#but that's basically just how i write at this point lol

[annasofthe11thdimension]

Alright, so this is basically...an art dump for all the pics i drew when i was trying to draft the ending i wanted my Odile looping Au 'Like a Wheel Ever Turning' which...is not even SLIGHTLY how this fic is going to end now, but while figuring that out i still like draw all this and had to do SOMETHING with it.

So figured I'd post it and be like 'hey! fun Odile looping act 5 boss fight vibes not connected to anything else!' since like...that basic IS what they are at this point lol.

The one cool idea i loved that i think is now FIRMLY ditched is the act 5 boss fight starts when Odile uses wish craft to splinter herself into two halves.

The 'old/current' her that is meant to be her coldly logical side, and a younger 'copy' version, which is meant to be the childish irrational side...that is what's stopping her just shutting down the time loop because she can't figure out how to be happy with her friends leaving.

I mean, if you murder the part of you that WANTS the wish to come true, that's basically a 'get out of time loop free card' right? Right! Totally sound logic!

Yes the 'young' version of her firmly believes that she's real, and also also got memories going up to about age 21, and also that she ought to be in Ka Bue not HERE among these french weirdos.

Also yes again, a 'young' Odile is EXACTLY as unhinged about this as you'd expect a 21 year old to be upon finding out that apparently the 'real' her think murdering her is the correct solution to this problem!

The shift of the fight was meant to have the inverse 'colors' shift from one version to the other by the end, wrapping up with the point where the 'original' Odile is forced to have a heart to heart with the personification of her perceived 'worst' qualities.

Pretty sure the vibes for this ending was a lot more focused on the resolution of having deeply complex feeling about EXPRESSING emotion directly to other people. That along with a side helping of how isolating it is to be perceived as a 'real' adult such that you can't be weak enough to ask anyone for help. Because really if you can't even be that then why are you any different then when you were irritating mess of a youth?

Not saying any of that isn't still present in the story, but like...there is a LOT of other stuff going on, and those themes are now linked into many other ones too, and that's not even TOUCHING on how Loop's been...somewhat complicating my redrafting lol.

...Also I might have drawn/plotted this version before i knew about two-hats lol. THAT also is a factor.

Anyway! Still liked all of these enough to want to do SOMETHING with them, and figured this worked, so i could like map out my thoughts on them, even if i never got to write this.

[sufferu]

If you were to write (or spitball) an arc for Emilia where she's forced to confront her weaknesses and failings, like Subaru was back in Arc 3, what flaws would you focus on and how would it play out? What would her lowest point be, and how would she bounce back stronger?

Honestly I don’t think I need to, because that’s just Arc 4, lol. There’s a reason why that’s her best arc.

Currently in the story, Emilia’s problem isn’t really that she has any glaring flaws — it’s actually that she has too FEW, or that the ones she does have (naïveté, innocence) are not being treated like actual flaws by the narrative. My suggestion for an arc that would address this is simple: pit her against Subaru. Make her disagree with him and make choices that he does not like, and assert that she is the true leader of the Emilia Camp. …Or pit the desire she’s supposed to have (becoming King) with the one she actually has (saving her people in the forest) and have her make a decision that goes against what everyone is telling her to do. Basically, just put her in a spot that forces her to act on her own accord. That’s what I’d do, anyway.

[tempests-bards-and-birds]

i think that one of the most tragic aspects of venti's character is the fact that no matter how hard he tries, no replication that he can make of the bard will ever be perfect because for a single image or concept to be long-lasting and static goes entirely against the nature of the wind.

it has been consistently emphasised throughout the game that "seeds of stories brought by the wind" will be "cultivated" by time - in other words, they will grow, but they will never remain the same as they were when they were first told; to try to remove that element of warping and artistic interpretation that is inevitable as a story is passed on is like trying to bottle up a storm and hoping that'll stop it from damaging the surroundings - instead, no one will ever know about it, and the only thing that it will have left to destroy will be itself.

venti is basically doing exactly this by trying to preserve the bard's memory - the only way to stop it from being warped would be to remove it from any kind of environment where that could happen, which would require taking the story out of circulation, which then means that he is the only living being who knows it in its whole detail and entirety. he understands, however, the fallibility of his own memory, as can be seen in how reminders of it seem to shake him; in his story quest, he seems strangely unguarded after resolving the situation with hans (whose story is massively identical to venti's for a reason - having a mirror can be very useful for storytelling, and genshin relies on it perhaps a bit too much), describing the barbatos statue as "the usual place" despite the fact that for our traveler, it is not (this ties into another theory that i am Not going into here lol). we know that venti prizes being able to keep a certain level of anonymity, with him describing the traveler's high level of intuition as "scary", so for him to show even the slightest level of disregard for maintaining his façade suggests that being faced with the reality of the impossibility of his self-imposed purpose is something that did really bother him (which tbf makes sense now that i write it out).

