for hours until Changbin eventually grows silent. Mark takes the time to catch his breath, unable to control his lungs over the anxiety, fear and nausea lurking through his veins. He wants to look away from the still werewolf, but his gaze is as frozen as the rest of his body. 

His eyes burn with tears of rage—Changbin is dead. Another person died because of his own fucking stupidity. Mark should have known this would happen again. He should have stopped it. He should have—

His thoughts disappear as Changbin suddenly gasps for air. For a moment, he claws at the earth as if attempting to ground himself, before he finally, albeit shakily, climbs to his feet. Minho cautiously approaches the wolf, peering down at the shorter male with a gaze full of concern. 

“How do you feel?...” 

“I feel…” Changbin flexes his fingers again, before closing them into tight fists. The moonlight illuminates the crimson glow of his irises and the sharpness of his long, black fangs as he faces the witch—a malicious smirk spreading along his lips as he chuckles, “I feel like kicking some ancient Prime ass.” 

Mark can’t find the strength to watch anymore and allows his head to lower to the earth. Just before his eyes flutter shut, he swears he spots the movement of shadows from behind a nearby headstone. But before he can confirm his suspicions, his head takes one final spin and the world grows dark. 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

June 13th, 1769 — As much as I enjoy the atmosphere of Paris, I believe it is time to progress onto another part of the world. Some of the townsfolk are beginning to grow suspicious, considering I appear twenty years younger than my supposed age. Nevertheless, I will not mind a new start elsewhere. Jaebeom, on the other hand, will be a terror to convince. As he claimed last time I brought the idea to light, ‘There will never be a place more beautiful than Paris.’

But I know he is not through playing with his newest toy—Tzuyu. 

I set sail for the newlands tomorrow at sunrise. Whether my brother decides to accompany me or not is solely his preference. It would be pleasant to spend some time apart—to spend some time in peace—but I know, with many complaints and reluctance, Jaebeom will board the ship tomorrow. Wherever I traverse, he follows, and vice versa. We are family, after all. 

I will miss Notre Dame the most. I have grown used to visiting the Cathedral and repenting my wrongdoings to the high priest. Of course, I am forced to erase his memory of our talks each time, but it is nice to confess. It lifts a weight off of the shoulders, takes away a small portion of the guilt. If there is a god, he would never allow a creature like me to walk amongst his heavens—but at least I can salvage the lingering hope left inside of my soul. Speaking of hope, I thought I saw a woman that resembled Irene during my daily visit to the church. I find it amusing that after all these years, my heart continues to yearn for her presence. She was truly special—I wonder if she ever thought the same of me. 

I’ve heard some of the sailors refer to a shore in the newland that has yet to be claimed. It may be the perfect location for Jaebeom and I to start anew.  I can only hope it is as beautiful as people say. Maybe I will construct a place of worship as stunning as the Cathedral. 

Isn’t that ironic?... A vampire who believes in faith. 

Jinyoung finishes the entry with a sigh, welcoming the nostalgia that spreads through his thoughts like an old friend. It seems just yesterday that he recorded his first thoughts about the land that would become Moon Dye Bay. He shakes his head, carefully setting the old journal back on the bookshelf. 

He never did build that church. 

“Reminiscing again, brother?” The moment is ruined when a certain hybrid’s snicker reaches his ears. Jinyoung rolls his eyes as Jaebeom takes residence beside him, dragging his fingers along the spines of Jinyoung’s other diaries. “We did have some great times back in the 18th century… Remember our battles during the French Revolution? I rather enjoyed King Louis and Marie Antoinette’s executions.” 

“You enjoy anything that involves bloodshed.” 

“Don’t be so resentful, Jinyoungie. It’s not my fault that the queen had you in her interests.” 

Jinyoung shakes his head before retreating to his desk to fix himself a drink. “The woman was as shallow as a poor soul’s ego. She was taken with any man who’d pay her the time of day. It was a miracle her death came as quickly as it did.” 

“Careful there. You sound like me.” 

Jinyoung deliberately chooses not to respond to Jaebeom’s comment and proceeds to pour two glasses of bourbon. He ignores his companion’s wide smirk as he hands him one of the drinks. Both the vampire and the hybrid simultaneously take a sip, peering at one another over the rims of their cups. Jaebeom is the first to break the silence with a pleased inhale and a hum: 

“You returned pretty late last night. I hope you used protection during your time with (Y/N).” 

“Mind your tongue, hyung.” Jinyoung warns, “I brought (Y/N) to the hospital after the attack—I trust you took care of Tzuyu?” 

Jaebeom smirks. “Of course. She won’t be alive long enough to target your newest Maria Antonia again.” 

About to inhale another sip of his bourbon, Jinyoung pauses to mull over the answer. He lowers his glass to his side before delivering Jaebeom a confused expression and a murmured inquiry, “What do you mean she won’t be alive?” 

“Tzuyu and I got into an argument and, well, she pissed me off.” Jinyoung watches Jaebeom down the rest of his drink. 

“Please tell me you didn’t bite her, Jaebeom-hyung.” He curses at the widening of Jaebeom’s smirk, slamming his glass back down on his desk with enough force to crack its exterior. “When I told you to deal with her, I didn’t mean condemn her to a fate of pain. If you wished to kill her, you could have at least been merciful and done it quick.” 

“Last I checked, you said it yourself not to be kind.” Jinyoung follows Jaebeom as he pours himself another drink and collapses onto a brown, leather sofa. He tips his glass toward him with a smile before continuing, “I thought the punishment fit the crime, and we wouldn’t want to put helpless, human (Y/N) in danger again, would we?” 

“You turned it off, didn’t you?” Jinyoung realizes, “Does holding onto your humanity wound you that badly, hyung? That you have no choice but to wish it away?” 

“If I remember correctly, I’m not the only one that can’t hold onto their humanity… How many people did you kill in the ‘20s alone? One thousand? Maybe two?” 

Jinyoung shakes his head, “I’m not that person anymore.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” In the blink of an eye, Jaebeom is in front of Jinyoung—his glass in pieces on the floor beside him. He leans in until Jinyoung can taste the alcohol of his breath on his tongue, then whispers darkly, “You can lie to yourself all you fucking want, Jinyoung. But deep down, you’ll always know what you are… let’s just hope (Y/N) never finds out, hm?” 

At the mention of your name, Jinyoung’s anger expands. He suppresses the urge to take the table beside him and smash it over the hybrid’s head, and instead inhales a deep breath. Jaebeom is only trying to provoke him—and he refuses to be a pawn in his foolish games. 

“You will remember what it was like to feel human again.” Jinyoung sighs, “For your sake, I hope your remembrance comes sooner rather than later.” 

Jaebeom tsks, “Being human is overrated.” 

“He said the same thing about fate.” Both Jinyoung and Jaebeom whirl around at the appearance of a third voice. Jinyoung feels his blood begin to boil at the sight of the familiar vampire in the doorway, once again, suppressing his desire to launch a piece of furniture in her direction. “Ironically, fate and humanity are a package deal.” 

Jaebeom growls, “What the fuck are you doing here, Tzuyu?” 

“I came to try and convince you to give me your blood.” Tzuyu coughs, and Jinyoung swears he can hear the rattle of her bones. “But judging by your attitude, that’s obviously going to be harder than I thought.” 

“You have courage for showing your face again.” Jinyoung crosses his arms with a dark hum, “Especially so soon after you nearly killed (Y/N).”

“It wasn’t my intention to kill her. I just wanted to send a message.” 

“Is that so?” With a malicious glare, Jinyoung steps forward and tilts his head toward the vampire, “And what kind of message was that?” 

“For (Y/N) to stay away from Jaebeom.” Another violent cough wracks through Tzuyu’s thin form, causing a light stream of blood to splatter from her lips. She wipes her mouth with a ragged breath before continuing, “Look, I did it for her own good. We all know his track record at keeping humans alive.” 

