#but it’s been that animal since I was like 7 so they’re running out of stuff to get me lmao

[nearlydawn]

nights like this.

⋆ pairing: josh washington x fem!reader ⋆ genre: fluff ⋆ warnings: no y/n, just slight flirting, mutual pining, before prologue ⋆ wc: about 3.1k ⋆ note: not proofread, expect part two ⋆ requested: no

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tuesday, 7:56 pm.

both you and josh had been planning this night for what felt like weeks—a movie night. to be frank, neither of you are very coordinated when planning hangouts, but when you stepped inside and saw nothing laid out—blankets, snacks, drinks—or even a recorded movie ready—you knew this was going to be a mess, a small frown tugging at the corners of your lips.

sometimes things are better done spur of the moment! josh sheepishly let you in, insisting he forgot, but you knew he didn't—he couldn't have. texts back and forth every day talking about how excited you were proved that—not to mention hannah and beth were trying to tidy things up in the living room, waving at you with smiles on their faces. "i'm sorry—really—i'll get popcorn going," he rushed out, shaking his head softly as he made his way into the kitchen. you could've sworn he was blushing. from embarrassment. obviously. you didn't mind in the long run. you were here, and now the party was really going to get started. "it's alright, josh."

-

you sat criss-cross on the washington’s couch, remote in hand as you scrolled absentmindedly through the channels. josh, on the other hand, was in the kitchen whipping up popcorn. you were supposed to be looking for movies… but nothing seemed to be on tonight. nothing interesting, at least. it bored you to the point you were lost in thought while clicking the down button. their house was one you'd been in many times, and honestly you treated it like your own—albeit a bit better since you wanted to make a good impression. every time you arrived you just felt an immense sense of comfort, like you were wrapped in a warm blanket the second your foot hit the hardwood floor. but i guess that's just the effect the washington's have. on everything, really. whenever you get texts from them you're unable to hide the smile from your face.

the subtle pops and snaps of the kernels filled your ears, as well as the overwhelming smell of butter. it was a nice contrast to the frustration you were feeling... just seeing the same shit as you switched channels—almost to the point where you just wanted to take that dumb, plastic remote and throw it at the screen. deep breaths, you said. just take a deep breath.

click after click, channel after channel, nothing. the only things coming up were reality tv, animal planet—hell, judge judy. honestly, you could've settled for something dumb like 'ridiculousness' or 'the impractical jokers', but you desperately wanted to find a horror movie. you know. that cliché movie scene where the girl clings to the guys arm helplessly as she pretends to be scared—nuzzling her face into his shoulder to 'hide' from the absolute terror on screen. and then the boy consoles her, telling her that there's nothing to be afraid of, but deep down the girl just wanted an excuse to be by him. -

“aye, ya find anything?” he walked up behind you, a dopey grin on his face. his hands rested just behind your head, leaning on the couch. his voice broke you out of your small fantasy... unfortunately. you glanced behind yourself, thumb still auto-pressing like a zombie. “nope. no luck,” you sigh, scrolling so far you reached static.

“mm, well, i'm pretty sure i have dvds lying around somewhere,” he shrugged, patting your shoulder gently as he stepped back.

“now that's more like it.” you smiled with relief, setting the remote down by your side as your hands came to rub your face. "any idea where they are?"

you stood up from the couch, circling it as you followed him back into the kitchen. josh hummed softly, trying to think whilst pouring the popcorn into a medium sized tin bowl.

“they’re either in my room or my sisters, i’d assume,” he concluded, shooting you a knowing look. “we’re all movie people.”

you nodded, walking over to the fridge as you grabbed two bottles of water. “i can go check with hannah and beth,” you smiled.

hannah and beth. they had left the living room in silence the second they were done organizing—no hello or hug like usual. it was a bit strange, but you chose not to question it. i mean, they were only helping him, you know.

your hand lingered on the fridge handle for a moment, closing it quietly as you walked back to the couch. the cold of the water bottles were beginning to burn your hand—a sensation you never enjoyed. quickly, you set them down on coasters on the coffee table, wiping the condensation on your pants.

“so you don’t want to come to my room with me?” he teased, following after you as he brought the popcorn out.

“ew, josh,” a slight scoff escaped your lips, faint blush dusting your cheeks. “i’d much rather talk to your sisters.”

you feigned annoyance, but the smile creeping up on your face clearly said otherwise. it was incredibly hard to hide the fact his little comment made your heart race and all of your blood rush to your face.

silence fell between the two of you—a tension filled silence. your heartbeat echoed in your ears, trying to steady your breathing. his eyes scanned over your face, and suddenly the world seemed to stop. the glow of the tv seemed to illuminate his face perfectly—accentuating all his features. it was like he was luring you in. a sort of magnetic pull that just had you absolutely captivated.

conflicting feelings arose in your mind. it was a known fact that you liked josh—but should you act on them? your heart wanted you to walk forward and close the distance, but your mind was unsure. you were good friends, sure, but it was far-fetched to say he felt the same. he was unobtainable in your book.

“suit yourself,” he grinned, shrugging nonchalantly.

the second time you were broken out of your thoughts.

his voice was smooth—the way he replied igniting a spark within yourself. he turned around almost as soon as he spoke, disappearing into the hallway that led to his room. as his footsteps slowly dissipated, you finally exhaled. honestly, you didn’t even know you were holding your breath.

but, did he always look at you like that?

- the walls of their home were decorated in a plethora of family photos, some of just them individually. there weren't many of josh, but the ones they did have up were cute, mostly him as a little boy with a goofy grin on his face. excited about his first day of kindergarten—catching his first fish—all his milestones. you couldn't help but look at all of them as you wandered around in attempt to find hannah or beth. you envied the washington's a bit—a well off family with a big house that just so happened to own an entire fucking mountain, not to mention the lodge and other buildings on that property. (dare i say nepo-children?). no matter how many times you were in that house, you only seemed to remember where hannah's room was, aside from the living room. your footsteps were quiet as you navigated, walking up the staircase with your left hand on the railing. as you reached the top of the steps, you b-lined it to hannah's room, knocking on her door gently. you could the muffled sounds of laughter, followed by soft steps as the door swung open—beth greeted you with a tight hug. hannah was sitting on the floor in front of a line-up of nail polishes. fun! "hey," she grinned as your name fell from her lips, "long time no see! i thought you and josh were supposed to be watching a movie?" she let her hands fall to your sides, holding your arms as she gently shook your body back and forth. "yeah, we were going to—" you smiled, laughing a bit as she took your hand and brought you into the room, "i came to ask if you guys had any dvds. he said they might be in here." the twins shared knowing glances, and they both nodded as they looked back at you—almost in sync. it was scary. were you first hand experiencing twin telepathy? they had a full-on conversation with their eyes alone. "they're in my room, i'll take you." beth took your hand in hers again, leading you out of hannah's room almost as soon as you arrived. you quickly waved to hannah, mouthing 'bye' as you were practically dragged through the endless hallway. a couple turns away and you were in front of her door. a small, mischievous smile tugged at the corner of her lips, glancing between you and the door as she opened it. "can i tell you something?" it came off as a question, but you knew she was going to say it anyway. beth walked straight to her bedside, picking up a stack of movie cases. you stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe with you arms crossed. a bit skeptical, you nodded, "of course." she almost seemed giddy at your reply, walking calmly over to you to hand you the tapes. there was an expression you couldn't quite read on her face. it was like she was excited—but also like she wanted to hide it at the same time. your arms opened to take the dvds, holding them to your chest as you read the titles from the top down, slipping the case to the bottom of the stack once you were done. "i'm pretty sure josh has a thing for you," beth started, tucking her bottom lip in between her teeth. she was trying to shut herself up, but honestly she couldn't keep it in any longer. your eyes flicked between the names of the movies and her face, your brows furrowing. she knew something you didn't. "what do you mean?" curiosity laced your voice but your eyes never met. you avoided her gaze. she leaned on the wall beside you, watching as you were suddenly so focused on reading all of the movie titles. "well, for starters, you are the only girl he's ever invited over to the house," beth nodded, sticking out a hand to count how many things she was listing off. she stuck her thumb out. "the only time he ever sees sam and the others are when we go to the lodge or hang out as a group." you hummed a small 'mhm', wanting her to continue. to say you were intrigued would be an understatement—you wanted to hear more, needed to hear more. just a half hour ago you were trying to convince yourself it was too good to be true, and now you weren't so sure. "and, he keeps asking han and i what kind of things you're into." she stuck out her pointer finger.

resting her head on the wall behind her as she looked up at the ceiling, she continued: "he's been listening to a lot of fleetwood mac ever since we mentioned it to him."

a small laugh managed to escape you as you listened to her, followed by a gentle nudge on her part. "i'm serious, i've never heard someone listen to gold dust woman so much!"

“maybe he’s just being a good friend—y’know, i always try to get into—“ beth placed her pointer finger to your lips, a quick and silly way to silence you.

“can you just trust me on this one?” her voice was desperate but playfull, her hand dropping to her hip.

a beat of silence fell between you two. it wasn’t awkward, just giving you time to think about it all. and then it dawned on you.

he’d been flirting with you the entire time.

stolen glances, the way his hand brushed against your own, little presents here and there—everything began to make sense. and you looked like a fool. blush instantly rushed to your cheeks, shaking your head as your eyes met beth’s.

“and you’ve known this for how long?”

“about 4 months. he begged us to not say anything—i swore on my life.”

another beat of silence.

“does josh know that i—“ you began, cut off by beth once more, this time by her words.

“nope, not to my knowledge. unless han said something, he is also oblivious.” she reassured, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“is it as painful as watching chris and ashley dance around the topic?” you questioned, tilting your head slightly with a bashful smile on your face.

“worse, actually, way worse. you guys are always so close to making a move, and then you chicken out.”

you shook your head once more, then glanced back down at the movies. they were all comedy except for one—‘the shining’. you’ve already seen it, quite a few times actually, but it wouldn’t hurt to play it. you politely handed the other movies back to beth, tucking the horror case underneath your arm.

her palm fell from your shoulder, taking the movies into her hands as she returned them to her bedside, then right back to the spot she was standing at.

“okay, but, that still doesn’t explain why he ‘forgot’,” you put air quotes up, “about our hangout today. is something up?”

“well,” she sighed, glancing to the floor before she met your eyes again. “i honestly don’t know. i think you just make him nervous, he was kind of just sitting around fidgeting all day.”

you nodded, butterflies swirling in your stomach. you made josh nervous? hell, he made you nervous. palms all sweaty any time you got too close—your body naturally heating up—not to mention how you always get red in the face when he stares at you for too long.

“promise you won’t say anything.”

“i won’t.”

-

eventually, you had made your way back to the living room, this time ignoring the family photos and instead trying to figure out if you were going to say something to josh. each step you took matched your heart beat, nice and steady. that was until you spotted josh on the couch, eyes closed.

your heart fluttered a bit just seeing him. despite only being apart for a couple minutes, you couldn’t help but miss him. it was a familiar feeling, unfortunately, it came with the burden of having a crush on him.

as if he felt your presence (undoubtedly heard your steps), his eyes opened as he turned his head to look in your direction—immediately sitting up straight with a small smile.

