#but is it weird i can kind of see that this style

[bonniepop]

you take a deep breath and try to smooth out your skirt on your lap. this is a very important night for you—far from how you normally spent a saturday night. you were dressed in a brand new dress, wore more than your everyday makeup, and actually put effort into making sure your hair was styled. your skin was buzzing and—

oh my god. oh my god. did you—did they just call your name?

"congratulations," said the woman next to you, reaching for your hand and shaking it. you blink at her and sit up, completely taken by surprise.

"oh—um—thank you—" you stammer, before she ushered you to stand to take your award, clapping her hands together as she did.

making your way to the stage felt weird, like you weren't in your own body. like—

a booming "YEAH!" resounds from the back of the audience, followed by frantic applause and borderline inappropriate hollering. "THAT'S MY GIRL!"

"oh my god, atsumu," you mutter, pressing your hands to your face.

you vaguely hear him proudly tell someone, "we're getting married!" and that makes your face break out into a smile so wide that it kind of hurt.

the announcer at the stage welcomed you with a handshake, gently positioning you to take a photo. you take the award with a smile and a polite bow, before straightening and speaking into the mic.

"thank you so much for this award," you start.

"YEAH, BABY!" atsumu yells from the back, and the crowd bursts out into laughter. "YOU DESERVE IT!"

you let out a laugh. "um, it's been a long journey to get to this point, but truth be told i wouldn't be standing here without the help of my team. i don't think i would've gotten as far as i did without them—"

the angry response was quick. "DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHOR—OW! THAT HURT, MOTHERF—!"

the crowd once again bursts into laughter, and you catch your face with one hand and try to calm yourself. osamu had sat next to him; he probably punched atsumu in an effort to temper the embarrassment. you understood, though. you're beyond ecstatic and touched your fiancé was here to support you, but this was starting to get mildly embarrassing...

"um, yeah, anyway," you say, trying to compose yourself, "um, again, thank you so much for this award. as theodore roosevelt said, 'the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.' and i'm very lucky to have my team who feels the same way."

"I LOVE YOU, BABY!" atsumu yells, and you hold in a laugh.

you feel like you can end your speech here, as the crowd already applauds, but you decided: fuck being embarrassed.

"and of course," you say, "i'd also like to thank my wonderful fiancé and japan's number one setter, miya atsumu. thank you for always being the best teammate, in love and in life." you raise the award. "i love you."

you can almost see him at the back, practically standing on his seat as he applauds louder than anyone in the room. you can imagine osamu, sinking further down into his own seat in utter humiliation.

after the ceremony, atsumu collects you into his arms and twirls you around. "congratulations, baby!"

you hug him. "thank you, atsumu." when he sets you down, you smile at osamu. "thanks for coming with him."

"i am never doing this again," he says flatly.

atsumu grins and loops an arm around your shoulders. "you're just jealous you're single as fu—OW, stop fucking hitting me!"

[brodygold]

A Game For Bros

Nate and I had always been the same: two nerds, caught up in our own world of video games, D&D, and sci-fi movies. He’d been my best friend since high school, a skinny guy with messy brown hair, always wearing some oversized t-shirt of a superhero. Me? I wasn’t much different. Shorter, stockier, and always in retro game tees. We never got into sports—couldn’t care less, really. But that Saturday, when Nate invited me over to check out a new game, we did something a bit out of our comfort zone.

“I don’t usually go for sports games,” I said as I plopped onto his worn-out couch. The game case for The Golden Army: Rise of Champions sat on the coffee table, glowing in a strange golden light. “What made you pick this one?”

Nate shrugged as he plugged in the system. “The reviews were insane, man. People say it’s super immersive, like you actually feel the game.”

“Sounds cool enough,” I muttered, grabbing a soda. “Let’s see what it’s about.”

Nate’s apartment looked the same as always—cluttered with comic books, action figures, and old consoles. The screen flashed on, bathing the room in golden light as the title appeared: The Golden Army: Rise of Champions. The graphics were sharp, but what immediately caught my attention was how detailed the avatar customization was. We both laughed as we started making characters that were basically us but... stronger, taller, more athletic.

“Man, I wish I was this ripped in real life,” I said, chuckling as I bulked up my avatar.

Nate nodded, not looking up from his controller. “Same here, dude. If only, right?”

Once the game started, though, things got weird fast. It wasn’t like any sports game I’d ever played. It was too smooth, too real. Every movement of my character felt like it was coming from me, like my body was somehow connected to the screen. Nate was feeling it too; I could tell by how focused he’d gotten.

