#did they make all these puppets themselves??? is it a group effort??? is it one account with multiple sideblogs or diff ppl with diff accs?

[anachronistic-falsehood]

i am both endlessly confused and absolutely captivated by whatever the fuck is going on with the plush rump blogs. where did they come from. why are they here. why NOW in the year of our lord 2024 is this happening. who the fuck is running them. do they have a plan in mind for the future of their blogs or is it just going to be puppet snuff forever. i am in awe

[spotsupstuff]

Ooh, super interested in what happened to your Sun and why he went from lying to himself to becoming an apathetic brick wall lol

well! Suns was always an apathetic brick wall. because of a design flaw. Moon has already talked about this in one of the questions we've answered:

the Iterator design evolved by the process of eliminating "redundant" things, with only their capability of figuring out the Great Problem taking priority. quite literal case of putting the evolution points into a singular specialization because of outside guidance

Gen 1s are chunky and tall as they are because they physically (with their puppets) interacted with the Ancients often- either because check ups and fixing things was often required since they were the experimental Generation OR for the sake of things like school/educational trips (citizens of Gen 3s would have road trips to Gen 1s rather than visiting their own iterators). and we end up with the lanky spiky Gen 3 design thanks to this process of elimination

the official jump from Gen 1 to Gen 2 was a BIG thing. different Gen happens when a LOT of things are eliminated to the point that the base design is more cumbersome and therefore it gets revamp to fit the systems better. the jump to Gen 2 wasn't.... the smoothest one

on a physical level everything had gone absolutely swimmingly. but some dumbfuck from the big designer/engineer/programmer team fucked up n accidentally removed the One thing that ensured the Iterators could experience emotions as fully and broadly as a normal organic. and so early Gen 2s have the reputation of being incredibly dull concerning emotional matters (some were a bit spared of this when someone from the construction team on-site noticed the flaw)

this was resolved within the same Generation and pretty quickly by reverse engineering the parts of Gen 1s that made them so capable of this. NSH specifically was very influencial in this research because, for some reason nobody could ever figure out, he was more emotion capable than most of Gen 1s (this fact got boosted cuz the reverse engineering then turned into Enhancing so they could see how far they could possibly take this. NSH does the Iterator equivalent of crying when watching movies Every Time GUARANTEED)

i already have this on hand, so here's Fish (early Gen 2) and Euros (mid Gen 2) for comparison

poor bastard Seven Red Suns drew the shortest stick possible with this design flaw n has absolutely Minimal emotional understanding and capability

the Terrible thing about this is that they are Aware of this flaw of theirs and what little spark of emotion they can surrect within themselves they dedicate to either mourning or hating it. that's the subject of their depressive "pondering" in this pic

they are *trying* so hard to have emotions and feelings. they often force fake ones into their voice and it's painfully apparent cuz they always put their all into it, no subtlety about it

the pain there is faked. they know what sounding pained means to other people, so they force their voice into such form to show to Spears that they didn't mean to be so blind to its capabilities of being a feeling, comprehending creature

their ruse of charm was put in place to make themselves... well, maybe not Feel exactly but you know what i mean- to seem better, i guess. so the other Iterators would love them, so the children wouldn't be so scared of their apparent coldness, so they wouldn't hurt anyone around them because harming people will make them go away and Suns doesn't want to be lonely and Needs other people if he wants to solve the Great Problem. more heads more smarts. "look at me, i'm alright! i feel alright! i am Well! i am happy!" and if i say that to myself enough it will Have to become true

like all Gen 1 n Gen 2 Iterators could tell they were bullshitting, though. they appreciated the effort though so most of the group accepted Suns either way. Gen 3s did not recognize it so much- that's how Pebbles ended up as their mentee rather than Moon's (as he was honestly set up to be, which just made him Not Want To take Moon on as his mentor) or some other Gen 1's (Gen 3s often search for mentors cuz there's a lot of things to catch up on in the research at this point- they often go for Gen 1s cuz naturally they have the most knowledge at hand. Innocence, for example, is Nish's mentee!!! she's his shitty little student, he wants to bonk her So much for bein disrespectful to everyone and he loves her with his entire fuckin being. his lil fucklet...)

this ruse starts to slowly slip past Suns' fingers some years after the Ancients' mass ascension. the longer the searching for solution drags on the more Iterators start giving up, becoming desperate, negative, ...insane... Suns gets affected by both the time and everyone else around them. the ruse doesn't MATTER anymore, because everyone is damaged in SOME way at some point. everyone is a little or a lot broken, what is so bad about their flaws at This point- nobody gives a shit and they sure as fuck don't have the emotional power to give a singular fuck in the first place so why not... just let go of that if it isn't so required anymore...

and so they become an apathetic brick wall openly to the whole world, "shedding" their lies, prioritizing logic and goal chasing over others' feelings and importance of the present

that's how we got here in my take on RW

Suns is fucked up, man

[selamat-linting]

last night, a little homestuck before bed and :

-i dont think i can maintain the facade of composure or coherence anymore. this is five seconds before john find several people brutally slaughtered, including his own dad, and he himself get stabbed to death. look at him! look at how silly this child is. my zillyhoo son, its unfair theyre piling up all this shit to you.

-i get why rose went grimdark tbh. things are pretty bad out there. it fucks me up that she's like, taking over the suicide mission. and how awful it is that she'd gone off the deep end that she looked at her parents dead body and only think of killing. something i noticed between the two light players is that theyre always burdening themselves with the hard, difficult tasks alone even though the team wanted it to be done as a group effort. its commendable but not always a good thing.

-its pretty funny that the kids with shitty guardians' have a wildly contrasting reactions to their dead parents like

dave, at the beginning of story : my bro is the coolest guy ever

dave now : huh. he's dead. okay. time to use the sword lodged in his chest as a trampoline! sweet loot. i love not getting knifed in my apartment

rose, at the beginning of the story : my loathsome mother and her penchant for the devil's drink!!!!!

rose, now : i should've looked out for her *activates rage mode*

i mean, i suppose thats appropriate but. you know how it is. poor kids, they've been through a lot. did they even have a warm meal lately? also i think bro is kinda handsome and i understand his fascination with puppets. i too, read a tentacle dick spamton fic as a lark and becomes genuinely intrigued with it.

-i am in love, in love! with the format of clicking to a collage of pictures. There was just so much Shit going on and the banner have doc scratch home being burned down and snowman making out after smoking a bloodied pipe. and then jade hunting frogs with dave. it would have been adorable to see these kids finally meeting each other for the first time if the world wasnt going to do a hard reset.

-fuck it. an AU. kids being kids. no sburb no tragedy. theyre just online friends. jade's grandpa is alive, he took jade into civilization often so she's not undersocialized and knows how to function if she wants to live a normal life. and as a birthday gift he took all of her friends to the island as a surprise for her 13th birthday. they spend the day catching frogs and playing paintball. and then at night, rose and jade urge everyone to try lucid dreaming. none of them made it because theyre all too busy making fun of john's movie selection. dave is beatboxing over squiddles music. and then right in the middle of their playing, a ship crash landed to the island. it was the trolls.

-uhhghgghghhh i need to see. an animatic. of jade and dave's fight. with bec noir. look at all the moves theyre making it would have been one hell of a fight and we were robbed of a proper flash with boisterous music! space time vs omnipotence lets fucking go!

-speaking of vriska, wow she really is giving her all in these pages. her last stand with jack. the enemy she took part in creating. she knew she was going to die and done her best asking out literally everyone alive. and the best/worst thing is, everyone accepts. terezi literally came to her with all the rp outfit they used to do. and, i know i should be shocked but im just laughing at karkat showing up late with the sloppy makeout note. And she gave the cutest most adorable date proposal to john like, ugh its cute teenage puppy love! yes, i think they'd go well together. I dunno, maybe its my kimharry enjoyer heart speaking, but i think characters who'd done terrible violence should be with someone who only met them after they strived to be someone better, or at least a blank slate. that way, they get a fresh start and can focus on improving instead of getting distracted with hurt feelings and old wounds. also i am not burdening terezi, aradia, tavros, and all of the kids she personally maimed with All of That tbh. unless they want to ofc.

-anyways, here is the updated vriska relationship chart

matesprit -> still, the poster of nicholas cage in con air, or karkat if youre so inclined to imagine a world where she makes out with karkat before fighting terezi. gross lol.

moirallegiance -> john, full stop. her relationship with terezi needs some peace time before coming back into pale redrom

kismesis -> terezi. im FROTHING at the mouth thinking at the tragedy of their relationship. this is some intergenerational trauma shit, some wicked codependency junk, like the cuno and his buddy C. its the real shit fa- (okay i should stop speaking like cuno before i embarras myself)

-also. WHY WAS IT A JUST DEATH! im hitting the clock im destroying it with jack. fuck you fuck you so much. Doc scratch fix the clock so it gives me what i want or i'll burn your house! asshole!

-im curious about the sprites. i hope they find a way to be relevant again. i've always think theyre awesome and has more info that could have been beneficial for the kids.

-all in all, i give this homestuck liveread and overall rating of what the fuck what the fuck ohhhhh ohhh my fucking godd imma read this again motherfucker

[red-dyed-sarumane]

we have like. the shoushitsu chara who if we consider how the lyrics are, is trying to emotionally distance themself from the whole thing, but if we think the text is also from their view then its not quite as objective as theyd like to think theyre being.

the kyuuyaku chara who could not being putting any more effort into this & shes so tired from it that the whole song is a cry for help. 6 minutes of screaming bc thats all thats left for her to do

the touhikou chara who tried so hard to contribute & decided how the whole thing was being handled wasnt getting anywhere that maybe she'd have a better chance just straight up leaving

the oumen angel who cares so so much but nothing she does can reach anyone, she just cant help even tho thats what she's supposed to do shes in tears over it (i do believe its implied shes part of the reason they Can retry tho so thats. something.)

the apoptosis chara who is a brat. she is so over this and it might even be mostly her fault but like hell shes going to admit to it the song even directly Says shes a liar & yet u can tell from it its just made worse bc shes at her breaking point and cant handle much more & shes just digging herself deeper so to speak

the maximizer chara who is also tired of it in yet a different way. shes also one of the few if not the only who recognizes theres people she works with who just arent people anymore. theyve lost themselves. i cant imagine the sort of fear u'd live with knowing u could be next if u arent careful. "there's nothing to be done about it" but she keeps going anyway. sunk cost fallacy and all that

the canon chara who sees its not going anywhere, can see where the next attempts are going to wrong & its just so so hard to bear knowing that no one will listen, things are going to fail, and everythings going to end again. she knows exactly the point of no return & sees people passing it again and again & just wishes it wouldnt have to be that way

the ashura chara who seems to be a bit outside of the usual group still seeing the absolute destruction & calamity going on & yet is a mere puppet that cant do anything about it. yet even tho they dont count as human they get their own form of rebirth so to speak they they get to witness it again and again too

and of course the laboratory chara that. i have no clue What she did but Clearly she passed one line too many bc this is the last chance shes getting. its taking everything from her. her world yes but everything that makes her who she is as a person is being stripped from her & theres nothing she can do about it. and the worst part being shes aware of it and doesnt want it, would do anything to stop it but she's too far past whatever she did to cause it to change her fate at this point

[5sycho-girl]

FT Island: how I got into them Part 1/2

The song that got me interested: Pray

FT Island is probably the fandom that I have been into for the longest. I got into them when they were promoting "pray" in 2015 for their album "I will". Rock was such a rare genre in the mainstream Korean music scene, so I was amazed when I heard the song and immediately decided that I love this group.

Falling deeper

It was later when I did my research on the group, that I realised that the song was produced and written by the members, which made me love them more. They had participated in music making for their previous albums too, but it was the first time that their title track was a rock song and more importantly, it was a song that was produced by one of the members.

It was a really meaningful song for them even though it didn't perform very well on the charts as most koreans didn't like rock. Therefore, it must be fate !!! as it was the song that make me get into the fandom!

I am just really happy that I have discovered a Korean group that make their own music and when I listen to other songs that are produced by the members, I also realised that they are not afraid to experiment with different styles and genres and all the music they made are quality music!!!!