“there she is,” he stood up, walking over to meet you in the middle, “i’m guessing they had the movies?”

“mhm,” you nod, handing him the case. “you’ve seen ‘the shining’ before, right?”

he shook his head, taking the dvd into his hand, examining it. his eyes glanced between you and the writing on the case. "horror?" he questioned, sauntering over to the tv—you followed after. "would you rather watch 'pretty woman' or 'ferris bueller's day off' again?" you teased, leaving him to put the movie in while you sat on the couch, sneaking a few pieces of popcorn. josh chuckled gingerly, popping the disc from the holder straight into the dvd player. you changed the hdmi until it displayed the previews for other movies, signifying that you were on the right one. he strolled back over to you, sitting on the other side of the couch. comfortable silence fell between you two as he skipped the previews, immediately turning the movie on. he seemed invested—which was good—but you were starting to get bored. it was a great movie, don't get me wrong, but having seen it a few times... it just wasn't something that sparked your interest. compared to the other movies, this was the best bet. "scared?" you turned your head to look at him, a small smirk on your face. "need someone to hold onto?" "yes, definitely," he retorted, a dramatic flare grazing his voice. josh almost immediately moved closer to you, your knees touching as his arm hung on the spine of the couch—behind your body, of course. "what would i do without you?" you rolled your eyes, graciously accepting the newfound warmth that spread through your body. yes, from the proximity, but also because your heart was racing once more. he seemed so eager to be beside you. which is a good thing. - minutes passed and you found yourself watching josh's face more than the movie. he was completely entranced—hyper-focused on the screen in front of him, oblivious to your fond eyes examining his every expression. and over that time, your positions had changed. his arm was now resting around your shoulders, pulling you (basically) as close as possible, with your legs touching, both of you glued to each other. you could feel each time he was startled—his body tensing—then relaxing. eventually you decided to watch the movie, your eyes returning to the bloody horror that was being displayed. your head rested on his chest, and you wrapped your arms around his abdomen—a lazy hug, but also because it was more comfortable this way. you swore you could feel his heart rate pick up. "scared?" he mocked, glancing down at you. you scoffed, shaking your head gently against his body. “if anyone’s scared it’s you,” you retorted, looking up at him through your eyelashes.

josh looked back down at you, this time holding the eye contact. both of your eyes simultaneously flicked between the others eyes and lips—the two of you thinking the same thing.

your lips parted almost instinctively, both of you leaning in—

“am i interrupting something?”

hannah’s voice cut through the tension like a knife—neither of you even heard her coming. you sat up quickly, blush evident on your cheeks.

“not at all,” josh replied, his arm still around hour shoulders—he seemed rather calm—but his body was tense against yours.

you didn’t want to admit it, but it was so excruciatingly obvious she interrupted something. with the way she was grinning, she had to have known it too.

a small smile fell on your lips, looking at her, that same mischievous smile that her sister wore was now on her face.

beth was right. you and josh dance around the topic too much—at this point, you need to come up with your own choreography for it. the fact you two almost kissed—faces so close—yet so far.

how long were you going to have to wait for it to happen again?

thank you all for being so patient while i took my time writing this. pretty sure i experienced writers block lmao? i got kind of lazy halfway through but hope you enjoyed!!! let me know what you think in the comments pretty plzz tried to hurry this shit out like 3 days ago and got bored but now i REALLY had to have it done by today so i could watch arcane s2 LMAOO also i'd like to say that i got my layout inspo from ruewrote, so thank you for having a blog (lol)

[revelboo]

The sideswipe and sunstreaker story has been a blast to read!! Talk about being stuck between a rock (sides treating the human like they’re a barely sapient baby animal) and a hard place (sunny being so openly unhappy with the arrangement) lmao

I’ve always had a soft spot for the disaster twins. The very first fanfic I ever wrote was about them years ago

Can’t Finish What You Started Pt 7

Sunstreaker x Reader, Sideswipe x Reader

• “Here.” Startling when a blanket is dropped on your head, you frown up at Sunstreaker and he scowls right back as Sideswipe watches. “You’re not eating,” he adds, reaching out to nudge the box of cereal at you. And then waiting expectantly until you cave and dig out a handful just so he’ll stop hovering and worrying. Ever since the awkwardness of you getting caught singing to him like he was a little kid, he’s been marginally less irritable toward you. A very small margin, but it’s something.

• Uncomfortable with the way you’re smiling up at him and Sideswipe’s own grin, Sunstreaker stalks past to retrieve an energon cube. Leaning a hip against the storage cabinet that you’d taken over as your space. Wheeljack had been busily making human things for all of the little organics after a mixture of angry ranting, pleading, and general miserableness from the Ark’s smallest residents had made it apparent that they were being unwittingly neglected. A big chunk of your space being dedicated to waste disposal and a little wash rack, it’s that space you head toward arms stretched over your head and little hips swaying.

• Watching you disappear under the blankets draped over the crude frame erected around what you refer to as your bathroom, Sideswipe leans his chin on a fist. One time he’d gotten curious enough to lean over the open top of your ‘private’ space. It’d been a surprise to see you without your coverings, wet and disturbingly like a little protoform as you stared up at him, eyes wide. Sometimes before recharge he finds himself thinking about how soft you’d looked, wet and furious. And he hadn’t realized your voice could be so painfully shrill when you were angry. They’d tried to fully enclose the spaces at first, but after Cliffjumper’s had hidden nearly nine hours in theirs refusing to come out until Cliff had started dismantling the walls, the roof, door, and walls were removed on all of them.

• Stripping and stepping into the warm spray, you keep half your attention on the open top of your bathroom. Because Sideswipe is a jerk and a voyeur. While you doubt your wet organic form does anything for him, you still don’t want to be stared at while showering and naked.

• Keeping an optic on Sideswipe to make sure he doesn’t bother you, Sunstreaker runs a polishing cloth over his armor and waits. Not because he cares about your weird human modesty, but because he isn’t the least bit interested in that awful noise you make that Sideswipe seems to find hilarious. Head lifting when the door to their quarters opens, he frowns at Wheeljack and the human he’s carrying cradled to his chassis. “What did your human do?” Wheeljack asks, servos flexing as his leans out dangerously far from his hand to look around. “Are they a medic?”

• “Medic?” Sideswipe asks, setting aside his energon cube. “Someone’s hurt?” One of the tiny organics? Walking past Sunny and ignoring his growled ‘don’t,’ he leans over the blanket draped enclosure. Sees your eyes widen right before you start screaming profanity at him. “Are you a medic?” He asks with a grin, watching as you try to cover yourself with your hands. Leaning back as you throw your little bottle of cleanser at him and miss badly. Screaming at him to get out. “Don’t think they’re a medic.” Laughing when Sunny grabs him by an arm and drags him away.

• Swearing and red faced, you grab one of the torn strips from a blanket that pass as towels and wrap it around yourself, shoving out of the bathroom with soap still in your hair and stinging your eyes. Stopping short when you see the other Autobot and the human in his hand that waves awkwardly at you. That calms some of the fury humming through you at least, fingers tightening on your towel, you exhale. “I am-was a digital artist,” you mutter, aware of Sunstreaker’s head turning to look at you curiously.

Previous

[ecargmura]

Dandadan Episode 7 Review - A Mother's Love

If Episode 4 hasn’t put Science Saru on the map for high quality animation, then this episode surely did. I haven’t read the source material, but even as an anime-only watcher, I can definitely see the love and passion the studio puts into this. It’s crazy how a Japanese anime studio owned by a Korean person can make such invigorating quality.

The rest of the fight with Acrobatic Silky was animated well. I love how the kids outwitted her by running away just so her hair gets caught in the nook and cranny of the warehouse. Okarun manages to defeat her by going full throttle. However, their victory isn’t a happy one as devouring Aira caused her to die. Turbo Granny explained that since she’s an ordinary person, being devoured by a spirit would easily kill someone. I sort of like that detail, honestly. There’s no anime logic about how she could survive this. She’s dead and that is what the rest of the episode is about. 

What I also like is that seeing her dead easily causes Momo and Okarun to start doing what they can like telling Turbo Granny to call the ambulance and for Momo to resuscitate her using her psychic hands. Though, it does feel odd that a group of teenagers know how to resuscitate someone so skillfully, even if it’s an attempt. They’re both not doctors and are on the opposite spectrum of them. The only way she can be saved is having Acrobatic Silky connect her aura to Aira’s like connecting two cords together.

That’s where the highlight of the episode comes in the form of Silky’s tragic backstory. Man, it broke my heart seeing Silky’s life before her unfortunate end. She was a single mother working as a prostitute alongside several jobs in order to provide for her and her beloved daughter who was her entire world and her purpose for living. Her daughter was sweet in that she was essentially her light in her life. She worked hard in order to buy the red dress that eventually becomes what she wears as a ghost and she was also teaching her daughter ballet. The tragedy comes from debt collectors or mobsters coming in to assault her and then they later took her daughter away, which is severely tragic because the sequences of her life before the tragedy shows that her daughter just celebrated her fifth birthday. If the mobsters are related to trafficking, this means that her daughter’s fate became that of a trafficked child and that’s horrendous in itself. Also, props to Hina Kino for voicing the daughter. She's excellent at creating a child-like voice, especially with how she wailed.

Silky’s dance sequence before meeting her end was seriously beautiful, yet so tragic. The scenery with the starry night was gorgeous but Silky starts dancing. Ballet is an elegant, graceful and poised style of dancing and that’s how she decided to meet her end. The way it was animated was so gorgeous. Also, if you noticed, Silky’s dancing was used in the full music video of Dandadan’s opening song.

There are some people out there wondering if Silky’s daughter is Aira. She’s not. When Silky became a ghost, she could only stand listlessly until little Aira came and mistook her for her recently deceased mother. Realizing that she had a daughter, Silky latched onto Aira and decided to protect her until it became obsessive and psychotic. 

This sequence also showcases why Aira behaved the way she did earlier. She’s a narcissist primarily because of what her father had said about her needing to become stronger in order to let her mother be proud of her once she sees her again. That was why she developed a high self-confidence in order to one day show her late mother. She may have been insufferable before but the memories have completely humbled her. The way she hugged Silky just so she could have solace and not be forgotten in death was such a powerful scene. This shows that underneath her pompous attitude, Aira had a kind heart. My opinion of her instantly changed after this. Wow. I legit shed some tears.

I wonder if Dandadan’s story is just encountering a ghost or an alien and learning of their stories or what not. There doesn’t seem to be an overall grand scheme of things. I like that honestly. It’s just a story about kids encountering the supernatural and learning a lot of life lessons amidst the craziness. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Anyways, what are your thoughts about this episode?

