#but the little behind the scenes info was also really cool to learn

[kristsune]

Jonny did the Heart Lungs Liver Nerves chant live on stream and it was extremely impressive, especially considering it went on for just over 8 minutes. I felt the need to capture it in it's entirety, plus a little moment after that run ended. And of course, I couldn't not provide a screenshot from the stream, if only for the fantastic art used for the creators/VAs.

[aj1dordinary]

GRWM to participate in a life or death brawl!

platonic!Johnny Cage x platonic!gen-z!reader; neutral!Kenshi Takahashi x neutral!reader; platonic!Raiden x platonic!reader; platonic!Kung Lao x platonic!reader; platonic!Lui Kang x platonic!reader

@one-green-frog @whore-of-many-hot-men xox

thank you guys for showing love to my very first piece! i look forward to providing you with as much content that i can pump out! now that i’ve essentially finished the general background info, I’m gonna try to follow the storyline as closely as possible while also developing the lore for !reader. bear with me pls! don't know about any relationships taking place, but that may change. anyway, enjoy! xox

“hey guys! welcome back to my channel! as you all know, johnny and i decided to take a little vacation in between some of his big projects. that doesn’t mean that you miss out on all the action though so here’s a quick little get ready with me in this rehab facility he checked us into!” you poke your tongue out and shoot a peace sign to the camera before turning it around and showing the beautiful scenery of the monk academy.

“y/n! check this shit out!” johnny wails, he began showing his improved skills by throwing punches at a wooden dummy and with an uppercut, knocked the head a good 5 yards away. 

you whistle and track the trajectory of the dummy head with your phone. you’d managed to ration out your battery life despite filming and posting an abundance of johnny’s new life of martial arts. 

johnny runs over after to see the video for himself and as you play it back for him, he notices someone looking on with great disdain. 

“kenshi, man! I’m telling you, if you wanna piece, all ya gotta do is ask.” he makes a show of it by flexing his arms and posing as if he was back on the red carpet. 

kenshi rolls his eyes and lets out a puff of air, “i dont want anything you have to offer, john.” he crossed his arms and turns his attention toward the other guys that lui kang recruited to be the power rangers of earthrealm. 

you learned that kung lao and raiden were their names. you had to stop johnny from getting himself cancelled as he tried to make references to Godzilla when the men clearly were not of that origin. but they were cool people, you’d have to make a mukbang with them one day for sure. you paused, realizing you were no better in terms of geography.

“oh really? not even sentō?” speaking of being an antagonistic asshole, johnny removed the sword from his back and waved it around, trying to perform swift and severe moves as a ninja would. he made it a goal to make the sounds as well. 

you just stood at the ready, phone already recording and the sound picking up the popping of bubblegum in the background. a week in and you traded in your black flats and pantsuit for the same training attire that the guys were wearing. you were by no means throwing any punches, but you’d be damned if you didn’t match for aesthetic purposes.

kenshi stopped in his tracks, “oh i think you done did it now, johnny baby…” you twirl a curl of hair between your fingers, lowkey focused more on the rippling muscles and raging testosterone that put itself on display for you.

“now, now. if there is gonna be a brawl of any sorts, its going to be the one that decides who our champion of earthrealm will be.” 

“ahhh, the all-knowing, all-powerful always has such perfect timing,” you coo. “what’s hopping kangaroo?” 

“ah, i’ve been managing the behind the scenes of the competition. making sure all is in order for whomever our champion will be.” he smiles genuinely before bowing before you out of kindness. you would be rude to not return it.

“which is totally going to be me.” kung lao says affirmatively before throwing his makeshift razor-hat. it passes just over your head before getting imbedding in the side of a building.

“watch were you throw that thing! you kill my assistant, you replace her!” johnny pokes at his shoulder.

“nice to know that you value and care for her…” raiden chips in. 

“word.” was all you said in agreement.

“right…” lui kang claps his hands together, looking over the lively bunch in front of him. part of you wonders if he was beginning to regret his choice in heroes.

“as I was saying, today is the day. whoever comes out victorious in the matches will be earthrealm’s champion and will go on to battle against outworld warriors to defend the title. we will start with johnny and kenshi.”

“y/n, watch me beat his ass real quick.” 

“best 2 out of 3?” you say as you join lui kang on the sidelines. he simply nods.

“round 1… fight!” you say before banging the gong.

“beat his ass, johnny! wooooo!” you jump and cheer from the sidelines. 

“finish me johnny cage~” a robotic voice chimed from your phone. the sideline goes silent before you mutter a quick “oops” to check what the fuck just happened. 

you’re accidentally livestreaming. the voice being someone who donated. well, gotta get paid someway. you turned the phone back on the action, watching as donors flooded the chat, saying how sexy johnny looked when he was fighting and the whole nine yards.

“chat thinks you’re so cool right now. don’t disappoint!”

and how could he? with a swift uppercut, kenshi called it quits for the first round while he regained his balance and strength. 

“you’re not done yet johnathan carlton!” you call. he runs over as you take a gatorade bottle and squeeze the contents into his mouth and a little bit on your hands before smacking the shit out of him. “you get out there and you finish it!” he nods without a word before bumping your fist. when he turns to get back in the ring, you deliver a swift slap to his ass for encouragement.

“does that actually help?” raiden comments. he wouldn’t lie, he was tickled by the nonchalant relationship you and Johnny exhibited.

“nah. he just has a really nice ass.” you say, body language unwavering.

it definitely wasn’t helping. he was getting his shit handed to him this round. so much so, he tagged you in.

“whyyyyy am I here! i’m so quitting after this!” you scream as you block many of kenshi’s attacks. johnny, who claims he is just taking a breather, now acted as cameraman as he and the chat giggled at your attempts to evade kenshi.

lui kang had a smirk on his face as he watched the growing potential in you. Despite your obvious fear, you were evading kenshi’s offensive moves quite diligently. He eventually spoke with the goal to guide you.

“compose yourself, y/n. you’re bouncing all over the place, use that momentum for something else.”

you were desperately running out of air from running around the ring, but you couldn’t let up or else kenshi would deploy his frustrations about johnny on you (mmmmm). despite your fear, you heard lui kang’s voice and man, does this god have a voice of reason. you had to obey. so you placed your trust in it and stopped before quickly ducking.

 In doing so, you felt a gust of wind fly over your head, surely a devastating blow from kenshi. you then turned and blindly threw a punch. surprisingly, you made contact, square in the middle of his chest. he gasped for air as the assault caused it all to exit his lungs and drop to his knees. he looked up at you with a fire burning in his eyes. you did not wait to continue and tagged johnny back in.

“now who’s the kangaroo?” lui kang smiled.

“you must think you’re so funny.” you respond, completely stale-faced.

johnny ended up losing the second round, before recovering and winning the final round. quickly though, he was thrust into battle with kung lao where he lost. 

“a brawl between old pals,” you start. “how you feeling kung fu panda?” you put the camera directly up to his eyebrows on a 0.5x setting, getting an insane shot of his forehead.

“first, you’re no better than johnny,” you gasp. “second, i’m feeling really confident.” he finishes. 

“and you ray ray?” you proceed to give him the same media coverage.

“i’ve been waiting for this day for a while.”

“oh he’s so gonna beat your ass”

and you should’ve bet money on it too as raiden came out victorious. 

“so these outworlders, they hot? mutated? what exactly should we be expecting God-Almighty?” johnny asks but not without you delivering a swift elbow to his side for his crudeness. 

“outworlders do have an enhanced strength compared to humans. some also have powers like me.” lui kang demonstrated with his possession of fire.

“so what’s raiden got that can go up against people like you.” kenshi spoke up, finally seeming over the bitterness of his loss earlier. 

“i am always prepared. raiden, i bestow upon you the element of lightning. i ensure that it will aid you tenaciously. i am certain earthrealm will remain in good hands with you.” He hands the amulet over and raiden immediately demonstrated his new abilities by electrocuting the shit out of some training dummies. 

“ok one, he just literally roasted the fuck outta y’all and two, can he charge my phone with this new ability.” 

“can you be serious for one moment?” kenshi grumbled.

“oh im sorry, i thought someone who’s ass i kicked earlier had something to say?” you retort.

he was ready to respond again, but lui kang redirected the conversation.

“it is time. we must depart. outworld is expecting us.” he begins to move his hands in the same circular motion as before and another portal beings to open up.

“y/n! y/n! Look!” johnny points as if he was kid asking his parent capture his performance.

“i got it johnny, damn! it’s not like this isn’t my whole ass job.” you roll you eyes as you break your slowly dying phone out again. before entering the portal, lui kang turned to you,

“i trust that you won’t be getting yourself in trouble?” he raised an eyebrow, his playful demeanor replaced with a serious one.

“don’t worry kangaroo, i’ll be doing the PR work for both johnny and i. count on me to clean up any mess these boys make. it’s all in the job description.”

his face screwed up in thought before he nodded.

“Let us show these outworlders what we are made of.” he led first through the portal.

-end-

I will update as much as I can but just know I am a college student with other commitments. bear with me!

[thesrctsoftheuniverse]

just finished season 6!!! idk how i managed to do that in such a short period of time but yay

once again here are my thoughts:

i liked season 5 way more sorry not sorry. there are some storylines this season that i really enjoyed but personally i loved season 5 and the insight it gave us into these characters and their traumas

the blimp emergency was really boring and stupid. were they even trying???

last season i was missing the med school storyline for hen. well this season i got it back! i dont really know how to feel, obviously im glad that hen isnt becoming a doctor and leaving the 118 but she worked so hard on it, it makes me sad. on the other hand she was and will in the future once again be a fantastic captain and i loved how both her and karen gave up some of their old dreams so they could fulfill their new ones.

i absolutely loved the episode with the explosion at karen's work place, i loved getting the insight into how they met and got together and eventually took in denny. i love these two and i love chim for being an awesome friend and wingman for introducing these two. once again, chim being a wonderful friend

the storyline about the little girl that went missing in athena's hometown??? oh my god, i love that they resolved that, giving her closure for that part of her life as well. i knew about a third of the way into the episode who was at fault, but it was still very interesting to watch and i loved seeing it get resolved.

can they please stop giving maddie the domestic abuse calls? that poor woman.

eddie struggling with chris growing up and leaning on buck for advice. maybe ill just die????

the episode of that famous actress just being involved in accidents again and again was hilarious, honestly her and eddie should remain friends. i wish we saw more of the 118 having friends outside of the team ngl

MAY GRANT THE ICON THAT YOU ARE!!! she is so effortlessly cool, i just cant describe how much i love her. she remained so calm and focused on the phone with that incel, i love her so much, i hope they keep bringing her back every once in a while

THE WENDALL STORYLINE??? that shit killed me... bobby cares so deeply about the people he loves, the people that have helped him. i loved this storyline so much, it was so beautiful and tragic i can't describe it. and athena just sticking by him even when no one really believed it could be anything BUT an OD??? i love them, i wish they were able to catch a break

denny?? i dont love that storyline, mainly because to me its clear that he should've just ASKED about his biological father. they clearly gave him the info about his biological mother, what was the problem with the other parent? very confused by it. also the biological father keeping this from hen and karen is so fucked up. i would've forbidden them from seeing each other at least for a while because that was fucked up from both of them. why did denny seemingly not get punished for lying and sneaking behind his mothers' back?? i truly dont get it, like yeah he wanted to know his father but the problem is sneaking around and lying because its DANGEROUS.

ngl the lightning scene always looked more dramatic in the edits, but holy shit the coma dream was wild. buck leaving it because he knew, no matter what, he couldn't bring back bobby. he might be able to fix the rest, but not bobby. and him not telling the real bobby in the end what had happened to his coma dream counterpart? i am about to start crying again. i loved seeing that his parents apparently are capable of caring about him. hopefully the show actually shows the parents apologising and growing and learning.....

chim and maddie buying the murder house is kind of insane. i mean it looks super cute but its insane. what the fuck??? also love the spontaneous family reunion....albert has a point but also what the fuck???? i love chim, he deserved better. if this show insists on trying to fix the character's relationships with their parents they better remain consistent with it and not forgive and forget after one episode.....

buck suddenly being a math genius after the coma is hilarious. doesnt make up for the lack of clipboard buck this season though

chim going back to the academy and getting ravi.... god i missed ravi so much, i want him as a main character or at least to show up MORE OFTEN than he is now. i love chim, i love seeing him work through his trauma of kevin dying, even just in the smallest way. and would love to see that one recruit that quit the academy actually work at dispatch.

so um.... eddie is going back to dating because his aunt wants him to? because his family wants him to? because that's what everyone is expecting of him? because that's what he learns he's supposed to do? because everyone is telling him to?... right. going to the golf club to find women to date....funny. i love marisol!!! she is so cute. what a shame that eddie is gonna traumatise her :((

oh my god almost forgot about the sperm donor storyline. honestly what a mess. i dont like it. clearly buck was the wrong person to do it, because the look on his face when he saw the baby that was biologically his??? i wanted to d!e.... what the fuck. why would they do that to him..... thats so fucked up. also having him help the mother of the child for... weeks???? and then also assisting in the birth of said child???? JAIL. what the fuck. what the fuck.

natalia apparently "really sees him" after she asked him about dying??????????????????? im so confused about why he felt so strongly right away, he needs some therapy. like she is super pretty and super cool, dont get me wrong!! but it was one date... dude, get up.

the proposal storyline... not my fav but i loved maddie being the one to propose to chim!! that was adorable, i love the two of them together sososososo much..... and i love jee! she is adorable, especially when she drove buck crazy when he was babysitting her.

the catastrophe at the end of the season couldve maybe gotten dragged out more, with more stations assisting and without having chim, an experienced paramedic, moving around and removing an object that pierced him from his body, the one thing he always tells victims NOT to do. it could've be done a lot better i think, even if buck was really cool during it.

lucyyyyyyy i miss youuuuu and also lena bosko still!!!

i get what people meant when talking about the couch theory now. i get it. yessss couch theory!!!!!!

fun. idk how ill watch all of season 7 before s8 starts but yay!!!