comparisons have been made before between venti and zhongli wherein the irony of having a god of wind whose appearance is unchanging and a god of stone who is (supposedly, if we assume zhongli's teasing about his own past forms to be reflective of the truth) in contrast constantly shifting is often key, and in a lot of ways zhongli's situation does mirror venti's in many ways; he theoretically has the ability to accurately preserve history as one would by carving it into stone, and yet it is almost as if he lets it slip through his fingers instead - he finds humour in inaccurate historical accounts and allows himself to change, not just physically but in terms of attitude (the whole point of the liyue aq is for him to be able to do this; to live as a mortal after millenia spent overseeing as a god). in many ways venti and zhongli are polar opposites, but the theme of wanting to transcend one's physical constraints, of wanting a state of existence that the other already in theory has, is consistent throughout both.

venti, however, seems to be so much more uncomfortable with this than zhongli is, and this awareness of the issue while still being so bothered by it to the extent that he pushes it away even more, causing the pressure in that jar to by extension increase too, is where the true point of tragedy lies.

maybe, though, by deciding to share the bard's story with the traveler, he is beginning to accept the necessity for change.

[mothhball]

hello and congratulations precious barkeep!!! u-u please may I have a masterfully mixed vodka with coffee and some tomato and pineapple juice? i’m gonna serve it to Arkham Jonathan, because he might be the only one who can stomach this mad concoction lol 💚💚💚

Arkhamverse!Scarecrow x Reader

summary short fic + dark/dead dove + blood play + getting revenge

warnings hey uhm so this might be fucked, reader gets injured, blood (ofc), non-con drugging, non-con body modification, non-con blood drinking, non-con cutting, reader basically goes THROUGH IT

DEAD DOVE !!!!

notes tee hee I was kicking my feet while writing!!! first time playing with him and idk if my brain worms coordinated to get him right, BUT I had fun. thank you so much for ordering a drink <3 Slàinte Mhath!

! MINORS DNI !

event masterlist • main masterlist • taglist • kofi word count: 624

You lost count. Lost count of the hours, the tears, the wasted attempts to plead and beg your way out of this. Knowing Crane, this was to be expected. Once he set his mind to something, he made sure to see it through. With every dreadful, pain inflicting caress, he made sure to see it through.

“Attachment is a dreadful thing, isn’t it.” A statement, not a question. He didn’t expect you to answer, anyway. “So, you can imagine how displeased I am with this entire situation.”

The Scarecrow heaved out a raspy sigh as he stopped his pacing, and he returned to the examination table to once again check the restraints around your wrists. Your eye twitched as his thumb rubbed over the raw skin, irritating the results of your struggles. You weren’t sure what to say. Apologies, bargaining and other nonsense obviously hadn’t worked in the slightest. And at this point, your tongue felt too heavy, and your brain was fuzzed over by the numerous relaxants he had pumped into your bloodstream.

Crane leaned over you, and his image blurred and cleared in tandem with the pulse pounding in your throat.

“I suppose I am to blame as well. I shouldn’t have expected loyalty in Gotham. Not even from you.”

Stepping around to stand over your head, he brushed a sweaty strand of hair out of your face. The touch was almost tender.

Almost.

If it weren’t for the blood he spread over your skin in the process.

Your blood.

“Of all people,” he hummed, leaning down to get a better look at your face. “Ratting me out. Running like frightened vermin to run your mouth to the first fool who’d listen.”

His eyes narrowed, and a feeling of shame joined the nausea in your stomach.

“Was this your worst-case scenario if things went wrong like they did? Tell me, did you think I would kill you and call it a day?”

Your lips parted, but the words died on your tongue.

“Your work is brilliant. But you are so frustratingly stupid,” he hissed, moving next to your side again, and reaching for the scalpel. A familiar acquaintance at this point. One that has been a trusted instrument for the past hours.

You could always tell the moment that it cut. Even with a paper cut, the fleeting moment of cold pain was a telltale sign that something was split. Skin and flesh and fat. Tissue separated, layers revealed.

With a steady hand, Crane guided the blade from your sternum up to your collarbone. Enough for skin to open up, enough for your breath to hitch as the warm blood ran over your cold flesh and pooled in the hollow of your throat. Fortunately, not enough to eviscerate you like a frog on the dissecting table. Just right to hurt and mangle and teach.

“You know why I couldn’t be lenient. This has to be a learning moment,” he murmured, already bending over to lap the blood off your skin while his spindly hands spread over your body. His breath quickened with every drag of his tongue over the wound, and you could feel the tremble in his fingers as they dug into your plush frame.