[wander-wren]

sometimes i wonder about what fandom is going to look like in 5 or 10 years. i think we might have already started to see a shift.

because, look, most of the oldest, biggest fandoms are from tv shows and movies, in particular ones that go on for years and scores of episodes. star trek, star wars, stargate (is everything star?), doctor who, supernatural…even sherlock really got its biggest popularity boosts in the modern day from tv adaptations. marvel and dc were comics first, too, but movies made them more accessible; their “cinematic universe” tags are the biggest on ao3 by far.

but what tv shows are we getting now? short, 8-episode things that get canceled two or three seasons in, that are usually less-than-faithful adaptations of other media anyway.

what movies are we getting? well, marvel turns more to slop every day, and everything else is remakes and sequels no one asked for. the general populace will still go see them and find some good movies that they like, but there’s not much really for fandom to grasp onto.

the best shows for fandom that we’ve had recently, that i can think of, are stranger things, game of thrones, and maybe our flag means death. stranger things is dying off, especially since they’re looking at a 3-4 YEAR gap between s4 and s5. game of thrones’s popularity plummeted after its final season, we all know that. our flag means death is still chugging fairly okay, but after that second season a lot of the fandom dropped it, and with it now being cancelled, i don’t see it sticking around.

yes, we can chalk part of this up to a new generation to of fans having this growing idea that fandom is super temporary, to be abandoned as soon as its not on trend. but media used to be on trend for a whole lot longer than it is now. seasons were longer, we had filler episodes, things were lower quality sometimes but at least they came out on a consistent schedule. i don’t mind if supernatural isn’t an artistic masterpiece, but if i was a stranger things fan waiting until 2026 for the final season, i would be annoyed if it wasn’t damn near perfect. that’s assuming i watched it at all—we’re all so used to not getting endings and moving on, so why would i bother?

i think there are two types of shows doing sort of okay about this. one is procedurals—9-1-1 is a popular one i’ve run into, and it started in 2018, around the beginning of the decline, but it’s managed 7 seasons in those six years, most of them with 18 episodes. the other is, honestly, anime—though we can and SHOULD talk about the terrible working conditions that make the fast turnarounds there possible. look at how big some anime fandoms are.

judging by the relative fandom popularity of other procedural dramas (grey’s anatomy, law & order, criminal minds), i think that’s going to remain sort of niche. fandom likes fantasy and scifi best, and they just don’t tend to have as strong of an overarching arc to dig into. at least, that’s why i wouldn’t watch them. i think there’s also a good chance these will start to die out in the coming years as well.

anime could also die out a little bit. better working conditions would necessitate less/slower content, and it’s true that most of the popular anime fandoms have been around for years, even decades.

so, what, no new, lasting tv show or movie fandoms anymore?

what will the biggest fandoms be in 5-10 years?

podcast fandoms have a shot. the magnus archives is still going strong, and i’ve been seeing a lot about dungeons and daddies. i think we’re kind of almost past the golden age for podcasts, but i am an outsider, so maybe that will change.

book fandoms seem like a kind of obvious choice, but they just don’t get as big without, you guessed it, a movie or show adaptation. and the downsizing has hit them, too—can you think of anything from the last 5 or 10 years that rivals harry potter, percy jackson, warriors, lord of the rings, hunger games, acotar…even game of thrones (asoiaf) again? i can’t. the collapse of the publishing industry is another post entirely.

2020 is really what cemented these changes, though they were starting in the late 2010s, at least. with actual industries shutting down, there was room for indie creators making things alone in their houses to pop up, and people had more time on their hands to try new things out and get into them.

the two things that have really been on the rise since 2020 is rpf and video game fic—often both combined. we’ve got genshin impact, call of duty, minecraft of course being huge, rpf of various youtubers, and k-pop rpf. now, i think rpf is contentious enough that it won’t really become the main fandom, but video game fic…might be it.

even video blogging rpf can often be a blurred enough line that people are more comfortable with it. and the thing is…youtube creators are actually more reliable than mainstream television these days. they need to be, to maintain their platforms. they need to not cancel series and to live up to their own hype as best they can and to not abandon the channel for 3 or 4 years at a time. and again, you can talk about burnout and unrealistic expectations and all of those things, but it’s still true.

maybe i’m completely wrong. maybe in 10 years the film and publishing industries will all sort themselves out and we’ll go back to the status quo. but i think this position fandom is finding itself in is interesting, and i wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if what’s most popular (both in the specific source material sense and the medium/genre sense) is different some time down the road.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

lilia and uncle iroh

“Leaves from the vine, falling so slow… Like fragile, tiny shells drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy comes marching home… Brave soldier boy comes marching home.”

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how similar Lilia and Iroh’s character development is 🤔 At a surface level, they’re both the wise mentor types that guide their somewhat misguided or naive pupils—but the parallels run even deeper than that!! I wanted to go over those in this post; maybe it would help us appreciate how far Lilia has come on his own merits ever since his war general days.

***Spoilers for book 7 of TWST and Avatar the Last Airbender (only the animated series, not other ATLA materials)!!***

To begin, let's set the stage for the character we'll be comparing Lilia to: Iroh. The show Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a heavily Asian inspired world where some have the ability to bend an element: earth, water, fire, or air. At present, the Fire Nation has been waging a 100 years long war on the other nations in an imperialistic bid for power. Iroh, while presented as a kind and peaceful old man in modern day, was once a leading general for the Fire Nation. He was an active warmonger and, as the eldest son of the Fire Lord, set to inherit the throne, and the legacy of bloodshed and violence that came with it. Notably, even during his days as a general, Iroh still came off as mild-mannered and had a sense of humor (joking about how magnificent Ba Sing Se is, but saying that his niece and nephew may not get to see it because he might just burn it to the ground first). Iroh is also characterized as being more kind and forgiving than his younger brother Ozai, as he lied about slaying the last dragons to allow them to go into hiding and prevent people from hunting them into extinction. His personality still persists during all of this time. The event that would shake Iroh's life and serve as the impetus for turning his back on the war efforts was at the siege of Ba Sing Se, a city known for its impenetrable walls. There, Iroh managed to breech the Outer Wall and fully intended to finally conquer the city thought to be unconquerable--until he tragically lost his one and only son, Lu Ten, on the front lines. This destroyed Iroh's fighting spirit, causing him to abandon the siege and branding him a failure and a coward in the eyes of his family members.

When Iroh's father passed away under mysterious circumstances, it was his younger brother Ozai who was named as the successor. Iroh had lost the will to fight for his birthright, as he was still grieving for his son. Instead, a disillusioned Iroh left his role in the military and politics to embark on a worldly journey, visiting multiple other nations and learning from their unique cultures. At first, he was filled with great shame at his "failure" to become the Fire Lord--but with time, Iroh realized that avoiding his ascension to the throne was actually a stroke of good fortune. He turned away from the aggression and imperialism of his home country and began seeing the value in peace and balance in all things. Later on, Iroh would serve as a vital mentor and father figure to his nephew and Ozai's son, Zuko, who was banished from home and sent to capture the one person who could stop their victory in the war: the Avatar. Having been disgraced and practically renounced by his own father, Zuko had very few people left to turn to. It was his Uncle Iroh who accepted him with open arms and tried to support him through these difficult times. On their hunt, Zuko is very clearly still in a dark place, constantly insisting that he "needs to capture the Avatar" and that he needs to "regain his honor". Meanwhile, Iroh does what he can to calm his nephew and pass on wise words, extoling the virtues of peace and recognizing the importance of other nations. He urges Zuko to seek inner peace and to determine his own destiny, rather than act out a destiny that someone else has decided for him. We later learn that Iroh sees Zuko as his own son ever since he lost Lu Ten to the war, and we see this compassion and care similarly reflected in how he treats everyone around him. Rarely does Iroh ever express anger or hatred, not even when faced with men intent on harming him. One notable example of this is when a robber demands all of his money, and all Iroh does is disarm him and correct his weak stance. They then sit down, have tea, and talk about the robber's future prospects. This segment infamously comes from Iroh's segment in the episode Tales of Ba Sing Se, in which he's living in the city he once laid siege to as a refugee of war. In it, Iroh goes about his day giving helpful advice to the various people he comes across. This all culminates in the penultimate moment where he scales a hill outside the city and prepares a memorial in honor of Lu Ten. "Happy birthday, my son. If only I could have helped you too." These lines completely recontexualize everything Iroh has been doing up until this point in the series. Literally everything he does and says comes, in part, from the guilt he feels for the part he played in the war and the countless people scarred by it, including himself and his own family. He saw it happen to Lu Ten, and he fears it happening to Zuko and the numerous others touched by the horrors of war. After all, war and hatred do not discriminate. Everyone is affected by it, and Iroh is now wise enough to understand that and to wish for no one to go down the same dark path he once was. ... But hey, this is mostly meant to be a Twisted Wonderland post, so let's finally get to how any of this is relevant to Lilia.

Like Iroh, Lilia was a general to his country's military during a war. In Lilia's case, they were on the losing side, as fae were greatly outnumbered by humans and repulsed by the iron human soldiers wore in combat. The fae weren't the aggressors, but rather people who were trying to defend their territory and resources from invading humans who were tearing apart nature. From what we've observed of him in his book 7 dreamscape, the Lilia of the past is different from what we know now. He maintains his teasing humor and love of surprises, but comes off as gruff and closed off, acting suspicious of others and rejects the idea of wanting or having children. Most shockingly of all though, Lilia states that he has no interest in going to Night Raven College or really engaging with other races. This is a huge departure from modern day Lilia, who encourages his dorm members (most notably Malleus and Sebek) to go out of their comfort zones and to make efforts to understand their peers. He is also known for instilling in Silver a desire to unite people of all races (something which Silver explains to the pixies in Fairy Gala: If). Lilia even uses his wish during the Star Sending to wish for a peaceful world where everyone can live in harmony. He made LARGE strides in his worldview in the hundreds of years between then and now. It's important to note that Lilia often travels and talks about how much the world has changed. This, I assume, would lend to his knowledge and acceptance of many different races and cultures, similar to how Iroh's travels imparted knowledge and appreciation in him. Given how abrasive Lilia was during the war era (plus his refusal to consider other races), I'd surmise his travels started after the war ended.

All that's missing now is the impetus for Lilia's change in behavior: the Lu Ten to Iroh, so to speak. For Lilia, I think it's actually a compounding of many factors: firstly, his best friend (and Malleus's father) Levan, the messenger sent to an enemy fortress goes missing. Secondly, we can infer that his princess Meleanor (and Malleus's mother) must have been killed by humans (as Malleus says in modern day that his only living relative is his mother, and we are currently on a book 7 cliffhanger knowing that humans have ambushed the castle where she is staying)... leaving Lilia to pick up the pieces of a war-ravaged country and with an egg that has yet to hatch. I think it’s safe to say though that Lilia probably felt immense guilt at Malleus, still unborn, having to be raised without parents, by someone who doesn’t understand parental love himself—and perhaps Lilia took up that mantle to atone for being unable to protect them. It was also, after all, Meleanor’s wish that Lilia protect her son and ensure he hatch in her stead if something horrible befell her. Maybe, in another way, you could say that Lilia eventually wants to avoid war so that no one has to suffer such cruel, unnecessary loss as Malleus, Silver, or he did ever again.

Then we also learn that Lilia started raising Silver because he wishes to understand humans—a sentiment that Levan expressed to his friend. It was also Levan that kept the NRC invitation letter safe for Lilia, an implication to reconsider. And so Lilia willingly raises child of a sworn enemy, the Dawn Knight. We see how Silver in particular softens Lilia and changes his worldview and, most notably, Silver so innocently wished his father good health with an acorn amulet. That amulet would become Lilia’s most prized possession, and he kept it all these years later despite the acorns losing their freshness. It’s in raising Silver that Lilia recognizes and learns to appreciate the fragility that is human life and hardens his resolve to defend what he once deemed relatively unimportant.