[eriisaam]

ty for sharing pkmn leak related stuff! i found out about it from your posts. really fascinating! and tbh gettin to see the scrapped/recycled/conceptual designs and their different versions has been like. affirming creatively, lol 😄

its cool when creators knock somethin out the park first try. its also cool to see somethin start out Sorta Fugly and get to where it needs to be. and it's alright (good even) when some concepts stay concept and are discarded. like to see the process :)

Welcome! Happy to share~ Beta content had been pretty much my childhood, and pokemon in particular had been eating good a lot lately. It's surreal how far we've come back when pokemon's beta hints were small and vaguely sprinkled (such as design docs of pokemon as a concept pitch, or little things like the bird typing's existence as exposed by glitches like missingno), and the only hints otherwise were eye witness accounts or what former and present people at Gamefreak were willing to share.

You're right too that it has been very affirming to see the process of how a pokemon design starts and how it led to what we know of them now. Just seeing the entire process (as almost forbidden-knowledge as it feels at times, and more with how these leaks come about in other times), it also feels... kind of humbling? That we're not so far off from a lot of creators we end up making fandoms around. Just when we only see this:

It's easy to lose sight of how it took all of this to get there:

Among more rougher examples than even these were it not for the image limit.

And even the concepts themselves are just so fascinating how much times changed that what info we started with were things like these:

And now we're in an era we can actually see more of those one-off stuff in-process like these:

Even the stuff we found tells so much history about the game and the design, from the little things like how Lugia's concept name as "Pokemon X" was more on-the-nose originally:

To things like what we learned from the past leak and this new one of the kind of design direction the pokemon designs took that we couldn't see from the outside.

For instance? In the past leak we had a lot of general ideas, some familiar that they probably (or definitely) evolved into pokemon that we know and love, but others took a bit of a jarring turn even by pokemon standards.

We had all of these pokemon before who look fit for a horror aesthetic, or a more mature-minded design direction (like we would eventually see in a lot of digimon, monster rancher, and yokai watch designs, among others) and these are so far-removed from typical pokemon designs aiming for simplistic designs and easy-to-draw rules that you could easily tell people these were from a different game altogether, and it would be really easy to believe it. But then in light of the new leaks, we got designs like these:

Almost identical to the same design principle as those jarringly-different pokemon, no? So it's like this was attempted many times to have unsettlingly-complex designs time and again in development from gen I thru Gen III and then attempted yet again on and off even into BW/Gen V, but it was settled to make them generally consistent every time and going forward. We did have designs that bordered on complex, mind (groudon and kyogre, xerneas and yveltal, pokemon of those sorts), but even their complexities didn't reach this kind of darker and mature-ish tone like these ones.

For all my misgivings with Nintendo as a company entity, or not liking how often and constant the fandom rivalries get whenever there's a new mon series to the family genre and Pokemon happens to be front and center in the thick of it always, as a game with such a huge and vibrant history behind the scenes in what crumbs we get of its development, it's always an amazing sight seeing how much the series tried to evolve the way it has, and it's near and dear to me whenever we get more glimpses of the process.

[eliasyourlocalcryptid]

Chucky/Child’s Play info dump :D

tiny little disclaimer :]

*these were compiled from a bunch of old separate/individual Chucky rants of mine *

a majority of this is just be gushing about behind the scene details and character quirks with SOME synopses about some of the movies (mostly focusing on my favorites,curse and cult)also i learned a lot of this info from dead meats yt channel,they do kill counts and go in depth about horror movie productions n stuff!!if you like my little ramble and wanna hear a more concise in depth summary of the story with added behind the scenes info I’d suggest checking out their Chucky franchise recounts !! I do paraphrase some cool parts that I noticed only after watching dead meats kill count so again,highly recommend checking out their video if you want a better in depth look at the Chucky/childs play series!!!

(also fyi not beta read ,pretty much word vomiting about my favorite horror franchise)

Chucky ramble ⬇️ : D

(Spoiler warning and tw for canon typical violence/violent scene mentions)

Offshooting from a Scream tangent discussing favorite horror movies,Chucky (for me atleast) just handles the characters much better. the way that they never stray away from the main antagonists and also manage to introduce new protagonists in a way that they relate the the ever growing franchise lore/plot just amazes me not even to mention the way that Don Mancini directs the franchise and continues to integrate the same actors in a way that i havent seen a lot of horror franchises do. EX: using Jennifer Tilly to play the non doll Tiffany Valentine,using her voice after her character's normal human self dies,and using her as a full actor again to play herself in the later Chucky movies i just adore how Don finds as many ways as possible to give the actors that have been loyal to him and his franchise new roles/work also it really helps out with the franchises actual story too Also i just think it’s cool that Nica Pierce is played by Fiona Dourif,daughter of Brad Dourif (Charles lee ray's actor + Chucky's voice actor) I can go on for hours about Cult and Curse of Chucky :v

When Nica Pierce,a traditionally fem presenting person,gets possessed by Charles lee ray/Chucky,a visceral traditionally masculine serial killer,the way her mannerisms change to reflect that change in mindset and personality makes me go fucking wild genuinely most of my favorite parts of the franchise is when she's possessed by Chucky Also Devon Sawa has appeared so much in the Chucky franchise and he plays different characters almost every time(since the characters he plays keeps on dying) and when he appeared in the 2nd season of the Chucky franchise he makes a reference to his earlier horror comedy work (Idle Hands) and i hshdjajdnkkajs makes me so happy cause i love that movie so much Also the way that all the movies vary tonally makes me so happy.its like sampling a little bit from each horror genre. from horror comedy,to the traditional slasher esc moments,to the utter suspense of the cult and curse movies,then not even to mention how it (in my opinion) works so well when being integrated to the tv it just works so well for me also just i love the gore effects so much Dr.Foley's death was genuinely one of my favorite parts of the franchise like the way his head gets bashed in with Nica's stiletto heel was really well executed,I love the practical effects used !!!

okay actually getting to each movie (and a little bit of the TV series)

The 1st movie was just a cult classic and it deserves all its recognition and it's premise and plot has still held up pretty well to present day the 2nd movie does so well letting the audience see how the events of the 1st film plauged the young Andy Barclay into his late childhood,it's also excellent when introducing his new foster sister Kyle (best character in the first 3 movies ong) can't say too much on the 3rd movie,it's not bad by any means,it still excels at practical gore effects and the characters and pretty solid but it's nothing compared to the movies that follow it Bride of Chucky. LORD

Don Mancini's turn in directors chair after overseeing the franchise since the first movie, and he does not disappoint I've seen a lot of people claim that Bride is the worst in the franchise because of its overly silly tone but that's one of my favorite parts about this era of the franchise The way that Don isn't afraid to play around with the characters and plot makes way for so many outlandish moments in the franchise that help it out so much overall Anyways god i adore Jennifer Tilly Bride being the first film that i had ever seen her act in,it was like a whole experience the way she played Tiffany Valentine just stuck with me,then her voice acting as Tiff in doll form is so well performed,and Bride has some of the most iconic/best lines and line deliveries i have ever seen!! Btw im trying to speed run talking about the earlier films because i really want to talk about Curse and Cult but i think that Bride is such an interesting movie when you step back and compare it to the ones the come and the ones that came before it

Anyways any film with Jennifer Tilly is a win and im so glad that she remained a mainstay in the Chucky franchise because her acting skills and her character are so much of the reason that im infatuated with this series Okay but anyways Seed of Chucky! Putting aside the lovely queer representation (something that will become a running theme in Mancini's work with the franchise) I lovelovelove Glen/Glenda's character(s) so much as a juxtaposition to Tiff and Chucky's.Their strange family-esc dynamic allow for so many comedic moments that let me just relax and genuinely enjoy the movie so much. Also the fact that Glen/Glenda's voice actor is the same one that played a hobbit in lord of the rings/hobbit (i forget which) just adds a bit of silliness to them OOO And the scene when Tiff calls a help hotline is a masterpiece on its own The concept of a killer doll calling a help hotline because she feels like shes goiing to relapse on killing already has such a comedic premise to it but the way the movie plays it dead serious always amuses me,it adds a layer to her character that's so entertainingly nuanced

OKAY NOW ONTO CURSE + CULT Okay so Curse of Chucky is one of my favorite movies of all time (no surprise) starting out with the mere fact that Fiona Dourif is in it AND she plays Nica Pierce.Fiona Dourif being the daughter of Brad Dourif,the actor and voice actor for Chucky/Charles lee ray,is already fantastic but Nica's character by herself serves as an astoundingly well written and complex figure in the Chucky franchise She's strong,witty,kind,resourceful,and downright badass at times and i adore her to bits The way her character is portrayed in Curse and Cult makes for such an interesting viewing She's a woman whos been looked down on/pitied for all of he life,on account of the fact that she's handicapped and wheelchair bound,despite that she still manages to carry herself with a sense of self confidence that doesn't make her come off as arrogant but headstrong When shit hits the fan she's downright distraught when her sister dies at the hands of Chucky,showing that although she has a sarcastic attitude she's still very much a well fleshed out character

Throughout the movie she's shown to be compassionate but still not taking anyone's shit and she makes for a really interesting character to nitpick Despite her horrid situation she still manages to (almost) best Chucky at his own gritty game,she's shown to be able to both take and throw punches,even against someone/thing that's killed the rest of her family (except for alice,niece,but well get to her later) The end of the movie is bittersweet in the sense that while Nica does manage to survive Chucky,she's left to take the blame for the massacre he left behind. Her screaming "i'm still alive" to an unmoving chucky while in court at her own sentencing is a scene that never gets old to me Also i cant talk about curse without mentioning the Andy Barclay cameo end credit scene because when i say i went absolutely feral to see his character come back into the franchise,still played my a now grown Alex Vincent anyways CULT OF CHUCKY!!!

This movie take so many stylistic liberties which i dont mind,heavily reminds me of experimental artistic late 70s-early 90s european films It also fully brings back Andy Barclay as a mainstay character + a cameo from Kyle!!!