“You did it to protect her!?” Jaebeom cackles, “Wow! That’s fucking priceless!” 

“Say what you will, you both know I’m right.” Tzuyu says, propping herself up against a nearby bookshelf. “It’s either she ends up dead or is turned into a vampire—then again, there’s not much of a difference between the two, is there?” 

“I would die before I allow (Y/N) to come to any harm.” 

“The only issue with that is you can’t die, Jinyoung.” Jinyoung doesn’t take his eyes off Tzuyu as she grabs a bottle of brandy from the top shelf. It takes her literal seconds to unscrew the cap and down a good portion of the container. She licks her lips and says, “I’m sorry I attacked (Y/N), okay? I went too far. I won’t do it again.” 

“You think an apology is enough to save your life?” Jaebeom snickers before snatching the alcohol from the vampire, “Think again, sweetheart.” 

“What do you want from me, Jaebeom? Does seeing me die a slow, painful death bring you joy?” 

He shrugs, “No one mourns for the wicked.” 

“Is he always this much of an asshole?” 

Jinyoung chuckles, “Pretty much.” 

“Great.” The vampire breathes out a sigh and cards her fingers through her hair. After a brief moment of silence, she directs her attention back to Jaebeom and pleads—her voice packed with desperation and fear, “What can I do to convince you to let me live? Please, Jaebeom… I don’t want to die.” 

“You should have thought about that before you touched what I told you not to.” Jinyoung remains quiet as Jaebeom lifts a hand to grasp Tzuyu’s jaw. The dying visitor remains unphased, proceeding to glare at the hybrid with hateful, yet oddly sorrowful eyes. “I suggest you show yourself out before I end your life sooner.” 

“You’re going to lose everything one of these days, Jaebeom.” Tzuyu shakes her head sadly, wiping away a layer of cold sweat from her forehead. “You’re going to lose everyone, even your brother, and you’re going to be alone. For an eternity.” 

“Save the monologue.” Jaebeom waves dismissively, taking a sip of the brandy before returning it back to its shelf. “Petty isn’t a good look for you, baby.” 

“Fuck you, Jaebeom.” Tzuyu goes to stomp out the door, but something—someone blocks her path. The atmosphere changes when Jinyoung notices your panicked form, practically gasping for air and cross-eyed, standing in the doorway. He immediately speeds to your side without hesitation, grasping your hands in hopes to ground you. 

He stares into your eyes, “What is it, (Y/N)? What’s wrong?” 

“You and Jaebeom have to get the hell out of here! Right now!” 

Jaebeom shakes his head in confusion, “What the hell are you talking about?” 

“I don’t know what exactly happened but Minho turned Changbin into this dark werewolf creature or-or something… I do know, however, that Changbin is on his way right now to kill you both.” Jinyoung steps back at the intensity of your explanation, unable to think of a response over the roar of his thoughts. Through his peripheral vision, he can spot the same type of speechlessness across Jaebeom’s face. 

Not again… 

“That’s stupid… You realize nothing can kill them, right?” Tzuyu scoffs. 

“This is different.” You urge, “I saw Changbin—he wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before… The spell that Minho used, it was-was—” 

“Dark magic.” Jinyoung finishes blankly, “The spell was dark magic.” 

“Yes… which means you and Jaebeom need to leave town as fast as you possibly can before—” 

“I don’t think anyone is going anywhere, (Y/N).” Jinyoung’s entire body grows stiff as a new voice echoes throughout the study. He cautiously turns his head, discovering none other than the young werewolf in question resting among the shadows. His eye also catches the open window a few inches away, and he curses himself for ever wanting to feel the nightly draft. 

Changbin’s smirk is as dark as his eyes. 

“What?... Not going to offer me a drink?” 

☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

“(Y/N)! Get out of here! Now!” Jaebeom hears Jinyoung scream as the werewolf suddenly launches forward, knocking his brother into the bookshelf behind him. The wood completely splinters beneath the impact, raining down an array of books and planks on Jinyoung’s body. Changbin turns to Jaebeom next, but the hybrid is ready—and pissed off. 

Jaebeom speeds toward the intruder and delivers a swift kick to the gut. Changbin flies back at the force, crashing back through the window with a loud growl. Sensing the urgency in time, Jaebeom quickly throws Jinyoung’s immobile body over his shoulder and urges both you and Tzuyu out the study door. 

“Come on! We gotta go!” 

“Jaebeom! What the hell is happening!?” He ignores Tzuyu’s fearful ask and proceeds to lug Jinyoung through the maze of hallways and down the staircase, you and the female vampire hot on his heels. He doesn’t know exactly where he’s going, but he makes his way to the parlor where he props Jinyoung up against a nearby chair before turning to you: 

“You need to leave. I will deal with this.” 

“No way. I’m not going anywhere.” Jaebeom curses your stubbornness inside his head, sending a stern glare in your direction. Your expression remains fixated, and he can’t help but wish your presence in any other situation but now. 

“I can’t protect you right now—” 

“And I can’t sit back and watch you get yourselves killed!” You shake your head indignantly, “I’m staying!” 

“Fucking hell, (Y/N)! Get your ass out that door before I throw you out myself!” 

“Jaebeom, watch out!” At Tzuyu’s cue, a wooden branch comes soaring in through the window. Jaebeom immediately throws himself against you, effectively forcing your body to the ground to dodge the projectile. He can feel your fear through the trembling of your limbs and hurried breaths, but it only brings him more determination to tear apart his attacker. 

He shakes his head in surrender, “You stay on the fucking ground, understand? Don’t you fucking dare move a muscle.” He doesn’t bother to wait for a response and pushes himself back to his feet. 

Tzuyu is huddled in a corner, and Jinyoung has yet to awaken from his crash landing back in the study. Jaebeom tries to focus his senses on detecting the werewolf, but he can’t seem to hear anything past the beating of his own heart. He carefully makes his way over to the incapacitated vampire, attempting to force him back to consciousness. 

“Now is really not the time for a fucking nap, Jinyoung.” He hisses, “I swear to god, if I have to save your ass one more time—” Another wave of tree branches come crashing through the windows. Unfortunately, Jaebeom is not as quick and one catches his shoulder at just the right angle. He feels the wood sink into his flesh, painfully carving into his bones. With a low groan, Jaebeom manages to grab the makeshift stake and remove it in one hefty pull. 

He tosses it away with a yell, “You gonna hide like a little bitch!? Or are you gonna come out and fight like a man!?” 

“Be careful what you wish for, asshole!” Jaebeom turns just in time to discover the werewolf emerging from a shattered window. His blood boils when he notices the sadistic grin along the young kid’s face—he wonders how those teeth will look strewn across the parlor floor. 

Changbin comes at him fast, much faster than Jaebeom could have predicted. He manages to dodge a set of jabs, but he’s not so lucky when Changbin lands a heavy hit against the side of his face. Pain erupts through his jaw as he collapses to the floor, but Jaebeom doesn’t have the chance to dwell over it and rolls out of the way just as the werewolf attempts to stomp his nose. 

Jaebeom tries to speed away again, but like before, his counterpart is faster. Changbin manages to force him to the floor for a second time, pinning his body down with his own. Horrified, the hybrid watches as the werewolf’s eyes glow blood red and large, pitch black fangs emerge past his parted lips. Once again, he attempts to break free, but it’s no use—Changbin is too strong. 

Just when he believes the wolf’s fangs are going to sink into his neck, another form knocks Changbin away. Jaebeom hurriedly props himself on his arms in time to watch Tzuyu deliver a series of hits and kicks to the perpetrator, eventually slamming his head into a nearby armoire. Taking advantage of the moment, she turns from Changbin to Jaebeom instead: 

“Grab Jinyoung and (Y/N) and run!” She screams, “Get the hell of here!” 