In Lilia's case, his impetus comes from the guilt of not being there at the crucial moment to protect his sovereign--and later down the line, from the disillusionment of knowing that he had a part in escalating the conflict that would ultimately harm humans and fae alike. This may be whey he so readily adopts a policy of peace and acceptance of other races when we see in at NRC. Not only that, but it was the first person he lost, Levan, that encouraged Lilia to open his heart to other races. His enlightening travels, his experiences with raising children who are innocent and rely on him for survival, and the guilt setting in all feed into Lilia's change of heart, his desire to not see history repeat itself, and his vision of world peace. That's why he's so keen to instill these same values into those he mentors: because he knows that, someday, he won't be here anymore to spread them. While he's still around, he wants Malleus, Sebek, and Silver to carry on his legacy, to make his dream a reality.

Truthfully, Lilia could have easily gotten mad. He could have closed himself off. He could have become hateful and sought revenge. He could have blamed humans for what they took from him. It speaks immensely to his strength as an individual that he didn't, and that he instead learned from his mistakes to ensure they don't happen again. Lilia still very much has pride in his home country and its royal family. However, the difference now is that he has opened himself up to other sources, seeing that there is something wonderful in every corner and facet of the world.

Both Iroh and Lilia are wise, loving mentor characters who have developed in their own ways far before the main show/story events begin to pan out. One might even argue their development is "already finished" long before the other characters even start on theirs, which puts them in a good position to lead others. Age grants them the edge of knowledge and being able to impart that onto the younger generation, not only to avoid imminent disaster, but to create a better world for all.

[brineoffire]

Fallout 141

Okay and day 7's post is that drabble about fallout i talked about a few days back! Please lemme know if you'd like to hear more on the next drabble day because ill just be writing about whatever comes to mind next if not <3

It takes a loooong while for any of them to believe you about the bombs, and even longer for them to trust you enough to leave the vault with you.

It helps when you mention you had been frozen in a similar way and were a veteran before that.

Ghost and Roach are silent when they see the wastes. Price and Gaz are quick to map out their surroundings.

They ask you questions about enemies and weather patterns.

Soap is following your every step, he follows your lead completely. He asks any and all questions about your animals

A Brahmin, 2 dogs, and your young deathclaw.

He takes to the animals quickly. Surprisingly your deathclaw takes to him as well.

You’re so glad you have your animals carry extra munitions.

There arn’t many weapons left in the vault.

You’re assuming the rest of the staff took off with them, or they expected a better outcome then what the world is now.

You've read the little snippets of unredacted information you had found in the vault.

They’re a fully trained task force, and you’ve trusted way shadier folks with waaaay less training.

You get them all fully armed, though they dont leave you without payment of sorts.

They had let you take body armor from the vault since they had full access.

You're not entirely sure what all they grabbed but you arn’t about to try and take any or pry about anything.

You’re essentially an honorary member of the 141.

Is what you and Soap say. The others aren't on board that quickly.

You're on your way back to sanctuary with them, your first foothold in the wastes since you woke up.

It's a weeks’ travel so you take watch with Gaz.

You spend your time telling him what to look for, showing him the telltale signs of enemies and storms approaching.

You both hit it off after the first hour and end up chatting about your past lives.

He switches off with Soap and you insist that you don’t need much rest.

You really don’t but Soap is persuasive and you end up taking a few minutes to catch him up before resting.

There’s no issues that night, a relief to Ghost, who you are fairly sure was awoken by every passing breeze.

Soap somehow even taught your deathclaw to fetch somehow.

Your new group pulls together a breakfast from the rations they brought from the vault.

Soap and Gaz get into conversation about the animals.

Price takes this chance to talk to you more about Sanctuary.

Sanctuary has been heavily modified after you took charge from Preston.

There's more than enough space for all of them and you’d never say no to more protection for your people.

Though in your chatter you end up mentioning the Minutemen and the Castle and Price is full attention.

You start to wonder if you’d even find a single place where these guys would settle.

Because after you mention all the settlements you patrol they all chime in with questions.

All 12 settlements you have are heavily guarded, especially by wasteland standards.

They all seem impressed at the setup you’re running, even Ghost.

You take it as a huge compliment.

You go over your ideas for the wastes and they listen intently.

When you first got out you wanted to help as many folks as you could.

You did a lot and you know with certainty that you see the same desire in all of their eyes.

You explain how the commonwealth all fear the Institute.

Skipping the part about Shaun being their leader.

You've already decided he’s not your family anymore.

How can you consider him family when he’s been raised and grown by strangers? When he is a stranger himself?

You've been blocking that issue from your mind while focusing on restoring what you can of the wastes yourself.

Your efforts have proven fruitful, your deathclaw taming being a huge leap forward already.

With so many more hands your excitement mounts and the unlikely possibilities seem much more attainable now.

Of course you hit a snag in the road immediately

A rad storm is fast approaching while the lot of you are still about 3 days out from Sanctuary.

Lucky for all of you there’s an old office building in your path with a nicely sized basement because you DO NOT have enough Rad away for everyone.

Everyone sets up camp again, preparing for a couple nights of sheltering in place.

Roach approaches you this time, asking about the maps your pipboy has and you talk landscapes and terrain while he draws out an actual map.

You hope you can get your hands on more pipboys for them, but for now you keep your focus on the day ahead.

It's nice to have since its difficult for everyone to crowd around you for a glance at the small screen. 

[gonetoforks]

Poor Yuichi... Isn't he tired?

1. Can he make cute stuffed animal sounds when he's hit or falls to the ground?

2. How does he feel being surrounded by people different from him? (Since he is a stuffed animal and the others are flesh and blood).

3. Has he ever been in more complicated situations, on the verge of death, or seriously injured?

4. Is he too careful with his katana? What nicknames have the turtles given him? Does he know about Mrs. Cuddles?

5. Do some yokai know about him? Draxum, Big Mama, Hueso?

6. What was each turtle's and Splinter's first impression when they saw him? And how did Yuichi react?

7. I could see that Leo used to be afraid of him. If he isn't anymore, what does he think of Yuichi now?

Sorry for so many questions, I really liked the Au 👉👈🥺 (you can choose to answer some questions if you wish)

AAAAA NO WORRIES THIS IS LITERALLY ME WHEN PPL ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT MY BRAIN BLORBOS;

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

1) yes, yes he does

2) He’s pretty used to it! both sides of his family are pretty different from him, the Cuddles’ being almost completely inorganic & his family in Japan being yokai. He doesn’t really feel it actively so much as it’s led him to think of himself as, *waving hands around face* different. For a few reasons, but it’s no more of an issue for him round the turtles than it usually is :D

3) He’s lucky enough to not have had serious injuries, his organs are pretty well protected by flexible metal! The most danger he’s been in is when he had to run away from a family gathering blind into a forest. (When he cries, water can get too deep in his eyes, & since they’re cameras they short out and go offline.)

But basically, it’s really hard to kill or injure him cause he’s kinda like if an octopus had metal protecting its organs lmao

4) He is absolutely not, since he can stitch limbs back on & sew himself up like nothing, Miyamoto has to constantly remind him to be more careful haha. (Since he’d be a yokai in Rise, his ghost lives in the Ki-stone; the Usagi family uses it as an artifact similar to the scrolls Splinter shredded in S1)

He has a few nicknames but they aren’t really used regularly; Jersey Jack, Raggedy Ichi, Cottontail, Skewer-Me-Elmo, mostly one liners like those haha. but Miyamoto calls him Ume-chan (lil plum) pretty regularly hahaha

& unfortunately yes, he is quite familiar with mrs cuddles ( ´△｀)

5) Yeah! Draxum’s seen him around cause he hangs out with his kids, Big Mama hasn’t really taken much notice cause he hasn’t done anything yet, & hueso knows him as “the guy who always orders motor oil to go with his breadsticks.” ksjfjaksjskjs

6) When they met, Raph was scared shitless for a solid few seconds, Don was like “hahaha you terrify my brother haha, who are you.”

Mikey, same as Cassandra & Magicsaurus, chilled out quickly & was excited to meet a new person & have a fun time with a new friend.

Leo was like “lmao, you from Jersey?” & Yuichi said “Yeah lmao,” & Leo was like “no wayyyy, surely you are evil and crazy/hj” and he proceeded to be completely biased towards Yuichi’s “jerseylike behavior.” (Yuichi in reality was just reminding Leo of all the things he dislikes about himself cause they’re so similar. Once he realizes this, their rivalry becomes a lot more jokey like Teru and Mob from mp100 & they grow closer)

Splinter did not really mind his presence either way, just some kid, friend of his kids, in his house.

Yuichi reacted in a very boisterous & unserious way in response to their interest & hesitation. & when he found out they were attacked by his aunt he was very apologetic haha, he got them a fruit basket that said “Sorry my estranged aunt attacked your home, the rest of my family dislikes her too, have some fruit, so sorry.”

7) After Leo & Yuichi grow close, Leo begins to see him as a person he wants to stay close to. He thinks he’s impulsive, arrogant, but he also sees how he affects others and how they feel very easily. And he can talk a LOT. Note how in the show, Leo goes silent when he runs out of ideas, he’s incredibly stressed, & his family isn’t taking notice of him. As opposed to his family who he always feels the need to talk around to “cope,” Yuichi is the guy he trusts enough to let the mask slip and go quiet when he runs out of mana.

They get each other ( ＾∀＾)

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa genuinely tysm for all the questions, I’m happy you’re so interested in him!! ((o(^∇^)o)) leosagi doodles be upon ye 🫵

[fernsnailz]

January 2024 Review Roundup

hello everypony‼️ something i want to do through 2024 is a mini review series where i recap some of the media i watched/played/read at the end of every month. this was inspired by tumblr user ponett’s 2023 media wrap-up, it's a great collection of quick reviews so go check it out!

i’m doing this partially as writing/analysis practice, but mostly because my memory is really bad and i want to keep track of what i've seen this year. with that said, my thoughts on everything i finished in january 2024 is under the cut :]

Portal 1 + 2

yyyup i beat Portal and it only took me (checks watch) 13 years

the first time i played Portal 2 was at a friend’s house when i was in middle school, and i had a fuckin blast. but after all that time... it still holds up! i don’t think anything i have to say about Portal will be particularly new since people have been praising this series since it came out. the writing, the level design, even the controls feel tight and engaging the whole way through. i played on switch and expected a bit of jank, but i was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it felt to play. the only part that dragged for me were the levels through the old aperture labs, but i think i would like them a lot more on a second replay. Portal 2 is fantastic and one of my new favorite games, the artistry behind it is truly incredible and i’m really glad i finally finished it. while i was playing Portal 2, i described Glados and Wheatly to a friend and said “they’re like if a ceiling fan could be passive aggressive and if Fozzie Bear was an evil golf ball”

