#cool color but very unethical

[flawedfoxen]

Panthera tigris tigris / Bengal Tiger

11/1/23 Wildlife World Zoo

[dcdreamblog]

What's your opinion about those movies or series based on real superheroes that clearly take some liberties with the actual events and/or people? For example, the million of WW2 movies that always try to cram an All-Star Squadron member in there (even though there is proof that they weren't present at that specific event/battle) or that one movie a few years back that made up their own backstories and civilian names for the JLA members ("Cal Smith" and "Brandon Keaton" became memes for a while)

I certainly don't envy the task of any film maker trying to make something based around superheroes who actually exist in our real world. And the well known challenges that come with making a historical film almost certainly don't help. That being said, yes of course they bug me slightly.

(A frame from WB's "Justice Society WWII" movie) When you're making a wartime period piece I understand the strong pull of including a member of the Society or the Squadron even as a cameo. They're such a specific texture of the era. This original generation of "mystery men" just weren't thought of or treated the way we treat superheroes now and any actor worth their salt would jump at the chance to play a living legend on the silver screen That being SAID, if your movie is going to be taking place during any of the actual combat fronts of WWII there's a pretty big historical inaccuracy you are choosing to make: Very famously, the Squadron COULDN'T operate directly on Axis territory during the war because of the influence of the Spear of Destiny.

Now there were exceptions of course, the mythical field around Uncle Sam allowed the Freedom Fighters to do some work around the edges of enemy lines especially as the war was coming to a close and the Spear's influence was faltering but none of the Core JSA set foot in Axis Occupied Europe until the Yalta Conference at the earliest and the events of THAT day weren't declassified until years decades the war. As cool as the scene is in your head, Green Lantern was not dog-fighting the Luftwaffe over D-Day it just didn't happen. Stories set on the home front can play with this slice of history far more but if its sent DURING the fighting then you have to be a bit more creative. Nose cone art, pin ups, USO shows, newspaper headlines, newsreels, having them be treated as common cultural reference points in conversation or the like. Sometimes the most immersive use of the Squadron in your WWII movie is using their influence sparingly. That being said when it comes to MODERN movies I think its unethical on its face to try and speculate or color in the personal lives, thoughts and feelings of still living and working superheroes. While it comes from a good place of trying to humanize them for a wider audience, the reality is that you're needling at something we as the public don't have a right to poke at. I respect movies more when they too use our heroes in these tales as we see them, appearing on the scene, fighting the good fight and then taking their leave before being too buried in praise. Which means that movies based around superhero centric can also choose to focus on the perspective of a regular person who was also there. People will grouse about the "normal people" characters in movies like Metropolis: Crisis of Infinity or No Man's Land but at least that gives some props to normal people who are actually willing to share their thoughts and experiences. Plus if your POV character comes off as a drag on the movie then that is the writer's problem.

[lakesbian]

okay, so, interlude four. purity's interlude. we have already discussed at length the Bad parts of how nazis are written in worm (there are many), but to reiterate so i can get back to poking the undersiders w/ sticks:

item one: there is nothing inherently wrong with narratives providing nazis with rich internal worlds or complex emotions or even sympathetic experiences--every terrible person is ultimately still a person, and insistence on viewing fascists as monsters rather than as people only serves to obscure how fascist ideals spread & prevent open acknowledgement of harm done by people one already sympathizes with too much to view as inhuman. it is in fact one of worm's greatest strengths that, as summarized in the iconic "when you get to the stabby mcmurderclown interlude and now you have to sympathize with stabby mcmurderclown" meme, the text grasps that even unpleasant or downright horrible people are still People--and treats their histories and mindsets as worthy of examination rather than dehumanizing anyone past a certain standard of behavior.

BUT.

the text repeatedly dehumanizes and spits upon highly marginalized groups, e.g. portraying addicts as intrinsically disgusting, predatory, violent, and stupid (& of course associating all of this with blackness), portraying black girls as predatory, animalistic, and sexualized, portraying chinese people as a monolithic brainwashed cult, et cetera. and in light of this, it is extremely insensitive and grating that the book spends so much time on carefully granting character depth to violent white supremacists. the fascists are very clearly being considered worthy of more sympathy than many of the very groups they target! sucks! the "it's cool to examine the psyches of horrible people" thing stops applying when that close examination is applied in a clearly biased manner!

item two: the constant willingness characters have to work with nazis "for the greater good" or casually tolerant their presence--even when it is wildly uncharacteristic for the characters in question--indicates that the author is clearly viewing tolerance for nazis as an acceptable norm. to be clear, it is, in many circumstances, a norm. "normal" is not the same as "moral," and it's actually extremely common for deeply unethical things to be completely normal in a society. the issue here is that this norm is not being interrogated in the same way the book interrogates other norms it considers problematic (e.g. the school system's approach to bullying); we see none of the human impact or harm caused by any of the characters' tolerance for the nazis, and it happens regardless of whether or not the character would actually react that way. the flippancy regarding the severity of nazism is portrayed as a completely mundane and understandable action taken "for the greater good," with no regard as to how it would impact any of the scant few characters of color. (many of whom are actively portrayed as worse than the nazis for being "less civilized.")

item three: many of the things the nazis say and believe, such as this line from purity--

Sure, the whites had criminals too, but at least they were fucking civilized about it.

--are clearly supposed to be taken as Bad and Wrong when the nazi is saying them, but then are actually reaffirmed by how the text depicts marginalized people. again: characters of color being actively portrayed as worse than the nazis for being "less civilized," e.g. skidmark being portrayed as filthy and stupid and predatory in contrast to kaiser's ability to act refined/respectable. worm understands that nazis are Bad and we're supposed to disapprove of their ideologies, but the author demonstrably doesn't understand why their beliefs are incorrect, so many of those same viewpoints crop up unexamined in the rest of worm's writing.

and there's maybe some other issues i'm forgetting about, but i think that summarizes the Main Deal. back to finishing my read of interlude 4, which i have very little to say about because it is not very interesting or good

[dropintomanga]

BLEACH Art Is Still Incredible

Yesterday, I got a chance to attend the BLEACH Animation 20th Anniversary Art Collection Exhibit in Brooklyn, NY. As you can see, it was a limited time event organized by GAAAT, a brand that focuses on creating new art viewing experiences utilizing unique design and technologies.

Coming here reminded me so much of my college years (which were 2002-2007) as BLEACH was a big part of my life during that time.

Despite whatever opinions fans have of creator Tite Kubo's writing, his art is still some of the coolest manga art in Shonen Jump. This exhibit is a testament to that.

Lots of cool images after the jump.

This was the first portrait I saw entitled KISEKI ver. Ichigo and ver. Uryu. I always found it appropriate that the BLEACH manga would have its final arc with Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryu Ishida as actual rivals. I love how both are very different from each other, but they want to do the right thing. Sometimes, I feel more like Ichigo than Ishida despite looking more like Ishida in real life.

There's a very good description about this piece of art where it highlights Ichigo's constant rebuilding during his never-ending journey taking on various challenges. In life, there will be moments when the challenges we face make us question our core values and identity. While it's nice to brute force through them, sometimes, we have to be reborn and walk a new path or take on a new identity. That's the essence of life. We mostly will be the same, but there will be changed parts over the course of our lives.

Whenever Kon appears, it's usually funny. However, after the strong introduction he had in the early days, Kon fell off the map as everything got way too serious. He had one last gag in the final arc, but there was just way too much going on. I do wonder how much Kon is still beloved compared to 20 years ago when plushies of the character was more common.

This was one of my favorite portraits because now that I think about it, our soul is made up of various colors. We carry various experiences and emotions that shape who we are. Plus, BLEACH has some amazing and iconic characters with unique personalities. Some of my favorites are on this portrait.

This was an interesting portrait. The description talked about the gold leaf material (which represents holiness and value) used to highlight Ichigo's Hollow mask. As everyone knows, having Hollow powers when you're a Soul Reaper can get messy in a hurry. Haku also means "white" in Japanese and white is associated with the Hollows. Hollowfication was a big part of the BLEACH story in some of its memorable stories. It's supposed to be a golden kind of experiment yet unethical. It makes me think about the victims of real-life experiments that don't always work out because they're the ones who really struggle.

My girl, Rukia Kuchiki! What a great work here. I consider her to be my first anime girl crush. She was brash, calm, insightful, and dorky at the same time. I loved the usage of pop art to make Rukia stand out here. Rukia tried to understand the modern world, thanks to her time with Ichigo. She is THE heroine of BLEACH.

This is very clever usage of graffiti art here. It's used to symbolize the intersection of the real world and Soul Society. I love stories like BLEACH, which incorporate modern day times with spiritual fantasy. Shout-out to the "Death and Strawberry" mention here because it's basically about Ichigo (whose nickname is Strawberry and means strawberry in Japanese) and his management of his Soul Reaper powers (Soul Reapers are basically death gods).

This is a minimalist approach to Hollowfied Ichigo. I think it's pretty funny to see and makes for a fun avatar on various social media platforms. I know in social media, we tend to use avatars that represent who we are online. So yeah, this sums up Ichigo in a nutshell.

What a fascinating final villain Yhwach is. He had a really crazy power which allows to foretell and change the future. This portrait is supposed to tell people that having that kind of ability is not what it's cracked up to be. I know a lot of us sometimes struggle with anxiety and would love to be able to predict the future with accuracy. This leads us to underestimate our own capability to take on unforeseen challenges. Plus, even if we can change our future, we're left wanting more and more. Sometimes, we just got to say "I'll let future me handle it." for the sake of our mental health.

Overall, this was a fun visit. The only thing that sucked was the lack of Espada art pieces. Imagine seeing Sosuke Aizen up there too. I got to talk to the curators for a bit about BLEACH and what made it popular. There were a good amount of attendees that enjoyed the art. Some felt inspired from the art! I hope to see more anime/manga exhibitions like this in the future in the U.S.