Unable to move, Jaebeom remains as Tzuyu attempts to fight off the wolf. But with the combination of his ultimate strength and her weakness from Jaebeom’s venom, her defeat is inevitable. He watches in terror as Changbin sinks his teeth into the vampire’s arm before yanking her head forward and effectively snapping her neck. Jaebeom feels his insides practically soar with rage when the attacker tosses a comatose Tzuyu across the room like a useless toy. 

“I’ll kill you…” He sneers, allowing his own supernatural features to overtake his face. “I’ll fucking kill you…” 

Changbin shakes his head with a smirk, “I’d like to see you try.” 

Using the little agility he has left, Jaebeom grabs one of the branches and speeds toward the wolf. Due to Changbin’s movements, he misses his chest, but manages to stab the weapon in his stomach. Changbin releases a pained groan, allowing Jaebeom to take advantage of his surprise and land another array of uppercuts to his face. Just when he finally thinks he has the upper hand, his opponent blocks one of his hits and pins him against a wall with a hand around his throat. 

“Any last words, Prime?”

“You really think you can kill me?” Jaebeom growls, squirming against Changbin’s hold. 

“I know I can… Have fun rotting in Hell—fuck!” 

Shock spills through Jaebeom’s veins as the point of branch suddenly appears through the center of the wolf’s chest, splattering red across both of their bodies. Changbin’s grip releases, allowing the hybrid to quickly speed out of his reach. Once he’s a safe distances away, Jaebeom looks to his savior, discovering the one person he never expected to see—

You stand over Changbin’s body—chest heaving and bloodied hands trembling. Your eyes are glassy when Jaebeom meets your gaze, and for some reason, he feels the urge to go and pull your form into a tight embrace. Your voice, however, returns his mind to reality: 

“Did I… Did I kill him?” 

“I don’t think so.” Jaebeom answers, nursing his wound with his own shaky fingers. “We need to get out of here—get somewhere safe.” 

“Good idea.” You trudge over to where Jinyoung is still unconsciously laid across the chair. Jaebeom follows your lead and hurries over to a lifeless Tzuyu. “I know somewhere we can go… but I don’t think you’re going to like it.” 

“(Y/N)... There is an immortal, unkillable super wolf out to kill me and my brother currently in my living room…”  He snorts, maneuvering Tzuyu’s body into one arm and assisting you and Jinyoung with the other. 

“Trust me, anywhere is a hell of a lot better than here…”

[kaisa-ryo]

Inumaki Toge NSFW Alphabet

Warning: English isn't my native language!

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*

A = Aftercare (What he likes after sex)

Fingering your hair is his favorite pastime. It doesn't matter if they are short or long, light or dark, he just loves the combination of your scent and your favorite shampoo. Yes. It is no less pleasant for him to draw in their aroma, so Inumaki always bumps into the top of your head and falls asleep, feeling this native smell. This is probably why he often dreams with your participation.

B = Body part (His favorite body part)

Hair. It is obvious.

How he is fascinated by the sight when they develop so beautifully in the wind, how the moonlight pours into them, and how incredibly alluring any touch seems to be. It's like teasing a lover by flattering his imagination. But damn it, when you give him full control over them, he feels great delight. Toge can spend hours doing your hair or putting it in a ponytail, admiring your bare neck, guessing the thoughts behind your back.

— And if we have a girl, will you also braid her hair?

You asked with a slight laugh.

— Salmon! Salmon!

C = Cum (Everything about sperm)

Most often in a condom.

Sometimes, of course, on one of the zones of your body, but with your permission. Because of the prices and the need to save money, you can certainly not copulate every day, but you want to get as much pleasure from the process as possible. Speaking specifically about you, then you do not mind that he came inside. The main thing is to properly configure yourself and him.

D = Dirty secret

He is in no other way connected with his kink, which you will learn about a little later.

When you're in the shower or away from the dorm, he takes your headphones and licks the earwax off. Yes, you heard right.

When you were walking with a friend, she couldn't stop complaining for ten minutes that her headphones need to be constantly cleaned, otherwise any music is hard to hear. You, of course, were surprised not to answer her. You have a slightly different thought - why have you never noticed your headphones are dirty? Anyway, you thought you were just lucky with them.

E = Experience

Small, but no less significant.

Watching porn to completely satisfy you seemed insufficient to him. Therefore, in order to have at least some idea of ​​the peculiarities of the female body, he watched how it moves, studied gestures, facial expressions and even intonation, trying to make out what exactly you can get aroused from. The peculiarity was that in real life, body movements and their consequences are never as natural and simple as on a phone screen. For example, when you suck on him, his throat may dry out, from which you ask him to bring a glass of water. Or when you fuck for too long, and neither of you ever experienced an orgasm (this also happens), you just lie down on the bed, not even thinking that it is either of you. Simply because you are just tired.

In general, you both learn something new in sexual relations and experience new sensations almost every intercourse.

F = Favorite position

Most of all he prefers those in which no special effort is needed. For example missionary or "spoons". They do not require any incredible gymnastic skills and still allow you to conserve energy.

A special title is occupied by the pose from behind, where you put a pillow under the pelvis. A huge plus is that such a pose serves for "deeper penetration", so you both experience the same sensations of bliss: you are all Inumaki inside yourself, and he is your incomparable warmth and flesh.

G = Goofy (Serious at this moment?)

Undoubtedly.

We can say that he simply does not know how to fool around. He is serious and subtle to such an extent that even joking flirting with him seems a kind of perversion.

H = Hair (Is the hair okay?)

Frankly, you are not even sure that he has something growing there. But the whole secret is that he tries to pay as much attention to the groin area as possible. This is the only place that, perhaps, only you can see. It is worth paying special attention to it, isn't it?

I = Intimacy (Romance)

This is mainly a manifestation of material or spiritual signs. Moreover, the most common ones, for example, an offer to share food, hold the door, straighten the curls that have come out of his hair .., but he does it with such a disinterested and sincere expression that it immediately becomes clear that this is true love based on affection.

Perhaps to some extent this is just a game of contrasts, the goal of which is to win your heart completely and completely, but unfeigned attention forces it to be sincere. In fact, there is no need for him to play these dirty games, because he has long ago reached you in all his perfection, and, in fact, remains the dearest person for you.

J = Jack off (masturbation)

It happens.

It does not matter because of what exactly: your naked, half-naked body, clothes ..., absolutely everything drenches him from head to toe.

The heart is pounding like mad, there is a pleasant tickling in the stomach, breathing quickens, the eyelids begin to drop from such a pressure of mixed, but clearly pleasant feelings. The hand unauthorizedly reaches down to the pants and continues to rub the tip until all the precum has flowed out. Trembling muffled moans hammer into his ears, mixing with yours, which sound in his sexual fantasies.

Once you caught him doing this, but fortunately, you didn't even understand that he was masturbating then.

K = Kink

Have you ever seen people lick their partners' ears? I hasten to congratulate (or upset), Inumaki is one of them.

During sex, he always starts with this - licking and nibbling your ears. Starting from the scaphoid fossa and ending with the earlobe. Later, he will smoothly move to a climax, ending with the fact that he learns with the language more internal parts, like a storm a passage to the eardrums.

The more you are aroused by the rhythmic movement of his tongue, the more the waves of sexual energy spread throughout your body. Eventually you will begin to succumb to such unusual caresses.

L = Location (Favorite places to have sex)

Any where you are alone. The most commonplace are the kitchen table and bed. But his favorite is the bath.

Here you are sitting, huddled close to each other, then Inumaki for no reason, for no reason begins to caress you. Under the water, everything seems so sharp and shameless that you will not immediately understand whether you are really flowing or whether it is ordinary water. Plus, the bath has an advantage. It lies in the fact that you do not need to go to the shower after sex to put yourself in order, because you are already in the shower!

Toge knows how exhausted you are, so he will definitely go over your whole body with a washcloth, and this, believe me, will be extremely pleasant. Then you just fall asleep on his chest while he peers into your face, tickling him from time to time with the touches of soft fingers.