I Think You Should Leave

finally. i can truly understand and appreciate Subspace Dubbed Over

i think one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how it utilizes horror. beyond sitting slack-jawed in disbelief at the crazy events unfolding before my eyes, a number of the sketches dipped into bits that genuinely kinda scared me. like the one sketch that circulates on here where the guy (pig?) in a mask crawls through a dog door, which is. genuinely terrifying. but so many of the other sketches have slow, nerve-racking pacing leading to crazy shit that would be perfect in a horror film were the context different. idk i like dissecting how horror and comedy are essentially the same thing and I Think You Should Leave was very good at enabling that <3 favorite sketches are probably “then let my wife eat the damn receipt” and “55 BURGERS 55 HOTDOGS 100 FRIES 100 TATER TOTS”

Sonic Prime Season 3

man. ohhhh man. i didn’t go into this with high expectations and i still feel let down. Sonic Prime Season 3 was definitely my least favorite “season” of the batch - abysmal pacing, very few character moments i actually enjoyed, and the things i praised about the show felt very underutilized through these episodes. Nine is the shining star of Sonic Prime and i was looking forward to seeing his more villainous side, but his character took such a sharp turn into pure evil and it felt like he spent the entire season repeating the same three lines. and as much as i praise Shadow’s writing in Prime, it doesn’t really matter when he spends half of the season trapped in a hole that he just… runs out of later.

lastly, i cannot stop thinking about how bad the pacing of this season is. three episodes for a repetitive final battle feels like such a waste of time when you see just how much they rush the emotional resolutions in the last episode. however, there is one thing i truly love about Sonic Prime Season 3 - i love the Sails and Mangey fakeout death. it's so fucking funny. like you really expect me to believe that two cartoon animals in this Y-7 rated show EXPLODED?????? absolute comedy gold.

overall, i just… don’t really know what to think of Sonic Prime. anything i enjoyed in the show was often fleeting, and much of it felt like its only purpose was to waste my time. also Rouge i can’t believe they did you so dirty oh my god

Ghost Trick

i was so proud that i figured out the secret behind Sissel’s memory loss like halfway through the game. however i also kept getting caught during the prison escape sequence like an idiot

Ghost Trick is in a similar situation as Portal where 1. it’s incredible and one of my new favorite games, and 2. there’s nothing i can really say about it that hasn’t already been said or just. shouldn’t be said. Ghost Trick is a fantastic mystery game, and because of that i think it’s best to go into its story as blind as possible. the narrative unfolds in such fascinating ways - even though the actual object manipulation gameplay isn’t directly about solving the mystery (like in Ace Attorney or other mystery games), it still ties wonderfully into the story in some incredibly unique ways.

i also really love the artstyle of Ghost Trick - i love 2D character artwork with that sharp lineweight, it reminded me a lot of Sonic Battle (another game with an artstyle i love). i was also really impressed by the 3D character models and animation - despite the limitations of the camera, you get a wonderful sense of everyone’s personality from the limited body language expressed in the overworld (even though the models lack much facial expression which. i guess they don’t really need? idk that was the only thing that threw me off). anyways yeah everyone should play Ghost Trick so Ghost Trick fans can be freed from their curse and talk about it without having to tag like 10 different spoiler tags. and for Missile

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

ok bear with me. i went into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off without reading the comics first. and i fuckin loved it

my understanding of Scott Pilgrim before SPTO was mostly from the movie (I KNOW I’M SORRY), but even with my base understanding of the series i really enjoyed this show for what it was. i found myself appreciating the time they dedicated to further develop every single character in the show - especially Ramona. she’s fantastic as the lead, i really loved watching her reconcile with her exes and seeing all of them grow instead of exploding into coins. my favorite episode was probably the one with her and Roxie - not only did i adore the movie-jumping set pieces, but you really understand the weight of Ramona’s mistakes in their past relationship and how much it hurt Roxie. despite the big climactic fight, the flashbacks are quiet, subtle, heartbreaking. Ramona’s apology is genuine, and it feels so wonderful to watch her confront her past throughout the show. also i think it’s really funny that for all these characters to become the best versions of themselves, they had to kill off Scott for most of the story

and holy shit the artstyle and animation. oh my god. i love watching something that makes me immediately go “i need to see the storyboards for this RIGHT NOW.” SPTO is such a visual delight to watch, it elevates the artstyle of the comics while also keeping what makes that style so appealing - i love the line weight on the characters, i love how much forward energy the animation has, i love the fucking. virtual boy section. as soon as i found out Science Saru was also behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, everything made immediate sense. i was destined to love this show.

another worry i had going into SPTO (besides the fact that i hadn’t read the comics lol) is that the original cast from the movie was returning. i think the movie cast is fine, but i wasn’t sure how some of them would fare with voice acting for animation. however, i thought they all did a good job - i think the whole cast loves these characters and would be able to fit into them fairly easily no matter what form their performance takes, and they definitely had a good voice director in the studio with them. the only thing that felt off about the voice performances to me was that sometimes it sounded like some of their mics kept peaking?? idk some of these episodes i watched high as balls and i felt like i could hear and see every single sound and frame of the show. so that might have just been me.

god i did not. expect to have this much to say about Scott Pilgrim. i really loved this show and i’m currently reading the comics to fully catch up on the general Scott Pilgrim experience - i think reading the comics AFTER Takes Off is making me appreciate even more of the character work that went into the show. like they do so much with Mathew Patel in SPTO, a character that was. not originally around for a long time from what i’ve gathered? also i like the funny little robot. oh my GOD i cannot talk about this show anymore whatever it’s good get me out of here

Sword AF Season 1

i put on the Smosh cast’s D&D series to play in the background while i was drawing. i did not expect to think much of it. instead, i had one of the most enjoyable D&D podcast experiences since i listened to The Adventure Zone Balance???

i haven’t really enjoyed other D&D podcasts since i dropped off of The Adventure Zone, and i wasn’t expecting much from Sword AF of all things. then i saw that Shayne was playing as a druid warforged made of plants and his name was fucking Fernie and i sat my ass down and LISTENED. while i think Sword AF is currently lacking in its world and larger story, those things just. aren’t really what Sword AF is really trying to provide at the moment. it’s main focus is comedy, and the players are genuinely such a delight to watch play together and build off of each other. they mostly focus on bits and goofs for the sake of she show's comedic tone, but i still found it thoroughly enjoyable because every player embodies and performs their characters really well. idk Sword AF was an unexpected hit for me this month, i thought it was fun. and i love Fernie so much

Plastic Death - Glass Beach

so originally i wasn’t going to include music reviews in these roundups at all, but then i was entirely surprised by a new Glass Beach album and oh my god. holy shit. oh my fucking god jesus christ. holy shit. its preddy good

Plastic Death gets the low point of the album out of the way immediately. it starts with the “phone call/conversation audio” trope that i don’t particularly enjoy - HOWEVER despite me disliking this opening, 1. it sets up the overall themes of Plastic Death very quickly, and 2. the rest of the album blows this 40 second opening completely out of the water. from there, the album grows into something beautiful and uncontained, and i just. i really like it

Plastic Death captures the beauty of the temporary, asks what it means to be created for a cause you can’t fulfill, questions if you can reclaim yourself from cycles and constraints designed to destroy you. and is also about being transgender. the lyrics are abstract in a way that requires a conversation with the listener, many of the vocals obscured and smooth like waves - this album is definitely one that needs to be listened to a few times. i wasn’t sure how i felt about the vocal style at first before realizing the vocals were the main reason i was relistening to this album, allowing myself to find even more that i loved about it. the instrumentation is also incredible, i love the use of marimba in a number of songs - distant, eerie, almost skeletal. and the fucking. 8-bit section?? which kinda rules???? and that’s the only point in the album it ever shows up??????? incredible. a fleeting, somewhat silly moment that i love every time.

this album left my heart aching, in part from my connection to it and in part from the pure love and joy emanating from this music. i can feel just how much fun this music was to perform and create, a cohesion of time and sound that just clicked for me. Plastic Death made me miss playing music, which is something i haven’t felt in years. all from an album that starts with a conversation about CrankGameplay’s dead youtube channel. good lord

i like this album a normal amount. go listen to it a few times. my favorite tracks are cul-de-sac and commatose

Wish

i watched Wish with a couple of friends and knew i probably wasn't going to like it. with that in mind, i gave myself a challenge: i wanted to find one thing about this movie that i genuinely really loved. it could be anything, and loving it for ironic reasons was allowed.

here's the complete list of things i loved about Disney's Wish (2023):

i love the one shot where King Magnifico stirs an evil caldron evily. i thought it was hilarious. what was he cooking

i loved that the end credits included a reference to Dinosaur 2001 at all, and i loved that they paid homage to Big Hero 6 by showing the forgettable villain of that movie instead of their Baymax cashcow for some reason. my friends and i saw him show up in the credits and were like "who's the trenchcoat guy??"

you may notice that this list is very short and 50% of it is about the movie's credits. so yeah this movie is not very good

Wish is an empty husk of a movie. everything about it feels so, so hollow - lifeless town squares, uninspired character designs (to quote a friend: "i have all of these characters' hairstyles in The Sims"), characters whose existence is only justified to fill empty space or an overused archetype, and an "evil" villain who lacks charisma and spine in a futile effort to remind the audience of previous disney villains with actual character. even the artstyle lacks any sort of sauce, the watercolor effect they were trying to go for only makes the backgrounds and character textures run together, and the dull lighting makes things look even more faded. it's like disney was scared of making a movie that made its audience feel... anything. all to celebrate 100 years of Disney slop, baby!!!

Some YouTube videos I liked in January: 💥 An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond 💥 TomSka's Guide to Plagiarism 💥 Paradise Bombed (this video is a great piece of journalism and i’m definitely not doing it justice by throwing it into the youtube vid list) 💥 Surprising Our Friends with Zoo Animals 💥 Did FNAF Ever Have a Good Story?

thanks for reading! next month’s roundup will be wild because i’ll likely be reviewing House of Leaves and Hazbin Hotel. can you guess which cursed house gives me a worse headache? WHO KNOWS! (hint: it's Hazbin Hotel)

[rose-reveries]

⚠️BEWARE THE EPISODE 4 PJO SPOILERS⚠️

Episode 4: The things I like, the things I don’t, the things I miss but I’m okay with them not being there

The things I liked about the new episode:

I liked the conversation at the beginning in the train. Very reminiscent of the book where we get to learn a little bit more about Annabeth and how she arrived at camp. I found it interesting how here we changed it from Annabeth’s father always resenting her birth to Annabeth’s father considering her “a gift” until her step-mother came along. I don’t mind this change at all and all in all still makes sense as to why Annabeth ran away when she was 7.

“But at least with gods you know the rules” okay Miss Chase your autism is showing (/j)

The flow from seeing the centaurs (which is something I believe only Percy saw in the books) to letting this be how Grover opens up about Pan and why he wants to be a searcher was a nice little combination of scenes to save time. We still understand how Grover feels about humans and their mistreatment of nature but it’s just in a slightly different way than the books and I’m okay with that change.

The BANTER between the trio was SO good this episode. You can really feel the bonds between these characters (especially Percy and Annabeth) forming this episode.

The pacing in this episode finally started to feel a little bit better than the first 3 episodes. I actually do think the change in how they meet Echidna helps with this because it prolongs the hunt whereas in the book the Echidna and Chimera scene IS quite short and fast. Meeting Echidna on the train, having them run and try to heal Percy, Percy gets worse, Percy sacrifices himself to let the other two get away, fight scene, he falls into the river, etc. Just way better pacing than like, for example, episode one where Alecto literally just flies at him and without moving he stabs her and she dies 💀

Okay, my FAVORITE new thing about the episode does have to be making the Arch a temple to Athena. If the gods still rule but have adapted to the west it makes total sense that they still have temples but they’re just modern American landmarks. Super cool and I loved this change.