“This feels insane,” I muttered, my fingers flying over the controller as my avatar sprinted down the field. My skin tingled, and for a second, I thought it was just adrenaline from getting into the game.

“Yeah, it’s like... I can *feel* it,” Nate said, his voice lower, more serious than usual.

What I didn’t realize was that I really *was* feeling it. I was changing. My arms, once stocky but kind of soft, were slowly growing harder, leaner, and stronger. My biceps pushed against the fabric of my t-shirt, but I didn’t notice at first. I was too absorbed in the game. Nate wasn’t paying attention either, but he was changing too. His scrawny arms were swelling, his chest growing more defined, the lines of muscle slowly becoming visible under his shirt.

My legs were thickening, my calves bulging as they hardened. Nate’s shoulders broadened as his posture straightened, more relaxed, confident. His shaggy hair started to shift, styling itself into something neater and more athletic. It suited him.

Our avatar dominated the field. Every pass, every kick felt like it was coming straight from us. By the time the match ended, I noticed my t-shirt was stretched tight against my chest, clinging to muscles I didn’t remember having. But it felt normal. Like I’d always been this way. Nate was the same. His shirt had morphed into something sleeker, a fitted gold soccer jersey. I looked down, realizing mine had changed too. I wasn’t in my retro game tee anymore—I was in a gold jersey too, my name stitched across the back.

But we didn’t freak out. We didn’t question it. Why would we? We’d always been jocks, right? That’s how we met in the first place.

“Yo, that was sick, bro!” I grinned at Nate, flexing my now-defined arms. “We totally crushed that game.”

Nate smirked, his voice deeper now, his body lean and athletic. “Hell yeah, man. No one can take us down.”

The room around us had changed too, though we didn’t notice with how invested in the game we were. Gone were the stacks of comics and games. Instead, soccer trophies lined the shelves, photos of us in our golden jerseys, posing as champions of The Golden Army. It was as if our old lives had been erased, replaced entirely by something new.

As we kept playing, our minds continued to shift. I didn’t care about D&D or sci-fi movies anymore. All I could think about was training, getting stronger, being the best. Nate, once shy and quiet, was now exuding confidence. We were athletes, teammates, brothers on and off the field.

Our bodies had finished transforming. I looked over at Nate, admiring how ripped he was now. His short hair was clean, his jawline sharp. He looked... good. Really good. The thought lingered longer than it should have, but I didn’t push it away. Why would I? We’d always been close, but now there was something else there, something that had shifted between us.

I felt my heart race as I caught him looking at me the same way, his eyes lingering on my chest, my arms. The air between us felt electric, like something was pulling us together.

“Yo, Nate,” I started, feeling my pulse quicken. “You ever feel like... there’s more between us than just the game?”

Nate turned to me, his eyes locked on mine, and for a moment, the room was silent. Then he smirked, but there was something softer in his gaze. “Yeah, bro. I’ve been feeling that too.”

It happened without thinking. I reached out, grabbing his hand, and suddenly, I was pulling him closer. Our eyes met, and before I could stop myself, I kissed him. His lips were warm, firm, and everything clicked into place. It was like this was always meant to happen. Like this was who we were supposed to be.

When we finally pulled away, both of us were breathing hard. Nate looked at me, his grin returning. “Damn, bro. That was... intense.”

“Yeah,” I replied, still catching my breath. “But I think we’ve always had this, right? Just took us a while to figure it out.”

Nate nodded, his hand still on my chest, his thumb brushing against the fabric of my jersey. “Always. And now? We’ve got everything we need.”

We leaned in again, and this time, it felt even more right. We were no longer the nerdy duo, lost in games and fantasy worlds. We were champions—alpha jocks, leaders of The Golden Army—and we had found each other. As I held Nate close, our golden jerseys shining in the light, I knew that everything was just how it should be.

“Now how about round 2, bro?”

“Oh, you’re so on bro!”

[ghouldtime]

same anon from the cryptid König ask. Person who started the 6’10 thing was his own voice actor (who is already a not so pleasant guy).

anyway. you want cryptid könig ideas? Oh bitch (affectionate) I have plenty.

1) most prolific Austrian folklore dude is of course Krampus, who is a specific character in his own right and holds connections to old pagan folk tradition. Mostly the deal here is about punishing people for being bad. Usually Krampus and the other adjacent folklore creatures of the same ilk (namely the Straggele) are depicted with big horns, shaggy hair and weird eyes. big weird goat dudes. this König would probably be a pretty old spirit. Would be fun if he was the reader’s ‘white whale’ of sorts, trying to get evidence of his existence, while he’s watching on with heart eyes.