Last year while at Anime NYC, I heard ORANGE RANGE's "Asterisk" being blasted on the street and it amazes me how impactful BLEACH is to many fans here still. Even in 2025, this is still an exciting time to be a BLEACH fan (we have a new BLEACH fighting game!). To loosely quote Don Kanonji, the spirits are still with us.

[cattyanon]

Sonic but Undertale Souls: Forces Version 3 Sonic

If you aren't aware, this is one of many Sonic AUs about if the Sonic world has Undertale Souls in it. I explained how all that worked in a separate post and it's recommended you read that to understand some of what I say- and don't worry! It's not a long read!

Anyways this is specifically about Sonic Forces and version 3 of of the other two possible outcomes, all having something to do with Sonic's soul getting fucked up. Anyways, there's more about him and how I came up with the idea below the drawing!

He's finally here, and now I get to rant about what I came up with for him! >:)

You can probably skip this part but if you're curious how I managed to come up with this here's the story behind that: It came from me rewatching Jacksepticeye playing Undertale- specifically from the True Lab section and onwards. During his fight with Asriel I was thinking about how I wanted to do some cool design stuff like Asriel's God of Hyperdeath, but how? If the death rate for absorbing a soul is super high then how on earth could literally any of the characters absorb enough souls (not to mention why and how they'd absorb that many) to gain a form at least somewhat as cool looking as Asriel's? Then version 3 of my Sonic Forces AU came to mind and... well... I'll explain the rest below.

So idk the specifics but during Sonics imprisonment on the Death Egg not only was he tortured but Eggman did all kinds of unethical experiments on Sonic's soul, eventually causing it to turn a color nobody has ever seen before: Black.

With such a corrupted soul and many months of torture he eventually breaks and instinctively kills Infinite (the reason he's got that tail) and eats his soul. Not absorb. Eat. And in this way he gains soul power without absorbing another soul. (Note: He only has this ability due to the corrupted nature of his soul. If a regular person were to try and eat a soul one of two things would happen depending on how fast it breaks: 1 is that nothing would happen, 2 is that the souls attempt to combine and inevitably kill that person's own soul) He ends up repeating this process with Eggman and, deciding he's a monster, stays up on the Death Egg. But eventually he gets hungry. He tries eating the food on the Death Egg but it just doesn't fill him. There's still this cold, empty, and hungry feeling inside of him. And he has a bad feeling the only thing that'd satisfy him is a soul.

So he goes awhile without food, probably about a week, and eventually he's so damn hungry that ends up going down to earth to look for some animal souls to sustain him. He sucks the soul out of the animal's body and basically just secludes himself in the forest. He feeds on the souls of animals, getting ever so slightly stronger with each one, even if he has a feeling that human and mobian souls would be much more fulfilling.

But eventually a nearby village starts finding these untouched corpses left behind when scavenging for food in the forest since the war only very recently ended and get concerned that there's a monster in the forest. So they send a few hunters out and... well... they found what they were looking for, but died in the process.

As for Sonic he's having major issues after consuming a bunch of souls (also causing him to look like the drawing) that had murder on their minds. He tries his best to resist but he ends up wandering close to the edge of the forest near the village, just barely keeping himself from going on a murderous rampage. But then the village sends out a rescue party and he snaps. He ends up consuming every person he finds which is like almost the entire village cause he can see souls that are close by to him.

Although thankfully for literally everyone he ends up staying in that area and basically claims it as his own. The few survivors tell their horror stories and very few people (basically idiots thinking they can kill him with simple weapons) ever go there. But once the world kinda gets back together enough to establish communication again the Resistance Restoration hears about this monster and, of course, want to help. They've got super powers and Sonic has taken on plenty of monsters. All they gotta do is find the Chaos Emeralds and kick this thing's ass!

Thankfully the monster can't absorb their souls in their super forms, but it doesn't take them long to realize who said monster is. And given time the 'monster' might just find these people to be strangely familiar...

Anyways that's it for now! Feel free to ask questions while y'all wait on me to design the form they find him in. Might be hard since I don't wanna make it look like Asriel as much as possible but hey, we'll see.

[riri0rion]

: ̗̀➛ “Collapse into me, just once. I promise you’ll never have to fall again.”

{ species } occult.

{ age } 31.

{ gender } male.

{ mbti } enfp.

{ alias } ro, the idiot.

𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒔. . .

. 6’1” (185 cm) and a defined athletic build.

. black, messy and slightly wavy hair, which extends only above his neck.

. dark eyes, they are not intimidating, they are warm, but the color is very dark. puts on some mascara daily, as well as some growth serum.

. bronze skin, with some freckles on his cheeks and his nose. not easily noticeable from afar though.

. stylish casual fashion. usually wears a tank top, with a cotton jacket and some jeans with snickers. likes to be comfortable, but also wants to look good because he can be cool (he is).

. only has his left ear pierced, on his lobe, and wears a small silver tassel chain earring.

. also has a nose ring hoop on his left side, which is also in silver.

. has two necklaces, one is a silver chain, and the other is longer, with the silver feather design attached to it resting between his pectorals.

. his tattoo is fully on his right shoulder, looks like red lines of blood.

𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. . .

Drinking yet another can of soda behind the wheel, fingers tapping in rhythm against the wheel to the music in his car. With sunglasses on, he looks outside the window of his seat, briefly waiting for the lights to turn red. If there was no rule about that, he would have long ago started the engine again.

His mere presence makes people turn around just to stare at him, something about the confidence he emanates, and his lack of fear towards speaking out when needed — especially when someone needs it. Pretending to be a lover to save a scared soul from a threat ? Count him in ! And if needed he can throw punches.

With the other members of the Hub ? He is as protective as he is a jockester with them. Always with a good joke up his sleeve, but when needed his personality does a 180 to accomplish his mission. Anything for that, and to protect people, even if it can be unethical.

Deep down, his soul is hurting. Not remembering who he is fully takes a toll on him sometimes, making him wish someone would simply reach out for him at some point in the middle of the streets, and tell him they know who he is. Alas, dreams are just dreams.

𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆. . .

. definitely a hyper boyfriend, slightly chaotic, charismatic and always ready for some new adventure ! with you by his side of course.

. no matter how long you two have been together, he can and will flirt with you, just to see how bashful you can get before he has to pepper your face with kisses to have you stop being all pouty and adorable.

. full golden retriever type, puppy for affection, and will search for you in an endless crowd of people.

. you are not letting go of his hand anytime soon, and that is a promise. if you try to ? he is wrapping an arm around your waist, just so you stay close. no running away from him, he will simply catch you and start kissing you all over as a punishment.

. his nicknames for you includes: raccoon and little chocolate ice cream when he is feeling playful. if he is not that playful, he uses baby or babe.

. his body is warm as hell, so please cuddle this man into oblivion. half of the time it ends up in a tickling session, with you being bullied under him with the combo of blowing strawberries against your neck, and tickling your hips.

. when he finally settles down for cuddling, he is the best for that. a hand in your hair, the other on your lower back, and his lips leaving some kisses on the crown of your head.

. sends you so many messages when you are away, or when he is working. it can be about the most random thing too.

. yes he can work out with you in his back.

𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒔. . .

. loves to wear sunglasses to look cool, even… with no sun outside.

. adopted a random dog one day, the cuddliest and most hyperactive german shepherd that he named stanley, but sometimes call him paw-casso… and the dog actually reacts to the nickname..

. his favorite fruit is blood oranges.

. he actually has hearing problems, and sometimes he cannot hear for a whole day.

. remembers the most random facts ever.

[c0rinarii]

Gonna recompile some thoughts about the 13SAR characters now that im past midpoint!

Juro: Oh its getting juicy.... unfortunately my boy is still as intresting as a plank of sheet wood but im intrested to see if his character goes anywhere outside of the Kyuta stuff going on. Im also sorry i ever suggested to u to make out with Kyuta.

Iori: SHE'S SO FUNNY.... I aspire to have even an inch of her whimsy and dedication to being so #normal. I too would like to confess to my weird as hell crush disregarding the fact he's a dangerous fugitive. Girl of All Time

Shuu: Frat bot facade is slowly starting to crumble and im here to see it. Uncover the truth, gayboy‼️

Megumi: I FEEL SO SORRY FOR U GIRL.... 😭 May you find peace in the future but its an overall shitty situation to be in. truly have her in my thoughts and prayers

Natsuno: I WAS SO HEARTBROKEN TO SEE HER WHIMSY FADE AWAY ONCE SHE FOUND OUT ABOUT THE TRUE NATURE OF THE KAIJU 😭😭 I love that she managed to maintain her optimism despite the awful situation she's been put in though. Still a joy to see pop up on the screen

Keitaro: HE REALLY IS A GOOD BOY... He's just trying his best and i love him for that. You'll save everyone you care about i promise [IMPERIALISM IS LYING TO U AND TAKATOSHI!! I SWEAR]

Takatoshi: Boys be fighting demons and demons is bisexuality. I enjoy him a Regular amount and i appreciate seeing his himboisms so much in the game. I never want to seem him That sad again [IMPERIALISM IS LYING TO U AND KEITARO!! I SWEAR]

Okino:

Yuki: MY PRINCE.... MY SHINING STUD‼️‼️ I love her a very normal ammount and seeing her slowly uncover the truth is nice to see. Definetily much smarter than she think she is.

Gouto: The fact that he is ong for real Ryoko's government assigned boyfriend is the funniest thing to come out of the game so far. He's still gated behind a huge completion milestone but so far i feel like he's trying to make sense of the situation the best he can. Unlike Tomi though, he's very scared of the circumstances of if he disobeys orders, i think.

Ryoko: She's been such a mood so far that i now think of her with her hands on her head when i stress about my uni deadlines. Im so sorry for Ida being anywhere near her life. She should get a wife to kiss and heal her. I give her full permission to kill anyone who breaks her heart. My snarky queen

Ei: HE ACTUALLY GREW ON ME I CANT BELIEVE IT. He really reminds me if the cool rivals with a soft spot you'd see in shonen anime and I cant be too mad at that. I enjoy how taciturn he can be too.