This film taking place a few years (i believe) from the last movie,still following Nica Pierce The whole premise is that she's thrown into a mental/psyche ward and after a while accepted the false truth that she was insane and hallucinated the whole Chucky is alive thing.Eventually Dr.Foley,the main doctor at the ward overlooking Nica brings in a Chucky doll as a sort of exposure therapy and Chucky shenanigans ensue All while Andy Barclay is trying to kill all the Chuckys (because theres more then one because of voodoo soul splitting across multiple vessles) and Nica is just trying to survive The movie ends with Chucky shoving part of his soul in Nica Pierce,possessing her and the possesed Nica runs away from the asylum with Tiff I could go on and on for hours about the practical gore/sfx/effects,and the great stylistic choices in the movie but i'd just be rambling more at that point than i already have But like lord The one scene when Dr Foley's head gets bashed beneath Nica's heel is one of my favorite parts of the franchise,both because of Fiona Dourifs and the awesome practical effects !!! anyways

Can you tell i really like the chucky franchise- I just realize i didnt even mention the practical Chucky animatronic effects Throughout the whole Curse and especially Cult movie the amazing work of the puppeteers really shines through in the scenes with multiple chucky dolls! Also how Brad Dourif decides to voice the different chucky dolls makes me so happy,like he makes the newer created Chucky's have voice cracks and a slightly pitched voice to indicate the new life brought to it and its just so well done in the movie(noticed this after it was pointed out in the Chucky recount/kill count on yt :D) also also the multiple chucky shenanigans makes me so happy lord I could go on about the practical effects in the franchise,i havent mentioned it a lot but the puppeteering and animatronics and effects have been spectacular since the beginning,and the way that the animatronics evolve with the innovation with technology and also the bigger budgets with the movies

Rahh also also if anyone ever wants me to go into the filmography and special effects of the Chucky franchise just tell me because i will go crazzyyyyy i really need to find a clip of the scene when Nica bashes Foleys head in underneath her heel because it will never get old for me trust i could write a whole essay on the complexities and nuances of dynamics and the strained relationship between so many of the characters 🙏 Tiff (especially in Bride) really encapsulates a lot of what I love about the series,I just adore how she’s written Omg and don’t get me started on Brad Dourif. He plays Chucky so well and his character both as the human Charles lee ray and in doll form as Chucky is so amusing More on the actual franchise,i have so much to say about the tv show but i still havent finished it yet (on season 2) Mini ramble abt Nica and Tiff,their dynamic in the show and plot wise has always interested me The strained dynamic between Nica and Charles/Chucky in Curse ultimately culminating in Nica being possessed by Chucky in Cult,the on and off relation between Chucky and Tiff,and the absolute infatuation between Nica and Tiffs (or well at least Tiff’s infatuation with Nica)carries so much of the character driven plot in a way i wouldn't have expected initially,in something i thought was going to be a silly slasher series

Wooooo okay mini mini rant on the tv series because its so good even though i havent finished it yet As mentioned prior i adore how the franchise handles introducing new characters to the ever growing plot and lore or the series,one amazing example of this is how they bring a new generation of protagonists into the show while not throwing aside Andy Barclay's character Jake serves as a great stand in for Don Mancini himself (admitted as much in interview) and the striking conflict that he has with his sexuality mirrors Don's own personal experiences with his own life.While Jakes sexuality is a part of his character it isnt the only thing about him (which i adore,i dont like when a characters whole personality is just being queer) but his sexuality creates great context and depth to his character and his struggles anyways the way that the characters keep on evolving as the series progresses is highlighted in Nica and Tiff's relationship compared to them at the end of cult to them in the ending of season 1

Oml and not even mentioning the sapphic twist on the traditional killer couple,the interactions between Chucknica (Chucky possessed Nica) + Tiff and Tiff + normal Nica make for some of my personal favorite scenes in the series,having the characters written and interacting in such a way allows for so much more comedic and sometimes downright suspenseful scenes !! i.e. the scene when Nica overcomes the possession for a bit,gaining control of her body,but she's still in a room with Tiff,Chucky's girlfriend,being forced to play cards with her to make sure Tiff doesn't notice its Nica in control Tiff’s giddy psychotic personality really creates the sense that Nica is in genuine danger when around her,like when she giggles about her murders with a smile while nica has to act like she's still possessed by chucky WHILE playing cards with her.

The scene comes to a somewhat sudden shift in conversation when Tiff reveals that she's known Nica was there since she first regained control of her body.She knew it was her since she stabbed Nica in the thigh and Nica didn't feel a thing (paralysed by the waist down) then comes the shocking notion announced to Nica from tiff,being that Tiff actually likes her more that she likes Chucky.All of Nica's cunning acting,trying to seem like Chucky in front of Tiff was for nothing because Tiff was just playing with her all along the dynamic between the 3 is so interesting to analyze and it gets even stranger in the 2nd season

Since Tiff is still a psycho and a killer at heart,she can't handle the idea of letting Nica go,but, since Chucky's soul is still in Nica's body Tiff had to find a way to "disarm" Chucky The most heart wrenching scenes in the tv show,to me at least,is the one at the ending of season 1.It reveals that Tiff drugged Nica and cut off her limbs,making it so that Chucky cant harm Tiff in Nica's body Nica is one of my favorite characters and to see her headstrong resolve shatter when she realized what had happen to her is so unnerving Her character doesn't disappear from the show though,she's kept alive in Tiffany's house,captive the beggining of season 2 reveals that tiff had been keeping Nica and taking care of her for the better part of a year Nica still keeping with her character of sarcastically witty even in the face of insanity,she suprisingly still has the energy to keep her bitterness towards Tiff despite the horrid things she'd been put through Thankfully Nica gets back on her feet (pun intended) when Tiff's kid,Glen (in human form since should transfer to human body + Glenda's there too) breaks Nica out of Tiffs house and gives her her wheel chair back with the addition of prosthetic arms to help her use her wheelchair

[scentedsstuff]

Song of Silver, Flame like Night

By Amélie Wen Zhao

Rating: 2/5⭐️

This was a book I really wanted to love, from the gorgeous cover alone to the actual premise given, it seemed perfect for me, unfortunately that didn't turn out to be the case.

It started off quite promising with the mystery behind Lan's seal, which I was very invested in. The pacing and overall atmosphere at the beginning of the book immediately drew me in, unfortunately the interest was lost about halfway through and the book was finished more for the sake of it then any actual enjoyment of it.

As far as main characters go, I figured as the book continued I'd become more attached to our female lead, Lan, but I found that the more we got to see of her, the more she fell flat as a character, only fulfilling the role of your typical YA female lead.

She's described as someone having been forced to grow up too fast, someone street smart, yet there's little to show for it, barely living up to the description. Then you have her prodigious abilities, where any task or training she undertakes she naturally excels at. With this in particular it just felt rushed, there is an explanation given for this later on but I felt it was more of a cop-out, an excuse to rush past the training stage to push her into cool fight scenes right away and establish her as some force to be reckoned with, conveniently in time for some epic showdown in the latter half of the book.

Our male lead Zen was just there in my opinion, the typical stoic male character whose walls slowly crumble due to the female protagonist. He's got his own demons (literally and figuratively) to deal with but didn't interest me much from there.

I found myself not being attached to any of the main or side characters. Throughout the book it felt like the same process of being introduced to a new character, being told that they mattered somehow to one of the main two and that in turn we should also care for them without there being much to show for it.

Did I like the relationship between the two main characters? Sure. Was I invested? NO. (apply this to any and every important relationship in this book and it still rings true)

I mentioned it briefly before but there was a lot of info dumping done throughout the book, which on one hand I understand because it is only the first book in a duology and the author is trying to set the groundwork, but at times it was too much.

It wasn't all bad, there were elements of the book that I did enjoy, such as the mythology, the lore and the magic system. It was all very fascinating to learn about but it can only do so much to keep you reading if the characters and the plot aren't doing much to maintain your interest.

All in all, it's a 2 star read for me, but this is merely one review out of an endless sea of mostly 4-5 star reviews so it might just be the perfect book for someone else.

[realmidnightwaffers]

NEW PFP!!!

Also some info about this lil' guy:

Their name is Alien. They are an Alien. They/them mainly but also he/him

Agender, pansexual with a male pref

HAS A CAPE I SWEAR

Is 22 years old

Weight: 207 Height: 5''11

Has over 25 eyes. <-~~~~~~~Canon soon but yes

MAIN CHARACTER IS MAIN CHARACTER

Loves their pjs frfr 😍 (and has a secret teddy)

Achlie 100%

Chaotic Evil But has good intentions (half the time at least...)

Was originally a random color palette test on a school tablet

Has a small thing 4 CL but never does anything really (not gonna do it tbh)

Hates their old life. All of it. Every last spec.

^also even tho no one says anything and they don't know that there doing it, Alien does cry a little when thinking about their past life

Has an ED and does SH but only sometimes.

Sharp teeth. Very sharp teeth

^Same for their tongue, it's actually spiky even If I forgot to draw it

Fav band is MDI (Mindless Self Indulgence) but does not support the child grooming. I do not either. That is fucking gross.

Daddy issues.

Mommy issues.

Sisters issues.

And legal issues too!

Loves the cirrus (Remember that now)

Has only had 1 romantic partner ever.

When no one is around, They like to do their hair. (And dolls hair too)

Voiced by me! The maker of this world! The God if you will!

Has A eye behind both ears.

Covers Their eyes Because of Their social ranking on their home planet

Alien writes C.L. letters about the most random shit when at a bar.

^C.L. Does read them for no reason just cuz he does enjoy reading whatever the fuck drunk Alien was to tell him.

Alien is a natural blonde but dyed it.

In a scene I wrote randomly, You get to know that Alien can uncap their tentacles to produce a blinding light.

Alien has a gunshot wound in their upper right arm

Upon receiving a phone, Alien made a youtube channel and posted life updates

^Might make this a ref in a ep tbh

Loves the one show on the TV but doesn't know the name so they just kinda go up to either FE or RE to point at the TV and say "the homosexauls please" FE understands them but RE most the time does not.

Has drunk the contents of a lava lamp whilst drunk. Enjoyed it.

Learned to sew just to be cool (talking about the cape[no one liked it])

Alien was a bullied gifted kid in school frfr

Has a switch. i dunno where or when but yes.

^^^^^btw the show isn't real I'm gonna make a show in a show

When Alex (Crazy Clown) is introduced Alien immediately befriended him. Not remembering the past just yet x)7

______________________________________________________________

Are people really reading all this? If so Thank you so much!! This means the world to me! I plan on working on this until I die! I just need the motivation [and money] to animate this all...But That's alright cuz Me and My friends are working on the script and have recently decided to make the show longer for some background character action! Princess and Buff will def be getting their own episode! And The cirrus workers as well! I'm just so happy cuz I know that I mean something. Even if no one ever reads this, thank you.

This was a lot holy shit dude.

[birdkittenn]

continuing where i left off

wrath layer fic chapter 2 reaction:

once again, author's notes reaction. i found the details tag from a tumblr post once and decided id stash the info away until i could use it somewhere. and that turns out to be here

yeah. feral little guy who wants to kill and murder but stopped by the guy who isnt feral

everything is gayer from v2's pov, who has already realized his feelings and trying so hard and failing at getting rid of his crush on this stupid blue fuck

and then i have little thoughts on the little v1-sentry interaction. it's there i guess. v1 the undersocialized little guy who only knows how to kill panicking because if not kill, then what do?? the fact that there's a Lot of people didnt help

oh the v1 trauma scene. im dreading a little at rereading this, i dont think it was good >-<

first, from current v1's pov, who has forgotten what has happened. this reads fine honestly

and now with the memory. the last line in the center is part of v1 realizing that its stuck in a loop and deleting the memory. so far with how i've written it, v1 does Not fare well when realizing it failed an order/task/anything. it does better at not marking things as failure now but it still handles it poorly

current idea that im not 100% sure will make it into the series is that memory deletion does not mean deletion of like, feelings. the stress is Still There. which. you know. if v1 suddenly finds itself in a loop where it keeps deleting its memories, and thereby placing it back into the exact same situation each deletion, the stress just continues building up and. yeah

not sure how i feel about the fact that, so far, my pre-canon characterization of v1 and v2 is that v1 is the most anxious thing that loves to kill ever, and v2 is like...there. v2 going "wow, its so easy being an unfeeling machine" [proceeds to not even realize he is experiencing feelings]. v2 is very stressed when he learns that he has feelings like everyone else. deals poorly with having them. v1 is just always stressed the fuck out though. i guess it's like a cheetah or something

word of the author means nothing btw if its not in the series. everything can change at any time i just like talking about my current plans

v1's reaction to conflict like this! it doesn't want to talk about that at all and gets angry if you try. the anger comes from something like fear though

ok the drawing scene! i struggled with explaining the concept behind it a little. i looked up an image of a lighthouse and mentally broke stuff down into shapes and then tried to describe that as best as i could

if i have to be completely honest, the idea of robots being Very Good at just tracing art and doing realistic art, but struggle more with the abstract stuff comes from this fic. i havent finished reading it nor do i really remember a lot of stuff anymore these days but that was 1 of the scenes that stuck out to me. another scene that sticks out to me is the part where sun tries to describe his favourite colour, but its a very specific colour, guy probably has the hex code for it and all, and tries really hard to recreate that exact colour. its cool i need to reread if i ever get the time. 107 chapters got hands

ivan aivazovsky! i wanted one of his wave paintings specifically because the first time i saw it, i went WOAH and so i knew i had to use one of his paintings for my yaouri fic. and then the part where their conversation drifts away from the drawing topic is because i ran out of things to say and also i needed them to move onto the next thing i wanted them to do

oh, the voice thing is next! v2's voice is perfectly fine by the time of the 7-3 fic, but in the 4-4 fic, it was fucked up. i needed a reason as to why v2 would restore his voice and the answer is v1 just likes it. v1 likes to listen to him a lot. it also likes to make him shut up but like lovingly

oh, from one of the glitched text, i transcribed "play nice" as "pʰle͡j na͡js" partly from that 1 time i took a linguistics course and they made me transcribe those sounds as e͡j etc instead of whatever online dictionaries transcribe it as, and then that just stuck with me. i also had a moment while transcribing "play" as like hey wait a minute! air releases when i pronounce the p in play, so i should add the symbol for that

i have that outfit in my closet! no pictures but i know exactly what it looks like. sadly have been unable to find an image that looks like my dress online

i have also had a scene where once v2 finally dresses up v1, his pet name for it is just doll. like. yeah. i havent found an excuse to get v2 to do that though

(v1 is just laying down on a couch during this scene)

oh yeah i had v1 teasingly call v2 a sculpture but didn't know exactly how to get it to do that. i mean i figured it out but yeah. i dont know if this was a planned thing that never came to fruition or something i made the fuck up just now (memory not the best) but they wouldve played around a bit with the actual sculptures in the room and comparisons wouldve been made

aaand that's the end of the chapter. i dont have any further thoughts on this

and the below screenshot is the alternate petting scene where v2 overheats. i instead moved the overheating to the next chapter. v2 cannot handle this amount of affection (yet) (he unwillingly gets trained to tolerate more before he gets far too happy about it and ceases to like function for a bit) (thanks v1)

who wants to see me liveblog my reaction to my own fic

[iraprince]

Hi!! I was looking at your v/pngtuber help because I was just thinking of doing something like that the other day! However, I'm confused as to what OBS is? Is it a program to download or something from discord or something else entirely?