2) of course, if we want to go more classic campy paranormal, there’s always classic weird fucked up ghost thing. sort of shadow monster creature style that has solidified into a dude who is definitely a regular guy don’t worry about the mist. The type of paranormal entity who’s creation is more complicated than a regular standard death. maybe his ghost-hunting afterlife is so he can figure out what the hell happened to him. maybe he just thinks it’s funny. don’t worry about the mist.

3) weird shit time. You’ve seen the könig with tentacles under his hood fanart trend I assume, and boy don’t I love a nice dose of eldritch with my monster men. weird shapeshifter sort of vibes. Dude in the woods who has maybe two many arms (it helps with his miniature carving, actually). He’s got most of the being human parts down well and can go to the grocery store. but sometimes he needs a second when sweet human offers to help patch a hole in one of his jumpers (because he might start growing feathers from joy). His eyes are a little too bright sometimes and his shadow a little too long but he’s just a regular guy!

rambling over. im a massive sucker for monsterous men.

Oh really??? Explains it. I mean the 6'10" will always have me laugh it is rlly ridiculous (especially when you see his character model near others)

I, embarrassingly, don't know how I forgot about Krampus. I have like a stuffed animal of him, I was JUST playing Wizard101 winter in summer event where he was there. I have greeting cards with him on it. I'm absolutely going to write that one for SURE in some way shape or form so thanks for the idea 👀

I'm also doing the second for sure. I was trying to figure out what kind of paranormal being he would be and I was thinking some type of shade or shadow creature. A being that lurks in the dark and can just be a glowing pair of eyes or something you see out of the corner of your eye before disappearing??? Sign me the hell UP

I love love love all of these ideas so so so much and I NEED to write them all eventually. They've been added into the queue of future things to do 👀 I can already picture it now

Whoever you are anon, I love your big beautiful brain and THANK YOU for the ideas. 💚💚💚💚 You're always welcome to submit any ideas you have for any monster men of the COD characters and I swear I'll write them

[cinnamon-flame]

Starting off the new year with I think the most background heavy piece I've ever made! I think Rainwings and Nightwings would celebrate their traditional holidays together after the events of The brightest night. So this drawing is meant to show their cultures kind of blending together during a very joyful time. I remember talking about this concept with someone on tumblr a year ago but when I went back through my posts I couldn't for the life of me find it - so if your reading this, I remember you and this drawing stems from that conversation so thank you!

Close-ups:

[lord-yabadoo-rules-all]

Hello hello everyone!! Long time no see :) I've had this frans in my head for YEARS...I started the character design sheet last year (or was it two years ago?) but recently decided to get off my ass and finish it! So here's a product of hard, August work!

I'm kinda sad to see so many of my frans peers gone, but I hope they're doing well! While I probably won't be some huge online presence going forwards, I'm still excited to support the new gen while I can!

ANYWAYS!! This is my interpretation of HT frans! (og creator @/horrortalecomic) that takes place around a decade after Frisk's escape from the underground. Their life kinda goes downhill fast though, as the combined survivor's guilt, insane trauma after battling the horror known as Omega Flowey, and the sheer lack of a support system just kinda destroys them in that period of time. I won't dwell too much on that time period, though! After moving away from the og Mt. Ebbot city, Frisk gets their fresh start, regularly going to therapy, taking their PTSD meds, managing a pretty popular bookshop downtown, and living with their super supportive roomates!

...And then the monsters are freed, which does throw Frisk into a whirlwind, but after a year or two they feel pretty safe. No monsters seemed to have moved to their city (especially since the monster population is significantly smaller than it was before), so everything would be okay. Until that fateful day...

here they are! fyi frisk's skin, eye and hair colour (except for the blonde streaks) apply to all my frisks now!

I'll add some info here i couldn't fit in the tags! -> They have a fun coworker dynamic where Frisk does NOT know he doesn't remember them so they're constantly walking on eggshells around him.

-> Frisk: Oh god he's after me he followed me for revenge but I deserve it oh god he's so mad at me

-> Sans: wow my manager is so kind and pretty and fun :)

-> Also sans is going to therapy, specifically to treat his memory problems,, so we don't know how long his positive view of Frisk will last...

[caravanlurker]

shout out to that one time I watched the PRISMCorps Magical Girl lore video and the first few episodes of TGAMM in veeery close proximity. too much time on this xP loong ramble in the tags

[spotaus]

Boys, hold me to this one, I'm gonna make a Papyrus oc.