Breaking the stereotype: Not just an idol band

Well, actually I knew FT Island way before but never really actually got into them since I had believed that they were just a stereotypical "idol boy band" that only had the looks and can't make their own music.

But it was "pray" that broke the image I have about FT Island and made me do all the research about the group, which make me realise how wrong I was.

They are a true band indeed, in both ability and spirit. It's true that when the company debuted them, they had promoted the group as a "idol flower boy band" and controlled all the music-making for their early albums, forcing them to perform music that the company thinks will appeal to the public.

However, the members knew that they didn't want to be just the company's puppet and wanted to be true artists/musicians that make their own music and are in control of their music. So they started writing music by themselves and convinced the company to add the songs into their albums as sides.

Finally, all their hard work and efforts paid off in "I will", when they got the company's approval to make a song ,that is produced by one of the members, the title track of the album, and the song was "pray".

And from then on, they started to have more power over their music and nowadays they have complete control over their albums.

The Shock: Leader Jonghoon's conviction & departure

The members have put in blood, sweat and tears to achieve the success they have today. They not only heavily invested in music producing which are all of high quality (hongki even created a whole music production team with money out of his own pocket), but they also spent a lot of time honing their instrumental skills/techniques.

As of early 2019, I was such a proud primadonna for being able to be a fan of such a wonderful band, and I was convinced that the band will continue till forever, fulfilling their wish of playing music till they reach their 60s 😂.

Then the shocking news came and Jonghoon announced that he is leaving the group. It was a rude shock for me and the other members of the group. It didn't helped that I was a great fan of Jung Joon Young and the show 2 days 1 night season 3 at the same time.

Junghoon's departure had a really great detrimental impact on the group's performance morale and music. No matter what he did, we cannot deny the fact that he had contributed greatly to the team. He is a really talented guitarist (in charge of the important and difficult guitar parts) and music producer/maker(some of the best songs of the band and most of rock songs are produced by him), and his departure is a great loss for the team.

Seunghyun's departure

Amongst the members, his departure from the band affected Seunghyun, the other guitarist of the team, the most. It put tremendous pressure and stress on him specifically, as he had to change his position from rhythm guitar to lead guitar in no time... having to practice lead guitar parts for all their songs and be also responsible for rearranging all the guitar parts that were meant for 2 guitarists to 1 guitarist. Moreover, they had a Japanese tour in jusr a month after Jonghoon suddenly left. I am sure that he had thought long and hard before finally decided he will be leaving the band. I don't fault him for his decision. I am just really really sad, I didn't want to admit it, but seunghyun's departure really marked the end of an era for the band and also end of my teenage years.

FT Island is still producing great music, but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. But no matter what I will stand by them till do the very end. I will support them as long as they keep producing music!!!

[chaozsilhouette]

A Revealing Performance

My rendition for the Shadow Play in @winterpower98's Swap Au.

It was supposed to be a simple thing, then it sort of spiraled into this whole deal. For the effects of the Shadow Lantern, I drew some inspiration from her Cursed Au as I never thought simply using her friends was cruel enough for the Monkey Tyrant.

It serves to show just how far Macaque has grown, but also to highlight just how monstrous he was.

_____________________________

Mei refrained from downing her bubble tea as she waited for the play to start. It had been a rough couple of weeks with Spider Queen and that creepy girl. And failing to find where Xiaotian had run off to after the misunderstanding. When Macaque sent her tickets to the local theatre, she was ashamed to think it was a trap.

Pigsy and Sandy were right. After everything that happened, she needed some serious me time. She had been too stressed.

Besides, everyone knew Macaque was a total theatre nerd. Few people knew that the star puppeteer was actually the Six-Eared Macaque himself. He would totally send her tickets from his stomping grounds as a way to unwind.

It was a shame that Tang couldn’t join them. Apparently, he finally managed to schedule a meeting with the Celestial Realm and was Taking the demon brothers to figure out a new way of sealing the Monkey Tyrant. It was also his chance to explain their little break-in during New Years. He encouraged her to have fun and if it was good, he’d join them for the next showing.

So here they were waiting for the performance to start. Although she wondered what the fake mayor was doing here. They hadn't seen him since he gave her the skeleton key. Still wasn't sure why he had it or why he gave it to her? Supposedly she was only supposed to have it for a day, but he never stopped by to pick it up.

_____________________________

Sun Wukong was a monkey of many talents, but even he had to admit Macaque was a far better storyteller and his mastery of shadows was sheer perfection. But that just made this plan all the more perfect. What better way to teach his wayward beloved’s little flower a lesson than through a trusted medium.

Obtaining a spot in the local theatre was child’s play, a little magic and they were all but begging him to take center stage. Apparently, they had been scrambling to find a new performer after their star puppeteer had to leave for a family emergency (three guesses as to who that was). And with a little glamor, a set of tickets was left at the little flower's doorstep. As far as she knew, Macaque was proud of her progress and believed she had deserved a reward for all her hard work. She was so desperate for something to go right she hardly questioned how her mentor, who was in parts unknown, managed to secure tickets for a new performer.

In his personal dressing room, Wukong delicately touched up his human disguise. Even if he was going to be hidden in his hanfu and cloak, it wouldn’t do to spoil the surprise. Applying his eye shadow with artful flair, the Monkey King took time to appreciate just how handsome he truly was no matter what form he took. Honestly, who would have thought such perfection existed?

A pulse of dark magic drew his attention to his latest partner in crime.

The Shadow Lantern gently floated before him. Its dark magic practically purring at the thought of being used. Wukong could almost laugh at his beloved’s foolishness. He was there when his darling created the lantern, when he infused his own shadows into its very foundation. Did he honestly think such a masterpiece would tolerate being left to collect dust in a cave?

Normally a magical artifact would never consider turning on its master, but after centuries of abandonment, all Wukong had to do was whisper his intentions to return Macaque to his former self to secure its loyalty. The second he first made contact, he could sense a twisted hunger writhing within and with each performance granting it the chance to feed on the life essence of the viewers…. hehe, he almost couldn’t contain himself.

Looking up at the clock, he saw it was just about time for his next performance. His clones had reported the girl’s presence along with the pig and the water demon. Strangely the one with glasses and the little matchstick was absent. No matter, he could make do with two hostages just fine.

After all, the show must go on.

_____________________________

The overhead lights dimmed, signaling the start of the play. Smoke slowly poured from beneath the floorboards, generating an air of mystery. In a flash of golden light, a tall man wearing a beautiful cloak manifested on center stage. The crowd silenced themselves at the display.

“Welcome viewers to a performance you shall never forget!” From the folds of his sleeves, an exquisite lantern floated in front of him. A mesmerizing yet familiar purple glow emanating from the center.

“Our tale tonight is one of love, companionship, and how even the strongest of bonds can be severed through the trickery of the wicked.”

In the background, the shadows twisted and grew in the lantern’s light. Carefully they formed a beautiful scene of a mountain covered in flowers and trees. Attention was gradually guided to the top, where a round stone basked in the sun.

“It all began with the birth of a King.”

The round stone broke, revealing a figure that resembled a monkey. But no, this was a monkey demon, a monkie if you would. The King journeyed down the mountain until he found a tribe of normal monkeys. The group frolicked for a while as the King established himself as the undisputed ruler of the tribe.

A large figure with an ax appeared. The monster brought down his ax upon a small collection of monkeys only to be stopped at the last second by the King. The King used his superior strength to steal the demon’s ax and used it to decapitate the intruder in a single stroke. The monkeys jumped around the King and praised his strength, but the King did not appear satisfied.

“The young King was born with great power and strength, but he sought out more to protect his people.”

The King crafted a raft and set out on a dangerous sea. The King was shown to face off against mountain gods, human warriors, and demonic sorcerers always to reign victorious but never satisfied.

“In his travels, he learned much and faced many enemies, in time his efforts were handsomely rewarded.”

The King climbed a fleet of stairs carved into a mountain to reach a humble monastery. At the top, a stern human stood, but behind him was another monkie. This one however possessed six ears.

“His quest for power led him to a Warrior of potential equaling his own. At first, neither was sure how to react to their mirror, but they quickly forged a comradery that took them far.”

The two monkies trained together, mastering new powers as they sparred.

“Their time together increased their power exponentially and as they grew stronger their feelings blossomed into something beautiful.”

The two were on a cliff overlooking the stars, slowly leaning closer to one another. Eventually, the two faced their opposite and leaned in close.

“Their fates had become intertwined. Their power was unmatched. It was then the King realized what he had been searching for all this time.”

The two shadows merged together in a complex dance until they separated into two beings once again, but not as they began. The two monkeys were now garbed in elaborate, yet practical armor and silks. The King wielded a staff and the Warrior took up a spear.

“Slowly their strength grew to where nothing could challenge them, whether in the Celestial Realm or on Earth.”

The King and Warrior were shown battling heavenly armies and powerful demons with confident smirks. Each battle resoundingly won through their combination of speed, strength, and cunning.

“But it was not enough. The King wished to ensure that he and the Warrior would be able to fight together forever and sought the power and respect needed to secure their future.”

The King took to the Heavens, where he stood before an Emperor in the most extravagant outfit, surrounded by massive guards in magical armor. The Emperor was clearly afraid as the King effortlessly toppled one guard after another, slowly approaching the throne at a steady pace.

“The King’s noble actions were viewed negatively by those who feared his ever-growing power. Eventually, a prison was crafted that could restrain the King, one that not even his beloved Warrior could destroy.”

Just before the King’s latest attack could reach the Emperor, chains wrapped around his limbs and dragged him down to Earth. With a quick flex, the chains shattered, but the King was doomed as a mountain landed on him with a seal placed at the top. The Warrior tried to pry off the seal or find some way to weaken the mountain, his acts growing more desperate with time, yet nothing worked.

“Cruelly, the King was forced to wait until he could be freed, forced to watch his precious Warrior defend their Kingdom on his own.”

With a heavy expression, the Warrior abandoned his efforts to return to the original mountain as dozens of terrifying figures surrounded the monkey inhabitants.

“Centuries passed and their love still burned strong. Soon their patience was rewarded, the King was freed but he was soon trapped in a new prison.”

A monk approached the mountain and removed the seal. The King swiftly destroyed the mountain. The monk humbly bowed to the King and offered fresh clothing and a fillet. The King garbed himself in the gifts only to collapse in agony when the monk prayed.

“Enraged the King played along until the time was right. The King and the Warrior reunited in secret and crafted a plan that would allow them to take their revenge on those that dared to separate them.”

The two monkies hugged and nuzzled each other in appreciation. A quick conversation later, the Warrior changed to resemble the King and joined the monk as the King headed into unknown lands.

“Decades later the King was ready to retrieve his love, confident in his regained strength. But when he arrived the Warrior had changed. It was as if the warrior had lost a crucial part of himself. The Warrior tried to dissuade the King from killing the monk and his companions. He even tried to convince him to give up his rage at the Celestial Realm, believing the war that would ensue wasn't worth it.”

The disguised Warrior was traveling with four colorful characters. The King dropped from the sky in front of the group, a massive crater forming around him. The Warrior regained his true form, but instead of returning to his rightful place, he blocked the King’s view of the monk.

“The King could not believe his ears. This could not be his Warrior. His love always understood his goals and knew why heaven had to pay. The King knew this change was the monk’s fault. The King moved to silence the deceiver in one quick strike only to find it blocked by the Warrior.”

The King and Warrior exchanged blows that tore mountains asunder, split the heavens, and burned down forests. The other demons following the monk tried to aid the warrior, but nothing they did seemed to slow down the King, if anything their attacks only served to further enrage him.

“The two clashed until the Warrior fled with the jailers. Time and time again they clashed, but never could the King reach the Warrior he held in his heart.”

The group fled from the battle, but time and time again the King tracked them down. The locations may have changed, but the carnage after each battle remained as world-shattering as the first. In the end, the Group managed to truly escape, and the Warrior vanished into the shadows he wielded, leaving the King alone with nothing but his memories.

“Even now the King yearns for the companionship of his beloved Warrior, knowing that at his core the Warrior craves the same.”

With the final line sending shivers down the spines of the viewers, the puppeteer vanished in a flash of light.