Thanks in advance if you take the time to answer this!! I hope you have a good day either way!!!

obs stands for open broadcast software, and it's a program that helps you set up scenes/an overlay (basically, what your viewers will see when they watch your livestream). it connects to whatever website you're livestreaming on (for example, twitch) and is what sends the info from your computer to the livestream, basically. i might be explaining that completely wrong but it's fine. if i can use it while barely knowing what it does or how it works, so can you!!!!

there are other programs you can use too, but i'm pretty sure obs is the most popular, which means it's the easiest to find tutorials + resources for and stuff.

ANYWAY -- you can just share your screen directly to stream, and that's fine! it's what i did on picarto for a long time. but if you want to add a bunch of crap on TOP of your screen -- like a vtuber model, or an overlay (in streaming "overlay" is used to refer to all kinds of decorative stuff on a livestream besides the main video content, like a background, a frame, a box to show what people are typing in chat, little alerts on who recently subbed or followed, etc), or cool animated transitions when you switch between different setups, OBS is how you handle all that.

here's a screencap from one of my streams as an example:

you can basically think of it as kind of the same as a drawing program -- all of these different parts go on different layers, and then you arrange them in front of or behind each other to get the look you want. maybe i just think this way bc i kind of have a lounge/theatre theme with stage curtains and stuff, but i also kind of think of it as a set for a play or a puppet show.

some of the more interactive stuff in this screencap, like the chat mirror and the little scrolling text that shows recent follow/sub/dono, needs external stuff like streamlabs or streamelements to get set up. this is a lot of text and i hope it's not overwhelming lol -- there is so much stuff to learn when u get into it and for me it was best to just take it one step at a time, so i won't get into that rn. stuff that's purely decorative is easy to try out when you're just getting started, so i recommend focusing on just OBS first!

you do not need to do all this crap if you don't want to! if you want to just use OBS to stream a fullscreen view of your drawing program/etc and put your vtuber on top, that's fine too, and tons of people do that. (a lot of people prefer that, bc it allows the focus to be more on what you're actually doing; cute overlays are fun, but they can get cluttered). but i've ended up finding out that customizing an overlay is one of the parts i enjoy the most, even though it can get a little complicated or tedious sometimes, so i really recommend trying it out. i went through a few much simpler overlays at first to get the hang of it, and i've been slowly adding more stuff as i learn more!

[dokoni-mo]

She Truly Was || Muzan Kibustsuji x F!Reader

Summary: Enmu helps Muzan remember you.

SFW // Fluff with small amounts of Angst

Word Count: 4626

WARNINGS: *slight Mugen Train spoilers*, slight mentions of implied sexual activity, obsessive(?) behavior, Muzan is soft for one person only, some angst, mentions of injury, mentions of blood, I also barely proofread this lol

A/N: I've had this in my head for a while and decided to write it down. This is largely just a compilation of scenarios I made in my head to fall asleep at night when I was stressing over exams and stuff, all loosely thrown together with a plot. This is my first time writing for demon slayer, so please be patient! I also am basing a lot of my info about the characters on s1 of the anime, some of the manga, and the wiki. I apologize if something isn't accurate. tldr; I just think he's neat.

~~

Despite having lived through thousands of years with hundreds of stormy nights in the midst, Muzan Kibutsuji never learned to appreciate them.

Something about nights like those in Japan just never sat right with the demon. It wasn't that they were too dreary, not at all. Life as a demon was plenty dreary. On the other hand, it wasn't that they were to lively either. No one ever went out on stormy nights; demon or not. Perhaps it was just because the rain was another reminder of the singularity that was being a demon. The poignant pitter patter just seemed to have a way of whispering to whoever heard it, telling them the most unpleasant yet quiet truths of their lives.

After Muzan's bloody meeting with the lower moons, he had told Enmu his task Muzan had planned for the pitiful, weaker demon. Although he had doubts that Enmu could hear him over the sound of the weaker demon's screams of pain from the blood he gave, Muzan was pleasantly surprised when Enmu understood the orders the first time around. Seeing as though it would cause trouble if the lower moon started to go around bragging about his newfound power and job, Muzan decided it would be best to keep a crimson eye on the demon.

This is what led to the scene before Muzan now.

Muzan had taken Enmu back to one of his many properties scattered across Japan, this one being tucked away in a lush, quiet forest in the middle of seemingly nowhere. The lower moon had not said a word throughout the entire journey there, and still refused to say anything now. Most likely out of fear.

Although it had been a long day of wrangling the lesser worms he called pawns (or "moons" if he was generous), Muzan did not want to show any weakness towards Enmu by resting. To busy himself, Muzan decided to do the tedious work the humans have him do in the job he took to please his human wife.

That insufferable woman.

With his bowler hat placed on his desk, Muzan had taken a seat in his large, leather chair, ordering Enmu to stand at the edge of the desk and face the opposite way. And, for extra edge, he was not to say or do anything.

It had been about two hours since then. The room was filled with only the sounds of Muzan's writing and the ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.

Although he ordered it to be that way, Muzan was already sick of it.

Peering his red eyes up from the papers scrawled below him, Muzan fixated his bone-chilling gaze upon the back of Enmu's head. Muzan could see the corners of the lower moon's mouth turned upwards as he faced the wall, presenting himself with an expression of dumb content.

Freak.

Enmu was definately a curious specimen. So eager to die, yet so eager to please Muzan. The demon lord would have been confused if he were not who he was.

Perhaps it was his own boredom setting in, perhaps it was because he wanted to feed his already gargantuan ego, or perhaps it was just because he was tired, Muzan decided to speak up.

"Tell me," Muzan said, his deep, smooth voice making Enmu perk up slightly, "Why is it that are you so loyal to me?"

Enmu took this as an opportunity to finally move, but not without some caution. The lower demon only turned his neck towards Muzan, along with a tilt of his shoulder. Muzan noted the disobedience of orders, but decided to let it slide this time.

The rain must have told him to be generous that night.

"Why, Master Kibustsuji," Enmu said, a faint blush adorning his cheeks, "It is because I am so delighted to be in your presence, and have my power be of service to you."

The demon lord felt his jaw clench at this, his red eyes peering up at the lower moon from under his abyssal lashes. Although Enmu had an... odd, way of putting things, Muzan always did like it when someone stroked his ego, even if all they ever said was the same banter over and over again. He was nearly perfection, afterall.

Muzan sat quietly and pondered Enmu's response for a second, before formulating his own.

"Your power, as you put it," Muzan said, his voice firm, "What is it?"

Enmu's grin widened, "Dream Manipulation, Master. I can enter, manipulate, or control anyone's dreams however I want to. I can use it to kill from the inside, eating a person spirit first and body second. I can also put people to sleep."

Muzan wasn't necessarily impressed by this, but he wasn't disappointed either. An ordinary power, really. Nothing that could ever rival his own.

However...

Muzan's gaze flickered down to the surface of his desk. A flicker of a long lost yet not forgotten feeling bubbled deep inside of his being. A mere spark of light, really, a piece of warmth he felt from long ago, lost to the wayside by the vestiges of time.

It was something Muzan thought he would never experience again.

Dream manipulation, huh?

It might be worth a try.

Muzan looked back up to Enmu, sharpening his gaze, "Tell me, are you able to give... pleasant dreams?"

Enmu was surprised to hear this come from Muzan to say the absolute least. He took this as another opportunity to disobey orders and turn to Muzan again, this time fully and whole-heartedly. The lower moon looked right into those blood red eyes, looking for any sign of a rare flicker of humor or joking.

Muzan's gaze was serious, poised as ever.

Muzan was being for real.

Taking a pause to swallow, Enmu allowed his soft smirk to return to his gray, pale face.

"Why," the lower moon retorted, "I can, Master, yes."

Muzan eyed the lesser demon for a good second at his response.

This move was risky. It could damage his image. Yet, if he was to do this with any of his pawns, he would do it with Enmu. Enmu seemed to have no intent on harming Muzan or his image in any way; he was far too loyal for that.

Besides, if someone were to question the might of Muzan, he could just prove them wrong.

Muzan leaned back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other and lacing his fingers together, wrapping them around his knee. His icy gaze still on Enmu, he spoke again.

"I wish to see a pleasant dream."

Muzan nearly rolled his eyes when he saw just how wide Enmu's grin had gotten and just how flushed his face got.

It was repulsive.

But, if it meant what Muzan thought it would mean...

It was worth stomaching.

After a breif moment used to compose himself, Enmu's smile faded to normal again. He pulled up the sleeves to his coat.

"I will give you a dream where you will experience the happiest days of your life over again, Master Kibutsuji," the lower moon stated, "Is this to your liking or would you prefer something else?"

"No," Muzan stated flatly, "That is fine."

Perfect, even.

Enmu smiled widely one last time, holding out his arm and pointing it at the demon lord.

"Sweet dreams, my lord." Was the last thing Muzan heard before falling into a deep, deep sleep.

~~

"Muzan..."

Despite his blood demon art being so much weaker than his, Muzan wasn't quite ready for just how Enmu put him into a dream like that. Muzan's headache had grown ten-fold now, and he could feel that his face was scrunched.

"Muzan..."

Slowly but surely regaining his full consciousness, Muzan could first feel that he was in different clothes than what he had been wearing before. These ones were lighter, softer, and much more airy than his normal suit. Squinting open his crimson eyes, he saw that he was in what appeared to be a long, dark, flowing kimono.

The second thing Muzan could feel was that it was rather cool where he was, and that he appeared to be lying on the ground. Sifting his weight slowly, he could then feel that his head was lain upon what felt like two soft, plush pillows firmly squished together.

The third thing, however, took him a little longer to discern quite that it was. At first, he thought it was a pair of chopsticks running across his scalp over and over again. Upon, further thought, however, Muzan was further snapped back into awareness.

Those were not chopsticks.

Those were fingers.

All too familiar fingers.

"Muzan..!"

Muzan felt a stir deep down inside of him. He recognized this feeling, this touch, this warmth. It had been so, so long since he had felt like this. How long was it again? It had to be an eternity ago. An eternity wrapped within all time time in the world.

Muzan was speechless. Muzan couldn't move. Muzan was struck from deep within, and nothing in the world could ever compare to its blow.

"Muzan!"

Although the calling of the demon's lord name had been going on for some time now, he was just now able to respond.

Tilting his chin upwards towards the voice's source, Muzan nearly fell to bits right then and there. If he was someone else, he would have wept deep, earnest tears at the very sight of the being above him. For everything and nothing surrounded him as he studied the bright, radiant face above him, and nothing else seemed to exist other than that smile.

Other than her.

Her.

Oh, her, her, her.

His beloved. His sun, moon and stars. The ground beneath his feet and the air around him. His joy and love, his woes and sorrow. His fears and excitement. His warmth and his cold.

You.

You were really here.

"I was wondering if you were ever gonna wake up," you said, a faint laugh behind your voice, "You were out for so long!"

This scene was all too familiar to Muzan. He had replayed it in his head countless times, as if it were the only record left in the world.

He knew what this day was, and he knew all of your lines.

How could he ever forget?

Every moment he had ever spent with you had been a blessing.

Right now, his head was cradled in your lap, your soft, delicate fingers combing through his hair oh so gently as he had slept. It was deep into the night, and ordinarily Muzan would not be sleeping at this time. However, your touch was just so relaxing to him.

Everything about you was.

Today, you and him had spent the night wandering through the garden of your home together, chatting about anything and everything. It was only about two months into your relationship with Muzan. Muzan had first come to your home with the intention of eating everyone within the residence, but once he saw your face, watched you, saw your heart, your spirit, your you, he just couldn't.

He just...

couldn't.

You were human, yes.

But Muzan didn't care.

He was in love with you.

Muzan had yet to tell you the truth about him, however.

But that could come later.