Not exactly a new idea, but I've been sleeping on Papyri since I joined this Fandom and I refuse to keep going. We (I) need more Papyruses with the dramatic Sans backstories without directly swapping a sans, and I shall provide at least One.

[nostalgia-tblr]

u know, once someone has pointed out the orientalism in most of fandom's depictions of jotun!loki you can never unsee it.

[venterry]

constantly reminded that majority of people will look at older animation/3d models and immediately deem it ugly & unwatchable while it doesnt even register to me. i'll see old 3d animations and just straight up accept thats how they look, it can even be charming to me idk it just ends up feeling stale in a way when everyone demands hyper realistic graphics & lifelike animations for everything. wheres the fun in everything being the same

[opens-up-4-nobody]

hypothetical struggle between Christianity and paganism in bbc merlin? 👀 one that's very neurodivergent? 👀 do tell

Okay, so Athurian times take place in the early dark ages. Which was probably a weird time for religion in Britain. Because the Roman occupation had just come to an end, leaving behind the structure of catholicism at least with those in positions of power. But religious beliefs were still in the process of blending together with the local practices and other religions, leading to some odd gnostic beliefs. Obviously, bbc merlin doesn't talk about Christianity within Camelot but I think we can assume the catholic church would have a position at the round table. Presumably, Arthur would grow up instructed in catholic belief, go to mass, and have bishops or whatever advising him. He would rule by Devine right, sanctioned by the pope and magic would be characterized as demonic. And that somehow raises the stakes for me, imaging magical merlin within the walls of a very catholic Camelot.

I just have this image of merlin in the back of a cathedral as Arthur attends mass. Kneeling in this beautiful building, head bowed low as the congregation sings praise to a foreign God in a foreign tongue. A God that would apparently have merlin tied to a stake and burned alive. And merlin choking out his empty prayers, echoing in the verbal praise under the isolation of his nonbelief and magical association. Full of fear and venom.

The hypothetical struggle I imagine is one of catholic enforcement pushed by Arthur's religious advisors and Arthur's morality. Because Arthur is a good person and slaughtering a people on the basis religion is insane. So, what does it mean for Arthur if he stops listening to his advisors and starts accepting magic? He has to contend with a spiritual struggle, not just the secular issues presented in the show. And I would looooooove to watch that. The bending of Arthur's beliefs into something more flexible and less rigidly Christian according to the church of the time

[violetren]

Fantasy High Junior Year is the first installment of D20 based in the world of Spyre in which I have known with the sudden and complete knowledge of who I'd like to play as a character in some kind of unreal scenario where I got to play in that playground. Literally the only thing that hasn't come to me has been the name.

Full character concept under the cut

She's a half elf and ideally in the unreal scenario of playing her in Spyre she'd be in her sophomore year getting shunted onto some pre-established party by Aguefort after her previous party got decimated during a school adventure that should have been freshman safe but just wasn't. Most of her old party is fully dead and unable or unwilling to come back, one might be comatose, and at least one other one just dropped out and the fact that they left while she stayed is almost a bigger strain on their friendship than the death of their friends but they aren't acknowledging that because neither of them wants to feel like they are being the unsupportive friend when they are all each other has left of their party.

In her original party she was the rogue and just barely settled into the mastermind subclass, always watching other peoples moods and figuring out what words would get them to behave in certain ways. This is all very forgone conclusion based on her particular flavour of edgy rogue backstory in which she had a pretty solid start to her childhood, with hard working parents and a cute younger sibling, until one day her parents died, but instead of the classic "oh the rogue became an urchin" she and her sibling were taken in by her grandfather, a man her parents had put concentrated effort into never letting near their kids. Grandad is The Deadbeat Dad twice over, mostly just neglecting them meaning she had to step up early to keep her sibling cared for, but making them both wish he'd ONLY neglect them whenever he came back home drunk and in debt and wanting to blame someone else about it. She spent a lot of time learning how to redirect his focus before he could blow up, and how to get the focus on her instead of her sibling when she couldn't prevent it from happening.

Starting her new year with a new party who weren't missing anyone but were instead just a small enough group that adding a new member just helped round out the paperwork, she is now also an oath of ancients paladin for Cassandra, goddess of doubt and mystery.

The unreal scenario ideally takes place after FHJY so like Ankarna has finally got through to Cassandra that "no babe, the cat wasn't just grumpy with people who weren't you, she was evil to everyone including you" and Cassandra is still like "but I love a grumpy cat."