Finally, he straightened up again, reigning himself in with much difficulty. With his teeth and mouth stained sanguine, he undid your leather restraints, freeing you from the metal table before he guided you into a sitting position. The world spun for a moment as Crane put your arm around his shoulders to steady you.

But the drop in your stomach wasn’t just from disorientation.

Your body felt lighter. Incomplete.

“Don’t fret. You’re still useful, after all. But you won’t need your legs to work, will you?”

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than an integer between 0 and 100

When I made my outline for my latest story I realized "Wait. The protagonist is just angry and miserable for like 75% of the story. This isn't fun. Oh no what do I do???" And then I remembered that the premise involves the protagonist being taken to a palace. With a wide variety of luxurious Things to enjoy. So that just kind of solved itself.

Protip: If your sub's bad mood is bothering you then simply give them a steak that's more expensive than their entire house.

[lord-squiggletits]

One of my favorite parts of phase 2 (and indeed one of the few moments I resonated with IDW Prowl) was when the neutrals were coming back to Cybertron and Prowl said that he refused to let Autobots be pushed aside and overruled after they were the ones who fought for freedom for 4 million years (the exact wording escapes me atm).

And I mean, that resentment still holds true even once the colonists come on bc like. As much as it's true that Cybertron's culture is fucked up, and as funny as it can be to paint Cybertronians as a bunch of weirdos who consider trying to kill someone as a common greeting not important enough to hold a grudge over.... The colonists POV kind of pissed me off a lot of times, as did the narrative tone/implications that Cybertronians are forever warlike and doomed to die by their own hands bc it just strikes me as an extremely judgemental and unsympathetic way to deal with a huge group of people with massive war PTSD and political/social tensions that were rampant even before the war?

Like, imagine living in a society rife with bigotry and discrimination where you get locked into certain occupations and social strata based on how you were born. The political tension is so bad there's a string of assassinations of politicians and leaders. The whole planet erupts into an outright war that leads (even unintentionally) to famine and chemical/biological warfare that destroys your planet. Both sides of the war are so entrenched in their pre-war sides and resentment for each other that this war lasts 4 million years and you don't even have a home planet any more. Then your home planet gets restored and a bunch of sheltered fucks come home and go "ewww why are you so violent?? You're a bunch of freaks just go live in the wilderness so that our home can belong to The Pure People Who Weren't Stupid And Evil Enough To Be Trapped In War" and then a bunch of colonists from places that know nothing about your history go "lol you people are so weird?? 🤣🤣 I don't get why y'all are fighting can't you just like, stop??? Oh okay you people are just fucked up and evil and stupid then" ((their planets are based on colonialism where their Primes wiped out the native populations btw whereas the Autobots and OP in particular fought to save organics. But that never gets brought up as a point in their favor)) as if the damage of a lifetime of war and a society that was broken even before the war can just magically go away now that the war is over.

Prowl fucking sucks but he was basically the only person that pointed out the injustice of that.

And then from then on out most of the characters from other colonies like Caminus and wherever else are going "i fucking hate you and your conflicts" w/ people like literal-nobody Slide and various Camiens getting to just sit there lecturing Optimus about how Cybertronians are too violent for their own good and how their conflicts are stupid, with only brief sympathetic moments where the Cybertronians get to be recognized as their own ppl who deserve sympathy before going right back to being lambasted.

Like I literally struggled to enjoy the story at multiple points because there was only so much I could take of the characters I knew and loved being raked over coals constantly while barely getting to defend themselves or be defended by the narrative so like. It was just fucking depressing and a little infuriating to read exRID/OP

[fatedroses]

Adventurer Zenos and G'raha cause I had to draw my silly guys. I just enjoy the idea of Zenos hanging out with fellow bookworms and being begrudgingly (though occasionally willingly) helpful.

[mintypsii]

author x barista cafe au (sanji is competing against himself)

[sysig]

Coding woes (Patreon)

[icewindandboringhorror]

just a few little bits from the past few days

[13eyond13]

actually stunned by how gay The Beatles has been all this time and I just never knew

[tangents-within-tangents]

Sigh I swear the bar is so low with writing sometimes.

I’ve just been remembering how much it bothers me when there’s no lasting consequences or acknowledgement for things. When everything resets like nothing ever happened at the start of the next episode, or even the next scene sometimes. How cool and rare it was that Wally’s arm was in a cast for a whole 5 episodes of Young Justice. How relieved/excited I was when Mulder actually still had bandages on his fingers the episode after he broke them because FINALLY something carried over! Or when Hook was leaning on someone for support in the background after the fight scene in Pan. How impressed I was to see Katniss still crying hysterically for Rue a few scenes after her death. How surprised I was to actually see a hint of the effect of Echo’s extremely traumatic experience when he panicked in the medbay. How my heart soared when he insisted on rescuing Gregor because omg he’s acting in a way that makes sense for his character! Clinging to every small scrap we get to see of clones showing real emotion when so often they seemingly never bat an eye at their losses and never mention their fallen brothers again.