Also, rather than Annabeth and Grover just heading down in the elevator before learning there’s a monster, I do like Percy stepping in and sacrificing himself to let them get away. It shows his loyalty to his friends, and how he would rather fight a monster than let them die without reason.

Since the Arch is a temple and Athena had to give Echidna permission to enter, and she did so due to Annabeth’s impertinence, this REALLY helps with the shows current message of heroes and monsters and what those terms mean, but also just how the gods are like BAD. I think it’ll help make Luke’s reasoning for turning on the gods make SO much sense for new audience members.

Percy and Annabeth banter?? ADORABLE

TOTALLY CALLED THE WATER REACHING OUT TO REACH PERCY LMAO. I know RR said he had Percy jump into the river because he didn’t realize how far it was from the arch so this is like sort of a retcon but yea, it works. Percy can manipulate water we learned this with how he pushed Nancy into the fountain.

Things I didn’t:

I think Echidna breaking into the train ✨magically✨ was eh. She could have simply just been on the train like how in the book she was just simply in the elevator.

Speaking of Echidna, it would’ve been so cool to see a snake lady :’). They did it with Medusa and Alecto but I guess they spent their whole budget on that because no snake lady to be seen.

I know the Mist would be hiding it from mortals… but even in the book Grover is like wearing pants and a hat. If they spent less cgi on Grover they could’ve animated some other stuff I’m sure.

The choice to keep depicting Kronos as this wraith instead of a voice from a pit is interesting?? We are already not setting up for Kronos reveal (like there was no Kronos exposition in the museum in episode one which I though was weird). Also I’d say that they’re doing this because they want new audience members to believe Hades is the BBG or something, but if they wanted us to think that why not mention the Helm of Darkness? The Helm would definitely help allude to this wraith figure we see I think. Or show us the hellhound. I don’t know. Weird. I think there is a lot of missing information that is IMPORTANT to the story that shouldn’t have been left out.

Things I miss but it’s fine they’re not there

The trio just never lost their stuff, huh? Like…the bus didn’t explode. They didn’t have to return a poodle for money to a train to Denver. I understand this was all probably cut for time and money sake.

Wish we took the time in the arch for Annabeth to talk about wanting to be an architect.

In conclusion, I liked this episode and I am enjoying the series. But this means that the Lightning Thief Musical is still the most book accurate adaptation of Percy Jackson and that makes me lol

[pessimisticoptimistsblog]

AN: It’s been YEARS, possibly like a decade honestly, since I’ve written down a story idea, but I have like this incessant story bug in my brain. This series and Lucifer especially have me in a chokehold, so hopefully, this helps to ease the brain rot a bit… this is inspired by the series, obviously, but also by a clip I’ve seen of Supernatural that mentioned Nephilim and them being not accepted by heaven (I think? I’ve never watched SPN, so maybe I got the idea wrong, and the clip was out of context.. oh well, in this story, Nephilim exists, and heaven doesn’t like that.)

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

This has been lightly proofread. I needed to get the idea down finally since it's been circling my brian since I watched the finale. Also  chapter 1 is written! I’ll probably edit it a bit more tomorrow and post it by tomorrow evening. Anytime my oc is just signing and it isn't being interpreted by her assistant, it will be like this *text*. If her assistant is translating, then it will appear as regular speech.

CW: Not much yet, just some cursing

Summary: He claimed her mother seduced him, bewitched him with some devil-magic to make him fall for her, making her inherently evil. How else would a mere human have come to carry a half-angel? So he forced their offspring into hell, hid her amongst the “Losers,” and sealed her angelic half and her voice away so no one would ever know what he had done. With the extermination creeping closer to her doorstep and now being moved up, Madame C has finally had enough of her father’s hypocrisy. It’s time to leave the shadows and show Heaven and her father they’re not as great as they think.

Prologue

~ THE BEGINNING ~

Year – 1467

Quickly, wee one, only a bit further. We cannae’ risk being found!” The urgency in the older woman’s voice was barely masked, wishing the younger girl holding her hand could still think of this as nothing more than a game. The two slipped into a small cave opening, and the mother raised a finger to her mouth with a shaky grin.

Her tired brown eyes peaked out after a few moments searching the wood for any sign of the mob they had just outrun. The village they had only just reached a fortnight ago seemed to have decided the woman was a witch when they caught her using herbs to heal a scrape on her daughters knee. The village elder had gathered every able-bodied man and some women, armed them with anything sharp they could grab, and set the woman’s small home on fire. One had seen the “witch” and her daughter trying to sneak out of a window, and soon, the mob had begun chasing the two into the woods surrounding the village.

The woman scanned the trees half a dozen times, hoping and praying that some diety would hear her and the villagers would give up soon. She knew her daughter was growing weary, and at nearly 13, she was too heavy for the small woman to carry while trying to escape certain death. After a few tense moments of eerie silence and no sign of flames or shadowy figures, the mother breathed a small sigh and sunk into the wall of the cave. She looked to her side, seeing her daughters green eyes wide and scared – scanning her mother’s face for whether they would begin running again or if they were finally safe. For now.

In truth, the duo had been doing this for years. The young girl could barely remember a time they weren’t running or hiding, and she had only recently begun to grasp why. Witch hysteria was gripping the continent, and women healers and single women were being targeted. Someone like her mother, a healer and mother with no husband in sight, was no doubt evil and wicked. So the two were hunted, like animals, no matter how far they tried to stay away from civilization. This time, the mother had hoped to use a ruse of her husband dying on their travels to gain acceptance into a small village. It had worked for a short while until one of the older men tried to court her, and her rejection immediately put her under suspicion. Only a few short days later, their new home was behind them, and they had even fewer belongings than what they had come with, unable to grab much in their haste.

The young girl stared at her mother a few moments longer until a gentle, calloused hand began to smooth out unruly brown hair and a small smile stretched on the older woman’s face. Just barely gracing the planet for 28 years, the woman looked much older in this moment. So tired and broken from the last 11 years of running and hiding, unable to give her daughter the life she deserved, all because of a “man” that had promised her everything and then disappeared. The girl wanted nothing more than to ease her mother’s worries, put a stop to the need to run, and escape certain death. With exhaustion pulling her closer to sleep, all she could do at the time was collapse into her mother’s lap and cuddle into the last bit of safety she would feel for many years.

~ PRESENT DAY ~

Green eyes cracked open at the sound of a knock on the bedroom door. Red light was peeking through curtains, unable to break through the darkness of the rest of the room.

“Madame C? We’ve got breakfast ready, and Miss Carmine’ll be here in an hour,” a gruff voice called through the door before footsteps could be heard pacing away from the door.

The woman In the bed stretched before sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes. Slowly rising from her bed, her feet softly padded over the wooden floors towards her small ensuite bathroom. After washing her face and getting dressed, she allowed herself to be enveloped in darkness, appearing to everyone as a shadow figure anywhere she went. The only visible part of her – green eyes and the short white gloves she wore so everyone could see her sign. The rest of her appearance she had found, after the first hundred years, was too close to her father’s for Hell.

Exiting her room, there stood a slightly buff hell hound watching the area around her door. He began to follow her to her office while speaking into an ear mic, “Madame C is on the move. Bring breakfast to the office.” Reaching the large double doors to her office, the first hell hound greeted another smaller, younger hell hound with a nod before they opened and shut the doors, allowing their boss through and positioning themselves on either side. Inside the office, the small shadow figure seemed to float to her desk, turning on a small light on her way and taking a seat in her chair with a sigh.

Not long later, a female hell hound came through the doors; dressed in leather and spikes, the only sign she was a secretary was the tray of food in one hand and a stack of files in another. The hell hound’s mouth turned up into a smirk seeing her boss slumped in her chair already. “C’mon boss lady, don’t tell me ya didn’t get any sleep? You got important shit to take care of today!”

Madame C gave a wry grin. When did she ever sleep well? She made a motion with her hand, waving off Nia’s question before signing to ask for the coffee on the breakfast tray. After setting the tray down and handing the coffee to her boss, Nia launched into a spiel about who had scheduled a meeting and why. Sipping her coffee, Madame C sat and listened to her assistant before a knock sounded on the office doors, signaling the start of another long day for the woman blanketed in shadows.

Hours later, Nia was absently scribbling in a notebook, bored out of her mind and not bothering to hide it. The meetings had ended 30 minutes ago; new contracts had been made, old ones were closed and paid out, and others would have to have bill collectors sent out to ensure clients paid their dues. Madame C sat back in her chair after signing checks for the hell hounds she employees, stretching her fingers out and rolling her shoulders to ease the ache that had settled in.

She looked at Nia with a small smile before tapping her desk to catch the young hell hound’s attention. Her white gloved hands began to move as soon as Nia looked up, *You should go. Beelzebub has a party tonight, right? Go.*

The female hell hound's head perked up, and her tail began to wag as she practically vibrated out of her seat. “Oh my Satan! Are you sure?! It’s supposed to be a big one tonight, so that’d be amazing if I could leave, like, now, but I totally understand if you need me! But, there’s also, like, this super hot guy that’s supposed to be there and I really want to shoot my shot, ya know? Ugh! He’s so fucking hot. I just-“

*Yes! Go! Please.* Hands moved quickly to cut the hell hound off. The green-eyed woman cut off Nia’s rambling, all but pushing her out of the office doors. Nia shouted a quick thank you, running off with the pile of envelopes leaving Madame C and the 2 hell hounds outside her office shaking their heads in amusement. The smaller demon looked between her 2 guards, signing that they should be heading home, too.

“You sure, ma’am?” One questioned.

“We don’t mind sticking around. Sinners are getting a bit braver with the next extermination coming up,” the other added.

*Go home, I could use the quiet. Plus, Carmilla left me a couple of new toys. I might enjoy a reason to test them!* White gloves signed as green eyes shone bright and sharp white teeth poked through a grin, accompanied with a short, silent laugh.

After sending the rest of her employees home, Madame C closed her office doors and collapsed onto a small couch to the side of the room, releasing a sigh. She had dreamt of that awful night again, the last time she had been able to hug her mother and feel her warmth. Her final moments of life before they came and cornered her and her mother. Before she was cast into hell and striped of her identity and voice. A gloved hand reached up to the center of her chest, where binding marks lay beneath her clothes.

One day, she’ll break the chains her father wrapped her in and show everyone just how evil he truly is.

Soon. Very soon. Were her last thoughts before she allowed sleep to claim her, hoping for no dreams to plague her tonight.

~I'm screaming inside. I hope ya'll like this at least a little. 🙏~

[cy-cyborg]

Hey im trying to write a centaur type character… the character has fibromyalgia and i want to represent them well by giving them some kind of mobility aid. But because of their being a centaur and the way their bodies are so different from humans’, i don’t know what kind would work best yet, and i’m afraid of designing something that won’t support their weight or will just look silly

Hm, that’s tricky. I’m not super knowledgeable about fibromyalgia, I know a few people with it and I know it causes things like pain, difficulty breathing and fatigue but that’s about it so definitely run these suggestions by someone else before you use them. I do know a decent amount about horses though.