M = Motivation

Your persistence

He gets maddened by the way you touch and feel his torso as he stands with his back to you. He feels how your hand moves to his chest, and each time he moans with delight, as if he was touching your tender body, not you. And you slowly and carefully examine its relief, running your fingers into your pants and touching a tense member. Oh, how you smile in response to his sighs and groans. What he thinks about you at this moment, even scary to imagine. Do you want to know his thoughts? You can do this to the fullest while he stands in front of the mirror and watches how you feel his body, looking at his face, which he is diligently trying to hide. But nothing comes of it, because you come closer to his ear and whisper: "Close your eyes ..." He obediently closes, and you passionately lick his neck, and he again moans with bliss. Damn right, he needs it right now.

N = No (Which will not do)

Something that will make you uncomfortable.

Inumaki is a person who truly wants love. It is on this that all his thoughts, plans, desires are concentrated. But not on using your passion as a tool to achieve sexual pleasure. If he ever hurts you or loses you altogether, then most likely he will not find an object for his love and will remain empty and timid until the end of his days. And this will be the saddest thing in his life. That is why he wants to give you what you need in order to receive your love in the maximum amount,

O = Oral (Likes to receive or to give)

He tries with all his might to show that the guy is by nature a gentleman and idealist, but deep down he wants to get as much from you as possible. To do this, he tries to get all the pleasure from just one of your vulgar posture or appearance, the whole charm of which lies in the fact that he seems to be a normal action that does not cause orgasm even in the most dissolute, but still can cause something in between huge pleasure and deep shock. Such a difficult game, however, quite often happens if the guy realizes that you are completely open to his reach. And someday he will tell you about it, and you will probably laugh at it.

P = Pace

Able to suddenly accelerate, forcing you to take his fingers into your mouth. No matter how much you fuck, it will always come as a surprise to you, since a fast pace can appear at any moment, even at the very beginning.

Q = Quickie

Changeable. He chooses when he should accelerate. Even if there is nothing left to your general orgasm, it may slow down, on purpose, so that you begin to sigh heavily and beg to "be faster."

R = Risk (Ready to experiment)

He does not like to talk about it, so, most likely, he is not ready. Inumaki is not afraid that everything will go through the same place as to harm you.

If he ever gets such an opportunity, he will show the cross with his hands. Even if somewhere in the depths of his soul he wants to do this, he will mentally slap himself in the face and say “no” to himself several times.

Yes, you are a very active person and you will always look for something new in order to try it soon, for which he fell in love with you. From the part. But at the same time, the guy knows very well that if something goes wrong, it will already be his fault that he did not have time to change his mind and refuse in time.

S = Stamina

On average, a couple of rounds are enough for him, and not to get tired, but to force your body to produce fluid. But this art is so subtle that it takes deep and long practice to master it. But Toge was able to "develop his own style" based solely on you. He knew by heart your movements, desires, weaknesses ... let's say, perfectly mastered your personal body language. And it does not take him long to bring you to the peak of pleasure.

T = Toys

Not an amateur.

When you offered him one just for a change, he frowned and shook his head. He does not consider it dirty, rather strange and completely unnecessary. He has a bad attitude not only to toys. When he first saw one of the varieties of BDSM, he reacted in much the same way.

U = Unfair (Does he like to tease)

Watching you wriggle with the desire for him to fuck your convulsing hole must be an incredibly exciting sight for him. Especially when you, wagging your hips, cum on his fingers, so that he immediately licks your lubricant dry. And you, mixed with an incredible sense of bliss, fuck his cock until you are exhausted, because this is the only way to somehow thank him for the affection.

Preludes are what Inumaki is really good at.

V = Volume (How loud is it)

Quite loud. For him, this is such a small complex that he tries to hide, biting your shoulders and collarbones, in order to drown out his own groan at least a little. But you think it's cute and you have already told him about it more than once, but he still continues to be embarrassed by his own voice. Perhaps he himself is embarrassed to hear the loud sounds that he is capable of making, because most of the time he is quiet as a mouse. But despite this, he is pleased that you, unlike him, do not take it as something informal or out of the ordinary.

W = Wild card (Random headcanon)

That night you fucked for quite a long period of time, because you, apparently, under the influence of your teenage hormones, decided to spend the whole day on how to drive him crazy with all the excitements that you know how to drink with the pathogen dissolved in water. You no longer remember what exactly your vicious hormones wanted: extra attention or the knowledge of what his maximum could be. In any case, you didn’t regret doing it.

Due to this, you guys had to sleep three hours more than you need to. As a result, both were late for training.

Who knew that Satoru Gojo was peeking into students' rooms !? Although it was obvious, nobody really thought about it.

— Hmm. What are all the same infinite adolescents are. Apparently I underestimated them. - picking up the used condom from the floor and grinning happily Gojo said.

Since then, the teacher from time to time, with an already annoying smile from her endless amount, glanced at you. But knowing that one person knew about it, it was already impossible to say for sure that someone else would not know about it either. In the end, secrets were useless to hide. Sooner or later, everyone would look askance at you. After all, an interesting couple, a strong shaman and a little vulgarity.

X = X-ray (What's under the clothes)

13 cm, during erection ± 0.5

Y = Yearning (How high is the sex drive)

I will not deny that Toge finds you sexually attractive. Yes, he would like to be alone with you as much as possible. He knows that in a way he considers you to be his weakness. He understands that you, like a fallen star, can ignite in him not only passion, but also a thirst for euphoria. But Toge has no doubt that you are in the hands of someone who can protect you. Even from myself.

Sex is a good solution to remind you that both of you can be more vulnerable to each other, that you both have strengths and weaknesses, that one of you can show more than if he was like an open book. And, undoubtedly, each of you wants to experience this feeling at least once a week. But you and Inumaki do not forget that everything has its own measure. I have long been aware that soon frequent sex can affect your contraception, your health and sincerity (you can forget why you are doing all this). And in general, there is no need to do this too often in your relationship. Realism, what else to add?

± 5/10

Z = Zzz (How quickly falls asleep)

It depends on how much the process exhausted him. As already mentioned, his endurance is much higher than, for example, yours. Therefore, for some indefinite rest of the time, he will look at your relaxed face, tuck a lock of hair behind your ear or stroke your bare shoulder. If your body decides to turn its back on it, it is unlikely that it will immediately stop touching you. Only after his hands pass from your shoulders to your hips and back, he will want to kiss you on the neck or on the cheek. And then he can easily make your body return to its previous position in order to spend several hours in an intoxicating bliss.

☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*

[franklymyqueeridontgiveadamn]

update: good news guys, the film industry is finally starting to figure out that queer people want fluffy Christmas romcoms that aren’t centered on homophobia and coming out! “The Christmas Setup” is still my favorite of this category, but here are more:

The Holiday Sitter (2022) A yuppie with an aversion to commitment gets roped into watching his niece and nephew right before Christmas, and the cute guy next door ends up helping him out as an “uncle consultant.” Extremely Hallmark, but it does a good job of what it’s trying to do, and you can tell real queer people were involved in making it. Also features a heterosexual couple and their adopted kids depicted as a completely normal and valid family configuration with no adoption-specific angst, which isn’t too common.

Season of Love (2019) Three interlocking stories about sapphic couples, all young and beautiful and thin and trendy: an almost-bride left at the altar and her almost-husband’s sister, a brewery owner prepping for a New Year’s Eve grand opening and a Deaf welder working on the construction, and a shy busker afraid to sing along to her guitar and her girlfriend who takes a video of her singing without consent and posts it online, which is the part of this movie I liked least. But overall it’s well-done, I liked how the storylines interacted with each other.

Under the Christmas Tree (2021) A State of Maine government representative finds the perfect tree to use as the official state tree, but it’s on private property, and the Christmas-knickknack-selling owner (in the process of taking over the business from her retiring parents) is not up for relinquishing it. Also they end up as a team in a gingerbread house competition. The plot isn’t great, but the chemistry is, and it features a charming bakery and the guy who plays the dad in Veronica Mars.