_____________________________

As Mei waited for her family to walk out, she couldn’t help but think about the play. It almost sounded like they were telling the tale of the Monkey King. But that was ridiculous. No one knew the Monkey King’s origins aside from minor details from the Journey to the West. Besides the narrator seemed to view the Monkey Tryant as a hero and victim. Clearly, that guy needed a reality check.

“Hello, young one.” Nearly choking on the remainder of her tea, Mei turned to see the puppeteer standing behind her with a knowing smile.

His cloak shrouding the top of his face in shadow. For a second, Mei envisioned her father Macaque. He would adore that look. Actually, didn’t she see a similar outfit in his closet on Flower Fruit Mountain? Doesn’t he wear that outfit when he’s hosting a shadow play?

Wait. How did he sneak up on her like that? Was she that out of it?

How long has she been quiet? Crap! Say something! “Oh. Ah-hello. C-can I help you with something?”

“I was about to ask the same. You do know the theatre is going to close soon right?”

“What?” Mei grabbed her phone. The digital clock flashed that it was past nine. That couldn’t be right. That meant she had been waiting for nearly an hour. But where were the others? Surely, they wouldn’t have left without telling her. Were they in trouble?

“Is everything alright?”

“Ah- yeah, everything’s fine.” It’s cool. It’s cool. She could handle this. She just needed to stay calm. “No need to worry about me. I just ah-I have a few questions about your play.”

“Yes.”

“How did you could up with the concept? I mean, no offense, but your premise could be taken the wrong way.” Maybe it was the panic over where her family had disappeared to, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being sized up.

“Hm. Have you ever heard the expression ‘History is written by the winners’?”

“Yes. It’s pretty common.” Like one of the most used sayings in the world.

“The tale was designed to show that love is one of the most cherished feelings of all and that in order to protect it, one must be willing to do anything to keep their loved ones safe. The King only wished to keep his beloved by his side, but the Warrior was misled and forced to battle against his love. That story may belong to only two, but similar tales can be experienced in anyone’s life. Tell me, can you think of a time you fought with those you cared about due to a misunderstanding?”

Without even considering it, horrible memories resurfaced. Mei arguing with MK as she tried to stop him from leaving with the newly released Monkey King. Mei forced to battle Red Son as his mind was slowly consumed by the True Fire of Samadhi. Tang lying to them about his true identity. Macaque leaving when they needed him most without saying why.

“I see you can.” The puppeteer gently guided her back into the main hall, where she took a seat on an empty bench.

“It’s nothing. I just-” She honestly didn’t know why she was pouring out her heart to stranger. Maybe she really was that exhausted. “-there’s so much going on and I’m supposed to be strong no matter what. But sometimes it hurts, just thinking about all my mistakes. Sometimes I wonder if I truly am strong. What if bringing me into this was a mistake?”

“What if it was?” That voice!

Mei turned to see Macaque garbed in a strange outfit, one that honestly reminded her of the Monkey King’s. She was confused. She had never seen him wear anything like that, he looked like the Monkey King’s twisted shadow.

And that expression! Her father Macaque had never made that face before. It looked as though he was reveling in her suffering.

“What’s the matter, little jade? Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone.” He extended a hand slowly with the intent to cradle her face. A normal gesture he would use to comfort her, but her every instinct was screaming at her to get away.

Mei jumped to her feet and pulled out her spear, aiming it right between the imposter’s eyes. “Enough games!”

Macaque stared at the spear for a second, his fiendish expression only growing more vicious. He threw his head back with a full-bodied laugh, showing how little he thought of her threat. “Ha. Ha. Ha.”

In a flash of light, the Monkey Tyrant was standing before her, still wearing his puppeteer disguise. “Wow. About time. For a while, I was wondering if you’d ever figure out it was me.” His red and gold eyes carefully roved over her body, taking in every shake and fearful twitch. “Put down the spear, kid. We both know you’re not nearly good enough to scratch me with such a pitiful copy of the Dragon Blade.”

That may have been true, but she’d sooner make out with DBP in full view of Queen Iron Fan than leave herself completely open before this tyrant. “So the play was from your perspective. I always figured you were delusional, but this is a new low. Where is my family?” She all but growled, unknowingly her canines had slightly elongated in response to her rage.

“They never left. I’m surprised you didn’t recognize this.” The Monkey King took out the lantern, once more bathing the room in that familiar glow.

“What’s the big deal about a lantern?”

The stone monkie found her ignorance all the more entertaining. To think he hadn’t warned her of his own past.

“The big deal is that my dear warrior crafted this lantern long ago. It was his finest work and like everything he made it has multiple uses.” With a simple hand gesture, the silhouettes of Pigsy and Sandy appeared on the walls. “The Shadow Lantern can do more than enhance one’s skills in shadow magic, it can trap the bodies and souls of its targets. So long as the targets are trapped, the lantern can steal the shadows of its victims so its master can use them as a personal army until there is nothing left.”

“You expect me to believe Macaque made something so disgusting?” Even as Mei said it, she couldn’t help but recognize how similar the lantern’s magic was to her teacher’s. It was cool and soothing, but on the edge, there was an unmistakable edge of malice. “Even if he did, I doubt he made it without you whispering in his ears.”

“Oh child, you have no idea how many secrets he keeps from you. Let me share one with you.” The lantern grew brighter, and the silhouettes of her family members gained more substance as they peeled away from the walls.

Mei adjusted herself so all opponents were in her sight, but nothing could stop the sweat collecting on her forehead.

She sensed something powerful appear behind her. Jumping out of the way as a spear nearly severed her arm. She faced her new opponent. Only to almost drop her weapon.

Standing before her was another copy of Macaque only this one was even more disturbing. Its eyes burned with purple light, the shadows loving curled around it, but worst of all was the sneer filled with razor-tipped teeth.

“Did you honestly think my love was always so nice?”

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

The former God of Magic resents The Mother for sticking him on Earth, and plans on causing as much havoc as he can to punish Her;

Version 2, Dark!Merlin

INTRO

(Version 1, Good!Merlin)

TW: A lot of emotional manipulation, a little violence, a lot of angst.

~

“You’re late.”

The woman’s well practiced blank mask falls into a scowl as she stares at Merlin with mistrust:

“Well, perhaps I was putting off coming to see you, no matter how necessary it is.”

The gang can see the bob of Merlin’s head as he lets out a low chuckle, and they have to stop themselves from recoiling; they’d never heard a noise like that from their young friend before, it sounded almost... cruel.

He lifts a hand to cover his heart as he says in faux offense:

“You wound me, sister. You didn’t want to see your favourite sibling?”

Everyone frowns in confusion, Merlin doesn’t have... siblings. That’s not even mentioning the fact that this woman barely seems human.

The woman doesn’t hide her slight disgust, taking a step back from Merlin and letting out a harsh breath:

“I came here to tell you that you need to hurry up. Time is running out.”

Merlin chuckles again, turning to the side and taking a few short paces, his hands held leisurely behind his back. The amusement on his face is disturbing, and Arthur gulps, not noticing the way Mordred is growing paler and paler by the second. Merlin doesn’t turn to look at the woman as he speaks, and his smirk stretches wider:

“But I’m having so much fun, Ava!”

The woman, Ava, huffs again, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. If the gang weren’t so semi-sure that Merlin wasn’t dangerous, they’d think she looked scared:

“Mother sent you here to complete a task. Get it done, and you can come home. Isn’t that what you want? To come home?”

Merlin’s smirk falls, and the snarl that the gang briefly see on his face before he whips around to face Ava takes their breath away. They barely notice the thunder, snapping in the distance in time with Merlin’s anger:

“Mother’s the one keeping me here in the first place. She could accept me back any time.”

Ava takes another step back, and Merlin tilts his head ever so slightly at the movement, but waits for her to speak:

“As punishment for your cruelty. She isn’t happy, you’re making a mess of things.”

Merlin chuckles again, tilting his head even further, and his words have an immediate chilling effect on the group hiding in the bushes:

“Well, if she insists on sending the God of Chaos to fix a problem, perhaps she should expect a little mess. Plus, I’m having more fun here than I’ve had in centuries. These humans... so gullible.-”

Ava shakes her head mournfully, but before she can say anything, Merlin continues, now pacing calmly around the clearing, waving his hands and grinning in his excitement:

“-I mean, they’re just so... easy. To play with, to manipulate. You know they all trust me? They all come running to naïve, innocent, loving little Merlin, spilling all their secrets as they go. Did you know, the drunkard is the son of a noble? “Fuck nobility” my arse, he is nobility.-”

Gwaine clenches his jaw and looks to the floor, ignoring the stares of Arthur and Leon, but before anything can be muttered, Merlin continues, listing their greatest secrets off on his fingers:

“-The gentle giant is terrified that someone’s going to find out that his preferences lie with men, which is ridiculous considering the way he stares at the aforementioned drunkard when he thinks no one but little old me is watching. The blacksmith, even years on, is terrified that his whore sister will never forgive him for... something or other, I wasn’t really paying attention. Camelot’s first, The King’s most trusted, has a debilitating fear of heights, and oh if it isn’t just hilarious to watch when he has to patrol the city walls. And then, there’s the-”

Ava rolls her mournful eyes and interrupts him:

“Your point, Em?”

Merlin laughs, fully and from the belly, but the sound doesn’t bring the gang joy like it normally does:

“My point, is that I’ve got these idiots wrapped around my finger. Mortals: the universe’s most fun toy. I haven’t even gotten to half of them yet. There’s the noble one, who thinks he holds my trust, the Druid boy, whose only redeeming feature is that he’s destined to kill the King Prat one day; believe me, if it weren’t for that I’d have killed the annoying little twerp years ago. Then there’s the King Prat’s magical sister, who is full of such terror. I play with her dreams some nights, force visions of pyres and hatred and destruction to play over and over in her mind. It’s rather amusing, watching her thrash and sweat and whimper in her sleep.-”

Arthur’s head had whipped around to Morgana when Merlin had mentioned her, but the tears streaming down her face and the way her hand was clamped tightly over her mouth stripped his anger from him. Which left him with no distraction, no way to ignore the simple fact of what was happening right now. Merlin was... not what they thought. He was powerful, he was using them. He was playing with them like puppets and pulling their strings this way and that, watching as they could do nothing but follow. Arthur didn’t know what to think, and he definitely didn’t notice the tears on his own cheeks.

Mordred was pale to the point of looking like he was about to faint and Lancelot had a deep frown on his face, tears in his eyes but not quite falling, not yet. This was... a misunderstanding. He... he knows Merlin, this is a trick, or a trap, he’ll explain later and everything will be just fine. He just has to... to trust him. Everything will be fine.

Gwaine keeps his gaze on the floor. A small part of him was feeling a little prideful that Percival liked him back, but the rest of him... had no room for anything but grief. He had suspected that Merlin had magic, but this was something else, this was... a whole new person. Did he ever really know Merlin? Did any of them? 

Elyan and Gwen sat pressed together tightly, though Gwen had one hand on Morgana’s shaking back, and her other was reaching around Elyan, gripping Leon’s shoulder tightly. Leon was just staring blankly at the scene in front of him, though anyone that knew him well enough would be able to see the tight clench of his jaw and the anger (and grief) in his eyes.

Ava interrupted Merlin’s gleeful ranting, the tears in her eyes a little more prominent as she took on a slightly more desperate tone:

“Please, Em, just... stop. They’re important, they have destinies, you can not destroy them or push them too far; this is cruel, even for you. This... you never used to be like this.”

Merlin turns around, facing away from his sister and giving the hidden group full view of his rage-filled face. His voice is quiet and clipped and angry as he asks:

“Oh?”

Another roll of thunder echoes through the clearing, closer this time, and fat droplets of rain fall harshly from the sky, mixing with the tears on everyone’s face. Ava sighs, tears overflowing as she gulps before answering, her voice shaking slightly as she takes a step towards Merlin:

“You’re meant to be the God of Magic, not Chaos. You were so... beautiful, balanced. You saw wonder in everything, every little spark of magic and every single prayer put a smile on your face. You loved humanity even more than Mother did. Now look at you, you’re tormenting them, torturing them. This isn’t you, Em, please. Help them, and things can go back to the way they were, help them and you can come home.”