Nenji: HE'S ACTUALLY SUCH A SWEETHEART... knowing that he was childhood friends with Miwako really made me like him more (esp with how he treats her!) Loveable idiot.

Tomi: MY MUTUAL... OOMF IN ARMS... #GIRL IN LAW. Literally love how's she's written her personality is so so colorful. She has definitely said some out of pocket shit on twitter before and ill defend her with my life.

Miwako: I WILL WRITE YOU INTO RELEVANCY MYSELF‼️‼️There is so much oppurtunity to write her as one of the 15. LET THEM BE 16‼️‼️ HER "easy to develop crushes" SELF CAN BE MADE INTO SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER TO THE NARRATIVE RAUGHHH

Chihiro: I can see she's really trying her best to save everyone from the kaiju and seems to resort to any means neccesary to do so... i appreciate the effort despite the uh. [gestures] unethical treatment towards minors ig

Ida: EVERYTHING IS LITERALLY UR FAULT. I CANT BELIEVE IT. This would be half the disaster if you learnt how to sod it with ur selfish desires i swear.

Kyuta, Not-Tamao, 426, Izumi: I CLOCKED UR SHIT, SNEAKY BITCH. I dont trust a word you say. """"Means well"""" in the end i think but has way more messed up ways to go around it compared to Morimura

Miyuki: So far looking like the only person willing to help these kids in a way that would not give them severe trauma. Rooting for u girl.

[No thoughts on Tamao since i consider Erika as 426]

[katyspersonal]

'Death of the author' (the 'separation of creator and creation' one, not 'the absent story narrator' one or 'only read/watch things from GOOD people' one) really doesn't work if you comprehend art for what it IS - a tool of communication like no other.

You just can't avoid analysing characters and story through the prism of what creator put in it, and as soon as it is revealed (not speculated about), how can you look away? If the character you thought was evil is, in fact, one of the very few "heroic" ones according to creator, it will effect your vision of their intentions! You now know they were in a desperate position of either fence-sitting or saving people through unethical life-altering experiments from worse fate. Still a decision you might not agree with, but character meaning well and stepping through even morality puts thing in perspective. If the cool story about wizards you used to read as a kid/teen is written by a raging bigot as you just found out, you can no longer use this story as a metaphor and empowerment for overcoming oppression you are facing. How? Now that you know that according to author, adversities the protags are overcoming are you, not your enemies?

Heck, better example- No matter how stunning and beautiful AI "art" is, as soon as you find out that it IS done by a computer, doesn't all that admiration and happiness fade from your eyes? Ethics question aside, what also stings is that nothing was put into this picture. No passion, no idea, no effort, there is no secret communication in details, there is nothing to say about creator from color and light accents.

You can separate creation from creator's reputation, but you can't separate creation from creator's intention.

[morally-grey-girlbosses]

Arcee Propaganda Post

RAGE KILL MURDER ANGER SHE WILL KILL YOU SO BAD YOU WILL DIE AND DIE AGAIN. SHE TRANS'D HERSELF WHILE BEING WRITTEN BY A FEMALE-ROBOT-HATER AUTHOR SO HER TRANS REP SUCKED AT FIRST BUT GOT RETCONNED. HER METAL IS PAINTED THE COLOR OF BLOOD. SHE IS MURDEROUS AND KILLS YOU AND KILLS YOU AND KILLS YOU. SHE KISSES HER WIFE AND MURDERIZES POLITICAL FIGURES AND HER BROTHER. SHE'S MEAN. SHE'S CRUEL. SHE'S SO COOL. SHE 1V1S THE FURRY APOCALYPSE AND IS ONE OF THE FEW SURVIVORS. WOMAN SO MAD SHE TRAVELS THE ENTIRE GALAXY TO DESTROY HER DOCTOR AND EVERYTHING HE EVER CREATED BECAUSE HE TREATED HER LIKE AN OBJECT. SHE LOVES BEING A WOMAN. SHE HATED UNCOMFORTABLE WITH HER TRANSING. SHE'S A MESS. SHE'S GOT HER LIFE IN ORDER. GRAAAAAAAHAJSJFKCKKKKSKS

So insanely good at killing people that it’s kind of comedic. The first canon transgender Cybertronian (even if it was handled badly at first). The dude who helped her medically transition was shitty and unethical and also undead, so she spent six years doing nothing but killing him over and over again. Literally says “whatever the game, the easiest way to win is to kill all the other players.” but also gets good character development and a girlfriend. Queen of recovery and self care, even if her self care is repeatedly killing a dude for six years <3

Tl;dr, Arcee is one of the most violent characters in the entire IDW comics continuity, but she’s also an extremely compelling character and had a well-executed redemption arc, making her a worthy morally ambiguous girl boss. Plus, she’s canonically a trans lesbian.

Now for the rant…

Arcee is an ancient warrior, one of the oldest characters in the whole series BY A LOT (which is impressive, given that most of the characters are around 4-6 million years old), and the first female character introduced to the IDW comics continuity. I will admit right now, her introduction was an infamously rocky start to her character. See, when the IDW comics first began, the Transformers were conceptualized as a “genderless” species (i.e., every character was masc-presenting and used he/him pronouns). So, when Arcee was introduced, the author had to “justify” the existence of a “female” member of an asexual, genderless species. Here’s what he came up with (prepare for cringe):

Many millions of years ago, long before the Autobots and Decepticons we know and love ever existed, Arcee was a cis male (a “typical” Cybertronian), and he and his identical brother were both formidable warriors. In an effort to differentiate himself from his brother, Arcee sought out a famous scientist to surgically alter his appearance. This turned out to be a MASSIVE mistake. The scientist, Jhiaxus, forced Arcee to undergo an INVOLUNTARY GENDER REASSIGNMENT SURGERY, in an attempt to introduce gender into Cybertronian society. Why? Who knows. But the operation was so successful that everyone whom Arcee ever came across from that point forward would think of him as female and refer to him with she/her pronouns (despite having no pre-existing concept of gender). Basically Jhiaxus gave poor Arcee, still a cis man, a ride in the gender dysphoria machine and forced him into a female body. This, naturally, enraged Arcee and drove him a little insane, and he spent the next several million years hunting down Jhiaxus to make him pay.

So, at the time of Arcee’s introduction, he was actually a cis man trapped in a femme-presenting body (note, this doesn’t make him a trans man, since he was not born into this body). And Arcee, the character, stayed that way for YEARS. This, understandably, caused massive backlash from the fanbase, and at the VERY END of the comics’ decade-long run, Arcee’s backstory was retconned. Thanks to this retcon, in the current canon, Arcee was always a trans woman and went into the gender reassignment surgery willingly, but the procedure was extremely traumatic, and Jhiaxus abandoned Arcee as soon as it was over. Trauma from the procedure and some unexplained side effect that sent Arcee into a murderous rage for millions of years inspired her to hunt down Jhiaxus, driven by absolute hatred and the overwhelming desire to see him suffer. Arcee literally summarizes this as having been caused by “bad meds”. Honestly, idk if this is better or worse than the original story.

The retcon of Arcee always being a trans woman is helped by the fact that “cis” female Cybertronians were, in fact, introduced into the comics a few years after Arcee’s debut; they were absent from the earlier comics because, long ago, every single femme-presenting Cybertronian left Cybertron to go live on its colony worlds, which lost contact with Cybertron and faded into myth and legend soon after the exodus. This exodus didn’t have a huge impact on Cybertron’s population because female Cybertronians only existed at a 13:1 ratio in the global population, so the transformers left on Cybertron after the exodus forgot all about the existence of their female counterparts pretty soon after they lost contact with the colony worlds. So, the existence of female Cybertronians made it possible for Arcee to have been born a trans woman, rather than a cis man. But I digress.

So, Arcee spent millions of years on the warpath in her hunt for Jhiaxus and slaughtered literally anyone who got in her way. Or really, anyone who happened to be near her at the time. She was established as one of the most bloodthirsty, brutally violent characters in the entire comic continuity (which included actual genocidal warlords), and the in-universe reason for her pink paint job is that she painted herself the color of the transformers’ blood (gotta have a justification for the violent maniac to be painted the “girly” color). At some point, she had a run-in with the Autobots and was thrown in prison and had her soul separated from her body and locked away in a jar; in her introduction comic, Arcee states that being a soul, detached from a physical body and floating in a blank void, was the first time she was ever at peace since the operation, millions of years ago. Unfortunately for her, this peace was cut short, since the prison warden eventually shoved Arcee’s soul back into her body (which, at the time of publication, was the female body that her male soul had been forced into) and sent her to hunt down a mutual enemy. Eventually, Arcee did find Jhiaxus, and she was then trapped with him in a dimension that existed outside of time and space for several million years. During this time, Arcee relentlessly tortured Jhiaxus and killed him over and over in the most painful ways imaginable, only for him to be resurrected after each death.

I’ve honestly forgotten how Arcee and Jhiaxus got out of the time prison, but after they did, Jhiaxus was killed (for real this time) by someone else, Arcee assassinated a politician for a morally-ambiguous Autobot cop, and then, Arcee finally declared herself done with her eons-long murderous rampage. She eventually mellowed out and joined the Autobots for real, at which point she went from being an anti-hero to a more traditional (if still violent) heroine. During her time with the Autobots, she became one of Optimus Prime’s closest confidantes, befriended a number of humans and Autobots alike, and even fell in love with a young, idealistic colonist (one of the long-lost cis women I mentioned before) after Cybertron reestablished contact with the lost colony worlds. The two even shared the first on-page kiss in any transformers comic, which was pretty groundbreaking, since it was between two lesbians (one of whom was a trans woman). After a very, very long life, filled with pain and suffering and violence, Arcee was given a fully realized redemption arc and finally got her happy ending. Thanks to the retcon making her a trans woman and not a mutilated cis man, she’s a girlboss through and through.