Dashing in December (2020) and Christmas at the Ranch (2021) A successful urban professional comes home to the family ranch, which is struggling to stay afloat despite a heartwarming hayride business, and tries to convince the rest of the family to sell, but the older female relative running the place hired a hot ranch hand three years ago (whom they hadn’t met because they’ve been too busy being professional and successful in the city) and the hot ranch hand loves the place enough to convince them that instead of selling they should use their professional connections to rebrand the business. Yes, this is the plot of TWO queer Christmas movies that came out a year apart. Christmas at the Ranch is lesbians, better at character dynamics and chemistry, and has a There Was Only One Bed moment; Dashing in December is two guys, has Andie MacDowell as the mom, and the writing is a bit sharper, but I found the yuppie son too much of a dick to deserve his charismatic Colombian-American love interest. (Content note: both have dead-parent backstories prominent in the emotional narratives.)

Friends & Family Christmas (2023) I think this is Hallmark’s attempt at incorporating a queer found-family vibe? It still has the parents involved, but they visit their daughter in the city instead of the other way around, and there’s an artsy community studio type place with lots of queer folks. Anyway, it’s still Hallmark, which means there’s a partner-track lawyer and a down-to-earth artist and well-meaning nosy parents and a VERY contrived fake-dating plot. Fluffy, not too substantial but fun.

Queer Christmas movie recs

Breakfast with Scot (2007) An absolutely delightful feel-good movie about a retired NHL player and his partner reluctantly taking in an effeminate boy they are extremely not equipped to handle, and eventually becoming a family. One of my favorite movies of all time. Content notes: homophobia, sexism, mild violence, bullying, brief vomit, shitty parenting but I promise they learn their lesson.

The Christmas Setup (2020) The first gay Lifetime Christmas movie, and it's exactly what you'd expect based on that. Big-city attorney visits his hometown for Christmas, falls for his high school crush, saves the beloved local train station from demolition. There's a really sweet element of queer history involved, and Fran Drescher is great as the nosy matchmaking mom. Content notes: dead dad backstory, hilariously inaccurate depiction of computer algorithms.

Single All The Way (2021) Another home-for-the-holidays romcom with a nosy matchmaking family, this one with a fake-dating premise and a Black love interest. Jennifer Coolidge makes a good kooky aunt, and the main character's love of plants is very true to the queer experience. Content notes: infidelity (not committed by the main characters), looks like I didn't take notes on this one while I was watching so there might be more I'm not remembering but nothing too major.

Carol (2015) Oscarbait '50s period drama with Rooney Mara as a young saleswoman and Cate Blanchett as an older divorcee. I actually didn't love this one the first time I saw it, but last year I got an urge to watch it again and if you're in the mood for cinematic eyefucking it will come through for you on that front. It's a little bit of a downer, lots of homophobia and societal obstacles and ennui, but it's a very pretty film with a... maybe not happy, but at least cautiously optimistic ending. Content notes: homophobia, custody conflict, blackmail, mentions of infidelity.

Happiest Season (2020) I do recommend this movie BUT you gotta go into it with the right expectations. It was billed as a feel-good Christmas romance and it is not that! It's the coming-out story of a closeted lesbian (Mackenzie Davis) who treats her wonderful girlfriend (Kristen Stewart) like crap instead of telling her family they're dating, and you will come out of it screaming about how the wonderful girlfriend should have ended up with Aubrey Plaza's character (which, by the way, Aubrey Plaza wholeheartedly agrees with at 3:36 of this video). But it's well-made, it's really funny, there are a lot of good characters and good moments—it's worth watching as long as you know what you're getting into. Content notes: homophobia, bullying of an autistic-coded character, and honestly I think a lot of the shit Mackenzie Davis's character pulls counts as emotional abuse.

Tangerine (2015) A low-budget movie filmed entirely on iPhones, set in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, centering around a day in the life of two trans sex workers of color. Rough and gritty, hysterically funny, a little dark at times but not tragic. Content notes: transphobia, lots of infidelity, racism/slurs, mild violence, drugs, one very brief scene involving the death of a pet (not shown).

[weatherman667]

Star Wars:  Republic Commando

This was first released for the PS2, which needs a lot of elaboration.

The PS2 era was the twilight of Lucasarts.

Lucasarts used to be one of the best video game producers in the world, and then they decided to get heavy handed with it.  Lucasarts games became more and more normie, pedestrian, as Star Wars became more and more centralized.

The other PS2 Star Wars games were... underwhelming.  They were fun for a while, but did not really add anything to the franchise.  Bounty Hunter and Clone Wars weren’t X-wing/TIE Fighter and Dark Forces I / II

So, my fears for Republican Commando were:

Ehn

Squad Command wasn’t up to snuff.

And, to be fair, squad command STILL isn’t up to snuff.  This is because real-world soldiers are taught to understand a dozen hand signals that can be used in conjunction, to add up extremely complex maneuvers.  Soldiers learn to fight together, and to make complex maneuvers with simple, often single word commands.  This is extremely hard to make in a video game.

But, Republic Commando is extremely linear, and could, in theory, just code it level by level.

But, for whatever reason, no video game has ever actually talked to real soldiers to find out how soldier commands operate.

Republic Commando simplifies this as much as possible, to the point you just need to point and click the action button, making it almost completely neutral.

And to be completely fair, PS2 didn’t have ANY good FPS’s.  We’re lucky they figured out dual-sticks.

The real sin of Republic Command is that it forgets everything Dark Forces did for First Person Shooters... almost.

A number of the mechanics used in Republic Commando were used in Dark Forces and Jedi Knight, and used BETTER.

Nothing like franchises taking steps back.

But, again, this is more an annoyance than anything else.  To get to the real sin we need “elites”.

Just think about every game that thinks they are special when they give a big guy armour and a gatling gun.  Half-life, which copied a lot of it’s elements from Dark Forces, used a much better firearm combat engine.  A good firearm combat engine uses accuracy as the limiting factor, rather than health.  The “elite” enemies require a ridiculous stream of fire to take down, which wouldn’t be a problem if they didn’t surround them by a dozen other enemies.

Usual video game bullshit.

Except with the squad, they will normally die before you do, and you need the whole squad’s firepower to take down the “elites”.  So, it adds annoying escort mission to the basic configuration.

They try to be realistic, and add an interchangeable weapon system, until you realize you are replacing 80% of the weapon whenever you want to change weapons.

The main mode are Blaster, which works like the E-11 blaster rifle from Dark Forces, EXCEPT in Jedi Knight you get an ungraded sight.  When you use the upgraded sight with the stock folded out, you get a fantastic marksman rifle.  This makes the E-11 one of the best fictional firearms every created.

But, yeah, this is BEFORE the Galactic Civil War, so you can’t use the E-11.  What we could do is give Sev a battle rifle.  When used on automatic it has a slower cycle rate, but higher specific damage.  This gives it much better armour penetration, and when you site him in a vantage point, he turns it on, ups the power of a single shot to 3x, (like the E-11 did), and makes slower, more accurate shots.

Then, for the explosives expert, give him a, get this, underbody grenade launcher.

Okay, but, what if you want to play as the sniper?

Valid point.  Valid point.  Except for Killzone, which released before Republic Commando, had a similar squad, and let you just play as whatever character you wanted.  This would make even more sense in Republic Commando, as one of the tool tips explains why you can’t just pick up enemy weapons and use them.

Enemies are actually trained to use their weapons, and you aren’t going to become an instant expert.  Even better, as enemies in Republic Commando aren’t Human, and don’t have weapons designed to be used by Humans.

The one aspect it did seem to carry over form Dark Forces was 3D movement.  You start the game on Geonosis, and the Geonosians can fly, and will use it to maneuver into better positions to fight you.  Except they don’t, they just use it to swarm you.  But, still, how many first person shooters use flying enemies?

Don’t let all of this rambling fool you, Republic Commando is still a fun game.

[architectuul]

Sail Hejduk, Sail!