The anger on Merlin’s face had only grown as she spoke, and each individual hidden in the bushes had to make a concerted effort to stop themselves from bolting. None of them had felt terror like it, and the fact that it was Merlin they were all so scared of... well, it didn’t help.

Lightening streaks across the sky and wind howls violently through the forest, calming only when Merlin shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath, straightening his back and smirking slightly before he replies, still not turning around to face his sister:

“You’re right. I loved humanity, I was desperate to see them succeed. And then they butchered me. I gave them this universe to frolic in, and in return they call me a monster, a beast, they call me evil, they make nightmares out of me. I still listen to every little prayer, and do you know what I hear? I hear my people, my wonderful little creations, my creatures of magic, begging for mercy, begging for the pain to stop. The humanity I so used to love turned on them, began to burn them, out of spite and fear and hatred. I will not show them any more grace than they have showed me, I will give them exactly what they deserve, and that blonde idiot is at the top of my list of people who have to fucking pay. I won’t destroy him entirely, because ultimately I want my creatures to stop suffering, but I will break him. I will rip him apart piece by piece for what he has done to me.-”

The absolute fury in Merlin’s words, the hatred, translates to thunder in the sky and agony in Arthur’s chest. The King can barely breathe, muffling the sobs tearing from his mouth with both hands, both terrified of being discovered, and desperate to... to let Merlin punish him for the pain he has caused.

Leon settles a shaking hand on his shoulder, but Arthur doesn’t look his way, his blurry gaze focused on Merlin, now finally turning back to his sister:

“-You know, I’m this close to getting that big blonde idiot to fall in love with me. How pathetic is that?? All it took was a few touches here, a few lingering stares there, saving his life occasionally. The man is so pathetically starved for attention I imagine he’d fall for anyone who showed him the barest amount of affection. That is how I will break him.-”

The only thing stopping Arthur from sobbing aloud is Leon collapsing behind him, pulling the young King back into his chest and wrapping a tight arm around his torso, one hand clamped over his mouth as he mutters desperate reassurances into his ear. Morgana pulls Gwen close in a similar way when the servant’s cries grow harsher, her brother burying his face in her shoulder.

Lancelot barely notices Gwaine gripping his arm hard enough to leave bruises for weeks, or Percival pushing his forehead into Lance’s shoulder blade. All he can do is sit and stare at the ground, his breathing slow but shaky, tears streaming silently down his face as he rethinks everything he’s ever known.

Mordred sits on his own, rocking back and forth rhythmically as he tightens the clutch he has around his knees. Tears drip from his young cheeks, poisoning the ground beneath him as he struggles to consider his faith. His faith in magic, in Emrys, who was meant to be balanced and beautiful and giving. Emrys, who he now knew was twisted and angry and desperate for revenge.

All of their hearts are splitting, cracking down the middle.

“-It won’t be physical pain, no, that’ll be down to the Druid boy. He doesn’t want to kill Arthur now, but he will, one day, when I give him one final push. He’ll fall so far into the darkness there’ll be nothing of him left to save, and when he plunges his sword into The Pendragon’s chest, I’ll sit back and watch with a smile on my face, and Arthur will realise that the man he loves, the man who claimed to love him in return, hated him all along. Tricked him. I will watch the life drain from his eyes, and he will spend his last few moments on this world in every kind of agony imaginable, lost in the knowledge that I wanted him to suffer, that he is being punished for his sins.”

Ava shakes her head, silver tears dripping from her emerald eyes as she stares at the floor:

“Are Sir Mordred and the Lady Morgana not your creatures? Do you not wish to save at least them?”

Merlin chuckles darkly:

“I had faith in them once, but they made their decisions. They sided with a Pendragon over me. Mother may be fond of her precious Once and Future King, but to be fair, she’s fond of anything with a pulse, and I, for one, can not wait until she’s not quite so fond of him anymore.”

Ava gulps, taking a desperate step towards her amused brother, but before she can say anything, before she can make one last plea for mercy on humanity’s behalf, Merlin tilts his head, smirking dangerously:

“Do you think they’re scared?”

She halts in her tracks, blinking in confusion, and Merlin’s smile grows into a chuckle as he gestures behind him:

“The King and all his little friends, hidden in the bushes. Do you think they’re scared?” 

The gang barely have time to look up in shock before their bodies are moving, out of their control. They stand rigidly and walk single-file out from their hiding place, coming to stand in a line at the side of the clearing. Merlin hasn’t even looked at them, but his hand floats in the air, a sickly looking yellow mist swirling around his fingers as he tilts his head at his sister, staring in horror at The King, the knights, the Lady, and the servant.

Merlin drops his hand and they all fall to their knees, not even bothering to be brave as they sob. The angry God finally turns, and the serene smile on his face is chilling as he walks towards them, coming to stand in front of Lance and Mordred first. The two of them are the calmest, though calm in the way that they don’t really look... present. They stare blankly ahead, breathing shallow and tears still falling as Merlin crouches in front of them, gripping a chin in each hand and shaking their heads roughly. His voice comes out a whisper, the frown on his face looking more disappointed than anything:

“So much faith, so much trust. It’s a little pitiful, if I’m being honest.”

They don’t react to his words and he smirks before letting them go and standing, moving on to Elyan and Gwen, gripping the knight’s shoulder and saying with mocking sympathy in his voice:

“You were right, by the way,-”

He glances at a fully sobbing Gwen with disgust:

“-she’ll never forgive you, but she’ll never tell you that. You’ll just spend the rest of your life wondering why your relationship was never the same.”

Next, he shuffles over to Gwaine, not even bothering to see the siblings’ reactions as he passes Leon and Percival with a look of disinterest on his face. He leans down in front of the knight, running a soft hand through his hair, waiting for the man to relax slightly before gripping his hair harshly and yanking back, so he has to look up at him. Merlin gives him a blindingly cruel smile:

“You're grateful that Percival is just as in love with you as you are with him, but don’t think yourself too lucky. You’re a hypocrite and a drunk, and my dear old Percy has too much self respect to put himself through that. I’d go for a good tumble in the hay and give up while you’re ahead.”

Once again, he moves back, his sister having to look away in her grief, her empathy drowning her. The God comes to stand in front of Morgana, who is desperately trying to look brave but failing miserably:

“And you. You’re meant to be The Darkness, but I couldn’t very well have you outdo me, could I? Try your hardest, I’ll still be the end of you, and I wait with baited breath for the day you fall, and the day soon after that, when I get to kill you.”

She break down in tears again at that, horrified with the idea that she might one day be on the same end of morality and cruelty as this monster in front of her.

Merlin smirks before rolling his eyes and finally coming to stand in front of Arthur. The King calms his breathing just enough to look up at a smirking Merlin, his voice cracking and barely-there as he mutters:

“Please... Merlin, please...”

The smirk drops from Merlin’s face as he brings his hand up, the sickly yellow mist back again. Arthur rises from the floor, hands clutching at his throat as the air is drawn from his lungs. Merlin steps closer to his with a snarl, his free hand gripping Arthur’s chin like a vice, though his voice eerily calm as he murmurs:

“You. You and Uther were so desperate for a scape-goat, for a villain, for a monster. And you picked magic, you picked me. So stop being so fucking pathetic, I’m just playing the part you gave me to perfection. You picked the premise, I’m writing the ending.”

Ava finally speaks up, her voice loud, despite the waver:

“Brother please, this is... this is beyond cruelty, please just stop.”

Arthur is dropped, and The King can barely find it in himself to choke for air as Merlin turns back to his sister, the amused smirk back on his face:

“Why? None of them are going to remember in the morning anyway. I’ve had my fun, this has been cathartic, but I can’t have them ruining my plans. So run along now sister, tell Mother that her precious task is being completed, I’m just taking the scenic route.” 

She shakes her head in defeat, staring at the floor. She lifts her head, opening her mouth to make one last attempt, but she closes it, realising that there’s nothing she could possibly say to persuade him to suddenly have mercy, mercy that no one had ever shown him. She gulps, letting out a deep breath before shaking her head again and turning around, walking back into the trees, the way she came.

The God looks back to his puppets, shivering in time with their knotted strings, smirking once more before he clicks his fingers and everything goes dark.

~

Arthur wakes the next morning feeling oddly refreshed and surprisingly unannoyed at his idiot manservant’s lateness. He rolls his eyes at the bright sunshine glaring through his curtains, the sun certainly a lot higher in the sky than it should be at the time The King wakes, but oh well. Merlin has been chipper lately, and the warmth that Arthur feels in his chest at the younger man’s happiness makes him more likely to forgive him his tardiness.

As if thinking of him had summoned him (wishful thinking on Arthur’s part), Merlin bursts through the doors, not bothering to knock as per usual, a breakfast-laden tray in his arms and a cheeky grin on his face. Arthur rolls his eyes again, chucking a pillow at Merlin half-heartedly as he grumbles, also half-heartedly:

“You’re late.”

Merlin chuckles, setting the tray down on the table before jogging endearingly over to Arthur’s bedside, grabbing his hand and pulling him to stand upright:

“Something tells me you don’t mind all that much, Your Pratness.”

Arthur huffs, but only to stop himself from smiling, and resolutely ignores the way Merlin’s hand is still in his. The servant squeezes his palm softly, and Arthur gulps, pulling away and walking towards his meal, hoping the food would squash the butterflies in his stomach.

He rubs the sleep from his eyes, smiling to himself softly at a whole range of things: the good night’s rest he’d had, the bright sunshine, Merlin’s good mood, the sensation of Merlin’s hand in his own, Merlin’s dazzling smile, Merlin, Merlin, Merlin...

Merlin stares at his back as he goes, noting with a dangerously satisfied smirk the red blush of his ears.

The scenic route indeed.

~

THE END!!

Oops I made myself sad. Sorry to say but I hope this makes you sad too.

This was SUPER fun to write and I’m so glad I decided to do two versions😅

Link to the Good!Merlin version (much MUCH fluffier, I promise) at the top!!

[mauesartetc]

What tips would you give up-and-coming writers, animators, or creators in general?

Alright, I'll give it a shot. If I had exactly one piece of advice to give to each of those groups:

Writers- Give your characters agency. Put yourself in their shoes to determine the story's natural outcome, rather than manipulating them like puppets to get the ending you want. 

If, for example, you want characters X and Y to end up as good friends, but X betrays Y in an incredibly hurtful way, based on your own life experience, how do you think Y will react? Will they immediately forgive X, or will it take a lot of time and effort for X to win back their trust? 

Two more factors affecting character reactions: What a character knows and what they want. Let’s say X and Y are in the wilderness and Y is wounded. X would want to heal Y because Y is their beloved friend (and it’d help get X back into Y’s good graces after the betrayal). X isn’t a doctor, but they have extensive education in botany, and they know of a plant species native to the area that can stop the bleeding and soothe Y’s pain. So now X wants to find the plant, and must quickly get to know the surrounding landmarks so they don’t get lost on their way back to Y.

It’s kinda like a role-playing game, except you’re both the game master (throwing different twists and turns at the characters based on how you’ve set up the world) and a player (determining how a character would handle a situation based on their personality, skills, and equipment). Really, the main goal of giving your characters agency is making them feel like real people so the audience gets invested in them, and by extension, the larger story.

Animators- Live your damn lives. Seriously.

One problem I see with new animators is inauthenticity in their work. Characters’ displays of emotion are either too cutesy or sensationalized to feel genuine. Worse, even some professionals have “referenced” (read: traced) others’ work while passing it off as their own. Not a good look, folks. 

This stems from spending too much time in the animated world and not enough in the real one. It’s all well and good to reverse engineer inspirational works to see how they tick as educational practice; for example, finding the key poses and breakdowns in an animation, drawing clean outlines over them, and continuing the cleanup process on your own without further reference. However, your animator’s brain stew is missing a key ingredient: Observation.  

To be truly observant, an animator must carefully watch and absorb what goes on in real life, as reality contains numerous eccentricities that’ll help you avoid visual cliches. Notice how different bird species fly in different ways, or how kids entertain themselves while waiting for food at restaurants, or that weird thing your cat does when he thinks you aren’t looking. I once saw a guy hold a water bottle at the bottom and tilt the water into his mouth, which was extremely odd to me. Why not grab it around the middle? Is this a cultural thing? Did he want to avoid anyone snapping pics and Photoshopping a dick into his hand? The world may never know. But maybe he’ll inspire a character’s mannerisms someday.