My gal ended up on Cassandra's radar either in the immediate aftermath of the battle or while lying in a hospital bed a couple of days later just in full existential tailspin of "how could we have ever thought adventuring was fun? what kind of fucked up world lets kids put themselves in that kind of danger? why do so many people i love die, or leave? why is continuing to adventure still more feasible a life path than trying to find an adult that will actually help? how could anything about my life so far be called fair?" And Cassandra is the first authority figure type being who ever looks her in the eye and goes "hey, you're right its not fair, and I don't know how to help with all your problems, but I can maybe help with some of them, and will stay by your side for the ones I can't fix."

Ankarna is kinda there watching her wife work and seeing how angry my gal is at the world and is having kind of the same reaction as a straight laced suburbanite might have when they take their kid to get a puppy at the pet store and the kid instantly becomes obsessed with the snake on display. It's a very "Sweetie are you sure you want that one, it doesn't look very cuddly, why not one of the ones over here?" while Cassandra is like "but look at that cute widdle face." (the face is a jaded thousand yard glare). (Ankarna is clinging to her new dawn philosophy by her fucking fingers and trying not to be like, this brat is giving me Kalina vibes.)

As a paladin of doubt and mystery with a background roguish masterminding, my gal's new approach to socialising and adventuring (which is her primary mode of socialisation now) is an aggressively bitchy gaslight, gate-keep, girl-boss campaign that makes people think she's constantly trying to cast vicious mockery without ever having learned the spell. It's all mean girl "Oh, you actually thought that quip sounded cool?" while dealing with anyone she doesn't immediately see a reason to play nice with. Cause like she's gotta spread some doubt, no one said what kind. For her new party she's smart enough to reign it in but that mostly just means she keeps conversations as short and on rails as possible. In a very weird way she is like a hairs breath away from becoming a cleric of Ankarna just for like the "we keep moving forward" energy she pushes out, but girl doesn't have the level of introspection (wisdom) required for cleric hood.

However as bitchy as she has forged herself into becoming she is still a big sister first and foremost, so at home she just tries to model the same acceptance and stability she remembers from her parents for her sibling. You see hints of that whenever she interacts with anyone who is already earnestly feeling doubt, because for as worrisome as her general attitude is for Ankarna, she does actually get Cassandra's "you don't have to walk in the dark alone" message. That message saved her when she was at her lowest point, so she fully confuses the shit out of her new party whenever any of them are feeling vulnerable and she's genuinely compassionate and steadfast she is with them. Also in how her whole way of holding herself changes is they have to interact with someone younger than they are.

Also she definitely has some kind of amulet or talisman of some kind that connects her with her sibling so if her grandad comes home while she's off adventuring and presents a threat she can teleport immediately to her sibling and rock that old mans shit. Fuck him, she has smites now. Technically its for any situation in which her sibling feels unsafe but it was brought with grandad in mind and he's the only reason either sibling has ever thought it would be needed. She would absolutely leave the party hanging mid combat no hesitation and barely any warning if signalled whether they had gotten close enough for her to explain what the signal meant or not.

She doesn't really talk with Kristen that much (Kristen's first impression is also probably "oh no, are you the new cat") but she does sometimes text with Craig about all this new church stuff.

[maliro-t]

some game design thinky thoughts.

[relevant-url-incoming]

I think the funniest thing I ever did to Nalyan was put him in this outfit like.

Oh you don't like being around Jedi? and your excuse is that you don't care about or trust the Force and you think Jedi are so stupid and you dislike their aesthetics and insert another petty grumpy argument here? what the fuck are you wearing buddy because that looks suspiciously like half the clothes that got dropped on my consular. you've got a dopey little ponytail that's totally not a little piece of eight-year-old you still desperately hoping to become someone's padawan and your formal outfit is just bootleg jedi clothes. it's funny because if i don't laugh at it i feel really really sad for him. my guy. you need so much therapy for all the shit i put you through.

anyway he will wear this and tell people with a straight face that he's never spoken to a single jedi in his life. these people include risha and corso, who were in fact there the last time he talked to a jedi, and guss, who takes this as an insult and not nalyan being a fucking weirdo (because if anyone other than guss asks nalyan is the first to say he should totally count as a jedi. only if guss isn't there though). this man has Problems.

[jovialturtleface]

[spikeisawesome456]

.

[rainbowresurrection]

I ended up reading The Price of the Phoenix and while it didn't make me want to bleach my eyes like Killing Time, I still didn't like it as much as I hoped I would. Don't get me wrong, the homoeroticism was intriguing to me, but the actual writing and storyline itself left me with a headache. I think I get my hopes up with these books, given all of the possibilities that the written word has for Trek, and it inevitably sets me up for disappointment lol