The Unfolding Pavilion is an expanding curatorial project that pops-up in the occasion of major architecture events, with an exhibition featuring each time a different theme inspired by the space it occupies, made of commissioned original works that react to it as well as to its cultural and historic background.

Unfolding Pavilion: Rituals of Solitude, 17th Venice Architecture Biennale. | Photo © Marialuisa Montanari / Unfolding Pavilion

In its first edition, the Unfolding Pavilion entered Ignazio Gardella’s Casa alle Zattere on the occasion of the 15th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia, transforming one of its apartments in a temporary gallery of installations made by some of the most unique authors of architecture-related curated archives. In its second edition, it entered Gino Valle’s Giudecca Social Housing on the occasion of the vernissage of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia. In order to do so, it refurbished one of its empty dwellings to convert it into a temporary gallery of works, and use the common spaces of the complex as the poetic backdrop for a three days-long program of public events. 

The Unfolding Pavilion 2021 was this year housed inside of the belly of “Il Nuovo Trionfo” - the last authentic Venetian trabaccolo, moored at Punta della Dogana. | Photo © Travelscapes

In this year's third edition, the Unfolding Pavilion popped-up on the occasion of the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia, inside of the belly of an old mercantile sailboat - a trabaccolo - moored at Punta della Dogana. The trabaccolo once belonged to Countess Luisa Albertina di Tesserata: an eccentric art collector who in the 1970s commissioned the construction, on a small island of the Venetian archipelago she owned, of an almost exact replica of an unrealised project by John Hejduk: the House for the Inhabitant who Refused to Participate. Unfortunately, the house was demolished in December 2020.

Artist impression of the House of Contessa Luisa Albertina di Tesserata. | Digital drawing © Giovanni Benedetti / Unfolding Pavilion

The curators Daniel Tudor Munteanu and Davide Tommaso Ferrando came to know about the house by pure chance, and decided to organise an exhibition inside of its spaces. An agreement was made with the current owners of the island, who were about to demolish the house in order to build a luxury glamping facility in its stead: the house could be temporarily occupied for artistic purposes, but no images of the event were to be published before the demolition took place. It is so that, in the summer of 2020, twelve architects and scholars were invited to spend one week of residency locked inside the replica of John Hejduk’s house. One per room. Each room was equipped with only one piece of furniture, which they couldn't choose. The outcome of the one-week residency were twelve site-specific works dealing with issues of privacy, domesticity and isolation. Rituals of Solitude, the 2021 edition of the Unfolding Pavilion, is the first documentation of the installations made by the twelve contributors during their one-week residency.

---

What is the Unfolding Pavilion presenting?

Daniel Tudor Munteanu: The Unfolding Pavilion is always experimenting. We ask ourselves every time what is an (architecture) exhibition and how we can transcend the simplistic format of displaying representations of architecture in neutral white cube galleries. We tried every time to create special experiences for the visitors: such as the experience of being the first people to enter a famous work of architecture, like we did in Ignazio Gardella’s Casa alle Zattere, or the experience of being part of a project that leaves a legacy like we did in Gino Valle’s social housing. While looking for a venue for this year’s edition of Unfolding Pavilion we wanted to explore more into the sensorial aspect of such experiences. Arranging an exhibition inside the belly of an old boat was quite a fascinating idea. A dark, extremely narrow space that smells heavily of petrol and is shaking from the waves of the Grand Canal.

The Unfolding Pavilion at Punta della Dogana. | Photo © Stefano Di Corato, atelier XYZ / Unfolding Pavilion

Davide Tommaso Ferrando: Daniel talked about the sensorial part, but there is also an intellectual dimension to it, where we are constantly trying to put in question what an architectural exhibition is. The fact that we don’t choose white boxes is not simply because of the kind of atmosphere of the white box but is really to test the configuration of what an exhibition space can be and what it produces. So we never know what the final outcome will be. Several things that are discovered during the process can become the most important points of the project, so we really engage with reality that is experimental every single time. And then regarding the mediatic side of it, from the moment that we discovered the story of this boat by having an informal conversation with Hesperia Iliadou, we immediately understood that this was the perfect location for an exhibition. Full of problems but a memorable event for the visitors.

What is the motivation behind the whole project?

DTM: It is a way to organize an independent project in the context of big institutions. The Unfolding Pavilion is not related to any institution, so we have complete freedom, which is extremely important for us. We engage into a dialogue about what the institution of the Biennale is and how it functions, and we establish a love-hate relationship with it. We acknowledge the importance of this event in gathering visitors from all over the world, this is the ‘love’ aspect, but there is also the ‘hate’ aspect of the big, often menacing, economic apparatus of the Biennale.  

DTF: Each year there are very specific conditions under which we operate and we engage critically with. The first year the condition was the budget as we didn’t have any sponsors we created everything with a total budget of 2000 EUR from our pockets, 1000 each. By choosing not to enter the specific trajectory of investing 30.000 or more money we needed to find another way to solve the problem. The second year we agreed with the city council that we would refurbish one apartment of the housing complex in Giudecca, which we did with a sponsorship from Innsbruck University plus our free engagement. The way me and Daniel are operating is quite consistent, we both started to work independently on our critical projects online on our platforms of communications. We transferred the way of working to the production of architectural exhibitions and we still work in the same way as we both started separately.

Sketches of the Exhibition Design for the Unfolding Pavilion 2021 | Drawing © ErranteArchitetture / Unfolding Pavilion

DTM: Regarding the institutional critique, as Davide said, in the first edition we reacted to the budget that is associated with making a pavilion in Venice and we defined the rule that we would deal with only one percent of the regular budget (which is about 200.000 EUR), so we made an exhibition with a budget of 2.000 EUR. In the second edition, we consumed almost the entire budget for refurbishing our temporary exhibition space - the apartment in Giudecca - and hence making it again available as a social housing unit for a new family. The ‘Architectural Review’ recently critiqued the fact that an extreme amount of resources go into building these temporary exhibitions for the Biennale, which have a carbon footprint quite disproportionate to their lifespan. For the third edition we asked ourselves - do we consider it a good way of practice to build up an exhibition that lives only for a few days or weeks and is then stored somewhere or even trashed? We decided right from the beginning to design everything as a travelling exhibition and so Venice is only the first stop of this project, which will travel and expand in the near future.      

The exhibition inside of the belly of Il Nuovo Trionfo. | Photo © Stefano Di Corato; atelier XYZ / Unfolding Pavilion

How did you guys meet?

DTF: The very first contact was when Daniel was doing OfHouses and he invited me to curate an edition for it. At the same period I was doing research at OII+ on how people were using Tumblr to produce architectural knowledge so I published an interview with Daniel. The real moment with Unfolding Pavillion started in January 2016, when Daniel proposed to me to organize an exhibition during that year’s Venice Biennale. And I said: “why not?”.

DTM: The idea to organize the independent exhibition came out when I was working on the competition for the Romanian Pavilion. I had some very critical ideas and, while finishing the proposal, I realized that this project will never be selected, because it will never get the approvals from the official bodies, institutions and politicians who want to control the country's image. When you want to communicate a critical message, creative freedom is of the utmost importance. So, instead of self censoring your message in order to win a competition, maybe it is just simpler to organize and finance a ‘pavilion’ by yourself...  

The Vernissage | Photo © Stefano Di Corato, atelier XYZ / Unfolding Pavilion

Tell me more about the Rituals of Solitude; why did you invent this story?