[lilithsslut]

Soul Mate Ritual- Herbal Magick Recipe

! This contains many ingredients and even having to make some ingredients yourself but it is a very effective and powerful ritual if you decide to perform this, read thoroughly and have fun ! First we need to talk about some ethics. This ritual is designed to help bring a great love to your life. It Directly asks the Divine to determine who is best suited to you (and vice versa) and to bring that person into your life - not to break up someone else's relationship so that you may have your whim or to bind you to a specific individual whom you have in mind. Those types of actions are unethical because they thwart the free will of other people for your personal gain. Besides you don't really know as clearly as the divine who will be best suited for you - you are judging on looks, money, sexiness or whatever mundane quality that has entranced you, and that quality is not the one that necessarily helps to create a relationship that lasts a life time (or many life times)

For this ritual, you must be ready to accept the what the divine brings to you, and you MUST be ready for real love in your life. If you truly believe this is the right move for you and want to make this herbal condenser and perform this ritual, keep reading!

Ingredients:

three edible venusian herbs (banana, catnip, cherry, damiana, lemon verbena, lilac, maidenhair, myrtle, passionflower, peach, plumeria, rhubarb, raspberry, rose, strawberry, tansy, vanilla, vervain, and violet)

glass or enamel cooking pot with lid

spring or distilled water

measuring cup

vodka or grain alcohol

gold flake

amber or cobalt colored glass bottle

Place a handful of each of the three herbs you have chosen into your glass or enamel cooking pot (glass and enamel pot will not react and seep into your mixture- aluminum or iron pots will react)

Cover the herbs with spring or distilled water and bring to a simmer. Cover with lid, turn down the heat and let them simmer softly together for twenty minutes with the lid on. Allow your mixture to cool to room temperature and strain out the herbs and saving your water. Do not pour the water into your sink!

Boil again at a medium heat until the liquid has been reduced by half. Cool the extraction again, and when it is room temperature, so that you can see how much liquid you have. Add an equal amount of Vodka or Grain Alcohol as the amount of liquid extract you have in your measuring cup. Add a pinch of gold flake. Pour your condenser into your amber or cobalt-colored glass bottle (this keeps light from ageing your mixture) and store in a cool dark place. Be sure to shake it before each use. Now that you have your condenser, you are ready to perform your soulmate ritual. supplies and everything you need for it are below!

Supplies:

deep green cloth for the altar

three pink candles

vase of beautiful flowers

lovely chalice half full of fruit juice, wine, or spring water

small piece of rose quartz

incense burner

aphrodite Incense AND Oil ( to make this oil use rose petals, jasmine flowers, orris powder, rose oil, neroli oil, ylang ylang oil, you can you use the essential oil rather than the actual herb)

parchment paper

writing pen

flame candle to light your pink candles

rose petals

soul mate condenser

On a friday during the waxing moon, at a time when you will not be disturbed or interrupted gather together your supplies and set them on your altar, which should be covered with a deep green alter cloth. Place the three pink candles in the center of your altar in a triangle pattern, with the base of the triangle nearest you. Put the vase of flowers just to the left of the top candle and your chalice just to the right of the top candle. Now place the rose quartz in the center of your candle triangle. Place your incense burner and incense to your right near the edge closest to you.

Your parchment and pen lie directly in front of you on the altar. Place your flame candle to the left top side of your alter and light it. Sprinkle your rose petals randomly all over the altar.

Anoint the candles from the wick down to the bottom with your Aphrodite Oil, then anoint your third eye (the spot just above and between your eyebrows) and over your heart with Aphrodite oil. Light the pink candles with your flame candle and then using the top pink candle light your incense charcoal and place it in your incense burner atop some insulating sand. While your charcoal is igniting completely across draw a heart on your parchment paper and inside of heart a spiral. Place some incense on the charcoal and bathe the parchment paper in the incense smoke, imagining the parchment absorbing the love energy. Now charge the parchment paper by placing it above each candle flame (but not so close you ignite it!) while saying three times:

"Aphrodite Queen of night, bring me to the one who's right, Aphrodite, Morning Star, whether near or whether far, bringer of love, O Aphrodite, Draw my Soul Mate now to me, Most lovely of goddesses, O Aphrodite, and as I will, so mote it be."

Then place a drop of the soul mate condenser on your finger and seal the energy you have placed in your parchment paper by firmly anointing the spiral in the center of the heart with the liquid. Drop three drops of the condenser into the libation you have prepared in your chalice. Drink the liquid slowly as you concentrate on your heart chakra, opening and strengthening it. Feel it opening like a beautiful red rose. Let the candles burn all the way down, then fold your rose quartz stone inside the parchment and place it inside your pillow case.

Each friday evening as you relax, pour some fruit juice, wine, or spring water into your chalice and add three drops of your condenser. Relax, daydream and continue working on opening your heart chakra.

It can take up to a full twelve months for the Divine to locate your love and bring him/her into your life, although the ritual has also been known to work within a months time. Drink the soul mate condenser each friday evening and keep the parchment wrapped rose quartz in your pillow case as you dream of your love!

The herbal alchemist's handbook by Karen Harrison

Request A Reading Here 🌙

[jamies-rambles]

My Mushy Love

Thibaleur/Tech, The Mushy Boys, Qnuerus, Katzengold, UncleSandshell, Nono, NeonBlackCat, Tobi the cat, sold trope, fluff, kind of a song fic but not really

1000 words

Author's note: I wrote this for fun and giggles. If you are one of the people in the story, please do not feel offended. You should be honored that you have made it into a work of art like this :3

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Thibaleur POV

I woke up to Nono yelling at me. “Thib, get downstairs, you have visitors!” I sighed and got up. Slightly annoyed that my wonderful dream had been interrupted I got dressed. I put on jeans and my favourite t-shirt, it had 4 mugshots of monkeys with silly hairstyles on it. I myself was also very silly and whimsical, not at all like the other boys. They were always much too serious and bullied me for my silly nature. In my dream I was on stage with the Mushy Boys, my favourite band. They are so good at music and I love them. But Nono was getting more annoyed, so I quickly put my chestnut brown hair in a messy ponytail and hurried downstairs.

Next to Nono stood a tall man with sunglasses. “That’s him,” Nono said, “so do we have a deal?” The man with the sunglasses nodded. “What’s going on?” I asked. Nono hesitated for a moment before blurting out the truth. "I sold you to the Mushy Boys. I needed money to pay off my debts, you see.” Thib's heart stopped as he stared at Nono in disbelief. Sold to the Mushy Boys? It couldn't be true. I wasn’t his property! “You can’t just sell me, that’s unethical,” I said. Nono laughed at that. “Ethics schmethics. Who cares what you want? I need my money, so you’re sold and that’s that.” “No, I’m not going just because you say so!” I yelled. “You can’t do this to me!” The tall man with the sunglasses grabbed my arm and started pulling me towards the door. I protested, but he was much stronger so there was no point. I was shoved into the car outside and the man took his seat behind the wheel. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll take good care of you.”

After a short drive we arrived at the big mushroom the band members lived and rehearsed in. I sat nervously in the dimly lit hallway, waiting to meet the band members. What was I going to do? Would they even like me? After about an hour of waiting, I saw them walking in up to me. I quickly got up and tried to look cool. Tech, the charismatic lead singer and de facto leader of the band, flashed me a charming smile. "Hey there, you must be Thibaleur.” I forced a tight-lipped smile, my nerves getting the better of me. “Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you.” “Sorry for the wait,” said Tech. “Rehearsal took a bit longer than planned. Welcome to our humble abode!” Tech’s charm and warm smile put me slightly more at ease. Maybe this whole being sold thing wasn’t so bad after all? The other members started introducing themselves as well. Qnuerus, the adorable drummer with a penchant for colorful sweaters, bounded over to me with a grin. “Hi! I'm Qnuerus. Welcome to the band!” Katzengold, the enigmatic guitarist with a rebellious streak, eyed me with a mixture of curiosity and skepticism. “So you’re the new kid. We’ll see if you’ve got what it takes.” I bristled at Katzengold's dismissive tone, but I held my tongue, knowing I had to make a good impression if I wanted to stand a chance. And then there was Sandshell, the wise pianist who radiated warmth and kindness. “Welcome to the band, Thibaleur. We're glad to have you.”

That night the boys took me out to dinner. I got to know them a lot better, and they were impressed with my musical talent. The following weeks we all rehearsed together, and I slowly but surely found myself warming up to my new bandmates. Despite the rocky start, I couldn't deny the bond that was forming between us. Qnuerus's infectious laughter and playful spirit brought joy to my life, brightening even my darkest days. And beneath Katzengold's tough exterior, I discovered a heart of gold, someone who would always have my back no matter what. Sandshell was a stable and calming presence. Neon, the camera man, was pretty nice too, although everyone appreciated it when he stopped yapping for a bit. And there was a cat, Tobi, a little white and gray kitten who loved sleeping on my lap and getting headpats.

But it was Tech who truly captured my heart. Despite the circumstances of our meeting, I found myself drawn to Tech in ways I couldn't explain. Maybe it was the way his voice seemed to reach into my soul, or the way his eyes sparkled when he smiled. He always had such wise words to say. Life truly felt like a gift when he was near. When we sang together, I could feel our souls melting together as one, and I never wanted to stop sporemaxxing.

One fateful night, all the other members had gone to bed and it was just me and Tech practicing a particularly difficult part of our newest song “Cool Like That”. After we were done rehearsing, we sat for a while on the balcony, looking at the lights twinkling in the distance. I could feel the tension crackling between us as Tech took a deep breath, his gaze fixed on mine. “Thib, there's something I need to tell you,” Tech began, his voice soft but filled with determination. “Ever since you joined the band, I've felt this... connection with you. And I can't ignore it any longer.” My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for him to continue, my stomach twisting with anticipation. Tech reached out and took my hand in his, sending a jolt of electricity coursing through me. “Thib, my mushroom heart sways for you. You’re my mushy love. And I know it's crazy, considering everything that's happened, but I hope you feel the same.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked into Tech's earnest gaze, feeling a wave of emotion wash over me. “Tech, I... I do feel the same. I want to be your mushroom boyfriend.”