So for mobility aids that would be primarily used by the human half, so long as you make them tall enough they should be fine. Things like crutches, canes etc, though admittedly, I’m not sure if they’d actually be helpful unless they’re only needing support for their front legs, since it probably wouldn’t relieve any pressure from the back ones. A rotator might be slightly better depending on how it’s structured, but it too wouldn’t help much with the back limbs

The centaur equivalent of a wheelchair or similar device would be much more complicated though.

Horses… don’t take well to mobility aids as a general rule of thumb, so anything for the horse half specifically is going to have issues. most quadruped animals who need a wheelchair can use a little cart or buggy like this:

[ID: A picture of a golden retriever in a mobility cart that's supporting their back legs. /End ID]

But horses really, really struggle with them. A lot of it’s behavioural, they’re prey animals and having something strapped to them like these “wheelchair carts” freaks them out and causes a lot of stress - especially if it gets stuck on something (like a rock, or crack in the ground). with training, they can learn to be relatively ok-ish with it, like how other horses are trained to be ok pulling carriages, but those carriages aren’t attached to them 24/7, these carts are.

This isn’t necessarily something that would apply to your centaur unless they’re very horse-like in behaviour, but I thought it worth a mention just in case. The bigger issue though is physical, and would 100% be a problem for centaurs. Horses are big creatures and are very heavy. It’s not good for them to lie down for too long, as all their weight can put pressure on their organs and do damage. It also makes it harder for them to breathe (that’s why, when horses are sedated for surgery, they try to keep them standing upright where possible). Likewise, a cart has to take at least part of the creature’s weight, and so long-term use puts a lot of pressure on the soft underside of their belly and chest, and causes many of the same issues.

One thing you could potentially do is give them something that mimics the ways horses “naturally” try to alleviate pain and fatigue. My mum has a very, very elderly pony (he turns 29 this year) and his knees have been giving him trouble lately, which means standing is hard, but if he lays down he might get stuck. Instead, he goes and finds trees or fence posts or the side of his stable and just leans against them (mum has padded the side of the stable he usually leans on). As a mobility aid for your centaur, this might look like the front end being supported by crutches or a cane, and the back half being supported by something tied to their back leg. I image the hind-leg crutch would stick out at a slight angle so it’s not constantly dragging along the ground, and when they need a breather or break, they could lean their body and shift their weight onto it. Something like this

[ID: A poorly drawn image of a centaur. Its human half is holding a stick-figure drawing of a crutch. Another similar crutch is tied to one of their back legs. The image shows them from the front and side, with the front showing that the rear crutch sticks out slightly. /End ID]

(I’m a professional artist lmao)

It’s not a perfect solution (and probably wouldn’t be great for their back tbh) but I’m not sure what else you could do, this at least gives them a way rest if they need it without depending on straps that could cause pressure sores/injuries to their abdomen and (horse) chest

Of course, centaurs in and of themselves are very unrealistic and their anatomy doesn’t really work either, so you can always take liberties with the realism of the horse-end mobility aid stuff. If you don’t want something on the more realistic end, I would say a cart wheelchair for the back end + crutches/canes/rotators for the front would be fine. It depends on the tone for the setting!

[lilli-the-bear]

i’m getting back into anime again after a break due to dying of time.

i’ve also been rlly obsessed with BNHA again, never liked the toxic fandom BUT HEAR ME OUT

ITS OC TIME

basically had an oc for forever ever since i got into the show so YEARS ago and changed her design 100000000x… i had her quirk, her backstory and everything sorted with her lore figured out with her relationships and everything, but now im doubting its uniqueness and actual capabilities and idk if its actually enjoyable for anyone but me and my silly daydreams. so my goobers please help me.

i love her and wanna make her cool as hell

🎶 either i stick with her original quick of Acoustokinesis - basically manipulating sound and having sonic screams, i use to think she would sing and scream it at people but a lil impractical- the only problem is i want to give her some capabilities outside of just haha silly scream

i know i want her quirk to be linked to her emotions for ✨LORE✨ reasons (i can expand if ppl wanna hear) maybe with misophonia having emotional triggers to sound as she is a very apathetic character at the beginning due to this factor

it would also make some sense lore wise since it is a like President Mic (can expand later on) although lacks that uniqueness in that sense unlike other ocs

OR

🩸some sort of blood quirk where she can formulate plasma into weapons (key problem with the original is i wanna give her pretty weapons BUT could just have Mei make them…since they’re gay for eachother 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩) but she’d be like tugging on ‘heart strings’ stopping people’s blood flow causing crushing pains and when hitting opponents using their blood in attacks like water benders.

this would also make some sense as in my au toga is her childhood best friend and ends up at UA with them. so something in common?? but it just feels overdone

but i need her quirk to be useful having good capabilities she also doesn’t use it to begin with being underestimated by her fellow classmates as well as a fear of hurting fellow classmates with her volatile emotions which works well with unexpected screams of raw emotion

LIL BIT OF LORE

so they’re name is Aspen Yumiyai, she had a really fucked up childhood until the age of 7, (but shes my bbg) her father being on the run ever since, yet she continues to wake up in the night the fluorescent white lights and white tiled walls flashing in her vision as she was pushed on a stretcher down the corridor REDACTED. she has two metal robotic legs with a sarcastic demeanour and a bit of a hater and judged but hey who isn’t. she’s your favourite queer persons favourite queer person. she was sent to a hero training school due to her mothers worries about her quirk where she met Himiko Toga, the two becoming very close friends very quickly. Aspen has extremely strong physical fighting style using her legs to take an offensive stance but limits herself sometimes by not using her quirk only using her physical body and upper body strength to take on opponents yet struggles against offensive and long range quirks otherwise. furthermore, they were recommended to UA by REDACTED the pro hero being highly commendable within her fighting style and overall ability as a hero especially when she uses her quirk having a full scholarship. but oh the weight it places on her, the weight of being a hero, the weight of the unknown

so please let this blow up id explode, sorry for being a little secretive about the lore but gotta keep you guessing. but id love the input so please share like and comment any ideas for her quirk or to make her any cooler <3

[ongreenergrasses]

hiii friend, keeping you in my thoughts today. 💙

lmk if you'd rather i split these up into multiple asks since this is uhhh a lot of questions! i wasn't sure which would be Less Annoying

1. what's your favorite kind of weather?

2. let's pretend you have unlimited funds, space, land, etc. how many pets/animals would you own and what kind?

3. most embarrassing song on ur spotify/apple music/equivalent playlists. if u answer this one i'll comment with mine for fairness

4. what's your third favorite beverage?

5. share a line from a fic you've written and are never going to post

6. thoughts on spiders?

7. what's something stupid you're a little scared of? not talking like phobia-level i mean like something benign that you wouldn't run out of the room screaming about but don't go out of your way to encounter. mine is moths

8. thg ship you enjoy reading about but probably wouldn't ever write fic for?

9. favorite minor/background character in thg?

10. do you collect anything? if so, what and how many of them do you own?

lord. i started this and it deleted. anyway thank you for the good wishes!! and i love asks you will never annoy me with the asks, the worst that can happen is I’ll slap a long post warning on it

1. either 85 degrees, sunny, and not soul crushing humidity, or 15 below with snow and that very specific winter light. i currently live in an excellent place for these conditions

2. maybe a dog? sometimes the gf wants a dog. definitely chickens, i’ve always wanted them. we have 2 cats and they’re bonded so strongly and have such a good dynamic that we probably would only introduce one more. (nearly ended up with another cat this summer. barely restrained ourselves). also i’ve always wanted a hedgehog but I’m worried the cats would get pricked

3. HAHAHA ok there’s so many cringe songs. the most embarrassing is Not Strong Enough by boygenius. the reason that this is the most embarrassing is because i legitimately cannot stand boygenius

4. kombucha

5. this does Not indicate the context going on but here you go, from the notes app archive

It’s looming, it’s the year Luis will learn about it in history class, and they can’t put it off any longer.

6. they’re fine? one time i saw a pretty massive one on the shower ceiling at midnight and i heaved the most world weary sigh and was like you know what. this might as well happen. but usually i leave them alone or take them outside

7. barnacles

8. to be very honest…there isn’t a single thg thing that i enjoy reading that i wouldn’t try my hand at writing. i’m a massive multishipper (although you wouldn’t know it looking at my ao3) and at this point i’m so particular with what i read that yes i’ll poke around on ao3 a little bit, but i’ve learned especially in thg spaces i’m way better off just writing what I want to read. something that i’ve been turning around and around in my head is Finnick/Gale, because that absolutely fascinates me on so many levels and the people writing for that are incredible.

9. Annie!

10. i collect many many things! i am a Stuff and Things enjoyer. the one that pops into my head (because i am looking at it) is matryoshki. i have four, two of which were my mother’s. i’ve wanted to get a tattoo of one but unfortunately then it would remind me of my mother. i also collect vintage erotica, teapots, a very specific flavor of small wall hanging tchotchke things, and glass animals. i’m sure i’m forgetting some things

AMA day

[midnightkolrath]

Quick thought ideas on a DMC2 remake potential

Thinking about DMC2 recently and how a remake could benefit into making the story MUCH better than how it unfortunately ended up (due to the messy development of the game but alas). These are just things I've thought about off the top of my head on how they could easily benefit from remaking 2 and putting in much needed reworks and additions because man this game has potential still if redone right. I threw these on Twitter recently, but I'm giving abit more expansion here. I'm sure there's more ideas, but this is all I've gone to throw on the floor for right now.

Give Argosax an actual personality that matches their description of being a demon lord and rival to Mundus in territory terf war. They also have a cult like Mundus, as DMC2 has highlighted, so...surely they need to be represented better as a threat, yeah?

Make Arius much more of a threat. He’s a sorcerer, so have him FLEX that alot more. He made Lucia and the secretaries, who're artificial demons, and he ends up taking in Argosax's power...so like...keep him abit hammy if you want but make him the SCARY kind of hammy.

Potentially have Dante and Lucia’s campaigns be steamlined into one consecutive storyline. Alternate as the story goes on like in DMC5. I feel like since the two campaigns were mostly, iirc, copy paste parallels...they could just have the two stories basically run side by side. Give Lucia's side more room to be more unique.

Have more lore for the Protectors (The group Matier and Lucia belong to). They fought Argosax and worked together with Sparda, so like…an added crumb of flashback or so wouldn’t hurt imo. I'm not asking for like a whole big thing on it, just... [pinches fingers together] abit more.

Have Dante and Lucia interact abit more. Lucia being outted as an artificial demon is something I feel can have more connection there. A ‘Devils Never Cry’ moment, if you will. As cheesy as it can be seen nowadays, the series IS named after it. Well....moreso the fact that any demon encountering Dante 'may cry', but you get what I mean. Plus, its stated Lucia has a crush on Dante....so like...give that more to lean on? I'm not saying they have to build to anything actually happening, as we know how Dante is, but juuust enough, you know?

Have Dante’s brooding be more akin to, say, how the first DMC anime handled it. I feel like he was a good balance of ‘Man I’ve been through shit’ tiredness but still ‘I got some snarky humor and understanding towards others’.