DTM: The story that accompanies our exhibition is not necessarily an invention and it’s not necessarily a reportage. It is something in between. We acted less like journal editors and more like film editors, mixing and montaging different bits and pieces that are real. The story has several layers, and you may disregard some at the first reading - for example the very real part documenting the accelerated privatization of islands in the Venetian lagoon. In the end, if the story is true or false doesn’t really matter. Did this Contessa actually exist? Some say it did, some say it didn’t. It’s totally up to the reader, because the ‘action’ in the story is more of a pretext for unfolding different themes we were interested in: the enforced isolation, the obsessive-compulsive daily rituals, the propagation of fake news… The story is very much fitted to our current context; for the first time in history the entire planet was faced with this crisis, that meant curfews, isolation, lockdowns, elimination of social life... When we studied the design of a John Hejduk project titled “The House for the Inhabitant who Refused to Participate” we immediately recognized in its facade the typical Zoom interface, where people show their private spaces to others, designing their own backgrounds to communicate their personalities. Our concept was to invite 12 teams to work on the interior space of a similarly “public” kind of room, where to imagine a daily ritual. Each of these 12 rooms was to be furnished by a single item of furniture related to only one domestic function, and this idea was taken from the script that John Hejduk imagined for the House. One room had a toiled, one an armchair, one a bed, and so on. We imagined how it is to live in a room that is specifically designed for one purpose. The new rituals - working in bed, the compulsive washing of hands, the consumption of digital junk food - are some of the responses of the 12 invited contributors.     

From the book “10 immagini per Venezia” edited by Francesco Dal Co, Officina Edizioni, Rome (1980).

DTF: The whole narrative and protocol behind the exhibition was a very specific and intentional take on how to conceive an architecture exhibition which deals with the concept of How will we live together? after and during the pandemic without adopting the two easiest strategies, which for us are both inappropriate. The first would be not to deal with the pandemic issue, as the vast majority of the projects shown at this Biennale do - which makes them already a bit outdated in this sense. The second would be to directly deal with the pandemic, having the pretension that architectural speculation can solve the problem, which is ridiculous. What we did was to incorporate ideas and reflections on the contemporary conditions in a diagonal, indirect way. We made reference to a project that has nothing to do with the current situation but still was capable of activating many analogies and correspondences with it. This looked like the only way in which we could deal with this topic. How to not mention the pandemic but still talk about the new inhabiting conditions was a main question for us and this was for us the best possible answer.    

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All the exhibited works have been exclusively produced for the Unfolding Pavilion by: (ab)Normal, Aristide Antonas, Bart Lootsma, Cruz Garcia & Nathalie Frankowski (WAI Architecture Think Tank), ErranteArchitetture, Fosbury Architecture, Giovanni Benedetti, James Taylor-Foster & Anton Valek, Fala Atelier, Mariabruna Fabrizi & Fosco Lucarelli (Microcities / Socks-studio), MAIO, Matteo Ghidoni, Shumi Bose & Space Popular and Traumnovelle.

[godslayingenthusiast]

https://qgpennyworth.com/portfolio/apocamysticism/

Apocamysticism is a work from Holy Nonsense, a Creative Commons project. View Holy Nonsense 2020 here. You can support this nonsense on Patreon!

Each entry (single page or multiple pages of the same work) is released under an individual CC: Attribution, Non Commercial, No Derivatives license. That means you can repost this work as-is anywhere for any non-commercial purposes.

Image descriptions, including transcriptions of text, are expressly allowed, but just make sure you include the credits that are baked into the image when you do them. Image Description after the cut.

Two black and white images with a light gray patterned background. On the first page, there are three hands with eyes in different configurations, with decorative dots and lines. It is unclear if the eyes are drawn on or physically there. Beneath the hands is the footnote.

Apocamysticism

Why is it that when people get into religion or mysticism they so often wind up obsessed with apocalypses? The mad preacher with a sign reading THE END IS NIGH is a trope so old and pervasive I could be writing this rant in 1952. Don’t folks know it’s BAD, ACTUALLY, to wrap up your mystical identity in the trappings of Apocalypse? Don’t people know that cheerleading the end of the world is REALLY FUCKING STUPID? I’m looking at you, Cthulhu cultists.

But I’m looking at all you bitches that are way too into dystopian lit, too.

The fact is, we are living in a culture OBSESSED with apocalypses. Zombie Apocalypses, Climate Apocalypses, whatever the fuck the Preppers think is gonna happen when Obummer or Sleepy Joe comes for their guns, the Apocalypse America is built on,* the one the Evangelicals are praying for every night… The fact that I can list so many that are so intimately familiar to you as a reader is already a giant red flag.

You didn’t choose the memetic soup you were going to be born into. It’s not your fault that you’re cohabiting this planet with a bunch of self-destructive hairless primates, and it’s hard to be surrounded by that cultural noise without picking up a little bit here and there. But you need to be AWARE of what you’re ingesting, and you need to EXCISE some of this apocalypse cheerleading bullshit you pick up. Because it’s killing people. Not fictional people, not potential future people, but really alive humans right now.

America is Obsessed with Apocalypses And America Outsources Its Problems

You can’t understand what’s happening in the Middle East without understanding the history of European colonialism and anti-Semitism and WWII and the Holocaust but you ALSO can’t understand it without knowing that a significant, organized voting bloc in the US wants very badly for a specific apocalypse to happen, and getting all the Jews to move to Israel is one of the steps on that path. You can’t understand Climate Change until you remember that there are people who honestly believe they are in the last generation of humans to occupy this planet. You can’t understand anything that’s happening in politics without constantly reminding yourself that a small but extremely loud subset of voters WANT TOTAL SOCIAL BREAKDOWN. Like looking off a tall bridge and getting the urge to jump, but instead of one life at risk, it’s billions. The Call Of The Void, writ large.

And look, I really do empathize. I’ve spent my time in the hopeless pits of powerless rebellion. I’ve shut down in the face of problems too large to hope to affect. I’ve had dark nights at 3am where all I wanted to do was give up the present and try to imagine an end that, while probably not pleasant, might at least have some meaning? Some significance? But it’s a trap, and you’ve gotta claw your way out of it.

The way out isn’t gonna look how you expect, either. You might need some time being a bad guy, to break those chains of “good people don’t.” You might need to give up on politics and start running a goat larp. You might need to spend every morning for 6 weeks taking pictures of the flowers in the gardens in your neighborhood. Your escape won’t look like mine, like anyone else’s.

But When You Break Out You’re Saving A Piece Of The World.

Footnote: Which was a genocide and should be named as such

[randomizertale]

Basic Undertale AU Info- RandomizerTale

                                                   The Story

With each reset everyone (other than frisk/chara, gaster, and maybe flowey) are randomized as different character roles. The characters still look the same and have the same names, but they act and talk as the characters they are playing as. They still have their same basic powers (except for sans who can't maintain his knowledge of resets outside his role), they just act different. 

Think of it as a randomizer mod. The same art and battle assets, just different dialogue. 

Sans gets nerfed for whoever he's playing as though. 

The only one who realizes is the character playing as sans. Since the sans has an unnatural ability to remember every resets, this ability is transferred to who is sans and gets multiplied as they'll remember not only the pov of every sans before, but of their own povs as other characters as well. This multiplication increases exponentially to the point that sans is basically an amalgamation of everyone's povs in the underground.

The Sanses are also proficient in all types of magic now (as the body allows of course [if in Sans bod he still tired with 1hp bro and Undyne sans is an absolute BEAST] and depending on who else has been sans before). This means that genocide fights get progressively harder and harder each time a reset happens and dialogue changes too depending on who is playing sans (pap genocides usually end pretty fast though [despite everything he thinks the human can do better]).

Eventually the randomization just so happens to land on the original configuration of monsters. Seeing his chance for it to go back to normal, Sans,  with everyone's pov of the resets, teleports to frisk at the beginning of the route and  confronts/begs frisk to stop the madness: pleading them to be better person (paps), to stop hurting the ones they love, to let them to finally live on the surface instead of just looking at it,  to just stop the resets altogether and to let this be their final reset.