I know we’re in a pandemic and everything, but it won’t hurt to get outside, safely distance from others, and just look at shit. And it won’t hurt to take a sketchbook along so you remember what you saw.

Artists in general- You are more than your art style.

Louder for those in the back:

YOU. ARE MORE. THAN YOUR ART STYLE.

I see noobs get hung up on this all the time. “I hate my style”, “My style’s not unique enough”, “Maybe if I draw like this other artist I’ll be happy with it”. But here’s the thing: Your true art style is already inside you, like a gold nugget buried deep. You just need more experience with the fundamentals of art to chip away and dig it out.

I sat in tons of figure drawing classes in art school. In every single one, without fail, even though everyone was drawing the same subject and everyone was going for realism, every drawing looked different. True, we all viewed the subject from different angles, but it was more than that. Some students drew with a light hand while others pressed down hard. Some used hatching to shade while others used smooth gradients. Some drew the full figure in detail while others focused on certain areas of interest (not like that, you pervs). And over time, we could tell who drew what without even knowing where they sat.

Let’s say someone asks a group of artists to draw a dog from their imaginations. No requirements, no specifics, just a dog. Naturally, all the drawings would come back differently, ranging from full-body views of dogs to just the heads, from abstract to realistic, from Retrievers to Pugs, from color to grayscale, from graphite to markers, from hatching to stippling.

Now let’s try a more specific suggestion: Draw a full-body German Shepherd dog in full color, in a cartoony rubber-hose style, standing on its hind legs, holding a yellow ball in its mouth, positioned in a three-quarter view facing the viewer’s left, with markers and with hatching strokes to shade. You’d still get a variety of results that any random observer would notice weren’t created by the same person.

The takeaway here is that style comes naturally. We’re all informed by our unique combinations of inspiration and life experiences. Be patient, keep making art, and don’t stress out over it. You’ll reach that gold nugget in due course. But if you try to make your art match someone else’s gold, well... It’s just pyrite. An imitation. Fake. Don’t be fake, y’all. Be true to yourselves. 

Hope that helps someone.

[lynxgriffin]

This will most likely be the last time I get to ask something about Paper Trail. So let’s make it a good one.

Firstly: why was there such a lack of Annoying Dog? There wasn’t much to be seen in terms of that. And I figure there should’ve at least been more than there was.

Secondly: was Gaster expecting the player to sever the connection? He said so much about seeing it through to the end. But even though we have a sort of end, it clearly wasn’t the true end- not the one Gaster interpreted from his saying for sure. So did this throw a wrench in his plans?

Third: who’s to say Kris doesn’t make a new ‘puppet’ themselves via using Gaster’s past knowledge against him? Perhaps down the road they might need some sort of help- help that only a SOUL could provide properly. And with the tie to us cut, the tie to the SOUL was cut as well. And Kris knows what a SOUL can do- SAVE, LOAD, be able to learn from mistakes even in a do-or-die situation… so perhaps that could happen, and while I already know you won’t be returning to this, perhaps someone else can take ‘control’ this time- not of Kris however. That ship has sailed too far away for boarding. (And it’s make sense plot-wise too- a different writer, a different player. A different connection entirely.)

Fourth: mentioning the SOUL made me realize, would Kris have the ability to SAVE and LOAD now? He lost connection with the SOUL, and the SOUL is how he SAVEd and LOADed. So he likely lost access with the SAVE, much like how it happened with DOFP.

Fifth: that mentioned, what would happen if the player tried to LOAD the SAVE file now that it’s no longer linked to Kris? Would the results be something in the vein of DOFP, where it essentially was allowing access to the events around the time of the last save (before we first met HyperFloof) but not quite RESET to that point? Perhaps a sort of ‘temporary link’ to allow access up to where the link was severed, then accessing a separate area? Or will it just be corrupt and inaccessible?

Sixth: if Gaster was able to reach out to the other versions of Undertale/Deltarune, would Kris and the others be able to do the same (given the opportunity)? Gaster managed to do so through technology- and technology is open to anyone who can access it. So if Kris got in, would they be able to call up names of the Undertale characters?

Seventh, and clearly the most important: would we have gotten to see the Ralsei fusion with Asriel added in? Because I think everyone wants to see all of the Ralsei group, alongside Asriel, becoming the true God of HyperFloof. That’s probably the worst thing the cliffhanger ending resulted in. Now nobody can have the true floof. ;-;

Eighth, and the last one: who would you want to take up the mantle of this story, should it be continued? (Plus sub-question, would you want to see it drawn or just written as a story?) Because we all want to see what happens next, admittedly- Gaster does have us there- but we don’t want to hold onto the connection with Kris- YOUR connection- any longer. So perhaps we can forge a different connection. One that not only will leave Kris alone, but also will let you rest. You’ve spent so much effort on this story, and it’s time that you get a much-needed break, while Kris finally gets their freedom. But who would you want to see the story continued by? And how would you want it to do so?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I’m glad to have been able to be here for the whole thing. (Or at least the best parts, haha.) Take your break, Lynx- you deserve it.

Holy cow, that is a SUPER long comment! So I just wanted to say thank you VERY much for sending all these thoughts!! Uhh will try and get through them all:

1) Annoying Dog is busy playing the maracas in the librarby! We should leave it alone.

2) Gaster was not expecting that at all, so that would've thrown a big wrench into his plans.

3) While Kris might know about it, I don't think it'd be anything that they know how to initiate or control. It was a struggle enough for them just to try and have even some agency over what they did when the player was in control.

4) Kris would likely still be able to see the SAVE points, but wouldn't have the ability to load from them anymore.

5) That particular file would probably be inaccessible. But since Deltarune has multiple save files, another one might work, it'd just be starting all over from the beginning.

6) If they got access to the technology and figured out how to use it, then perhaps yes. That's a lot of extra factors to get through, though.

7) That may not be able to work since Asriel is not a Darkner himself. But there's always imaginations!

8) I don't have any preference or such for what people choose to do with the story from here! Folks can take it in whatever direction speaks to them! So I don't want to give any preferences for what I want to see...I'm just happy people would want to engage with it and write something themselves!

Thank you very much again!

[incarnateirony]

*rubs eyes* As if the last few days weren't emotionally exhausting enough, the whole Tulsi thing got brought back up to me in DM and actually clarified later in who posted which copies on which instagrams tonight WRT the UFC event. And I kind of wish it hadn't been, because this is another

Beyond Jared's story, the images related were posted on two timelines: thebigpygmy (the professional mma fighter jared was hanging out with) and suckerpunchent (the premiere marketing & talent handling of mma and ufc).

Suckerpunchent posted The Cursed Image with,

And Big Pygmy also chimed in,

But this is also the day that Tulsi got her weird UFC backdrop red carpet moment where she started waxing poetic about Joe Rogan to defend him.

So --

[sighs tiredly in Gen interview about Jared convincing her to listen to Joe Rogan]

And UFC is owned by Endeavor, not CBS, so nobody can cry that CBS put a gun to his head to make poor Jared pose for the PR. Endeavor is another form of WME, the talent rep group... but also not Jared's, he's UTC. So no, his agency didn't force him to do it either.

Just kinda. Putting it on file, really.

I'm sure the usual J1ers will attack this post, aggressively miss the point on purpose, compare it to the fact that Jensen's talked to or done some vague business with a trumper at one point instead of living in a fictional bubble where the only people he's breathed in the vicinity of could be democrats, and then try to bang on that religiously as a distraction, acting unable to tell the difference between engaging directly in the image shaping of a well known russian operative putin puppet in the us government being given red carpet treatment to endorse misinformation in the US.

"Well... JENSEN sold that republican voting guy's wine! And there was a taco truck from someone related to someone, before." and they'll pat themselves on the back and be like. "well done. We've convinced ourselves we've successfully torn someone else down publicly in direct response to someone simply documenting the behavior of someone willfully assisting in the image repair of several people DIRECTLY destroying democracy rather than having a different general opinion, one of which is currently accusing Ukraine of [checks notes] daring to exist, so Russia attacking it was its own damn fault."

I mean, to the surprise of nobody who's heard a single thing Tulsi has done for the last 4 years. Bc like. If you opened social media at ALL beyond Rogan's bubble for US politics you'd have been hit by a wall of "proof Tulsi is a putin operative" like diapers pouring out of the walls in spongebob

But I mean, they can't really build him up, they can't answer these things. So it'll become deranged swings at Jensen or Misha about things generally both 1) made up/wildly decontextualized and 2) having absolutely no fucking relevance to the conversation. Like the effort is always "let me try to convince myself you're hypocrites by throwing unrelated, made up, decontextualized garbage at the wall, and just saying you stan trash, so me stanning trash is ok". Like. That's always the core of their method. They just. Like living in trash, and try to tear everything down into their garbage, even when it doesn't belong there.

Hell, one tried to come at me today "well BOBO likes Tulsi." fuck? Did I miss that? Cuz I'd say fuck him too, but that doesn't seem like his politics, I'll search. Hm. Gay man jokes she's hot. Gay man makes joke about her hair streaks. Berens talks about her candidacy being over. "It's not turning up in the search function, can you tell me where? All I'm finding is Rogue jokes and Kamala eating her." crickets. Oh. weird. So that was just. Trying to tear someone down. Did you. Just. Think I wouldn't check and hold him accountable too, if he had suddenly gone insane and broken his political stances he's had since 2003 at least? Shit, man. Nah, that's only yall that do that shit.

Just.

I'm going to FUCKING sleep.

[candythemew]

🔥 SkekLach (can be AOR Lach, Manga Lach, or JM Lee’s Lach)

OH BOY GET READY FOR AN ESSAY!!

(Also old post I’m getting back to, but for context this was for TDC Hot Takes. She asked for my favorite version of SkekLach.)

     Whenever I see SkekLach, it is such a joy regardless of iteration. I don’t know what it is exactly but I absolutely adore her. Although this wasn’t always the case! Originally I was indifferent to her and found her to be physically repulsive. I literally couldn’t look at her for extended periods of time. But through re-watching the series she’s really grown on me! ...But I think you all know about that by now! (Search her up on google and you’ll find SO much of my art.) ◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬      Each iteration has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, but I adore all of them. If you want to spare yourself a fangirlish analysis, I like AoR!Lach the best, but Manga!Lach is extremely cool. Although everyone shares traits, it’s more like comparing apples and oranges rather than [ X ] is better than [ Y ] . There is some overlap and bleeding between characters, but ultimately these are all vastly different timelines with different circumstances and characters. I’ll be dissecting each of them under the cut! ◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

     As said above, There are three versions of The Collector. In order, the first one to be created was the Legendsverse/Manga SkekLach the Collector. Followed by the J.M. Lee/ Novel SkekLach, and finally AoR SkekLach. Who we see in age of resistance, and is the Collector of the main canon’s timeline. When I write for her, I tend to do a bit of blending with her various other versions. But even in the show, she’s a lot more keen and intelligent than she lets on to be. You just have to look for it! A lot of her character traits are subtle. I only really grew an appreciation for her after my first re-watch of the series! ◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬ Another thing to notice when it comes to the Collector is that unlike other alternate versions of canon characters, most main characters are relatively unchanged. SkekLach however has the most diversity in her character differences and alts.

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

𝕷𝖊𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖘𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖊

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬      Manga!Lach has a much more muscular build. Even for his old age. He is adorned in ornate armor rife with symbolism and battle scars marring his flesh. These quirks to his character design reflect both his intelligence, and physical prowess in combat. His armor is stylized to look like faces. Both intimidating and fearful expressions decorating him in a display of intimidation. Fun Fact: in the manga, SkekLach was the second tallest Skeksis. With the Ritual Master being the true tallest of course. SkekLach was also a bit of a beastmaster. He had a loyal pack of Arduff always by his side ready to snatch up any unfortunate gelfling (or skeksis!) who got in his way. As well as a group of small, crawlie like creatures called Spy-eyes. He would have these creatures attatch themselves to a victim, and they would be allowed to see and hear anything said victim did. Anything they knew, The Collector would know too. He used these creatures to ensure Lahr’s co-operation in his plan for securing his place as Emperor SkekSo’s favorite and to foil The Chamberlain and Garthim Master’s plans against him. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that he’s also a tactical mastermind?