I love these shows I swear, but it just gets so frustrating! Like I’ll literally be so nervous no one will be affected realistically, or react like a human, or behave in-character and then I get so excited on the rare occasions they do. And then I realize wow the bar is so low, shouldn't that just be, you know, writing 101?

Like I remember some episode of some show (the Seeker? Or something idk) where a character was captured and tortured and not ten minutes after being rescued his friend was like “hmm you sure are quiet today” like YEAH I SURE HOPE HE IS?!

[crookedghosts]

method acting [a little bit of truth (goes a pretty long way)]

Ch 3/ 5 || 16k words total || Jason Grace/Leo Valdez || Modern AU - Wedding + Fake Dating || AO3

The Bachelor Party Chapter! I'll take that with a side of Valgrace pining and Filipino!Percy karaoke, please.

...

“Maybe that’s your problem. You’re both too worried about it meaning something. What if you just let it?”

...

“Oh god, if I tried to sing, it’d probably cause an avalanche,” Jason stated, and Percy grinned over at him.

“You're really gonna let me duet your boy alone, Grace?” Percy teased, but Jason remained unmoved at the edge of the stage, Leo smirking at him.

“This goes out to you, baby,” Leo sing-songed, and the opening electric piano notes rang out over the speakers, punctuated by a drum beat and a familiar swinging of Leo's hips.

…

“Also, seriously, what kind of shitty fake boyfriend would I be if I only cared about your birthday when other people are watching? It’s your day.”

...

Summer sun, something's begun

But uh, oh those summer nights

[kirkwallsbane]

that one post the other day asked about Lavellan's family members and reminded me that I had concepts of rewriting the 'Protect Clan Lavellan' war table missions as an actual playable quest, especially one in my world where my companion OC Enasel'an Lavellan is involved

Anyway i've since written 6 pages of notes on how the quest would work and how Enasel'an specifically as a companion ties into it

[naenaex0xx]

maybe I'm comfortable with tumblr because I get to say things I don't usually tell anyone

[lord-squiggletits]

I need to reread the comics again to have specific arguments/evidence for this, but like

I feel a bit like I could've been sympathetic to the way other Cybertronian colonies view Cybertron, if it weren't for the fact that at least several of them (as in, ones that get notable dialogue/screen time) are so low-key self-righteous?

Like, idk... there's a lot of criticism of Cybertronians because they're so "warlike" and how their obsession with violence and vengeance is just dragging the whole galaxy down with them, but uh. The Autobot-Decepticon war was basically a product of societal ills bubbling over for like 6 million years beforehand and then finally boiling over into a 4 million year war that lasted as long as it did because the people involved had immense social/psychological trauma from being "raised" in an oppressive society.

So when the colonists come in being all 'omg you people are so violent and uncivilized why don't you just like, stop fighting' it kind of pissed me off a little bit as a reader/person like. Idk the colonists really came into this society of people full of massive amounts of trauma where even before the war society was super oppressive and no one has any experience of living "normal" lives unaffected by violence and bigotry. And the colonists were like "ummm wow why don't you guys just??? stop fighting???." Like idk it wasn't EVERY SINGLE MOMENT, in fact I think that when it was played for laughs it's quite a funny "fridge horror" type element. It was just annoying because like.... IDK???? It's just really annoying to watch a bunch of people who lived relatively sheltered lives on their own planets come to a different planet full of traumatized people and be like "omg why are you people so fucked up" IDK BRO MAYBE BECAUSE THEIR SOCIETY WAS OPPRESSIVE AND THEY LIVED THROUGH A LIFELONG WAR???

It also doesn't help that the colonies were literally founded based on imperialism and conquest so like, it's fucking rich to hear colonists scolding Cybertronians for their violence ruining the whole galaxy while literally sitting on planets that their Primes colonized from others. The hypocrisy of this is briefly mentioned in Unicron (literally the FINAL STORY OF THE SERIES) but like, that's basically the only time Cybertronian characters are given a reprieve of sympathy from other characters in universe and it's so tiresome.

I've talked to other people who didn't like the colonists and thought they basically (narratively speaking) existed just to shit on the existing characters, and it's actually really easy for me to sympathize with/outright agree with that assessment of the story considering how much of exRID/OP seems to be preoccupied with "Cybertron/the Primes/Optimus sucks" with very few reprieves for anything positive happening and even fewer chances for characters to get to explain themselves and experience a little bit of justice? Like, as the audience, it's just very frustrating to see the characters you spent hundreds of issues keeping up with get shit on by a bunch of "literally-who"s and then not really get a chance to ever defend themselves, either by literally defending themselves in conversation or having some sort of narrative thing happening that vindicates them at least symbolically