After the final reset, Sans is still sans but he has EVERY monsters pov of past resets (boss and minor monster alike). Once the resets end, he isn't everyone shoved into one body, but sans with a recollection of everyone's pov of past resets. IT IS NOT D.I.D!!!! Of course he knows that he himself is sans, but he might have random episodes where he does/says things that other characters would say/like/do (ex: pose like mettaton, make a puzzle, gush like alphys over his interests, drink tea...you get the idea) due to him being forced to play as other characters in other resets. (Other chars in the au don't have this happen to them cause they don't remember previous resets)

When he is talking about past experiences during the resets, he flips between pronouns and from first/third person (I, we, she, he, they) in order to get some of feelings across (I as Sans, we as everyone's pov of resets, and others as specific people's povs).

                                                   “Episodes”:

His episodes can be broken by a) someone telling him that's not how he is,  b) physical interference (ex: slap, tripping, sleep), c) him having a dissociating moment where he's like “wait a minute...”, and d) he finishes the action the episodes requires of him. 

Some episodes are harder to recognize (specially ones with no final action/goal in mind. For example: getting anxious over social interaction like alphys vs making a butterscotch pie.) Episodes don't overlap each other, so he could be his sans personality while making a pie, making different jokes based on an interest change, or just extruding mettaton confidence/self-absorption). 

There are certain episodes that he doesn't mind very often and will actually complete it even after he breaks out of it, specifically the task episodes like making pie/spaghetti/tea. He's learned to really like that stuff.

 Some episodes that he particularly hates are when he acts/speaks like mettaton or temmie, nervously word vomits like alphys (cause there's no filter and he can say stuff he doesn't want to be said out loud [he a secretive guy]), and when he acts like Jerry because eewwwwww.

To apologize or explain his behavior after an episode he calls it the (insert character) in me or my inner (insert character).   "welp my inner toriel came out again..." "sorry, kiddo, that was just the undyne in me..."

Ones he hates or are improperly timed, he sometimes just insults the characters though. "f-ing mettaton..." "alphys I like you but whyyyyyy" "*gags* ...Jerry"

Types of episodes: social (acting or talking like someone), thoughts (interests or ideals) (he HATES this one the most as it makes him feel less like him), physical (task or long-lasting [long-lasting like dancing/ posing/working out]). (Keep in mind that social and physical episodes keep sans ideas/thoughts/interests intact, he just communicates them in a way another character would say them.) Specific social or physical episodes can be triggered with high emotions (though most of the time it's just random). Extreme anger can bring out the undyne in him, fear/nervousness alphys, adoration paps, depression nabstablook, worried for someone else toriel, and so on.

                                              Some Fun Facts:

Fun facts: Sans gets headaches after an episode where he acts/thinks like someone else. The severity usually depends on how long the episode is and how out of character is for him.

Fun facts 2: Following the logic of post reset sans, other characters playing as sans will think and act like the original char they are supposed to be but with sans personality. Unless episodes happen... (EX: Toriel goat jokes, undyne fish jokes.) So it leads to different character interactions where an undyne sans is more pissed off at frisk and more prone to violence. Paps sans more encouraging to be a better person. Other chars as sans also get episodes and headaches if they act like other chars other than themselves (disregarding sans cause they are supposed to be sans.).  Bruh does this get complicated...

Fun facts 3: The other char’s povs only start once frisk falls underground so sans doesn't know how toriel felt leaving ashore or pap waiting outside undyne’s house to join the royal guard. That means his episodes and knowledge of others chars reset feelings/actions during povs are strictly based upon the duration the timeframe that frisk is underground.

Fun facts.4: The sanses in all the reset always has a soft spot for paps. They know that he ain't their bro but the code just has that as a priority for the sans. (Paps as sans is like my bro loves me ;n;.)  They enjoy it when paps is playing alphys in genocide routes cause at least they know he won't die that route.

Fun facts 5: In an alternate version of this au when frisk ignores sans's plea for it to be their final route, sans would most likely snap and go crazy and just straight up try to murder the kid over and over again regardless if they were going to do a pacifist or geno route until they agree to his terms or until he dies (and he'll do it for all future resets [except for maybe pap sans???])  Who knows a Dusttale (see  @ask-dusttale ) might even happen but the version of sans would feel less guilty bout it cause most other char povs would only confirm that other characters would just want frisk to suffer.

Fun fact 6: In another happier alternate version of this au, a version of sans confronts frisk earlier on, making them feel bad early and just wants everyone to go back to normal. So they constantly reset until they find the normal config for the final reset. The Sanses  in this route are pretty chummy with frisk. They are very tired of the resets regardless though (as it takes forever to land on the normal configuration) and sometimes halfheartedly bets with frisk who the next sans is going to be. The resets where everything is normal except for one monster are especially soul crushing for both the Sanses and frisk. They were so close!!!!!

                                                    Designs:

For the design of another chars as sans they might go out of their way in the assets and wear sans classic jacket to showcase that they are a sans and are aware of what's going on. So their normal outfits but with sans jacket on top.

Interesting info of  probability of a normal config happening in the randomizer:

~58 enemy types so 3364 (0.000297265% of normal config)

Or

~322 monsters total so 103684 configurations (0.0000096446896% of normal config)

(let me know if I did the math incorrectly :) )

[templeofshame]

I think that some types of casting (”nontraditional” or not) get conflated with colorblind casting because one intent or effect they have is to reclaim space on the stage for actors of color that is not limited to roles that would traditionally be thought of as requiring actors of color (and thus would, in a different show or with different creators involved, likely be cast as white). But they’re not doing it “colorblindly” at all; they’re making deliberate choices that these characters should be played by actors of color.

Based on Hamilton casting calls and statements, it’s safe to say that casting was not done with any intent to be blind to race, and I’ll go a step further to say the casting itself was not even nontraditional. The nontraditional choice was, in the concept of the show, to reconceive of white historical figures as characters of color, with the specific exception of King George. (This is how the characters are presented in casting calls as far as I’ve seen.) Then the casting was done traditionally: those characters of color were then embodied by actors of color. King George, conceived of as white, is cast white. (Ensemble members who do not have any specific character conception may actually be cast colorblind, or not, I don’t know; either way, more white actors seem to get jobs there..)

The casting call I could readily find for A Strange Loop is specific, and rightfully so: While there are Black and white characters portrayed, all of the roles are Black. Hamilton’s idea is of portraying America as it is now (i.e., racially diverse), but A Strange Loop is about a Black queer experience. (If Wikipedia is to be trusted, casts thus far have not only been all Black, but also all queer.) A Schuyler-esque family where Usher’s parents are nonblack POC would, with doubling, necessarily also interfere with the races of important Black historical figures (which, their genders aren’t held to, but their role is about race), and it’s just not what this show is trying to do. A lot of shows would cast one white guy in the ensemble to play all the white guys (because there are characters who are meaningfully and necessarily white) and leave it at that, but A Strange Loop proves that that’s not necessary. And honestly, since I haven’t been able to actually see A Strange Loop on stage, I’m not sure how all the effects of that play out, but I’m sure it makes a big difference. (I’m sure it would be an extremely different experience to see “Inwood Daddy” with an actual white man. It’s hard to claim that any choice softens “Inwood Daddy,” but maybe the fact that it’s embodied with two Black actors makes it possible for it to be so upsetting without being traumatic for the actors and/or audiences?) 

I feel like in both of these shows re: casting, gender should be mentioned. It’s been frequently remarked on that where Hamilton goes beyond colorblindness to specifically reenvision the historical figures with regard to race and has been open to different configurations of race, it hasn’t been open to cross-casting in terms of gender. (Yes, LMM has said he supports it, it sounds like particularly in school productions? but casting calls and actual casting for professional productions have been all traditional re: gender.) Both of these shows are about cis men, and it seems like in A Strange Loop, even its single female cast member was new in the Off-Broadway production, and multiple women are played by male actors (most notably Usher’s mother, but also like... Harriet Tubman and Madame C.J. Walker). I haven’t totally figured out why “Periodically” shouldn’t be performed by a woman apart from John-Andrew Morrison killing it. And yes, as LMM has said, it might have to do with ranges and keys (which... vocal ranges aren’t determined by gender anyway).