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

𝔍.𝔐. 𝔏𝔢𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔤 𝔄𝔡𝔲𝔩𝔱 𝔑𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩𝔰

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

     Novel SkekLach is much more toned down, calm and (no pun intended) collected. Although he shares some qualities with both his manga and AoR counterparts, he’s kind of his own thing. He’s portrayed as more skinny and lanky. With a beak more similar in shape to SkekOk’s and wearing what appears to be a crown on his head. This Lach is much more directly involved with politics and wants to see his job through. Or at the very least just to get things over with. Oddly enough, unlike his previous version, he performs the Gelfling censuses. This trait would be later carried onto his canon successor. He was often blunt and to the point like AoR Lach, but didn’t really have the same punch that she has. In the novels he also has an animal companion. Much like Manga!Lach. A Royal Blue Phegnese. An avian mount creature that we never get to see, but we do get a loose description of. This was his preferred mount of choice. He was also good friends with SkekOk. They would often write to each other and even got drunk together. This is likely what inspired their close bond in AoR.

◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬ 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨 ℭ𝔯𝔶𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔩: 𝔄𝔤𝔢 𝔬𝔣 ℜ𝔢𝔰𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 ◬☾——– ≪ °✾° ≫ ——–☽◬

     And finally, our girl, AoR SkekLach! Everyone pretty much knows what she looks like by now. Incredibly diseased with oozing pustules that cause her constant pain every second of every day. Short snouted with dulled down tusks that were once razor sharp, and even sharper goldenrod eyes. (A glimpse back to the glory days perhaps?) Also since her introduction, she is the shortest skeksis in the series. Taking SkekOk the Scroll-keeper's orginal title of shortest by being about a head and a half shorter than him. Although she’s a female Skeksis, she’s not traditionally feminine. An interesting aesthetic choice for a female presenting Skeksis! Most of her colors being toned down blues and greens, Although she does have lots of bows that adorn her robes. Predominantly on her sleeves and shoulders. and in close up shots you can see that her puppet model has very distinct and pretty eyelashes. She’s very dirty as she doesn’t care much for her hygiene anymore. She doesn’t make an effort to change things as she has already tried multiple times to improve her condition, and has failed every time. The way she acts and presents can help us know that she's been through a lot. You can especially see this in the way she talks to others as well as herself. Adopting a mindset of: “Things either always stay the same or get worse.” This causes her to stay demotivated. To the point of not doing much of anything. She idolizes the glory days of her youth and desperatley wishes to go back to them, but she's a bit more self aware than her peers. Even she mocks her them for thinking that they can truly return to their former splendor. Although speculation on my part; it’s more than likely that in her prime she was similar to her manga counterpart. As she’s deceptively observant and oftentimes makes snide remarks in the background. Although she doesn’t care for showing it off. Being apolitical in the court, she sees no point in it. …Aside from the occasional drama or rumor she hears from either the Ornamentalist or Scroll-Keeper. As she's part of their little circle. Although speculation, she might even have some battle scars under her robes. As she’s talented when it comes to battle. Evidence to support this is when SkekVar the General asks for her assistance. Specifically when the Emperor ordered him to deal with the Gelfling. He picks her out of all of them. When she denies, he asks again reassuring her with an encouraging, “Come now! It’ll be fun!” While she replies with a disbelieving, “Ugh, I DOUBT that…” …And SkekVar was right. SHE DID HAVE FUN!

…And she got acid spit in her face which must have hurt 1,000 times more than it would for someone else as she’s very sensitive in her face due to her pustules. But hey! She got to kill a spitter and her mood changes pretty drastically for the positive going from that. Although she won't be able to enjoy it for too long since she dies 2 episodes later. Also when she drinks essence with the rest of the court during the scene where Skeksil watches the rest of them to make sure the Grunaks did their job, if you listen in the background she just straight up yells "I'M GONNA FIGHT A LANDSTRIDER!!" She wants to punch a horse. Good for her! So basically I just talked about all three of them at length for no reason but I hope you liked my ted talk. I have no idea where I was going with this, but yeah. I really really like SkekLach.

[reinerispretty]

I love your writing 🥺 Can you do a Sokka imagine where the reader is a firebender so Sokka doesnt take well to her joining the gaang at first, and they always bicker/ throw sarcastic comments at each other and the gaang is so sick of it! But one day they are forced to be alone together (they go on a mission?) and sparks fly n they kiss or something 😳 they return to camp and the gaang is like... ok why r u guys tolerating eachother and u guys r inseparable and super couply from then on!

hi!! sorry i’m just now getting to this!! i like to put lots of effort into my requests so i wanted it to be the best it could be :D hope you enjoy!!

---

(Y/N) had always been very proud of her firebending. Not everyone in the town she had grown up in were benders, so being able to bend one of the elements was a great honor. Because of her powers, she was on track to join the Fire Nation military. These plans changed of course, as soon as she met the Avatar and his friends. She had helped them escape capture and joined them on their adventures. They were all pretty hesitant about her joining, but eventually Toph vouched for her by saying that she wasn’t lying when she told them all she had ever wanted was to help people. 

(Y/N) had been traveling with their group for a few weeks and was slowly starting to build friendships with the other members of her group. Aang absolutely refused to learn firebending from her, but watched and laughed as she made little dragon puppets out of fire after dinner. She and Toph became fast friends, as they both had a similar wit and nonchalance about life. Katara took a bit to fully warm up to her, but (Y/N) was relentless and eventually they could exchange pleasant conversation as they cooked dinner. Even Appa licked her when she brought him hay, and Momo had started sharing his berries with her. The only person who didn’t like her at all was Sokka. 

“I don’t want a firebender joining us,” He had said pointedly when she first joined the group. He had been outvoted, of course, and now whenever (Y/N) did anything, he had something to say in return. If she arranged the sleeping bags, he complained about their positioning. If she made dinner that night, he complained about the taste. It seemed like he went out of his way to make her feel bad. 

Initially (Y/N) had tried to understand. The Fire Nation had hurt his people, so it was only natural that he was apprehensive toward her. But then his words started to hurt. One day, he had mentioned that she had betrayed her own people, so it would only be a matter of time until she betrayed them, too, and (Y/N) had had enough. She threw her bowl of soup to the ground and stood up. “What’s your problem?” She demanded. 

“My problem is with you,” He spat. “You’re Fire Nation, you can’t be trusted.” 

“Don’t you think that if I had even thought about turning you all in to the Fire Lord, I would have done it already?” 

“I don’t know what goes on in your little spy brain!” 

“I know what goes on in your brain: absolutely nothing!” She let out a frustrated scream and turned on her heel, marching into her tent. The rest of the group stared at Sokka awkwardly. 

“She’s such a piece of work,” He grumbled, sipping on his soup. “Can you believe her?” 

Over the next few weeks, whenever Sokka said an insult toward (Y/N) she’d shoot one right back. If he wanted to be a pain in her side, fine. She’d be one in his, too. 

“You sure your twig arms can handle that firewood?” She asked him as he brought wood for their campfire. 

“Hey, at least I’m doing something. What, are you too busy plotting how to take over the world to help?” 

Their conversations were just insults and sarcastic quips, and eventually the rest of the group started to get sick of it. One night, as they sat at dinner, (Y/N) and Sokka were bickering because they had been forced to sit beside each other. Toph drove a piece of earth between them and flung them in opposite directions. “Would you guys quit it!” The girl shouted. “I only have four out of the five senses and you guys are driving them all crazy!” 

“Sorry, Toph,” (Y/N) apologized, brushing herself off. “You know how he is.” 

“Me?” Sokka exclaimed. “Toph, you know how she is!” 

“You arrogant, good for nothing--” 

“Ow!” Aang shouted, clutching his foot. The group stopped to look at him. “Ow, ow, ow, I think I stepped on something. My foot really hurts!” Katara rushed over to take a look and furrowed her brows. 

“I don’t--” 

“Oh, Sokka,” Aang sighed. “I don’t think I can go on that mission with you tomorrow, my foot just hurts too bad!” He gave Katara a big wink. 

“Oh, of course!” She said, finally getting what Aang was trying to do. “I have to stay here and help Aang heal. I’ll need Toph’s help, too, so (Y/N) is the only one who can go on the mission with you.” 

“I’d rather go alone,” Sokka said, crossing his arms. 

“Please, how are you going to defend yourself if you don’t have a bender with you?” (Y/N) asked with a roll of her eyes. Sokka balled his fists and stormed off to his tent, mumbling angry, incoherent sentences. (Y/N) yawned and retreated back to her tent for the night. 

“I’m not really injured,” Aang said. 

“Really?” Toph deadpanned. “Couldn’t tell.” 

“I just wanted a break from the two of them. They’re always fighting!” 

“Who knows,” Katara said with a smile. “Maybe the trip will bring them closer together.” 

The next morning, (Y/N) and Sokka begrudgingly walked side-by-side to their mission. They were doing a stake out of some Fire Navy ships to see what kind of weapons they were storing on them. They climbed up to a tall hillside, where they could comfortably watch the ships. As long as they were quiet, they wouldn’t bring any attention to themselves. 

Sokka’s plan was to stay there for a full twenty-four hours. Every time (Y/N) thought about being around him that long, she nearly gagged, but she had to swallow it down because she knew this mission would be for the greater good. Hopefully, there would be more watching than talking.

They set up their tents behind some rocks so they would not look suspicious. And then, they sat. And they sat for a long time. (Y/N) was growing increasingly bored, just watching soldiers go in and out of the ships. She sighed, laying back down on the grass. 

“What exactly are we looking for?” 

“Nothing.” She propped herself up on her elbows. 

“Excuse me?” 

“We aren’t looking for anything. Well, not anything specific. I just want to know what kind of weapons they’re using so I can write to the Mechanist to create better ones for us.” 

“So...we’re just going to watch?” 

“Do you not know what a stake out is?” 

“I do! I just didn’t know it was going to be a full day of doing absolutely nothing.” 

“Look, if you don’t want to be here, fine. You can go back to the camp. I can handle myself.” (Y/N) scoffed. 

“I’m not leaving you here alone, Sokka.” 

“Then I suggest you stop complaining.” (Y/N) rolled her eyes and reached into her bag. She pulled out two sandwiches and laid them beside her. “What are those?” 

“Food,” She said, sliding a sandwich over to him. He took it suspiciously. “It’s not poisoned, you dummy. I got up early this morning and went to the market so I could make stake out snacks.” 

“Oh, thanks. I guess.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

They sat in silence for what felt like a lifetime. (Y/N) watched the soldiers intently and had even made up backstories for some of them. The smaller soldier was named Lee, and he was a fiesty little fellow, but he was a new recruit. He had good ideas, but no one really wanted to listen to him because he lacked authority. (Y/N) sighed as she watched him talk to his commanders. Poor Lee. 

“I recognize that one,” she said suddenly, pointing at one of the soldiers. “He and I went to training camp together one summer.” 

“Oh, so that’s your friend. Great.” (Y/N) furrowed her brows. 

“I never said he was my friend.” 

“I just assumed, since you were both all ‘Go Fire Nation!’“ He sarcastically pumped a fist into his air. 

“You make a lot of assumptions about me for someone who doesn’t know me.” 

“I know exactly who you are. You’re a spoiled girl from the Fire Nation who wasn’t satisfied with her life and only wanted to join us to run away from your probably mean family. You don’t want to make change, you just wanted an out.” 

“That’s not true at all, Sokka. I grew up poor. Dirt poor. And when I say that I mean it, because the floors of my house were literally dirt. No one asked me if I wanted to join the Fire Nation military, they told me I was going to. I was brought up my whole life surrounded by people who told me how great my nation was. If everyone’s telling you something and you have no reason to believe otherwise, you start to believe it. I know I’m not perfect, but I’m really tired of you thinking that you know who I am.” She pulled her knees into her chest and tucked her chin on top of them. 

Sokka sighed. The sun was setting behind them. “It’s obvious I don’t like the Fire Nation. They’ve caused a lot of pain to me and Katara and to thousands of other people. So when you joined, I guess I just projected that anger onto you.” 