"Muzan, are you alright?" He heard your voice echo again, snapping him out of his trance. He saw your face painted with worry, making his own features soften.

His darling angel. If only you knew just how much it pained him to see you with anything other than a smile.

Muzan reached his hand upwards, steadily maneuvering his fingers to brush your hair behind your ear and cup your warm cheek. He was shocked at how real you felt, shocked at just how similar it felt to all those years ago.

Perhaps Muzan had to give Enmu a reward.

The demon lord caressed your cheek gingerly with his cold, calloused thumb, savoring in just how warm your flesh was compared to his. For the first time in what felt like eons, Muzan felt a smile adorn his handsome features. Not one put on just to appease the humans around him, but genuine. The type of smile only you got to see.

Only you.

"I'm more than alright, my darling." He responded, his voice soft and warm, without the normal venom he gives to his subordinates. A voice reserved restrictively for you.

Finally, you let a soft grin come over your heavenly face again, making all seven of Muzan's hearts swell.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up," you said, "But it's about to be dawn soon. I don't want you to get a burn, so let's go in the house again, okay?"

Ah yes, the lie Muzan told you. He, of course, couldn't be with you in the sunlight (as much as he wanted to). So he had told you that he had a rare disorder that made him extra prone to sunburns and heatstroke.

Just something to keep you safe from the truth.

His soft smile still adorning his features, Muzan gave you a nod as he slid his head off of your lap. Since you were on your knees, you were quicker to stand than him. Brushing off your kimono quickly, you offered one of your hands to Muzan to help him stand, of which he gladly took. He had long since forgotted just how perfectly your hand fit into his, along with how radiant your kimono made you look.

Once he was back on his feet, Muzan couldn't help but to hold your arms, holding you a few feet away from him to simply admire you for a moment, his crimson eyes doing laps around your face and body.

You were perfect to him.

Every single thing about you was without flaw in his eyes. Not one curve of your body was too shallow or too wide. Not one strand of your hair was misplaced or without poise. Not one feature on your face took away from your radiant beauty. And you had not one bad bone inside of your body.

Muzan was never one to believe in angels.

However, if anyone in any part of the world were to tell him that you were one of them, straight from the heavens themselves,

He would believe them.

~~

As soon as Muzan stepped through the door, his hand in your own, the scene before him changed in one giant, peaceful flash of white light.

Before him now was no longer the house that he had shared with you all those years ago. Now, in its place, was a beautiful, lush springtime garden, all dredged under the cover of the night. It was not devoid of light, however. There were a few lanterns afloat in the water of the stream, as well as some within the structure of the small bridge that went over top of it. Flowers adorned every nook and cranny of the space, and the occasional insect or bird would make a brief appearance.

A small slice of paradise, just for you and Muzan Kibutsuji.

Fearing that you were no longer by his side, Muzan turned his head. His fears were quickly subsided when he saw you there next to him. Your delicate hands were placed on the railing of the bridge, and your eyes were fixated on the calm water below, almost as if it were a window into the heavens above. There was a small smile plastered on your face, and the delicate lights illuminated each of your features so perfectly.

Muzan knew this night.

This was the night he told you the truth.

The truth about him, about his "condition", about where he went for days on end, about why he couldn't walk with you in the sun, about everything.

This was the one night Muzan had ever felt fear.

"Is it really true, Muzan?" You asked, your gaze still fixated on the water below, "Are you really a demon?"

Muzan felt his lips part in small surprise. Even though he had replayed this night time and time again in his mind, it felt as if this were all happening for the first time over again.

Enmu really was good at this.

Muzan wet his lips before responding, setting his gaze on your precious, beautiful face and refusing to move it, "Yes, my love. It is true. I would not lie to you about this, I..."

A pause to collect this thoughts, before he could continue, "I kept it from you to protect you, (Y/N). I did not want any harm to come to you. My darling, I... I love you. My love for you knows no bounds. You are the stars that shine at night, and you are the shining moon above. Each time I look upon you, all I can stand to think of is how deep my love for you runs. I... I need you, (Y/N). I do not wish for you to be frightened of me, my angel. I would never, not ever harm you, nor let any harm come to you."

You still weren't looking at Muzan, yet your smile had yet to falter. Muzan felt a bubble of nervousness in his gut. Although he knew your response to his words already, even thinking of this moment never failed to make his stomach churn. He hoped his words to you were enough. He doubted that he had ever said anything more truthful in his entire life.

After a long pause of silence between the two of you, you closed your eyes and widened your smile. Then, you opened your eyes again, finally turning to face your lover. You looked Muzan right in the eyes, seemingly unfazed that you were standing so dangerously close to the most powerful being alive.

You were so brave.

Your heart was so big.

Muzan felt so overwhelmed.

"Muzan," you said, your cheeks dusting a light pink.

What you said next to him, Muzan could never get out of his head, never forget. No matter how much he tried, he would never not ever forget your words in that moment.

Within that one short, simple phrase, the king of demons fell in love all over again.

"I've always known."

~~

Another flash within his crimson eyes, and the scene had changed again. Nighttime again, of course, but this time within the confines of the bedroom you and Muzan shared. Both you and Muzan were nude, sans the blanket that covered the lower half of your forms. Muzan was on his back, one strong arm wrapped around you, the other cradling the back of his head. Your legs were intertwined with his, and your hair and hands were sprawled out on top of his lean, muscular chest.

Muzan knew this night as well.

It was his most loved night with you, but also his most dreaded.

How cruel fate was.

Stroking your back with the tips of his fingers, Muzan stared up at the ceiling above the two of you. Your body was flush against his, and as warm as ever. He wondered to himself if he was making you cold. If he was, you didn't seem to mind.

After a long period of savoring the silence between you and him, you softly snorted out a cute, soft giggle. This made Muzan angle his chin downward to look at the top of your head.

"What is it?" He questioned.

You giggled again, tilting your head up to look at him. Smiling, you turned your body to lay on top of the demon king, your breasts smushing against his own. Instinctively, Muzan laid his hands on your hips, rubbing small circles into them as he held you in place.

"I just find it funny that even though you profess to have so much stamina, you get tired after only two rounds." You explained to him, a playful mischievousness in your tone and eyes.

Muzan breathed out a smile, reaching up a clawed hand to brush your hair out of your face.

"As I recall it, you were the one complaining it was too much." He quipped back.

You snorted, "As if that ever stopped you before."

The demon let out a soft chuckle, leaning forward to give you a kiss on the forehead. Muzan couldn't remember ever laughing so genuinely before you came along. You truly were the light of his life. You filled his days with the sunlight he had long since forgotten, as well with the warmth no other demon could ever have.

He loved you.

He loved you he loved you he loved you.

And he still did.

He watched as you dropped your gaze to his chest, running your fingers along the flesh.

"Muzan..." you said, your voice more serious than before, "I've been thinking a lot lately..."

The demon king hummed, brushing more hair from your face.

"What has been on your mind, my love?" He asked.

You paused for a second before continuing on. Muzan could practically see the gears turning in your head.

"Well, I... I'm not getting any younger, you know, and I've been thinking. I... I really love you, Muzan. You're the only person I can imagine myself being with for the rest of my life. The other day, I was in town, and I saw the cutest family ever with a husband and a wife and two adorable little children, and it made me think..."

You looked up at him again, giving him a soft smile.

"What if we were to have a family of our own?"

Muzan could feel the same sense of joy, love, and pride in his chest as he did this same moment all those years ago. In this moment, he had never felt closer to you before, nor could you recall ever looking more beautiful.

He wanted nothing more than to be a family with you for the rest of eternity.

"Darling, you know what that would mean, correct?" He questioned you. He had told you long before that demons could only have offspring with other demons, for a demon baby would eat its human mother from the inside and kill her. It was gruesome, and had originally made you cringe at the thought. Muzan had thought your reaction was quite cute.

"Yes, yes, I know," you answered, "and I'd be ready for it. Even if I'm a demon, and even if I can never go out in the sun again or live normally ever again, I'd be happy knowing I got to be with you and our baby for the rest of time."

Muzan gave you a smile in return, his long, white fangs flashing in the light of the night. Leaning forward, he kissed you upon your soft, warms lips, gently pulling you closer to him.

This was one of the thousands of reasons why he loved you.

You were always so sweet, so kind and optimistic. He would admit, he did have a soft spot for you and you alone. But he didn't care. You were worth it. You were worth every single piece of money on planet earth. You were worth the sun the moon and the stars, and all the planets here and beyond. You were worth any injury, any heartache, and any trial or tribulation in the world.

The king of the demons unquestionably, unfathomably, undeniably, adored you.

Pulling gently away from the kiss, Muzan looked deep into your eyes, right past your pupils and looked right into your soul, your very being.

"I would want nothing more, my sunlight."

If Muzan could turn back the hands of time, he would have kept you here with him for the rest of everything and beyond.

For he did not know then that was the last kiss you and him would share.

~~

Another flash, and Muzan was no longer greeted with a visage of the past. Much to his dismay, the demon was now greeted with the sight of his office, with a smiling Enmu creepily watching him from across his desk.

What a fucking freakshow.

Taking in a breath of air through his nose, Muzan sat up tall in his chair again, rubbing the bridge of his nose with this thumb and pointer finger.

You were gone again. You were again nothing up a memory, a whisper of a time from the past.

Muzan could hardly bare it.

He had felt you, held you near him.

And just as fast as you came back, you were gone again.

This was a pain almost too hard to bear.

How long was he asleep for? Muzan really didn't care how long it was.

No amount of time with you was enough.

"Did you have the pleasant dream you wished for, Master?" Enmu asked the demon king. The lesser moon was lucky Muzan was in a somewhat good mood that day.

"Yes." Muzan replied simply, closing his eyes to rub them with his thumb, "Excellent work."

Enmu's smile widened at this, his cheeks turning pink again.

"Why, thank you, Master." He responded, his excitement prevalent in his voice.

Enmu really was a special one.

After composing himself again, Muzan scooted his chair forward up to his desk, fixing his gaze back onto his work sprawled out below.

Muzan just wanted to be alone again after that. He had been alone for years now, but he wanted Enmu out of the room. Although he could have easily ordered it to be so, he again did not want to show any weakness to the lower moon.

Christ on a bike. Muzan was so fucking stubborn.

He remembered all the times you nagged him for it.

Oh, what he would give to have you nag him one last time.

After a long bout of silence, the lesser demon decided to speak up again. He turned his head over his shoulder again to Muzan, trying to sound as naieve and innocent as possible.

"Master," Enmu said, "Where is she now?"

Muzan stopped his movements and glared up at Enmu with a venomous glare. How dare he even refer to you. You were so far above him, how dare Enmu even think to invoke your name.

Though Muzan wanted to kill the other demon right on the spot, he decided against it. He still wanted to see how Enmu would do on his mission. Also, Muzan had to admit that he did feel lighter and more generous after his dream with you. And he supposed it was fair that Enmu had his questions.

Feeling nice, Muzan decided to entertain Enmu's question.

Shifting his gaze back to the papers below, Muzan replied.

"Gone." he said, "The night she asked about a family was the last night I saw her alive. The next day, a group of slayers found her and our house. They knew who she was and that she was human, but killed her anyway. All in attempt to get to me. I found her in a pool of her own blood, limp and cold. The slayers died that same night."

Enmu's smile faded at this, his face taking on a look of shock. Closing his lips into a tight line, Enmu looked away, out of a quiet unconscious respect. Everything made so much more sense to Enmu now. Why the demon king was the way he was, his hatred for slayers, his cold-hearted, murderous nature.

It all clicked into place.

"I... I am sorry for your loss, Master." He said, his voice quieter than normal, "She seemed like a lovely woman."

Muzan peered up at the back of Enmu's head. Through his thick, black lashes.

"Yes..." Muzan said.

"She truly was."

[ga-yuu]

My thoughts on Akihito's route!

Don't worry, I'm still going to translate Akihito's route no matter what!

WARNING! Some story spoilers ahead so I recommend not reading it if you don't want spoilers!

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What do I love?

Akihito and Yoshino are crazy in love!

Have you heard of the phrase "Love can make you do anything?" This story is an example of that. It's not cute, or mischievous....it's damn crazy. So crazy that Yoshino is willing to kill people along with Akihito if that's what it takes to reduce his burden of sins. Of course, she doesn't want to turn into a killer herself so she asked Sueharu to kill her if he goes out of control. I'm not saying that their relationship is toxic. Toxic relationships are one thing, and being madly in love with another person that you're ready to do anything to make them happy is another thing. Akihito and Yoshino's relationships fall in the latter category. After meeting in Kamakura several times, Akihito develops a great obsession with her, and Yoshino also started having a crush on him. Even after taking her to Kyoto, he treats her like his queen and also doesn't hesitate to announce to the whole Imperial Court that he likes her like crazy. But he never once forced Yoshino to like him the same way he does for her. Yoshino took her time to understand him well and then she eventually confessed and they started dating. Later when Akihito finds out that he can't do anything else other than curse everyone, he breaks up with her and Yasuchika and he and Ibuki goes to destroy the world. But what they didn't know was that Yasuchika and Yoshino teamed up behind the scenes to break Akihito's curse. Yoshino's powers were merged with Akihito's curse and she too gained the ability to use Kotodama. Yoshino is just......this character never ceases to amaze me no matter what! She's the best! Also, my favorite scene has to be when they both use Kotodama at the same time like true badasses.