And as we leaned in and shared our first kiss under the starry sky, I knew that no matter what the future held, I was exactly where I was meant to be. Sold to the Mushy Boys or not, I was living my dream, and with Tech's love to guide me, my worries were gone like spores in the wind.

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Part 6: A Tale of Two Monsters

Fandom: The Dark Knight Trilogy

Pairing: Jonathan Crane x OC

Summary: How far will two secret serial killers go to create their own personal house of horrors?

Word Count: 5,309

Notes: Warnings for depictions of murder, unethical experimentation, mild sexual content, drugging, and references to suicide.

Previous Part • Series • Next Part

Chin resting on her palm, Vanessa watched with glazed over, bored eyes as the guards ushered her patient away, the chains around his ankles rattling with every step. Twirling her pen with pale, freckled fingers, she scribbled down a note to up the dosage of his medication before slamming her case notes shut, stacking them in a neat little pile that she hugged to her chest as she left the sterile, white room where the doctors conducted their sessions with the more volatile patients. The guard flashed her a polite smile as he held the door open for her. Boots making little more than a whisper of a sound against the tile, she walked briskly down the hall and to the elevator, punching the button to send her up to the offices. 

Her office was the last door on the right, kept neat and orderly, a couch and two armchairs in the middle of the room for sessions with patients or meetings with family members. A large filing cabinet was shoved into one corner behind her desk, the window shaded by a sheer black curtain. 

She wasn’t a big fan of sunlight. Too much of it, and it was blinding. Gave her a headache. Made it hard to focus.  

The office was notably devoid of color. Everything was either black or white or gray. Had one looked into the room knowing nothing about its occupant, it would have been almost impossible to discern much about her. Everything was staged carefully. No personal items in sight. No photographs of loved ones, or sentimental objects or knick knacks tucked away on the shelves or on the surfaces of the desk or tables. The only trace of personality in the office was the little white paper origami cranes, sitting in a careful line along the windowsill. 

It was all purposeful, of course. The people who came into this office were there to talk about themselves, or whatever unfortunate family member they had committed to her care, not her. And the less people knew about her, the better.

Pulling a ring of keys from her pocket, she unlocked one of the drawers in the filing cabinet, thumbing through the alphabetically organized files before sliding her latest patient’s file into its proper place, closing the drawing with a slam and locking it again. Thumbing through the planner set on the far right corner of her desk, she ran her finger down the page, double checking that she didn’t have any more appointments for the day.

Straightening with her shoulders pushed back, she ran her hands over her hair, pushing a few uncooperative locks back into the bun she had it twisted into at the top of her head.

Fingers clenched around the cool, sharp metal of the keys in her hand, she stepped from her office, locking the door behind her. On her way down the hallway, she hesitated for a moment at the door to Jonathan’s office, fist raised to knock on the heavy wood before remembering that he had an appointment downstairs with a patient in the intensive care unit. Dropping her hand, she instead whisked back to the elevator, but rather than press any of the buttons she instead slid one of her keys–a dulled, silver one–into the slot at the very bottom of the panel. The doors slid closed as she began to descend down, down, down.

Every doctor had a key to the basement. Standard protocol.

Utterly annoying, was what it actually was.

They’d been given more or less free reign of the basement to use for their research. No one came down there anyway, and they didn’t use it to house any of the patients. But still the chief administrator insisted that all doctors have a key and access to it. Even though she and Jonathan were the only two staff members with permission to conduct experiments involving the inmates. 

It meant that they had to be careful. Rare as it was for the other doctors to come down into the basement, the possibility of someone wandering down there, whether out of curiosity, a desire to snoop, or just plain stupidity, was still there. A constant threat to the work that they were doing. They’d already had to take care of a nosy nurse who’d managed to sneak down there to see what they were up to so late at night. And the administrator liked to come down unannounced every once in a while to check in on their work. 

So they kept everything locked up. Hidden away in closets and drawers that only they had the keys to. Always ready with a cover story or explanation of any strange things someone might see if they ventured down there.

If anyone caught a whiff of what they were really doing, being fired would be the least of their worries. They’d be arrested, surely. Probably even committed to the asylum. That could be funny. Arkham did seem to have a penchant for its staff ending up on the other side of the bars. Even the head architect, who’d begun development and construction on the hospital, had lost his mind and hacked his workers to death with an ax.

But their work was far, far too important to be outweighed by the risks. They would be fine. They just had to be careful. Keep an eye out for anyone who might be snooping around where they shouldn’t. 

The elevator dinged, doors sliding open, and she stepped out into a cold hallway. Taking an immediate right, she headed down the hall until she came to another door that she unlocked, stepping inside.

Sliding the smaller of the two lab coats onto her shoulders, she smoothed it out as she headed to the desk they had set up in the lab, opening the drawer and pulling out one of the journals stored within. Flipping through the pages, covered in varying colors of ink written in her and Jonathan’s typical, near illegible scrawls, she came to a page that contained a list of names. At the top was written just three words:

Potential test subjects.

Scribbling her latest patient’s name on the next available line, her pen hovered over the blank space of the page just to the right of the name, used for important notes on each subject. Head snapping up at the ding of the elevator, then the thud of footsteps in the hallway, she set down the pen and notebook on the desk. Biting her lip, the pads of her thumb and index finger rubbed together. Hoping that it wasn’t the chief administrator who was about to walk through that door.

Sighing in quiet relief as the door opened and she was greeted with the familiar mop of dark hair and the gleam of Jonathan’s glasses, she took a step around the desk towards him.

“Hi,” she settled a hand on his forearm, pecking him swiftly on the lips in greeting. 

“Hey,” he tilted his head down so she could more easily reach him, chasing her very lightly as she pulled back in a way that made her heart warm. Hand cupping the side of her face, he rubbed a thumb along the puffy skin just under her eyes. “Long day?”

“Mhm,” she just hummed, leaning forward until her forehead met his chest. Jonathan chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her temple. She was half tempted to just snuggle up right there and take a little nap. He was warm, and despite how lithe his physique was, surprisingly comfy. “I put another name down on the list for subjects.”

“Yeah?”

“Mm. He has a rather debilitating phobia of being suffocated. I thought it would be interesting to see how that manifests itself under the influence of the toxin.”

“Good work,” he kissed the top of her head, Vanessa tilting her face down in an attempt to hide how she bloomed under the quiet praise. Pulling away enough for him to tug his lab coat on, she tucked a stray lock of hair that had freed itself from her bun behind her ear. As he went to the cabinet to haul a microscope onto the table she returned to the desk. Sitting, she handed him another notebook pulled from the drawer to her left. Pen twirling between her fingers, she picked back up the journal she’d been writing in before Jonathan had come in.

“What did you think of the potency of the last batch?” Jonathan asked, keys jingling as he unlocked the multiple locks on the cabinet that housed samples of deep amber liquid.

“I think that it wasn’t convincing enough. The subject knew that they were hallucinations she was experiencing, so the fear response wasn’t as genuine.”

“Agreed,” he picked up the most recent sample, closing the cabinet before setting up a slide of the liquid to examine under the microscope. For a moment, Vanessa just watched him as he pressed his eyes to the lenses, only leaning away every few moments to scrabble something down on the open notebook beside him. He was so handsome when he was at work.

Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, she forced her gaze to pull away from him and down to the journal still open in front of her. Skimming her finger down the line of names, she scanned over the little notes written by each one. Katz would be good to use as a sort of baseline, but she was particularly interested in what would happen if they strapped Levinson in the chair. Hm. Decisions, decisions…

“Arkham cornered me on my way down here,” Jonathan commented, pulling away from the microscope, leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest. Vanessa pulled a face. 

Jeremiah Arkham was the nephew of Amadeus Arkham and had inherited the asylum and the position of administrative director and chief psychiatrist after the founder had lost his mind and been admitted to his own madhouse. Jeremiah had ruled over the asylum ever since, albeit with middling results. Patients were often escaping, and the rates in which any were actually cured or showed substantial improvement were minimal at best. Good as the man may have been at following regulations and rules, he had no real drive or vision for the place. And he was too soft on certain patients and too hard on others.

And his affinity for looking over Vanessa and Jonathan’s shoulders was beginning to put her on edge. There had been a handful of close calls with him; moments where he got a little too close for comfort in figuring out what it was they actually spent most of their time doing down in the basement.

It was beginning to become inevitable: he was going to have to be dealt with.

“What did he want?”

“He doesn’t like the way that Thomas has been acting since we ran those experiments with her two weeks ago.”

“Ah, shit,” she rubbed a hand along her neck. Thomas had a rather severe reaction to the batch of toxin they’d exposed her to. They’d hoped that with time the lingering effects would abate. Clearly they had not. “What did you tell him?”

Jonathan shrugged. “That she seemed fine when we were working with her. I told him that if he’s so worried, he should talk to Sinner about it. Thomas is technically her patient, after all.”

Not likely that Jeremiah would find much fault with Dr. Sinner, of course. She was his little pet, after all. His protégé and second in command. An obnoxious, snobby little thing, really. With the stupid ribbons that she wore in her hair and the glances of superiority she shot at Vanessa any time that they passed each other in the hallway.

“We’re going to need to deal with him eventually.”

“Yes,” he leaned forward, crossed arms resting on the table in front of him. “But if he’s removed, Sinner will just take his place.”

“If Sinner isn’t a factor, you’ll be made chief administrator,” she commented with a smirk.

“You think so?”

“Well, they’re certainly not going to put Carver in charge.”

“What about you?”

Vanessa snorted. “Please. If they have a chance to pick between the male genius and the female one, they’re going to pick the man,” she rolled her eyes. Jonathan shot her an apologetic look. She just shrugged. Not much either of them could do about it. At least for now. “But that means that we’ll have to deal with Sinner too.” 

“Yeah?” he raised an eyebrow. “You have any ideas on how to accomplish that?”

Vanessa tilted her head, sliding from her seat and stalking towards him. Jonathan chuckled, leaning back so that she could easily settle herself into his lap, fingers curling around his shoulders for stability while one of his palms made a home for itself resting on her thigh.