“I understand. But I’m not the entire Fire Nation.” 

“I know, it’s just hard to separate the two sometimes. I can literally see the Fire Nation inside of you. You’re decisive and strong and stubborn--” 

“I’m just going to focus on the first two. You really think those things about me?” 

“I mean, yeah. I’ve seen you talk your way out of fights but also kick some major butt. As much as I hate to say it, you’re pretty cool.” (Y/N) smiled and opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes widened as a giant fireball plummeted toward them. 

“Look out!” She shouted, tackling Sokka out of the way. They both grunted in pain as they hit the ground. 

“How did they even see us?” Sokka asked. He grabbed (Y/N) by the hand and led her up the hill. They abandoned all of their camping stuff (as it was currently on fire) and ran down the backside of the hill, away from the Fire Navy ships. (Y/N) spotted a cave and pulled Sokka inside. They both leaned against the cool rock, breathing heavily. 

“Well, so much for the stake out,” (Y/N) said. Sokka laughed. 

“We’ll have to wait here for the night. The ships are supposed to leave at dawn tomorrow, so we can travel back to camp then.” (Y/N) nodded. The sun had fully set behind them and the cool chill of night was setting in. She shivered. “I can get a fire going,” Sokka said, and began to collect the debris that was scattered around the cave. (Y/N) giggled. 

“Sokka, I got it.” She kicked some leaves and sticks into a pile and kicked a flame on top of them. They sat across from each other with their backs against the cave walls. 

“So, how’d you know you were a firebender?” He asked. (Y/N) shrugged. 

“I think I started coughing fire one day. My family expected it though. My father had been a firebender.” She pursed her lips and stared at the ground. “He was sent to fight in the war. He didn’t end up coming home.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Sokka said quietly. She shrugged. 

“I feel torn about it, you know? Because he fought for hatred and injustice, but I also never got to find out if he supported the war or not. The Fire Nation doesn’t really care if you want to fight. They make you do it anyway.” 

“I always wanted to fight, ever since I was little.” Sokka said. “But now while I’m living my dream, I see how nasty it actually is and understand why my dad didn’t want me to.” 

“Well, you’re a pretty good fighter, so I’m sure he’s proud of you.” Sokka smiled. 

“I’m sure your dad is proud of you, too.” (Y/N) grinned. “Listen, I’m sorry for being so mean to you. I guess I was projecting feelings on to you that I had towards the Fire Nation, and it wasn’t fair. But in my defense, everything you did just made me mad. Like the way you cooked soup, or how pretty your eyes were, or how nice your laugh sounded...” Sokka trailed off, a blush appearing on his cheeks. “I said that all out loud, didn’t I?” 

(Y/N) nodded, trying her best to contain her smile. “Alright,” Sokka said. “You can just kill me now, I guess.” (Y/N) burst into laughter. 

“It’s really okay, Sokka. I’m sorry for being mean to you as well. Everything you did made me mad, like how you constantly teased me, or how cute your ponytail looks, or how funny your jokes were...” 

“You...you really think my jokes are funny?” (Y/N) nodded before sliding to sit at his side. “Can I try something?” (Y/N) nodded again. Their faces were just inches apart and she could tell the fire was dying by the dim glow it left on Sokka’s cheeks. He touched her own cheek with his hand, before pulling her close and slowly connecting their lips. (Y/N) felt her face grow hot, but she still let her eyes close and reveled in the feeling of his kiss. They stayed like that for a while, long after the fire went out. 

When they returned to their friends the next morning, they walked hand in hand. Aang and Katara’s mouths dropped open and Toph stamped her feet on the ground. “There must be something wrong,” She said. “Are they...touching each other?” 

“Hey, guys!” Sokka said, a bright smile on his face. “Aang, how’s the foot doing?” 

“Uh, pretty good,” Aang said, pretending to lift his foot as if it were injured. 

“What’s um...going on here?” Katara asked. 

“Sokka and I had a pretty good stake out,” (Y/N) said. She let her hand slip from his. “I’m gonna get started on lunch.” 

“Alrighty,” Sokka said before planting a kiss on her cheek. He sighed happily as he watched her walk away. “Aang, I really have to thank you for pretending to hurt your foot.” 

---

Permatag List!

@musicalkeys , @aroyaldarknessblr

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

You know, I don't think they were gonna go anyway.

This is so fucking pathetic. What do Republicans think they are accomplishing by waging a culture war against puppets from a children's tv show? Their beef isn't with the writers or the studio or the puppeteers, no, they're picking fights with the fictional characters themselves. Do they think this is some kind of major snub? These are real adults who think it's a winning strategy to waste time and money and effort to declare their undying hatred towards children's educational programming. Every kid in America watches Sesame Street. Boycotting it is like boycotting Santa Claus for being a socialist who demands rigid compliance (you can't tell me to "be good." What does that even mean? Good by whose standards? I'm an American, I have the right to do and say whatever I want, you can't blackmail my children like this! Of course the liberals can only win by bribing people, because nobody would buy into their bullshit otherwise.)

I mean, I guess it works if their goal is to stoke meaningless controversy. They're always at the center of attention, they're always the ones who get to frame the narrative, everyone reacts to them, but how can anyone take them seriously? This is immature and vindictive, so how do enough fellow adults think this behavior is worth their respect? The outrage is manufactured. Republicans don't really care, they're just trolling because they know this will get a rise out of liberals (just look at me, I'm feeding into it now by reacting to it; I'm giving them what they want, they win as soon as I mention them), but how do their actions reflect positively on them? It's like the time that group of conservative college students tried making fun of Democrats by wearing diapers and sucking on binkies on campus, "safe spaces are for babies, this is what you look like," but all it did was make THEM look like babies. How does wearing a diaper and sitting in a playpen make your opponents look dumb? It makes YOU look dumb.

How can any self-respecting adult see a childish display like this and think "yes, these people have it all figured out, I want to hear more from them"? Obviously, CPAC's real beef is that they don't want publicly funded television used to teach children about stuff they don't politically agree with, but like I said, they're not blaming the company or the producers behind the show, they're blaming the puppets as if they're real people who need to be held accountable.

Imagine if Democrats said they were banning Rambo and the Terminator from the DNC because they use guns. What does that accomplish? How is that anything but embarrassing? That'll show em! What? No it won't! That's ridiculous. You're ridiculous.

[0aurelion-sol0]

SNK 135: THE SYNOPSIS AND RANT

So...

It's not the review, I just wanted to say some few words.

First of all, let's just acknowledge that this is a synopsis. It's not the chapter.

Second of all, don't use some spoilers without any context to make a theory. Especially when it's just the synopsis and there aren't any meaningful spoilers.

So let's cut it short, the synopsis is this: The battle engages on the back of the Founding Titan, but Eren is nowhere to be found and Armin and his troop quickly find themselves in trouble.

So people immediatly thought that meant Eren was still in Shiganshina using the Warhammer's ability.

There's just a few nitpicks I have about this theory... Just a few:

First, someone would have noticed. Judging where Eren's position is located before he transforms, someone in Shiganshina at some point would have noticed a big crystal or something titan like with something connected to it. It doesn't make sense. And Eren was not in a place where he could hide himself under something as the land was flat.

Second of all:

HAVE YOU...

SEEN THE SIZE...

OF THAT THING ?!!!

Eren could literally be located ANYWHERE on that thing. But no people need to think he is in control when...

Third of all, he isn't. The guy lost his head, keeps seeing traumatic flashbacks, teleports in paths, is a kid while having a semi-real dream of "That Sight" and apparently can watch through birds. Every character asks him, if he is really free ? And we are still begging for the guy to be in total control of all of this ? What for some kind of proto, mumbo jumbo Lelouch type of plan ? Please, every one in the fandom is bragging about this plan that he has when they are multiple elements that shows us, he is not in control of himself whatsoever ? And frankly, the manga which is an anti-war, anti-violence, anti-imperialism, anti-genocide will give a Lelouch ending (which is so predictable and only the typical shonen " I have your shonen protagonist n°3456 as a profile pic " would put out there) and A SECRET PLAN TO A GUY WHO IS DESTROYING THE WORLD, huh ?!?

That doesn't make any sense, Reiner, Annie and Bertolt didn't have one and fucked up on so many aspects when they tried to "sAvE tHe wOrLd". Why would he have such an advantage ? Because he is the main protagonist ? Give me a break.

Fourth of all, if something like this was to happen, the only thing that would make some little sense was either if Eren was being dragged by this huge titan but like why would he put so much effort in being in that state when it makes him so vulnerable, not only to others but to the colossal titans who burns everything. AND AGAIN someone would have noticed.

In the ocean ? What ? How will he come back up when he finished killing all babies ?

No that doesn't make sense. Forget it.

Eren got shot in the head, the only thing that makes sense is if all of his titan is made of hardening. And that his head is seperated which is clearly shown :

And the rest of his body is somewhere else on his Titan.

For example, he won't be in his nape (obviously, it's the weak spot.) but on his spine shown by the strings of flesh coming from it's spine.

It also reinforces the image that he is a puppet which is fitting since nothing he does makes any sense whatsoever especially like:

Lead two parties at war while none of them wanted to, siding with the guy you didn't want at first to save your lives but wants to eradicate those very same lives, attacking and hurting the friends who you want to have " long happy lives ", creating a civil war in your own country, a racist supremacist group that almost kills your friends, using yourself as bait when you are the Founder in a country that uses titans against you, not giving any information about your whereabouts, not giving any information via memories about EREN KRUGER THE GUY WHO WAS A SPY IN THE MARLEYAN MILITARY, also siding with a guy who wants to push the world against you and did so by suggesting to go to paradise to retrieve the Founder while I repeat... THEY DIDN'T WANT TO DO, doing an attack that will lead the world against you. Choosing to ignore every peaceful outcome even the people who are doing takes you with them to do it and than asking sympathy points for another way when he literally destroyed every option to do. Using the Rumbling which will kill also people that were living next to the walls, the titans in the walls will probably also stomp on villages that were located inside the walls as the titans were placed in a circular shape and ALSO...

Could... I don't know... KILL HISTORIA WHO IS LOCATED IN A ISOLATED FARM INSIDE THE WALLS, "PREGNANT" AND CANNOT RUN FAST IF COLOSSAL TITANS COMES AND WALK OVER HER.

*sigh*

Narratively this will also be stupid, like we did all of this just to find out he's not here ? A whole party died, Hange died for people to use the plane and he's not here ? And what we watch Humanity get killed ? We go back home, depressed ? Everyone is like " we love and understand Eren ? He goes back to Hisu, I am the dad, we feed the heteronormatives while the manga destroyed every cliche of that ? He gets a baby while he killed every babies " You are free." He wins, while he manipulated the whole thing ? Oh no he gets killed, secret plan, Eren is Lelouch, satisfying ending, his only fate is to die as a stupid symbol...

...God...

I don't even have the strenght to write. Why do people think like this ? Why do people feel the need to put the Alliance down with every chance they get and elevate Eren as this shonen protagonist freedom seeker demi god waifu meat beater ?

People are weird.

The guy has a change that happens off screen, he manipulates pretty much everything since the timeskip and he acts completely different from what we know of him and we're supposed to take it that way and consider it genius writing.

Really ?!

We need to move plot points, we need to move forward, we cannot keep dragging the story with endless unneeded double pages of violence and empty discussions for character who haven't expressed any feelings toward each other ever since the start outside of the anime who changed the story and added these pointless scenes to please those who masturbate to the three female characters of those ships. Like I don't know ( Eremika, Erehisu, Aruani...)

This is just the synopsis, wait for the review.

I really hope this chapter is good and not another 133 OR fucking 134.

[mneiai]

A brief history of modern Mandalore

I'd like to preface this by saying these are my personal headcanons. They are based on my attempt to mix canon and (more heavily) Legends to bring about a system that works for most of my fics (this is background for Everybody Needs Luck, thus why I'll be reblogging it to @melida-daan, but will also be used in Cuy'kaysh Dar), but it is in no way meant to reflect on what other people use/choose to do and is not a criticism of any other way of dealing with Mandalore.