Sueharu is cool!

If you're Sueharu's fan, I'm sure you'll love him even more after this. Sueharu being the love rival was already a surprise because no one expected him. Anyways, Sueharu appears only in the first and last parts of the story, and he still stole my heart even if it's for a little time, (which was supposed to be Akihito's job, since it's his route). Sueharu is simply an angel when it comes to helping someone. Call him greedy, playboy, shady businessman all you want! But when it comes to helping someone in need, this guy will do anything!

I still don't know, how the story writers tend to make the love rivals way cooler than the male leads. Not saying that the male leads are boring, it's just that, those minor moments with the love rival look so sweet that you'll ignore the male leads. I think after this route, I'm really looking forward to Sueharu's route.

Ruri, the bird that walks instead of flying!

For those who have not played the route at all or are waiting for my translations, Ruri is the name of the small bird that Yoshino and Akihito save from an abusive shopkeeper. Even though they bought it on a whim, Akihito still decided to keep Ruri as his pet even after she learned how to fly, which is kind of him. For a long time, while playing the game, I had a bad feeling that the story writers have forgotten about Ruri because she just vanished for like 4 or 5 chapters without any reason. There was no info about Akihito releasing her or Ibuki feeding her to his stray cats, so I thought that the story writers ignored that plot point entirely. But thank god they didn't, and she was back in the later chapters. I know pets don't appear often, but I loved Ruri's shy personality and wanted to see Akihito and Yoshino playing with her more!

Akihito is a badass!

As I mentioned about Akihito being obsessed with Yoshino...it goes from 1 to 999,999,999... in a matter of seconds. If he sees someone attacking Yoshino, or even grabbing her hand tightly to the point there are handprints on her wrist or even if someone's nails accidentally greased her skin which causes a small scratch, his curse will go out of control. (Okay that was an exaggeration). But still, they wanted to show it like its a scary scene, but its actually very fun to watch, Akihito going annihilation mode.

Other than this, Akihito's character is much more selfish. He tries his best to protect Yasuchika and Yoshino from himself by trying to break-up with them. Akihito thinks that saving them from himself is the best future for them, but what he doesn't realize is that they don't want a world without Akihito and that makes them angry.

Akihito's character is not a problem. The problem is the story!

What do I hate?

The story is not for everyone!

If you're not a person, who will gobble up everything that your favorite game company throws at you then you won't like the story. The story does have sensitive themes such as sexual abuse and severe mental health issues. I don't mind reading stories of these kind at all, what I have a problem with is, showing 'sexual abuse' as an act of love. Rape is still rape, even if it's among lovers, which is bad. If your partner clearly doesn't want to do it or is not ready for it, then you mustn't force them because it's their body, not yours.

Yes! Akihito sexually abuses Yoshino, so she will hate him and eventually go back to her peaceful life. This is a plot point that I FUCKING DESPISE! I hated it so much that I just wanted to get over it soon. The story just started to get interesting at the end and then this happened, which ruins the mood. It's not sexy at all, it just makes me angry that they had included this for my favorite character. I still love Akihito, but Cybird didn't have to do this dirty.

The story also talks about how mental illness is equally deadly or maybe even more than physical health. They did that beautifully, by showing how Akihito is literally shunned by his own father and also by entire Japan. No matter how much he works hard, his efforts were not even recognized let alone given praise. After his abdication and when he was eventually exiled, he was still not given peace of mind by the people of Japan who saw him as a person who killed his own father and brother for the thrown. When they all come to kill him, Akihito snaps and his curse eventually loses control and massacres everyone.

As I said, this story is not for everyone. Even I as a fan of Akihito and this game, have yawned at some parts. I feel like it's the least impressive route out there!

Anyway! I'll continue to translate Akihito's route, so draw your own conclusions. These are just mine, so don't judge the route based on what you read above.

[huntersapprentice]

okay here’s my opinions of the silly songs

like I said I would

so long story short:

tier list link

if you wanna hear me elaborate for whatever reason, I will!

I should maybe go in order of the songs from yellow green to red.

“Asteroid Cowboys” was fine but Veggies in Space is kind of an episode I already don’t revisit that much, so in tandem, I don’t actually remember this song all that well. “A Mess Down in Egypt” I barely remember for the same reason; I haven’t revisited Moe and the Big Exit since the first time I saw it. And again, I haven’t seen Merry Larry since a couple months ago, and the visuals themselves were a bit squicky to me, I’m not sure why. It’s cute in concept though! (I probably sound like a really pretentious critic right now)

OKAY, moving on to yellow! “Best Friends Forever” obviously feels very “how do you do, fellow kids“ but honestly, from an in-universe lens, I just like seeing Laura hanging out, so I don’t entirely mind it. “Happy Tooth Day” I get to hear a good bit from virtue of watching The Little House That Stood pretty frequently. I like Jimmy, Jerry, and Mr. Lunt just forming a little brass trio for the first part of the song. Madame Blueberry wacking Larry with a baseball bat was really cool too. Plus, Bob doing his little yelps and shouts is always a bonus for me. I don’t have strong feelings on “The Blues with Larry“ . Except for the poodle at the end. I like the poodle. And Lincoln destroying a cookie with a guitar was pretty neat. “S.U.V“ I also don’t have strong feelings on. The product placement was bizarre though. Not that it bothers me much though. I feel like VT will just randomly slip in a reference to a real life world thing and it’ll end up making me wonder if Big Idea ever has to pay fees or whatever people have to do to say the name of a brand or a celebrity. Or maybe they just don’t and say it anyway. I know they got into some hot water with the owners of the Lord of the Rings IP over Lord of the Beans though so... yeah, “S.U.V“ is fine. I usually skipped “The Biscuit of Zazzamarandabo“ while watching The Big River Rescue. When I did listen to it fully though; it’s pretty alright. I do like the idea of Archibald just going on a road trip with some of the other guys to go see a biscuit on top of a mountain while info-dumping about on the way. “The Song of the Cebu“ is funky and I like Archibald interjecting every few minutes just to tell Larry about much of a shit show the slideshow is becoming. Archibald saying “I’ll have to speak to Bob about this“ just makes me wonder what the fuck they did behind the scenes just to end up (unintentionally) crushing Larry’s spirit the way that they did. I think it’d make for a good angst premise. I usually skip “Obscure Broadway Showtunes“ or just don’t pay attention to it when watching Pistachio, but it sounds fine. I’m just not into it. I liked the fanged stapler at the end. “The Water Buffalo Song“ is a classic, I know. There’s just not much to revisit with this one divorced from the episode it’s from. But I do like it! Or however much was allowed to be sung before Archibald came in and chastised Larry for the song. I like how Larry holds the note.

YELLOW ORANGE TIME!!! I really like “Endangered Love” but it sucks that every time I have to remember this song, it keeps defaulting to “Barbara Manatee“ as the title. Larry watches a soap opera. He dances with a stuffed animal. Bob has a “go touch grass“ moment. Bill learns to dance! It’s a nice song. “His Cheeseburger“ isn’t one of my favorites but it’s still really good. I don’t actually have a lot to say about it, but Mr. Lunt’s just iconic. “Lance the Turtle“ is good for a thrown-together-gimmick song and (unsurprisingly) Bob is always the highlight of these things for me. “Love My Lips“ has the “it’s a lip“ William Tell Overture part and I kinda like that part. Overall, good song. I like “Monkey.“ I first heard it on youtube some months ago and it got stuck in my head a bit. Seeing Bob with a tail was kinda great. OOOH “YODELING VETERINARIAN OF THE ALPS!“ Here’s the start of my favorite Silly Songs. I loved this song so much when I heard it for the first time a couple months ago. I love the Scallions + Frankencelery quartet. “THE DANCE OF THE CUCUMBER!!!” I love this song but it actually almost made me think Bob never sang before. I ALMOST FELL FOR LARRY’S TEASING! IT WAS THE HOLLOW KNIGHT CLOTHING INCIDENT ALL OVER AGAIN!!! (for context, I had a small moment in time where I thought fabric didn’t exist in the Hollow Knight universe) Aside from that, this song fucks.

ORANGE!!!!!! Okay this might seem like a weird one because I generally don’t see people talk about Sheerluck at all, but I kinda love “Gated Community”??? I just really like the rhythm of it. Once again, Larry holds a note and I really like it when he does that. “Larry’s High Silk Hat“ is great! Honestly, I think I’m just kinda into tarantella in general. “Oh, Santa“ is really cool, but now it sorta makes me think of Larry doing a “Santa Baby“ cover. I love Scallion 1′s weird little noises and also Bob just being the way that he is. “The Hairbrush Song“ is such a delightfully hammy song to me and! I don’t think I have to state what my favorite part is in this. My SECOND favorite part though is the ending part after the Peach leaves. I love that part of the song. And finishing off the oragne row, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything“ is just a fun song!

RED and the only thing in red; I fucking love “Belly Button.“ I’m not immune to vegetables in a boy band. The flashy zoom-ins on the members give me so much life. Khalil’s rap bit is cool, and I always enjoy the line-toeing of whether we should be considering these produce characters as plant or animal.

If you actually read this all the way through; Congratulations and I’m so sorry! And I know there’s a lot of songs I haven’t listened to and my defense is that I’ve only seen like a fourth of the VT catalogue.

It’s like 11:30PM where I am so... good night everybody!

[artharakka]

Hey there---I have been hunting for your blog forever! A classmate of mine brought thumbnails of your work to a drawing session, and we have been obsessing over your people. I find the way you illustrate long noses and sort of androgynous-looking faces and big hands really refreshing, and your werewolf druid Vaara is super charming! They really make me want to know more about your campaign world.

I hope you don't mind sharing, but I was curious what software(s) you used for the comic you made, A Dream with Rain. Do you have any general tips for people trying to draw better? Sorry for bamboozling you with questions. Delighted again to have found your blog!

OOof thank you! ❤❤❤ This was a delightful message to get! So cool to know my art exists outside my own little circle (it's sometimes difficult to realize that there are actually so many people behind all the notes my art gets). And also an encouraging ask because I've been struggling with my art style a bit lately (feeling like finally slowly getting there and out of art block now tho). But one of my goals has been to use bolder shapes and lines (like larger features and other than snub noses), glad that you like them as well! And if you read my tags I do have many non-binary characters & I like to play around with masculine and feminine features anyway so ough it's cool that it shows through the art as well ❤ (And oh check out my sis/sibling's art blog @artist-rat as well, they also have a very funky style and draw so expressive faces!!)

This is getting long, so here's a quick doodle of Vaara for you and rest of the answers under the cut!

The campaign Vaara is in is still in the beginning, so I don't know yet either what's to come! My friend @iijadraws (who is the DM) knows more about the lore if you want to know (and if she will spill). So far Vaara's archdruid Aalis noticed something bad was happening to their forest in the north and south. Vaara's dear friend Kiilo gave Vaara a precious key/amulet for luck and went north, Vaara gave Kiilo their stone knife for protection and went south. After a day's travel, she found forest stripped of life, and an old empty stone hut/house. Then strange things started happening, like giant unrecognizable beast coming out of the forest and Vaara's own empty eyed doppelganger staring at them from the empty forest. Vaara freaked out, hid into the stone hut, was cornered, and used her now faintly glowing key to open a door within it. The door became portal, and led them to a mysterious house where they are now stranded with Knell (artist-rat's character). Vaara is still mostly freaking out and attempting to run back home (not happening).

Mmm I want to illustrate more scenes and ramble more about both of the DnDs I'm currently playing (Rhiam's and Vaara's). I have one Rhiam background info & illustration coming up and will hopefully get it posted tomorrow, and I'd like to do more of those for both of them!

THEN What software I used: I've been using Krita for years now and I really like it! It's free and constantly developing (there have been a couple of hiccups in the past, but I haven't had any issues with the latest versions). If you want to know more about some specific feature I used (like brushes, effects, settings in general) feel free to send me another ask/message!

And general art tips: "Practice" is kind of a old and empty answer, so, here's some bit more specific stuff I learned from my art teachers (keep in mind that my art education isn't university level, but I went to a really great upper secondary school (high school?) that had special emphasis on visual arts so it's something).