“Oh, I think I might have a trick or two up my sleeve…” giggling as he leaned forward to kiss her, she lifted the hand not braced around his shoulders to cradle the side of his face.

The smile he pressed against her lips was delightfully wicked; curling cruelly across his face.

She wouldn’t have had it any other way.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

He stepped out of the elevator, and was greeted with chaos.

He’d been downstairs in the intensive care unit to check on a patient who had been recently transferred to the asylum following a suicide attempt, and then had headed up to the block where they housed most of the more docile, harmless inmates. Brow raising, Jonathan sidestepped a few nurses rushing past him and into one of the rooms. Following them, the hum of frantic voices began to grow louder. But nothing could drown out the booming, furious shouts of Jeremiah Arkham 

Dr. Sinner was standing in front of him, ribbons weaved in her hair, and eyes downcast like a scolded child as she allowed Arkham to yell at her.

A peek inside the room that the nurses had rushed into greeted him with the frantic sight of Vanessa and Dr. Carver bent over a patient lying in the bed, the nurses bustling around them. There was a rather sizable puddle of vomit laced with blood covering the floor, the smell making his nose wrinkle as he leaned back. Vanessa had her hands pressed over the patient’s chest, doing compressions.

“--can’t believe that you would be so unimaginably careless–” Arkham was still shouting at Sinner, voice echoing in the halls.

“Sir,” Jonathan interrupted, eyes taking in the other patients gathered at the doors to their cells, listening with wide eyes. “Perhaps you should have this conversation upstairs in one of your offices?”

Both Arkham and Sinner turned to look at him with startled eyes, as if they hadn’t even realized that he was standing there. Jonathan met their gaze unblinkingly.

“Crane–” Arkham started to say.

“You’re upsetting some of the inmates,” Jonathan said, with just enough force behind it to make Arkham pause. There was the squeak of a shoe against the tiled floor behind them, and they all turned to see Vanessa standing in the doorway to the cell. A few black locks of hair had fallen from her bun, sleeves of her turtleneck pushed up to her elbows. Glancing at Arkham, her lips pressed into a firm line at the silent question in the administrator’s eyes, shaking her head once. Behind her, the nurses and Dr. Carver had ceased their frantic movements, someone moving to cover the patient’s limp body respectfully with a white sheet.

Arkham sighed, pinching at the bridge of his nose, breathing in deeply. “Sinner. Go to my office and wait there.” 

Sinner opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, instead turning and heading down the hall to the elevator, shoulders slumped. Arkham moved to stand in the doorway of the cell, staring at the body laid out on the bed there. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he huffed.

“I’m going to have to call that girl’s parents.”

“I could do it, sir,” Vanessa offered, but Arkham shook his head. 

“No, no. I’m the head psychiatrist. I should be me. Just,” he looked between them. “Get back to work.”

Jonathan watched his back as he retreated down the hallway.

“What happened?” he asked. Vanessa glanced towards the cell where the nurses and Dr. Carver were still positioned. Linking her arm with his, she drew him away, down the hall in the opposite direction that Sinner and Arkham had gone.

“It would appear that Dr. Sinner gave her poor patient the wrong medication.”

He shot a knowing look at her, biting back a bark of laughter. “Oh, is that so?”

“Mhm. Massive dosage too,” her lips formed into a mock pout. “So sad. But, you know what they say about hiring incompetent doctors,” tsking, she shook her head. “I imagine that this will be the last straw for her. She’s been mixing up all of her files, misplacing things…” 

Ah, yes. Poor Dr. Sinner had been acting rather scatterbrained lately, bringing the wrong files to meetings, the wrong case notes to sessions with patients…and always claiming that she was so sure she had put the right ones in her bag.

Vanessa really was very good at sneaky manipulations. It was always such a pleasure to watch her work. 

Served Dr. Sinner right, anyway. For being such a snobby bitch all the time.

“And now this?” Vanessa continued. “Arkham isn’t going to have much choice in the matter.”

“No, no I don’t imagine he will,” he kept his facial expression schooled into concerned seriousness. But he couldn’t help but brush his lips across her temple. This clever, wonderfully wicked woman. “You have an appointment you have to get to?”

“Yeah.”

Pity. He was half tempted to drag her to the nearest supply closet or maybe one of their offices and really show her the extent of his gratitude for getting rid of Sinner. “See you in the lab, after?”

Vanessa shot him a smirk. “Sure.”

Just before she pushed open the door to the stairwell, he caught her by the arm, pulling her close to him and letting his mouth slant over hers in a kiss just a bit too hungry to be fully innocent. 

Pulling back, her face scrunched adorably with her smile, fingertips tracing his face as she nuzzled at him one last time before fully stepping back.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah,” he watched as she disappeared through the door leading to the stairwell, working hard to swallow down the giddiness that made him feel as if he were nineteen again; just a gangly school boy with a crush on his pretty lab partner.

How lucky he was that lab partner had turned out to be just as–or quite possibly even more–insane than he was.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

"I figured it out,” he said, brushing his lips and his nose along the shape of Vanessa’s shoulder. 

“Mm. Figured out what?” she asked, tilting her head to give him better access to her pale white, freckles skin.

“How to deal with Arkham,” he said, pressing a kiss to the spot between her shoulder and her neck that he knew made her toes curl. Vanessa looked at him with dark, lazy eyes, pupils blown wide.

“How? “ she asked, voice barely a husky whisper. Rolling them until he was seated firmly on top of her, he braced his hands on either side of her head.

“Let me tell you.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Jeremiah looked the huge, glittering tree up and down, nodding to himself, swirling the amber liquid in his drink around and around, ice clinking against the edges of the glass before he raised it to his lips and took a deep swallow. 

He had never been a particularly big fan of holiday parties, least of all those for work, but it was a good opportunity to pump investors and charitable organizations for a little extra money, and that wasn’t an opportunity he was going to turn down.

Putting the thing together had been more stressful than usual this year. He hadn’t fully realized just how much Sinner had done around the asylum to make his life easier until she was gone, and all of those extra burdens fell onto him. He would need to find a new second in command. Before he lost his damn mind. 

He’d taken into consideration just promoting one of the current doctors, but, well…

Carver was too young and inexperienced still, Arnell was too soft on the inmates, and none of the other doctors seemed interested in taking on more responsibilities.

Crane or Sullivan would have been ideal choices, but they were both so young…and there was something about them that caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. It was no secret that Crane wanted Jeremaih’s position at the head of the asylum, and he often caught him staring at him with those ambitious, unblinking cold eyes. Not to mention the way that some of the inmates behaved around them. Like they were scared stiff.

No, no. Either of those two would get close to ruling Arkham Asylum over his dead body.

He had interviews set up already with two new young doctors anyway. Perhaps either of them would be ideal for Sinner’s replacement.

Taking another deep drink of his whiskey, he looked out over the crowd of people in nice suits and dresses, sipping drinks and munching on food from trays carried by waiters. There was an ample amount of people crowded around the bar. Good. The more alcohol donors drank, the more money they were likely to spend.

Ambling back over to the bar for both conversation and a refill, Jeremiah smiled and nodded to the people he passed politely. A few of the people he brushed past seemed to jump out of their skin in response to his unexpected touch. And several people at the bar seemed to be displaying anxious symptoms: darting eyes and fiddling fingers, jumping at every little thing. Hm. Strange. 

“Hello, Dr. Arkham.”

Oh, crap.

Why did he hire them, again? Oh, right, because who in their right mind would have passed on not one, but two prodigies wanting to work for them?

Didn’t mean that he had to like them, though.

“Dr. Crane,” he nodded. “Dr. Sullivan,” he fought hard to keep his eyes respectfully focused on her face. Not an easy feat, considering the very low cut, close fitting black dress she was wearing. She tilted her head in acknowledgement, eyes looking rather bored as she clung to Crane’s arm.

Jeremiah had never liked it; that they were in a relationship. It was unprofessional, unorthodox.

He did not approve.

They moved closer, to stand beside him at the bar, and he almost took a step back at how strong both Crane’s cologne and Sullivan’s perfume were. Jesus, had they bathed in the stuff before coming here? Ugh.

“How are you, sir?” Crane asked.

“Fine. Are you two doing anything interesting for Christmas? Visiting family?”

The pair shared a look, both of their lips twitching upwards. “No. No family,” they shifted a little closer, and the sickly sweet scent of their combined perfumes seemed to invade his space almost violently. Already he could feel a headache beginning to develop from the overpowering scent, nose tickling with a building sneeze.

“Ah,” he wasn’t sure if Crane meant that they weren’t seeing family this year, or if they didn’t have any family. Crane murmured an order to the bartender, glancing at Vanessa.

“You want anything?”

“No. And if you have any more, I’m driving tonight.”

“You most certainly are not.”

“It’s illegal to drink and drive, Jonathan,” she was fumbling with her handbag.

“So is driving without a license, Nes.”

“Pfft,” she blew out her dark red painted lips in a raspberry, pulling from her bag with a slight flourish a bottle of perfume. Oh, no. No. She could not possibly be thinking of applying more of the stuff. Angling the perfume bottle towards her neck, she pumped the spray once, and–

Jeremiah choked, then coughed as a burst of the perfume sprayed directly into his face. But it didn’t smell like any perfume that he’d smelled before. There was a deep, plainly chemical scent to the concoction, and something even worse beneath it. Something rotten and terrible. He gasped, looking up at his two employees, stunned.

“Oh, Dr. Arkham, I am so sorry,” Sullivan was saying.

“Really, Nes, you should check to make sure which way you’re aiming that thing before you spray it,” Crane said, even as he started to pull her away. “We’ll leave you to your evening, sir. Lovely as always to see you,” he and Sullivan began to melt into the crowd, but not before Jeremiah could have sworn their faces began to change, twisting and molding into something monstrous. His palms were sweaty, fingers beginning to tremble. His head spun. All around him, the faces of the people were beginning to change, the room spinning and altering. His chest hurt, heart pounding far too fast or hard to be considered healthy.