The obvious rebalancing of weapons so it isn’t just GUN 24/7, but they can be cheeky and add an achievement referencing that, sure why not.

Maaaaybe add styles. Though acrobatic Dante with the movement he can do in this game, while silly, is still kinda fun. Trickster DOES have its roots from this game, as an inspiration.

Give the bosses in this game personality, please I am begging. They’re barely, if at all, memorable because they’re plain as hell. Remake them, replace, idc, I just want that boss banter.

Speaking of, make the Argosax fight less a pain and maybe better utilize that fact that it reuses the DMC1 bosses. I feel like we can go more body horror on it, esp if Argosax gets more a personality. Like…Argosax’s title is literally Argosax the Chaos, go crazy on that.

Speaking of Argosax having potential...did you recall that they casually flip genders in the second form they turn into? To me, you can make that unsettling in the sense that you can make Argosax sound more unsettling. Like the idea brewing in my head is to make it sound like more than one person speaking at once...like a legion. Or akin to how the true final boss for Sonic Frontiers was handled voice wise. Like I said, you can REALLY potentially run more with the fact that Argosax has 'Chaos' in the title.

[h-didanart]

Hello everyone! Can I interest you in some Age Swap stuff with my Bloodmoons?

No? Well I’m dumping the stuff on you anyways!

But first things first, I will say this isn’t exactly a full on age swap, most of my Bloodmoons are in the 20s age range with three exceptions who are all teens.

So! I exaggerated the age differences.

There’s the elementary age kids, the middle schoolers, the dead teens, and the two almost 30 adults.

Now enjoy the rambling!

Ocean is literally the reason I started this to begin with, I wanted to draw them being a badass pirate or something. They would sail the seas alongside their family, exploring the oceans and islands as they did so. Generally I could see them toning down on the impulsiveness, probably from a couple more close calls with death, and since they’d be around FC a lot I could see them becoming surprisingly patient for a Bloodmoon. Also I wanted to make them have dreadlocks but I don’t know how to draw that hairstyle :(

Now the other adult here, Amnesiac. I didn’t know where to even start for their design but I got the idea to give them those crutches that aren’t called crutches because of their issues with mobility, and the rest of the design was easy to make after that. I don’t see them changing a lot personality wise, mainly I could see them acquiring a more grumpy attitude due to the situation with their family, but they’d generally still be one of the kindest Bloodmoons around. And about their disability thing, I have actually been contemplating giving them mobility aids in their canon. I just feel like it might be good for their character and story since their issues stem from that lack of sync they have which is not something they’re going to fix just like that or at least to the point the previous Bloodmoon was at, so Ruby and Vermillion would look for ways to manage their issues which could then be interpreted by their family and the Celestials as them giving up on ever learning to cooperate, when in actuality they’re both on the exact same page for this and are actively working together to better their everyday life.

Anyways— those are the responsible adults here. There technically should be two others but they’re kinda… uh, dead and stuck in a timeless plane of existence or something, so no age swap stuff with them

So it’s just Amnesiac and Ocean taking care of 7+ small Bloodmoons, with emotional support from the Musical duo

Let’s take a look at what the kids are like, shall we?

Starting off strongly with Lone. He’s a very very angry kid, aggressive, rude, mean, generally unpleasant. This would 100% stem from his trust issues and the death of his twin, and then the adults around him not caring enough to look under all the anger. But he would manage to have one friend through all his lashing out, and they’d become very close despite the adults around them trying to keep them apart. That one friendship might be enough to pull him out of the self destructive pit he’s sinking into.

(And now I want to draw little Sprout and Original running around, great)

Next up, Magic. I literally just drew them when they were younger, right before everything went wrong in their life. They’re very excitable and energetic, looking forward to their special duties as a magical girl and very grateful that they got a chance to still be together. They’d actually be in the intended magical girl age range from the system I’m using, I think, I haven’t watched the anime yet, I will someday I swear—

And now swap! Little swap is a kitten, highly energetic and absolutely adorable. They would steal a lot of Kill_Code’s stuff and misplace it, kinda not their fault cuz ADHD + blind, but still. Though they kept the hat, they really like the hat. And unlike their canon version, they wouldn’t be maliciously aggressive, it’d just be a thing that happens sometimes. Y’know, because cat.

OK LIStEn liSten— They are my favorite, they are being included.

Retired would be a concerningly easy kid to handle, though still labeled troublesome due to their propensity to zone out at random and just kinda fall asleep wherever. They wouldn’t talk much if at all, but they will hiss and growl if anyone ever gets too close to them. Despite their very distant exterior though, they’d be very clingy towards those they do trust. And though untrusting of others, they would try to do small things to cheer up any sad people they find. Follow in their older brother’s footsteps, y’know?

Lord BM, oh boy. This is basically a Collector Owl House situation, a kid with the powers of a God who uses them to play whatever games they wish to play. Would they understand how strong their powers are? Absolutely not. Would they wreck chaos on the world because of that? Yes. But can you really look them in the eyes and stay mad at them for it?

The next one’s design I messed up, they’re supposed to be their vampire form, not the demon one. Regardless, Fantasy would be a chaos wrecker, very hyper and very easily bored, they will cast dangerous spells just because they think they’re neat. They would 100% set several houses on fire and then flee the scene cackling wildly into the night. And they would pull off the innocent act very well too, especially in their bat form. They’re just an innocent wittle cweachur who’d do no wrong whatsoever :3

Next up is Horror! They would change outfits constantly, mostly sticking to hoodies but playing around a lot with whatever clothes they can find. They would retain their love for scary stuff which would be freaky and definitely make the adults around them concerned about them, but they too would retain their kind and optimistic demeanor. The two AIs would generally get along better, though they’d still have their disagreements, mainly about how to treat others, Hatchet is way too blunt and rude while Heaven is a bit of an anxious wreck. And I like to think that in this scenario Eclipse would be their younger brother while Dear would be their older sister, it’s funny to me.

Second to last Bloodmoon, Withered Hopes! They’d be a very happy kid, which is weird because they do//know a lot of stuff that’s extremely concerning. They can survive on their own, find their own food and make their own shelter, they can even make haphazardly thrown together weapons, which is good but also a really bad sign that their environment isn’t exactly friendly to them. And their reactions to violence absolutely do not help that, they could hit someone over the head with a pan and shrug it off as not a big deal, they could see a fox tearing into a chicken and not feel any disturbance whatsoever. They’re kinda messed up actually… well damn, now I feel kinda bad for them. Funny scenario to lift the spirits up, older Stitchwraith looking after them and Buzzsaw and trying to parent them but being very bad at it.

And finally we have the Separated twins! They’re very clingy to one another, no surprises there, and they’re arguably the best chaotic duo around. They’d tag team people with their pranks, often orchestrated by Harvest and activated by Hunter, they are menaces together. The least harmful menaces around, that is. They’d do their best to match one another mainly wearing similar clothes, and often taking turns on choosing what to play, Hunter liking tag and general physical activity, Harvest liking video games more. Should be worth mentioning that they do have a couple dietary restrictions//requirements, Harvest can only eat red food while Hunter needs to eat meat, this is also the case in their canon.

[superbfirnacho]

What is dreamtale Ivy's species?

What is her connection towards dream and star sanses?

What is her relationship with the other bad guys

.. how would she react to Bluu?

What are her magical capabilities

How did nightmare meet ivy?

What's the difference between canon nightmare, and ivymare nightmare?

Are her children canon to the main story

What is her favorite food?/ Drink?

.. Since it's pride month, is she a fruit bowl or is she able to drive a car straight..

What is her least favorite sans au?

Thoughts on Error, Ink, Or lust?

Has she ever met a monster kid before?

Does she have any toxic qualities?

Has she ever been to a zoo before? And if so what was her reaction to seeing the goats?

Opinion on Toriel?

Has she ever been outside of her AU and went to the omega timeline? If so opinions on core?

What was she like when she was little?

Have nightmare and ivy ever.. k.. k-kissed..?!

Finally, How does she think of me? Interview sans!

*[A very short skeleton bugs you with millions of questions.]

I love these questions!! (Note this will be about Dreamtale ivy unless I say otherwise) 1. Ivy is herself an immortal being, her mother (the goddess of fertility and nature) combined the souls of monsters and humans along with the seed of a blessed willow. So ivy technically has monster and human inside of her.

2. Ivy was friends with Dream, though not as close as him then with nightmare, she think he’s a good person. She met ink and Swap and though ink was….an interesting person (she’s okay with him) and enjoyed being a lil ADHD gremlin with Swap.

3. She likes playing pranks on killer and they have a frenemies relationship. She doesn’t bother dust. And she occasionally asks horror to teach er how to cook things (she’s ass at cooking) they get along best. 4. She would think bluu is adorable and would want to ask them questions/ play with them if they’re a kid.

5. Ivy has the ability to control plants with her soul energy, it acts as sort of a puppet to control the plants. She can also heal herself and others with soul energy. She had a limited amount and if she run out of Soul energy there’s a risk of death and extreme vulnerability. Her magic gets stronger as she ages.

6. Nightmare met ivy when they were young kids, she found her way into the town he was at, heating of a bad omen on the top of the hill, she figured she would eliminate it (despite being like 7) and gain favour from the townsfolk. To her surprise to was a young skeleton her age and they started talking. Eventually growing to be close friends after she protected him from bullies.

7. Really the only difference between the canon nightmare and the one in this story is the fact he had ivy growing up, and that passive is this nightmare, they aren’t separate beings. I don’t want to make him super different then the canon.

8. They are! I may draw angst art/ what would happen if they got in a big fight but it’s all (mostly) non canon.

9. Nearly anything sweet, also cheese. It’s because when she was a kid (5 centuries ago) sweets were uncommon and only eaten by wealthy and rich people.

10. She’s Bisexual and Demisexual! Also she can drive for ass so no way.

11. She hates a lot of the Aus that have killed aus of her, for example Killer and Dust, they have killed their Ivys.

12. I already said inks so I’ll say error and lusts, she finds error annoying and he has canonically stolen her kids before. She thinks lust is chill and asks him for advice sometimes.

13. Dreamtale hasnt, original has. Og thinks they’re pretty cool and and funny.

14. Ivys only really “toxic” traits are that she lives in the past, has trouble excepting large changes, and sometimes struggles to keep secrets. She carries a lot of self hate and guilt.

15. She has been to a zoo before, tried to free all the animals. She would kind of laugh at the goats but doesn’t associate herself that much with them. She loves all animals except for parasites.

16. Og Ivy has met Tories and Tories is like another figure to her, If dreamtale met her she would be shocked because her mother, Ren, was very emotionally abusive. She would be frightened if Tories tried to keep her with her, though, because that’s what Ren did.

17. She has been outside of Dreamtale after meeting Nightmare again. She thinks core is silly and they get along.

18. She was (is still very) ADHD coded (one thing her mother hated about her) , very rambunctious, forgetful and all over the place. She loved to explore nature and catch animals. She loved playing pretend with nightmare. Ivy didn’t know how to read until nightmare taught her.

19. They have. He Immediately Stated it was a mistake however. She’s knows he feels something for her and she still cares about him.

20. “I like your outfit! You seem very nice! :3”

-ivy

sorry for any typos.