After the Dral'Han (the Mandalorian Excision), the Republic installed a series of puppet governments on Manda'yaim as the ultimate authority in the Mandalore Sector. The remaining traditionalist Mandalorians at the time were still shell-shocked from the Dral'Han and their numbers on Manda'yaim were too low to prevent a Republic-backed re-population effort with people from across the sector (and from the Republic) who saw an opportunity to go far in a new government.

The faction that would eventually win out were called the New Mandalorians. They sought to separate the sector from its traditional roots and create a society that was (more or less) against forms of organized violence. Some traditionalist Mandalorians joined in the early days because of the extreme reaction to the Republic when it looked like the Mandalorians might be a threat, but others went to ground or chose parts of the sector that the New Mandalorians didn't want at the time as their new homes.

On Manda'yaim, largely just called Mandalore by that point, the New Mandalorians outlawed more and more of the practices of the traditional Mandalorians and made their own culture stricter as they did, until there was a very clear divide--no one could mistake the two as being even related to each other.

The traditional Mandalorians called themselves Mandalorians or, at times, the Faithful. They followed the Resol'nare and adhered to the old faith. The New Mandalorians they called the Faithless, and their leader, who claimed the title Mand'alor, was called the Anti-Mand'alor.

The traditionalists appointed their own Mand'alor, or the True Mand'alor, and began what was known as the ba'slan shev'la, a time of disappearing to recover and gather strength.

The New Mandalorians relied heavily on Republic backing, but as the Republic grew weaker and focused more on its own territory, the traditional Mandalorians became more active in the sector. They began taking back more territory and making moves against the foreign powers who had been exploiting the sector's resources.

Approximately two hundred year ago, these strikes created a rift within the traditional Mandalorians, as some went further than simply evicting a foreign power out of the sector, but actually went to their home planet in the Inner Rim and all-but wiped them out.

The years of ba'slan shev'la had created among many of the Clans and on many of the territories an extremist mentality, a desire to not just take back Manda'yaim and the rest of the sector, but also to destroy everyone who had kept them from it. But the majority did not agree and eventually would elect a reformist Mand'alor, Jaster Mereel.

Jaster came from Concord Dawn, a planet in the Mandalore Sector that still held to some traditional practices, but which had a population wary of following the Resol'nare in public. He was raised to know enough, but not to be considered an actual Mandalorian by the traditionalists, until he was exiled from Concord Dawn for killing a corrupt, New Mandalorian aligned official and taken in by the Faithful. He brought with him some more "modern" ideals and criticized the idea of honor without morality and restraint. To Jaster, it was both about forging themselves into the best they could be, but also about playing the propaganda game against the New Mandalorians and the Republic, both of whom had lost a great deal of respect over the centuries, and gaining soft power as well as hard power.

Some of the traditionalists could not accept that, they wanted to raze the New Mandalorian cities to the ground, to destroy them as completely as they had tried to destroy the Faithful. Tor Vizsla, the current head of the powerful House Vizsla, broke off to form Kyr'tsad (Death Watch), becoming its "secret" Mand'alor (with the even more secret backing of certain mysterious sources). Some followed him, though many more stayed under Jaster, who now called his followers the Haat Mando'ade (True Mandalorians), and yet others stayed neutral.

Jaster would eventually be killed by a traitor who was working with Kyr'tsad and the Haat'ade would decide that his son, Jango Fett, was the true Mand'alor. Jango was young and reeling from his father's death and so focused on the smaller aspects of the changes he wanted to start and worked with the Haat'ade to continue to improve their reputation and gain funds through mercenary contracts that few but they could manage. Eventually, one of those jobs would be a trap. A large portion of the active fighters in the Haat'ade were killed and Jango was sold into slavery.

This would turn the Mandalorian Cold War into an outright civil war, with Kyr'tsad, the New Mandalorians, and the remaining traditionalists vying for power. During this time, Duke Adonai Kryze of Kalevala, a moderate traditionalist who had been on friendly terms with Jaster, was a cousin of Tor Vizsla through his deceased wife, and had enough ties to the New Mandalorians to be seen as legitimate in their eyes, tried to bring the groups together and bring order back to the Sector. He was assassinated for his troubles, ostensibly by Kyr'tsad, though even some of Death Watch's worst adversaries suspect it may have been the New Mandalorians sowing discord.

Kryze had sent his eldest daughter to Coruscant during the war, where the only people from the sector she had contact with were the New Mandalorians. She'd already begun to prefer their policies (many of which were simply propaganda pieces and didn't reflect what they actually did) as the violence increased in her home and now she was immersed in their culture. She began to make speeches and leverage her power as the Duchess of Kalevala and the daughter of Adonai and cousin of Tor Vizsla to back the New Mandalorians--first from Coruscant, and then from Manda'yaim after they brought her there to add to their propaganda against the traditionalists.

When the New Mandalorian’s current Mand'alor was killed in a bombing, she was put forth as a candidate despite her young age because of her hold over the neutral traditionalists. The turmoil was reaching a boiling point and the New Mandalorian representative on Coruscant called in a favor to get Jedi bodyguards for Satine--Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They arrived in time to see her win the election for Mand’alor and for Kyr'tsad to attack Sundari in force.

Managing to get Satine out of Sundari, the New Mandalorian capital on Mandalore, because she was a clear target, the Jedi and New Mandalorians worked on stopping the war. Oftentimes, Jinn would handle the investigation in Sundari or other major cities alongside the New Mandalorian forces, who had initially been unprepared for the strength of Kyr’tsad, but were now able to supplement themselves with forces from the other worlds under their control and some of the previously neutral traditionalists who followed Duke Adonai. 

Meanwhile Satine and Obi-Wan spent almost a year on the run together. Obi-Wan infiltrated Death Watch multiple times to feed information back to Jinn and the New Mandalorians, his younger age and his clear warrior-upbringing making him a more believable recruit. They traveled across Mandalore and, eventually, through many other territories in the sector hunting down Kyr’tsad cells.

By the time the fighting had been pushed off Mandalore and Satine was able to return to Sundari and take her rightful place, what little respect she had maintained for her family's culture had disappeared. Not only did she no longer want anything to do with the traditionalist Mandalorians (displayed most noticeably by refusing to actually be referred to as Mand'alor and instead using only her title of Duchess), she actively sought to destroy what was left of them, despite the support some had given her during the war.

Satine took the basis of pacifism that the New Mandalorians preached to new heights, outlawing beskar'gam, Mando'a, and anything else she claimed were connected to the "violence" of the traditionalists. She banished most of the traditionalists remaining on Mandalore to Concordia, the planet's moon, and setup a harsh blockade in an attempt to keep them from gaining more weapons and influence.

With no clear "true Mand'alor" and an ever increasing crackdown on Mandalorian customs by the New Mandalorians, Tor's surviving son, Pre Vizsla, gained more followers for Kyr'tsad (as Tor had died during the fighting unknowingly killed by Jango Fett). They went into hiding once more to regroup and gain strength, preparing for another attack when the Republic and New Mandalorians were distracted.

[twilightknight17]

So I almost disqualified these anon asks for using “every single [fanfic]”, but honestly the fact that we’ve moved to actually looking at the game itself feels strangely like progress. Plus, this is technically at least halfway to a new topic. You’re still harping on about Goro, but at least there’s a second target.

I have given you homework, though. Hope you don’t mind. You lot really need to start providing some evidence for the things you’re claiming.

I might jump around a bit while answering this, because three asks worth is a lot to cover, but let’s talk about Okumura along with the usual bullshit, under a cut!

P5 really doesn’t delve as deeply into the nuances of its morality as it could. They definitely gloss over a few things that could have been really interesting explorations of character motivations or potential conflicts in the group. (Conflicts that would have been a lot more interesting than Morgana throwing a temper tantrum.)

Not exploring those things leads to a bad habit in the fandom of black-and-white thinking when it comes to characters, instead of making the slightest effort to read past the surface level. People seem very quick to assign labels of “good” and “evil”, instead of accepting that maybe characters can be morally grey.

That’s what you’re doing now. So:

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- where it’s implied that we are supposed to “want them to hurt Akechi.”

- where it’s implied that Akechi wanted to kill Ren “out of fun”

Because why would the game need to disprove something it didn’t say in the first place? It’s not the story’s fault that you’re making wild assumptions.

.

Anyway, let’s jump and talk about Okumura!

I think the issue is that, when looking at the situation around Okumura, all the nuance is eclipsed by the fact that he didn’t deserve to die like that. Okumura received disproportionate retribution for his crimes, and between the media immediately turning on the Phantom Thieves (because it was being manipulated), and the kids panicking and worrying about Haru (because they never wanted to kill anyone), the rest gets set aside. Hell, it took them two days to remember that there was a possibility that Black Mask got him, they were so freaked out.

And there’s not really a moment to go back and discuss, “Well, yes, he shouldn’t have died, but he did still do horrible things”, because at that point, that would just be disrespectful to Haru. She’s mourning her father, and the lost chance to get back the man he used to be.

(Which is a different issue, because Haru wasn’t going to get him back. He was going to go to jail. There wasn’t going to be a happy family afterwards. But... I’ll chalk that up to teenagers not thinking ahead. It’s not like they think about what becomes of their other targets, either. I did read a really good fic once where Akira had to admit in front of Haru that he thought she was better off with her dad dead. She didn’t take it well.)

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- where it’s shown that Haru actually, specifically forgives her father. The third semester does not count, because that’s an idealized version of her father.

However, Goro does mention that his targets were doing the same thing as him during the engine room confrontation. While Goro doesn’t name Okumura specifically, the implication is there. And Wakaba isn’t mentioned, but considering how many people support the theory that Wakaba experimented on Goro...

I kind of want to write a oneshot of Akira/Goro and Haru/Futaba arguing about this now. Can’t really hit harder than, “You killed my mother!”/”Your mother tortured me with illegal experiments for a year!” X’D

Anyway, when I wrote Cascade, Okumura not being killed by Goro was meant to be a result of the Thieves getting to Goro earlier. He hesitated, because he was with the team. He’d been with them for an entire Palace, he knew how a change of heart worked, and his sunk-cost-fallacy mindset was starting to change, even just a little. It wasn’t because Okumura was a “tragic figure”, and you can’t really compare that to canon when the situations were different.

.

Now. Regarding this bit:

“the writing and the tone is that he, not Shido, is to fully toblame for the worst stuff. Why else do people still say he approached Shido intending to kill from the start?”

Shido’s perception of Goro is literally a soulless puppet that does whatever it’s told. Shido is ordering people killed just so he can become Prime Minister, and lets other people request targets in exchange for political favors. Shido has no qualms about having his allies killed when they’re no longer of use. That’s right there, in the game. How do you get “Goro is to blame for everything” out of that unless you’re a brain-dead idiot just looking for reasons to hate him? A powerful man orders a teenager to do horrible things, with the implication that there will be consequences if he refuses, and it’s the teenager’s fault??

During the confrontation with Shadow Shido alone, you get:

Shido mentioning that he “controlled” Goro

Haru saying specifically to Shido, “You even killed my father.”

Shido admitting that “It was thanks to me that Akechi was able to properly use his power to begin with.”

And then there’s the SIU Director before Futaba’s Palace, saying that the plan to trap and frame the Phantom Thieves was “too brutal to be [Akechi’s] own idea.”

Homework: Please show specific examples from the game:

- literally anywhere where it’s implied that Goro’s offer to Shido was specifically about killing people

- literally anywhere where it’s implied that any of this is Goro’s fault alone

Because as far as I can tell, the only reason people claim that Goro showed up at fifteen years old and offered to murder people is because they’re idiots, interpreting the character in the worst way possible because they already hate him. The most likely scenario is that Goro showed up with a pitch of, “I can use these powers to get inside information and make your opponents embarrass themselves.” Shido is the one who started using him as a supernatural hitman, the “”“proper””” way to use his powers.

If the SIU Director thinks the Plan was too brutal to be Goro’s idea, and Goro himself refuses the order to kill the rest of the Phantom Thieves, I find it very hard to believe that he started out as a killer. Technically, he never says he wants to kill Shido, even. In the end, what he wants is basically a change of heart.

Because really, as the Thieves point out, they’re not so different.