“Sir, are you alright?” someone caught at his arm, and when he looked up and into their face, he screamed.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Jim watched as they loaded Jeremiah Arkham into the ambulance, hands on his hips, frowning.

Not everyday that an old man had a nervous breakdown and then collapsed in front of his entire staff and donors at a holiday party.

“I don’t suppose that you noticed anything strange tonight?” he asked one of the guests. She shook her head.

“No, nothing strange, officer. Though…” she trailed off, biting her lip.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know…it’s probably nothing. But I’ve just been feeling anxious for most of the party. Jittery. It’s strange. Normally these types of functions don’t bother me,” she shook her head. Jim nodded and ushered her along to speak to some of the other guests. And while no one had seen anything out of the ordinary, several more reported feelings of anxiousness or unease that they couldn’t explain. He approached a couple standing a little ways away from the rest of the crowd. A slender man with glasses and dark hair, wrapping his suit jacket around the shoulders of a short, freckled woman with black hair piled atop her head in a bun. When she looked up at him, he could see that she’d been crying, her makeup running down her fair cheeks in black smears.

“Hello…”

“I’m Dr. Jonathan Crane,” the man said, he nodded to his companion. “This is Dr. Vanessa Sullivan.”

“Hello, Dr. Crane, Dr. Sullivan, I just have to ask you a couple of questions. Procedure, you see…”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Crane said, though he kept a firm arm around Sullivan. Their answers weren’t all that different from any of the others, though towards the end, Sullivan started crying again.

“Oh, poor, poor Dr. Arkham. Is he going to be okay? Did they say?”

“Um, they’re not…the paramedics aren’t sure…”

“The asylum just won’t be the same without him,” she shook her head, looking down. Crane’s face was grave. Jim looked them over. They were both very young. Perhaps Arkham had been some kind of mentor to them. They certainly must work closely with him at the asylum.

“Why don’t you both head on home,” he suggested. Sullivan raised a hand to her face, trying to wipe away her tears while Crane nodded.

“You’ll keep us at the asylum all informed?”

“Of course.”

It was only after they’d gone that he realized that a sudden wave of unexplained anxiousness had settled unshakably in his chest.  

∗ ∗ ∗ 

They scrubbed furiously at their skin in the shower, constantly jostling and bumping each other in the cramped space of the shower.

“Ugh, that stuff stank,” Vanessa complained, rubbing a hand up and down her neck where they’d applied the perfume.

“At least we know that the antidote works properly,” Jonathan said, dipping his head back into the stream of hot water.

“Mm. Shame that it only lasts for a limited time.”

He rested his hands on her waist, pulling her close. She laughed as she knocked into his chest, arms raising up to curl against the wet strands of hair at the base of his neck.

“We aren’t done yet,” she reminded him.

“Almost, though.”

“Mm, yes,” she sighed as his hands splayed out over her back. “Almost.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Can you hear me, Dr. Arkham?”

He groaned. Even just cracking one eye open to see who had decided to disturb him hurt, his brows creasing with the pain that shot through his head. 

Crane loomed over him. How did he get in here? 

“I don’t want you to worry about a thing, Dr. Arkham,” Crane said. He set something heavy down on the edge of Jeremiah’s hospital bed. “The asylum will be well taken care of. I promise,” there was a snapping sound, as Crane continued to fumble with something. Jeremiah attempted to muster up the strength to shout, or at least spit at him, but he couldn’t even find it in him to move. Crane had something in his hand, something brown. It looked like a bag. He flashed Jeremiah a sadistic grin. “We’ll take good care of you too, sir. You have my word,” he leaned in close. “Which of us would you rather have? Hm? Me or Vanessa?” when Jeremiah didn’t answer, Crane tilted his head. “I think that I’ll give you to Vanessa. As a thank you present for all of the help she’s been lately.”

A throb of dread bloomed in Jeremiah’s chest, but when he tried to sit up, the rest of him wouldn’t cooperate. No, no, no, no–

“I have to give you a more concentrated dose, you see? The one we were able to fit into the perfume bottle was really just a taster. Just enough to induce a cardiac episode. Nothing unrecoverable from. But now, I need something a little more…permanent.”

He glanced at the door. The nurse. The night nurse who was making rounds. Where was she–

“Vanessa is watching the door, sir. No one is coming to save you.”

“Now, do me a favor, and breathe deeply, will you?” Crane pulled the bag over his head, and pressed a button on the thing he’d set on Jeremiah’s bed, and a burst of smoke sprayed into his face. His chest screamed with every bursting cough, and the thing hovering over him was no longer his employee, but a monster made of burlap and straw, grinning down at him in gleeful joy as he began to scream.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Congratulations, new chief administrator,” Vanessa said, clinking her wine glass with his before taking a sip of the deep red liquid. Jonathan looked at her from the other side of the big desk, glancing around his new office in silent delight. The asylum was theirs; Jeremiah Arkham safely little more than a catatonic vegetable, admitted to his own asylum, just like his uncle before him, placed under Vanessa’s care. 

“I couldn’t have done it without your help,” he said. Vanessa scoffed, sliding from her chair, roaming around the desk and settling herself comfortably in his lap. It was late out; the sun long disappeared beneath the horizon.

“We do make a pretty good team,” she remarked, taking another sip from her wine before setting her glass down beside his on the desk, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jonathan rested his cheek against hers, closing his eyes.

“It’s all ours, Nes.”

She smiled up at him, bright and wicked and loving, touching his cheek with the cool tips of her fingers.

“Yes, it is.”

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

[neathbound-fiends]

💀 and 🌈 for any/all ocs!

This is a lot so I'm gonna stick it under a cut (and hope that a readmore works in an ask??)

💀 — What's their relationship with the Boatman like?

Elliott: he's met him a few times. The first time was filled with utterly horrified Catholic screaming, but subsequent times he's been relatively peaceful about it. He doesn't play chess, but he make idle chitchat with the other passengers, and directs conversation towards the Boatman which is rarely, if ever, returned

Warren: she thinks he's soooo cool. Imagine being a skeleton that's dead but also alive but also not. Standing in a boat all day sounds kind of boring, but he was nice to her the two times she's been there and met him

Arthur: he's never met him! It kinda seems like as an animal you get one (1) shot at the whole living thing, so he doubts they'll ever meet unless as a sacrifice, but that's fine. He doesn't have much opinion on him on the whole

Florence: she thinks he could stand to really liven things up (ha) around the slow boat. Frankly, it's boring. She asked him once if he'd ever seen her husband pass through here, or if the Zee bypasses him entirely. She got no response, which she figured was a pretty resounding 'no', and left it at that

Doc: I don't...think Devils hit the slow boat? I think they just sort of flutter back towards Hell and get a new body? maybe? I think he's certainly aware of the Boatman, but doesn't particularly give two shits about him

Bolormaa: he thinks he's fine. They've played chess a few times, he thinks the Boatman might be hustling with his fast improvement, or he's just very quick to learn, so he's stopped playing chess with him and just sort of chills to wait it out

Rhoda: their relationship is tense, but cordial. He is improving just as quickly as she is in chess, and this is starting to feel like an arms race.

🌈 — Do they do anything unique or interesting with Neathy colours?

Elliott: he's been experimenting with using the Neathbow to grow plants. The results have been...mixed, at best. He keeps this a secret, lest anyone find out and get mad (or, worse, demand to expect something from it, when he has yet to produce any results worth sharing)

Warren: she's been receiving training as a Silverer, so she's been making use of cosmogone! (though in the form of the ferule on her cane, given that spectacles aren't really gonna do much for her)

Arthur: nah lol

Florence: she's mostly just chillin as far as the Neathbow is concerned, but she has been making a killing hawking empty mirror-catch boxes to people to do their own random Neathbow shit

Doc: I would not be shocked if I heard he's been running unethical studies regarding the application of the Neathbow to medicine. I know in my heart he's probably doing some weird inhumane shit that may or may not actually produce any results that are worth having received

Bolormaa: he is probably starting to see some of the effects of peligin. He's not a monster hunter strictly, and rarely partakes of the things he kills aside from field dressing and getting things prepped to sell, but when food's running short, anything that might be edible is considered to be so until proven otherwise

Rhoda: I like to think she's finding some way to incorporate it into her millinery. I don't know how she'd do it, maybe in dyeing the fabrics, or in some naturally occurring manner in the horticulture for it, but she'd be remiss as someone in fashion to NOT be including a whole new array of colors that nobody else has access to

[venkysburogu]

Passing Through an Online Jungle

There was a lot delusions in my mind in choosing the open elective for 7th semester of my bachelor’s degree. Multiple options were presented before me and I had zero knowledge on any of those. Even to choose any of the course, there should be a preliminary knowledge on that domain, right? which I was lacking heavily. So then comes the other studentical ways of choosing open electives like, seniors review on the course, course handling faculty’s approachability and last but not the least: grade scoring capability of ourselves in that course. So, by performing design of experiments using these parameters I finally got landed in a page called Digital Marketing for Engineers. From the title itself this course seemed very unique and to be more precise, Contradictory. I was like how in the world would digital marketing be meant for engineers and that too for my specialization of production engineering. Here I would like to thank my course handling faculty Mr. Vigneswaran C for completely change my perspective on not only digital marketing but the basic definition of marketing itself. In a world where marketing in seen as a phishing and scam activity, he made me understand what an ethical marketing looks like. And a personal note, I never thought that my professor would be so approachable and empathetical towards me in my previous three years of engineering phase.

Let’s start of with the basic definition of marketing that it is not a unethical phishing activity instead it is understanding the customers need and satisfying their needs by adding value to them as well as to our product or service. And this marketing took a great leap when it got exposed to various digital tools. Digital marketing overtook the conventional way of marketing:

Print

Broadcast

Direct mail

Tele marketing

Digital marketing for proving to be a way of making people aware and hold their attention towards the product or services in a faster and accurate way. It had numerous advantages like having a very wider reach, reaching the people in a very controlled and targeted way so that we can convert them into our potential customers easily, it also had to use very less manual work force and proved to be highly cost-efficient, real-time customer interaction and user analytics was made possible through digital marketing. Seriously, this course completely changed my perception on how I see a firm’s portfolio in many aspects. I got to realize that every minute feature and detail of a website is linked to human’s behavioral and cognitive aspects.