Try to avoid using eraser or blurring. Especially the latter. One of the first lessons our class learned was not to blur pencil lines with our fingers/paper when shading our works. It was forbidden and it caused outrage, but was really helpful in the end. Airbrush tools have their place, but learn to shade and mix colours without it first (add or lessen pressure, select in-between color manually, cross-hatching). Personally I’ve been really digging using really sharp edged brush to colour my works lately (for paintings I use softer tools, but sharp coloring works really well with my softer line art I think!)

Studies are a great way to improve whether it’s anatomy or colours. I had weekly classes with model for a couple of months back in school but now I’m mostly using images from Unsplash (they are free to use) for color and painting practice. If you want to improve fast, try to do many sketches as fast as you can: we started with 3 minute sketch and then lessened the time so that in the end we were doing 10 second sketches of the model. I think there are sites specifically for this purpose where images/models change with timer? Here big paper & pen/brush might also help (no time to dwell in details, get the overall shape).

Try different mediums and methods: before my art school, I mostly drew with a pencil on A4 or smaller paper, and my art was kind of faint, careful, full of little details, stiff. Then in school I was forced to use watercolours, and acrylic and oil paints, try digital art, use big canvases, sclupt things out of clay and whatnot. It gave me a better sense of how shapes and colours work, but also helped me get bolder with my art (that is still a process, but I developed a LOT). I had drawn my entire life before that but I was shy to change my art and methods. And I know materials can be expensive, but work with what you have. My teacher once made a still life composition out of cleaning cart and other random stuff and made us draw it on a really big paper with big chunky chalks that were taped on long sturdy sticks found from forest. Relatively cheap but forced to draw big shapes and use your entire body rather than just wrist. It looked kinda like this and it’s still one of my favourite classes:

Again, feel free to send ask about specific art (or other) things you'd like to know if any come to mind! And thanks again for the message! Have a great day/evening/whatever time you have there!

[an-annyeoing-writer]

vulnerability. – prologue

Story info:

Pair: Byun Baekhyun x Reader

Rating: +18 for mentions of s*x and violence (future chapters)

Genre: angst, smut

Chapter info:

Release date: 6th May 2021

Word count: 2 653

Warnings: dark thoughts, general angst (in this chapter, it gets lighter later)

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@shesdreaminginoverdose @mybiasdashboard @marimsun @byuns-asscheeks @multi--kpop--fanfics @vunv @making-me-blush @skittlez-area512

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Prologue

“What do you need?”

Another question to which, despite your sincere effort, you are unable to find an answer; spoken in a cool, collected tone that makes it no easier to adjust to. You stare blankly at your hands, folded in your lap in a position that was supposed to be modest, but right now – betrays insecurity and uncertainty.

“Do I have to answer?” you ask quietly, struggling to find the right thing to say; your mind gets as blank as your stare, the stress deeming you unable to create a reply.

“Do you want to waste my time? If I ask a question, I expect an answer.” The man taps the surface of the close-by table, a clear message goes through – don’t test my patience. The notebook that he holds on his lap, with his other hand over it, hasn’t been written in for the past few minutes. The two of you are sitting on tall bar chairs, facing each other. You wish the tall table on the side, imitating the bar counter, was actually in between the two of you – maybe you’d feel a bit more secure with this form of a barrier.

You don’t want to waste his time, but you feel like you’re wasting yours right now. It’s as if you were at a job interview that completely didn’t align with what you had expected it to be like. It’s the moment you feel like the interviewer is only asking the questions out of politeness but does not pay much attention to your answers, and you know your case is a lost one. That’s exactly the way you feel right now – as if he’s at this point only tormenting you for the mere fun of it, although it doesn’t look like he has any fun in this at all; his face is stern and ridden of emotions. Terrifying.

“I think I need stability, and safety…” you try to utter something sensible. “But not boredom…”

You feel silly as soon as these words leave you, and, as you expect, they earn no reaction from the man. You soon realize he must have heard such things dozens of times before you – it’s a textbook answer.

“Some of your replies contradict each other” the man suddenly states.

“I didn’t lie” you argue back.

“Maybe not, but I’d recommend therapy.”

You only continue to stare blankly. Such words don’t faze you anymore – partly because you started to grow indifferent to whatever is spoken in this conversation, and partly because you’ve heard these words enough of times, spoken by your family, friends, even classmates or strangers. It’s embarrassing, but you’ve learned to push such thoughts away every time they surfaced; and this time, as well, you knew you wouldn’t think about them anymore as soon as the topic changed.

“Yeah, I know” you mutter, only for the sake of having an answer. You feel bitter; the case is lost for sure, you can tell – what he keeps you here for anymore, you don’t know.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

“Uh… No, not really.”

“Is there anything you want to ask me?”

Of course. So many things, so many thoughts that appeared in the anticipation for this meeting. Excitement that slowly died down; you remember the questions you wanted to ask, as well as the ones that emerged during the conversation itself. Yet, you don’t think that any of them are worth being spoken aloud anymore.

“I don’t think so.”

“I see.”

The man reaches for his notebook and writes a word or two inside, then tears the page out; you flinch at that. You can’t tell what’s written on it as he places the piece of paper on the table between the two of you, the clear side upwards, while the text is underneath. You stare at it with new-found curiosity.

“I need to leave for a few minutes. Write your number there, or e-mail address, whichever you prefer. I’ll be back.”

He stands up without asking for your reply and heads towards the bathroom; you only follow him with your stare as he disappears in the crowd – it’s Friday evening, and the bar, The Queen of Spades, is as full as on any typical Friday evening, except there’s an aura of loneliness surrounding you. You’re a bit uncomfortable in the bar chair – you’d rather sit in the leather sofa that’s behind you.

The leather sofa on which you saw Byun Baekhyun for the first time.

* * *

The Queen of Spades was a quite spacious, but not too well known bar that your friend had been promising to take you to thousands of times before a good occasion actually came up – the end of your winter exam session, all exams passed by a miracle. The bar was just fifteen minutes from your house, and you were astonished the moment you entered through the glass doors, feeling as though you went back in time by a few decades. Wooden furniture, warm lights, soft tunes of jazz and RnB – not your vibe, but one that made you fall in love with this place at the first sight.

However, as much as the interiors were dazzling, there was one more thing that caught your attention the most – the man sitting in the corner of the bar, on a leather couch with only the tall counter-like table on the side, probably too tall to reach to, but he wasn’t drinking anyway. He sat with a middle-aged woman, leaning gently into his side, casually and trustfully. The leather collar on her neck did not match her age-accurate attire, and that was exactly what caught your attention in her whole visage.

Whether the pair knew that they’re observed or not, you couldn’t tell – and, in fact, it seemed as though they don’t necessarily care. When the man’s hand found itself on the woman’s leather collar and pulled it backwards tightly, a small scowl on his face, you freaked out; at least until you saw her smile softly, no attempt to struggle, no worry, as her face reddened with the restraint of blood flow that the motion must have caused. Their eyes met. The man’s gaze softened. He released the collar and held her chin in his hands, and soon, they were resting again.

You stared at the scene, mesmerized. But it would be inappropriate to pay it any more attention; yet, you felt intrigued. You wondered what else would you see if you came back to the bar another time.

And, in fact, he was there the second time as well, just as you were with your classmate, trying to listen to her personal stories, but with your glance drifting off to the man’s direction.

He was with a woman, again, but one that could have been around your own age. It confused you, but, without any other cues, you did not want to judge. This one, also, had a collar on her neck – or more like a necklace, made of chain with pearls tied into it, a dainty and girly piece. The man patted her head gently as she rested with her eyes closed, maybe even sleeping. Nothing else happened.

And the third time you went there, alone this time, after a particularly long day at work, hoping to get some of the stress off your shoulders, you sat by the bar alone, and therefore, did not need to worry about annoying the person you were with – you could stare to your heart’s content; at least until someone would notice and find you weird or creepy.

It was a Friday evening again, so you concluded he comes here regularly. Although the bar was quite crowded, no one sat by the table next to the leather couch, probably not wanting to disrupt the pair – two men sitting together now. It did catch you by surprise. This one’s collar was made of silver squares linked together. It looked simple, but elegant. With a little bit of tequila, for once you felt bold enough to shoot the bartender your question.

“Yeah, oh, him? Baekhyun, he’s local. Why? You’re interested? Well, if you really are, he’s not into one night stands.”

Neither were you; you didn’t want to jump into such things abruptly, not at all. You wanted to know more first.

“He’s not into relationships, from what I know. Or more like, his relationships aren’t what they may be to you. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then just leave it, there’s other fish in this sea, just look around you.”

But you weren’t interested in other fish; this one spiked your interest and you just needed to know more. Your motive was obvious, and so, the bartender kept talking, taking pleasure in enlightening the silly kid that you were in his eyes.

“Ever heard of BDSM? If yes, then you’ll understand. If no, then leave it be.”

Your first impression, the thought you had in the first moment, was finally confirmed – it was like opening a cake you’ve only seen in the packaging and finding out it looks exactly as the packaging’s shape hinted. You chose this cake because of the shape, and now you feel even more excited about seeing how it tastes. And you did, in fact, truly want to devour it.

“So, you want to get on with him?”

You knew you did. There was no doubt in that. The bartender, who initially seemed persistent in discouraging you, suddenly seemed to enjoy the role of a sort of broker.

“I can set you two up.”

* * *

That’s how your story led you to this particular point; to the dark, old-styled walls of The Queen of Spadesthat you’ve started to memorize well by now, to the table you’ve only observed from afar, to the man whom you also could only look at, until today.

And you feel like the figurative cake is now made of nasty, bitter chocolate, and empty inside.

You glance once again in the direction in which the man disappeared – the bathroom. You probably have a few more minutes to relax. Your gaze lands on the torn piece of paper.

It shouldn’t be an issue if you decided to have a look – right? He left it in front of you, maybe even for this particular reason, for you to check if he hasn’t written anything wrong about you. Whatever is written in there… You can’t think anymore as you whip the paper to the other side.

[F/n], 24, fem. & stud. available weekends mentally unstable, possible childhood trauma sensitive

No lies are detected.

Moreover, you feel as though each statement is awfully accurate; you are sensitive, and the words hurt. You feel reduced to these few random phrases, as if your whole personality consists just of these traits.

Mentally unstable.

Childhood trauma.

Sensitive.

You angrily turn the sheet back over and make sure the number you just wrote is correct, although you’re not so sure if you wantit to be correct. You consider changing it to a wrong one. Or standing up and leaving. You’re angry and frustrated, and lost. Your desperate need for this deal to work out collides with your desperate need to go back to your safe zone; the one in which you can rely on fiction and your own imagination, and where no other person can hurt you. You could just stand up and leave, for sure; who would try to stop you? Do you even have the guts to stay? You feel disrespected; you wish to disappear.

Yet, you don’t find yourself doing any of these things. You sit in your place, staring at the sheet blankly, until familiar steps echo nearby and the man takes his place again. The time for making decision has run out. Byun Baekhyun sits in front of you again, staring at you intensely.

“Did you look?” His tone is accusatory, and a bit angry. Were you not supposed to look, after all…?

“N-no” you instantly reply. Your voice falters, you know you’re not a good liar. But he can’t blame you for something you won’t admit; you’ll leave, and you’ll be safe, he won’t be able to say anything more hurtful anymore.

“I see.”

The lie eats at you; you fiddle nervously as he takes the paper and slowly puts it back in his notebook. He doesn’t look at you while doing so, but you watch him full of nerves. You can’t lie, you never could.

“I-I did” you utter after a moment of silence.

He freezes in spot and you start fearing again; his eyes raise to meet yours, and you don’t dare to reciprocate the gaze. However, you can tell he’s not angry – whether it’s pure disdain or disappointment, you don’t know. But, at the very least, you can tell you won’t be yelled at, and it’s enough to be a relief.

“I’m sorry” you add in a mumble filled with shame. Your gaze lowers even further.

Byun Baekhyun doesn’t say anything about it. He observes you in silence for a while, as if deep in thought, and you don’t know if you’re being judged or analyzed, you do your best not to let your mind drift towards the areas of insecurity and fear.

He puts his things back in the leather bag he carries – the notebook, phone, leather gloves. Seems that the meeting is coming to an end. It’s not even 8 PM.

“Will you find your way home? You need a drive?”

“I live nearby, I’ll be okay.”

“Can I walk you, then?”

“Sure…”

It’s slowly getting dark and you don’t find it in yourself to oppose the offer. More than to run away, you feel an urge to just give in, and you’d rather he yells at you for lying than asks you anymore questions; you’re worn out, both mentally and physically – with your muscles cramping for keeping them tense for so long.

No more words are said, though, there’s no yelling and no accusations. He acts professionally the moment you leave the bar, letting you lead the way and only staying by your side, not too close even, no touch and no words – as if he’s following you rather than accompanying.

Throughout your whole conversation, you didn’t see him smile even once. It pains you. But you slowly come to the conclusion that you haven’t necessarily done anything wrong, and it’s just the way it is.