In between the classes we had many crazy sounding questions by our professor like: “why have you woken up today.” Although it might seem that there can be multiple answers to this question, it always ends up to be an improper answer. Then, discussion on my microniches made me understand that even focusing on microniches can be a potential lead for starting a business out of it. My professor have always iterated the fact that always “Try to be producers, and not only consumers”, this mindset  makes a continuous engaging factor to the students in this course of Digital Marketing for Engineers.

Now lets have a dive in various strategies that used in the domain of digital marketing considering a situation where you are trying to sell your product which is - Japanese comics, Manga.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Online, search engines like Google are the big deal. When people are looking for something – let's say, a comic book - they type it into Google's search bar. Now, Google's job is to show them the best possible book shop based on what they typed. That's where your colorful signs (SEO) come in handy. With SEO, you're making your website and content super-friendly to Google. You're using specific words and phrases (keywords) that people might use to find books and comics like yours. You're also making sure your website loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and has cool stuff that keeps people hanging around.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is like setting up a virtual billboard to grab people's attention. You want to make sure that when someone types in a search like "cool manga for sale" or "rare Japanese comics," they see your bill board right at the top of the results.

This can be achieved by two main tactics:

Paid Search Ads: These are like the big banners you see at the top of the convention hall. You bid on certain keywords related to manga, like "rare manga" or "Japanese comics for sale." If someone types in those keywords, website pops up right at the top, and you pay a little bit each time someone clicks on your website to check out your manga collection.

Organic Search: This is like setting up a shop that's super attractive and has a reputation for having the best manga around. You optimize your website by using those keywords naturally in your content, creating great descriptions of your comics, and maybe even getting other manga fans to talk about your shop.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is like using your favorite social media platforms, such as Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, to show off your manga collection, talk about your favorite characters, and recommend awesome series to your friends and followers. For example, you could post pictures of your manga collection, make short videos where you talk about your top 5 manga picks, and even share funny memes related to manga. As you keep doing this, more people who also love manga will start following you and engaging with your posts. Over time, you might become known as a go-to person for manga recommendations.

So, in conclusion digital marketing has made its entrance in reaching out to customers literally from any domain. Usage of different kinds of plugins make our website more and more interactive as well as act as an added advantage to know and understand our customers. Digital marketing is evolving day by day with ethical and advanced usage of world wide web.

[resonance-and-d]

You’ve heard of healing crystals

now get ready for Danger Rocks

Please do not lick any of these

1. Chrysotile

aka Asbestos! It heals lung cancer! heals it from 0HP to full health! it causes cancer do not touch do not lick

okay but this is a cool danger rock, it's a physical carcinogen. As in, it doesn't poison you into having cancer, it just has little needle-y bits that LITERALLY STIR UP your DNA and break it, and when the cells try to repair their DNA they get it wrong and you get cancer

2. Torbenite

A super pretty danger rock! it’s a uranium ore and releases radon gas for Extra Poison!

3. Hutchinsonite - (Tl,Pb)2As5S9

This danger rock has it all! Lead! arsenic! Thallium! All super toxic! Will legit kill you

seriously don't lick this one, i'm looking at you, fellow geologists

thallium doesn't taste like anything so you're not even getting data, just poisoned

4. Cinnabar (Mercury sulfide)

Can be a very pretty red color! so it was used to make paint. The paint was super toxic.

In addition to being dangerous to your health, it’s also morally dangerous! someone had to mine it (v dangerous) so even owning it feels unethical

5. Stibnite (Antimony sulfide)

people used to make spoons and makeup and shit out of this, the spoons poisoned people who ate with them. It’s kinda pretty but not worth dying over

6. Orpiment  (an arsenic sulfide)

Look how pretty it is!!

"Incorrect handling" WILL poison you, that’s fucking arsenic

Honorable mentions:

Malachite, if eaten or... you know ;) (warning: nsfw, THat Post) Galena (lead sulfide), don't eat it or break the rock and you'll probably be ok, the dust is the main danger

[writingwithcolor]

How Special is Too Special? The Politics and Characterization of Stacking Special/Abnormal Traits on Mixed Race Characters

Anon asked:

Good morning/afternoon/evening! I hope this message finds you all well. Thank you for putting in all the effort you do into this blog! 

I had several questions about a specific character of mine. He’s an agender biracial individual (Japanese/white) and the tritagonist of the game. He was formerly the second-in-command of a corrupt military organization, but he betrays them in order to work with the protagonist due to a similar goal.

However, both him and the main character (a white nonbinary character) are nonhuman, cosmic horror-esque entities that came to be due to unethical research. He isn’t the only character of color in the story, however I worry that going the nonhuman route with his character may be demeaning. Both him and the main character have two forms, a human disguise and their more monstrous forms. Do you have any tips on how I can handle this aspect of his character in a respectful way? 

Another part I would like to ask about is regarding the “Green-Eyed Asian” stereotype / trope. He has complete heterochromia that gives him one green eye and one brown one, due to his white mother’s striking green eyes being a component of her powers. Similarly, he has piebaldism, a skin condition similar to vitiligo that gives him lighter patches of skin and a white streak in his otherwise black hair. Are these too akin to making him ‘unique’ due to him being half-Japanese? 

Finally, he’s a fairly intimidating character, standing at 6'8" and being pretty bulky / muscular. I try to emphasize that his reputation is the cause of his intimidation factor, but I don’t want it to seem as though he’s inherently scary. He has a pretty sarcastic and cynical personality as well, albeit one accented with a big heart. Is his appearance something I should avoid emphasizing?

Why? 

Your affection for this character’s design comes through in this ask. However from a narrative standpoint, I don’t know how much help we can offer. All you have told us is that he looks very distinctive, but you haven’t told us 3 critical points surroundings your motivations for these appearance choices:

How his unique appearance will affect him

How his appearance intersects with these experiences, particularly within the context of the military

What experiences drive his personality

Without communicating these points, you’ve created a character utilizing multiple tropes without providing a sense of how these tropes relate to your story. I think for less experienced writers, there is a lot of attraction in making distinctive characters. It’s much less work for an author to create a plot that revolves around a few highly abnormal characters. The audience gets to see the cool, OP people do cool things, too. However, a compelling story requires more than a few charismatic OCs. Your plot and character dynamics are not necessarily enriched merely by making a character incredibly distinctive.

The part about his being in the military is especially key. Military organizations encourage homogeneity. Individuals who fall outside the norm draw attention that is rarely beneficial, unless your character thrives under scrutiny and increased pressure. For a 6’8” LGBT+, biracial individual with heterochromia and piebaldism who is the product of unethical research to rise through the ranks to a prominent position is not necessarily impossible. However, for there to be no discussion of the barriers, experiences and motivations that led them there, particularly within a corrupt organization where power only serves beneficiaries of the status quo, is a glaring omission. Based on the above, I don’t really see how having him be Japanese serves any purpose. I’ll leave Rina to explain some of the trope issues with the appearance choices you’ve made.

- Marika.

So the “Green Eyed East Asian” trope. 

It’s a little more complex when it comes to the representation of mixed people. 

ON ONE HAND: mixed East Asians can definitely have green eyes, and we have had numerous discussions on WWC as to how genetics are a crapshoot. It is important to never frame the green eyes discussion around whether certain genetic traits are “unrealistic.” 

HOWEVER: White/E.Asian mixes are overwhelmingly given the green eye treatment in media for a few key reasons: 

Non-asian writers feel as though there’s no way to show the character’s Obvious Caucasity except to give them an Obviously Caucasian eye color or hair colour. After all, only white people have light skin or light eyes, of course. Park from Eleanor and Park is an example of that. 

Mainland E. Asian writers feel as though a single drop of whiteness will contaminate a character’s E. Asian-ness and render them irrevocably foreign. And they want to show that. Think about Suoh Tamaki (“Pardon me, René Tamaki Richard de Grantaine Suoh” - Marika says as they die from laughter) from Ouran High School Host Club or Tamaki Ann from Persona 5 (TWO Tamakis?!). 

General exotification of mixed-ness on a foundation of eurocentric beauty. Blue/green eyes are rare and beautiful, right? Wow! So are mixed people, right? ;))

This thread by mixed Japanese artist Yoshi Yoshitani makes some very pertinent and nuanced observations about the portrayal of mixed East Asians around the globe. It simultaneously acknowledges that while these green/blue-eyed mixed people aren’t unrealistic, they’re green/blue-eyed (and overrepresented as such) because of various cultural beliefs and agendas. 

I am aware that your reasoning for the eyes is to show hereditary magical powers, but this, too, is a tired trope unless you can truly justify why the power is concentrated in the eyes. This is especially because green eyes are in fact a natural eye colour; assigning magical properties to them can put that trait on a eurocentric pedestal. Why is the evidence of magic/superpower in the character’s eyes? Must there be a visible sign of this power, and if so, how are these magical characters treated differently? What are the worldbuilding implications of this? How about the worldbuilding implications of your other character design choices? 

~Mod Rina

In Conclusion

We think this Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot tritagonist sounds more like an OC than a fully realized character. We are curious to know if the strength of your character would still come through if you removed some of these visual characteristics. We also would have preferred to hear more about the actual plot, worldbuilding and character arcs. Please feel free to resubmit if you are able to answer these questions.

- Rina and Marika.

PSA to all of our users - Motivation Matters: This lack of clarity w/r to intent has been a general issue with many recent questions. Please remember that if you don’t explain your motivations and what you intend to communicate to your audience with your plot choices, character attributes, world-building etc., we cannot effectively advise you beyond the information you provide. We Are Not Mind Readers. If, when drafting these questions, you realize you can’t explain your motivations, that is likely a hint that you need to think more on the rationales for your narrative decisions. My recommendation is to read our archives and articles on similar topics for inspiration while you think. I will be attaching this PSA to all asks with similar issues until the volume of such questions declines.