“Thank you for today” you utter politely. You want to run back into your apartment and be safe again. “And thank you for walking me.” Sorry for wasting your time, too, you also wish to add, but you don’t want to victimize yourself; you don’t want to believe that you’re at fault for it, either – apologizing would be like taking the whole blame upon yourself, and you don’t want to accept that.

“No problem. Thank you for your time. Sleep well.”

He opens the door for you but doesn’t look at you or say anything more. You utter one more small “thank you” and “goodnight” before entering your small apartment again.

The day finally comes to an end and you want nothing more than to rest it off in the bunk bed of your bedroom – the sweet and safe comfort zone that never betrays you, never plays with your feelings, and always welcomes you with its warmth.

* * *

Please, reblog if you enjoyed, it'll help me a bunch!

Author's note: I know it feels a bit sad thus far, but bear with me, it will get better soon!

Next (Chapter 1.)

[androgynousblackbox]

Thoughts about the fifth season (spoilers)

Okay, so normally I would make these posts as neutral as possible because I want them to reach anyone who enjoys the show. Even if you are someone that really fucking hates incest ships you can read them and still have an idea of what I liked, what didn’t, etc, without me bringing up that element. You can disagree or agree without being reminded “oh, yeah, he is one of THOSE fans I don’t like” and that is totally fine by me. Curate your own online experience and all that. But this is season is quite literally about the relationship between Rick and Morty, so as a rickmorty shipper I just can’t separate that from what I enjoyed about it and thus I am going to be talking from that position during all of this. If that makes you uncomfortable, that is cool, I get it. You can skip this one if you want. Also, this is going to be a general big mess of thoughts and whatever because I have lots of them so, bear with me. -Some of the shippers I was with on a server will know this already, but from the very first episode I was sure we were going to have two major themes: 1. Rick is a flawed human being, not a god, not a ultra genius who is always destined to be on top of everything and knows how to get out of any situation. Just a man. And that is why he needs other people, which is somethig he had to accept and understand about himself, especially after the fourth season was all about dethroning him as the patriarch of the family and break away the illusions that Beth had about her own father. We have standed too long having Rick win on everything and coming out like a badass, so it’s time to kick him down a bit and let him lose. 2. Morty’s heart is always going to get fucked over, which is something that gets even more explored on the Planetina episode: he wants a place to belong with a person who doesn’t make him feel like the odd one out. Combine the two and my idea was: they want to assure us about their relationship on some kind of way, this is about them and what they feel regarding each other. Probably about why or how Rick became so jaded because why else include Rick freaking out about Mr Nimbus just mentioning Diane’s name and how much he changed, on a first episode no less, if this isn��t something we are setting up to see later. They explicitely brought someone from Rick’s past to talk about that past and make a point to tell us that changed Rick. -So, we have the two major player set up like this: on one hand, Morty aspires for that companionship but he is not willing to compromise his own moral for it, whatever he has left after starting to take on some Rick’s traits. He is desperate for that connection and if that means leaving Rick behind, so be it. Rick will still be there anyway. On othe other hand, Rick also wants that connection and companionship but it’s too disfunctional and can’t make it quite work because there is always a part of him that wants to keep distance. With the alien lady, evne with the crows, it’s all about escapism and pretend like everything is fine, it’s just fun and he doesn’t have to care because they are just having a good time together. He tried to do that too with BP by keeping away the info about his daughter, but he called his bluff because BP knew Rick too much to not see that comic. It’s rebound after rebound because he is missing the one person that can keep him in check, that truly knows what a piece of fucking shit he is and somehow still comes back to him. BP saw that, knew what was happening, and prefered to get the fuck away because he didn’t want to compromise his own values like that either. But Rick doesn’t have that problem with Morty. It truly is Rick and Morty one hundread years because, no matter how fucking bad it gets, they still choose one another. -Now, the way they keep building up this relationship, these connection, even regarding the rest of the family, to me is brilliant in restrospect because it perfectly illustrate how much they have changed from what they were before and what that means. Morty is more independent and less afraid, right, but that doesn’t make him more happier because he is still lonely and Rick is being reminded, over and over again, that he can’t be alone either. -Regarding the way Morty have behaved, I have seen some people being concerned about how Morty is becoming more independent and therefore not relying on Rick as much for anything, so it’s like what is the point of their relationship anymore. And like, to me it makes sense they show because they have already told us on past seasons that Morty has stopped viewing Rick with that wide eyed expression for a long time. He is learning from him and can defend himself, so why does he need Rick at al? The answer is because he loves him. You can read that as platonic or romantic or whatever, but for better or for worse Morty just loves Rick. You shouldn’t love people because you need them, or at least that is not a healthy basis for any relationship. I said this on another post: you cannot make anyone to be your center for your mental health like that, and I feel like they aware of this point, which I really fucking love because it would have been easy as fuck to write any pairing like that.  -If you stay for the “Behind of scenes” scenes, the writers talk about how this season is about building trust between Rick and Morty. So it starts with Morty going around cleaning up some of the messes Rick left behind without telling Rick and then fucking the portal gun because he doesn’t trust Rick to not “kill him” to finding out he did that, just like Rick in fact doesn’t trust Morty to not be doing unnecesary bullshit. So Morty, hurt because his suspicions were right, puts an ultimatum and Rick, being the petty fuck we all know him to be, takes it kind because of course he would. -What does Morty does immediately after this? Latch onto another sketchy as fuck older man whose name ends with Ick and hope that is the connection he craves, because after all “we are like brothers now.” So rebound for him, rebound for Rick, rebounds for the crows, rebounds for everyone. Yay. -I know it has been however many years have passed since this show started, and it was obvious for fucking everyone who watched it, but I do really like that they use the exact words for how their dynamic has been: unhealthy, toxic, abusive. Lack of trust, lack of boundaries, secrets. Just straight up calling it as it is. So they have both of them confronting that fact, being aware of it, and to top it all off, make Morty the only being now on their universe that knows everything about Rick, every single thing he has kept even from BP, like the true reason he joined to their guerilla group, and still makes the conscious choice to go after Rick even when, as far he was aware of at least, there was another option.  -So, okay, now what, might someone ask. We have put everything out there and we have talked about what is wrong about their relationship, does this mean we are doing the boring healthy bullshit now? Well, nope. Considering that Morty did went out of his way to guilt trip Rick into getting back and Rick admits point blank admits he get it, Morty refusing to demand things be different because he is just desperate... they are still and probably always going to be a condependent mess, but hey, a condependent mess that at least is kinda self aware about it and won’t pull the “I am going to break up with you on a whim” move again, hopefully. I do think and expect some things to change, but only as far their dynamic during adventures goes and regarding the rest of the family, with everyone being on the know that those two are an item neither of them can get in between. Rick is probably still going to want to keep some things in control, he is still not going to express his feelings to Morty directly and Morty is still going to be a little shit that will want for validation that won’t come his way. It’s a shithole house, but at leat it’s their home kind of thing, and personally, that is how I like it. -The “adventures as a metaphor for a relationship so this is not like a real break up” is real funny when you hear the writers literally calling it a break up and a relatonship. Also, the amount of times that they say “my partner”. Like, I am sorry, but how the fuck I am supposed to believe this wasn’t for the shippers, fucking how? Like even if you aren’t one, and you go “it’s a metaphor!! it’s not like an actual relationship, they are not saying they are together as a couple”, that is flimsy as fuck because we have determined already that Rick uses adventures as an extension for all his relationships. There is a intentional paralel between BP and Morty and how Rick treats the both of them, like he would do anything for them but still be kind of a lying piece of shit too, so it’s definitely canon on the sense -Omg, we had miniature cute Mortys who like crayons and also big hot adult Morty, fucking finally. I cannot fucking believe they wouldn’t know the blessing they were throwing to fandom with that one, they know what they are doing.  -Rick as a boy dressing on the same colors of Morty could have been a cute little detail, like aww, they are family, so they pass down those colors from one generation to another because family, but fuck all of that, let’s make it creepy and fucked up because why not. But it’s also interesting because if Ricks breeded Mortys and put those colors on them, isn’t that another way of saying “you are connected to us just as much as we are connected to you”? Because they didn’t had to chose those colors, but they did it because it meant something for them. On a very fucked up way, I think they might even feel themselves more fathers to Morty than even Beth, because many of them didn’t cared manipulating her in order to gain more Mortys even if they could just clone them easily. -”You all really are bred for forgiveness”... Not really, or else “Evil Morty” wouldn’t exist and Cop Rick, the good one, would have never been attacked by using the attachment of Ricks against him. But Morty had made his choice and that choice was Rick, and even then Rick cannot fucking believe it so he has to reduce it to his breeding. -So, the finite curve has been destroyed and almost all Ricks were killed, the ones that weren’t coincidentally fucking off to another place just when that happened. That means that now there is true infinite universe where Rick is not the smartest man on the universe, where Rick doesn’t even exist at all, so we may have adventures where other people where the smartest people on their universe and Rick could finally meet his equal or someone even worse.  -The final speech of Mr Poppybutthole is kinda the perfect ending to everything, because he is talking avoid being afraid of the people he loves finding the “true” self of him and not loving him anymore, but Morty did that and he still loves Rick and, listen, I have FEELINGS about it, okay.  -After exploring this, which was the true only canonical mistery of the whole series, while also dumping off the backstory of Rick so nobody has to theorize about it anymore, it feels like they going two routes: either we are dumping anything about serialized anything, at least for a while, and we are back to just silly adventures with asshole grandpa and traumatized kid, or... we are introducing another big baddie that we are going to drag to hell and back. Maybe Evil Jerry? That could be fun to explore on the show. My bet is on the second option because I think that is the kind of thing that Justin really enjoys doing and that is why it appears on Solar Opposites as well, with the whole Wall as a central points behind all the shenanigans of the aliens.  -The only misteries left are: the weird Rick that killed his family, if he wasn’t killed already on the Citadel, and Birdperson reunion with his daughter, for which he might ask Rick’s help in the future when he cools down or maybe Rick gets his daughter back for him on a ridiculous plan to make him return his calls, because that is something he is going to pull. The Jessica thing and her quest for becoming an actual character with her own thing going on. -This finale made rickmorty canon on all the ways it could without having them literally making out willingly, and after Naruto, I don’t think that is a line they are not willing to cross at some point in the future, even if it’s just a joke. They already did with the parasites. I honestly don’t even know how you can watch the show and think “fuck yeah, they hate those ships just as much as I do!”, because with the way the writers talk about it and literally this entire season being nothing but a building up for their relationship, I would have been turned if I didn’t ship it already.

[schleierkauz]

One of the most magical things about Inkheart is that it’s a really good book that was made into a bad movie that was made into a really good book. Look at this.

A well-meaning adult gifted me this book when was like 12 and I 100% expected it to suck since I really didn’t like the movie. But look:

Every main character gets a beautiful double-page spread packed with information that relates to that character’s skillset or personality.

On Mo’s page we can learn about book binding and get a guide on how to read characters out of books.

Meggie’s page features a quiz about her favorite books and tips for pressing poppies - a detail I absolutely love. In Inkheart, Meggie says Poppies are great flowers to press which is honestly just... not true lmao. It’s really hard to do it without having the flower fall apart. So the fact that they included a guide here tells me that whoever made this book really cared and knew what they were doing. (Also, the title of these pages in the top left there is ‘Daughter without Mother’ and that always makes me really sad).

The page about the bus and their travels to and through Italy, complete with fun facts about the country and a little map you can push the bus back and forth on (this marks the way from Elinor’s house to Capricorn’s village).

Elinor’s page is, of course, all about books and their history but it also mentions plenty about illumination, paints and how they used to be made back in the day. Strangely prophetic.

Dustfinger’s page is mainly about fire-eating or whatever, I don’t care because there’s also-

pettable Gwin!

But seriously, it’s a cool page. I like how they include a whole bunch of scientific fire facts because there is no way in hell Dustfinger himself knows any of this.

I don’t have much to say about this page, I just think the pop-up thing looks sick as hell and I wanted to show you.

The book also goes into a bit more detail about the movie with some behind the scenes pictures and info on Cornelia’s involvement.

Most interesting to me on these pages is this little storyboard thing in which Dustfinger looks like a strange elf. I would love to see more of it.

There’s such an insane amount of detail in here, it feels like they took a bunch of crumbs from the source material and used them as an excuse to expand on a whole bunch of interesting topics - society and common jobs in the middle ages, secret codes and how to use them, bookplates (? I think that’s the english word for Exlibris?), common Italian plants... It’s all really interactive and fun.

I also like how many little extras they included. There’s the first chapter of Inkheart as well as a tiny little CD with a few chapters of the Inkspell audiobook, a bunch of bookplates to use in other books and most importantly-

Basta’s knife.

10/10 book.