#drag or die trivia and fun facts

[artificialgrinder]

Drag or Die: Trivia and fun facts, Part 1

As this fic has been five years in the making, I was thinking, “hi, why not just make a wee series of fun facts as well?” So, aye, I’m doing that!

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

The overall story was going to be different:

In the very beginning, yes, the plot was what it was now - queens fighting for their rights to be who they wanted to be. But then, I thought about it...too much. And it was a completely different fic all together. Basically, it was set in a world where physical money didn’t exist. Only digital. The reasoning for this was because of the rise of the use of credit/debit cards and also because transactions were easier to track in criminal investigations. But one day a glitch in the system happened which rid so many people and families of their money, leaving them struggling and homeless. Of course, the rich didn’t give a shit. So the poor would now riot.

Then, where the queens coming into it; in a specific town (of which I hadn’t yet figured out), the mayor was celebrating his birthday. The town had a huge celebration in public. I mean, everybody was there. Including the Mayor’s eight year old daughter. Of course, this day saw rioters also fighting to get heard, disrupting the birthday celebrations. And in comes one guy in particular, our core villain. Disguised as a woman, he entered the streets, surrounded by everyone. And she sought out the Mayors daughter, and shot her right then and there. Of course, this is fucked up. I regret even thinking of that now. But back to the subject. The murderer escaped, but there was footage and evidence of his crime. And the public seeing a man dressed as a woman, they go for the LGBTQIA community, because if they couldn’t find they guy, at least they could try by taking out every gay man in America.

Enter our queens who fight against this, declaring they are in no way affiliated with the murderer, and it is unfair that they are punished....

......And I explained this all to my manager and he dead ass was like, “yeah this is too complicated. Just stick with your original idea.”

Now, we have what we have now.

Bonus: Here’s some very early concept art I did for the fic of Adore, Alaska, Tatianna and Alyssa. (Tati and Alyssa were gonna be one of the main groups due to writing this around All Stars 2 season ((yes it’s been that long)) and I shipped them hard) As you can see from these and the covers I make now, my art has definitely improved!

[inkyminx]

I couldn’t resist so have a character that appears in most adaptations of JTTW cause I like the concept and that it’d be fun instead of sticking a character to one series.

Experimental & whatnot. R.I.P spine and sleep schedule BUT HEY— IT FUN.

Have Some Trivia ~

The name’s Kaihua Haizi!  开花孩子

Kai Zi for short.

Panamanian White-Face Capuchin.

Gay, He / Him

Is a mystic, not born from stone.

Born on Flower Fruit Mountain.

Be loyal or kneecaps be backwards, sassy, strong-willed, brutally honest, curious & aggressive.

May have broken someone’s bone in an arm wrestle. Or two. Or ten—

A singer & performer: mostly ballet & acrobatics.

Has some kind of romance or camaraderie with Wukong (depending on the version) & often a mentor for successors and young.

This guy will make a sh!t ton of movie references (mostly Emperor’s New Groove) .

Kind of a busy-body.

Pretty much an older sibling type/guidance for the younger monkeys in FFM.

That or the guy that trains said youngins and newcomers, often times the kiddos being dragged back by him unconscious later.

Is a tad older than Macaque and Wukong. (Headcanon: Don’t know if it’s proven, but to me- Macaque is older than Sun Wukong) (more related to LMK) .

Gained Immortality through witchcraft and that one time Wukong stole the longevity peaches.

Possesses appearance manipulation, flora & black magic.

Uses hairpins, needles & a Guandao-like blade.

Was burned with an iron as punishment by the Heavens for being connected to Wukong and taking part in his war against them (hence the mark on his chest) .

Will Lion King his own kid (MK, Destined One, Fruity & Chenxiang watch out) .

And for the adaptations, continue under the cut!

Mei Hou Wang

Was raised alongside Liu’er by the former king after losing his parents as an infant (Headcanon, not sure if proven) .

Nicknamed “Hua Hua” by Shihou right after meeting him.

In a kind of love triangle with Liu’er & Shihou as they got older.

It’s unknown how their ending will go but it remains lighthearted and fun regardless (fvck off Nine Headed B!tch) .

Close friends and dance partners with Yutu.

Accompanied Liu’er during his training with the deer master (more so to keep an eye on him/babysitting) .

May have spied on Liu’er much after noticing something was up after his first encounter with the Nine Headed demon (can’t remember his name, sorry) .

Definitely hung Ginseng on a tree branch a few times as discipline.

Likes to tease Havoc and the monkey generals for days on end.

Nicknames Shihou “Shidi” for fun.

Started wearing his hair with a braid after Liu’er started it one day while enjoying the sunshine.

Played a LOT of pranks on the generals as a cub.

Was born with the mark on his chest as a symbol to his power in flora in this version.

Was taught singing and dancing to “ease his buffoonery” by the former king.

Kinda went the other way but still kinda worked?

Owns a flower-made promise ring Shihou made for him.

~

LMK

Calls Macaque “Shidi” to mess with him in this version.

In their youth, Kai & Sun Wukong were in a relationship for a couple of years (basically a friends-to-lovers situation) .

PET NAMES ARE A TRADITION.

Introduced the shy Macaque to Wukong.

BOI this version’s chaotic tendencies go through the Heavens compared to the others (minus one) .

Was friends with the Brotherhood and often hung around together, getting drunk most times (minus Peng) .

Sorry Macaque, gonna have to drag TWO drunk primates back up the mountain this time.

Pranked tf out of Peng and lesser demons in his youth.

Got into an argument with Wukong right before the Brotherhood’s attack on the Heavens, leaving some strings torn.

“I’m not gonna stand on that battlefield and watch you die!”

Stayed with Macaque on FFM until his fight with the King.

Left FFM after his friends’ battle.

Now lives in the mountains of The Red-Buttocked Horse Monkey (Headcanon as seen in Sheng’s story) .

Plays a similar role to Macaque with MK in S1 but doesn’t try to uppercut the kid.

In fact, this guy is a pretty frequent customer of Pigsy’s Noodles before this but hid his history during that time.

Kinda.

Tang: YOUR THE MONKEY KING’S LOVER! 🤩 Kai: Ah sh!t, here we go again.

Makes up with Wukong after season 3, seeing him interact with MK and Macaque, and his change.

While not back together completely, the two go DAYS being menaces & buddy-buddy once more.

MK: Your technically my fifth dad, right?  Kai.exe Stopped Working.

~

Reborn

Is Sun Wukong’s close friend & comrade instead of pursuing a full relationship.

Appeared briefly in the town during their search, covering most of their face to hide themself.

Was caught by Fruity at one point in the town but the monkey not carefully shoved the baby in the pile of a vegetable stall.

Was hinted by Wukong when Fruity asked if he had someone waiting for him back home.

This guy is a lot more…mysterious & dark vibes in appearance than the usual chirpy but still holds that prankster/fun vibe.

Aside from that, there’s not much about him in the movie since he only appears in the background and is only mentioned verbally once.

~

1996

TBA

Will be created once I finally find a decent translation without signing for a subscription and whatnot.

~

Black Myth

Like most, Kai and Wukong were close comrades and eventually started a somewhat more intimate relationship before the Journey.

MANY years later, Kai plays a supporting role and guide for the destined one (similar to Zhu Bajie) .

In this version, Kai does appear as an elder (though not as much as the old monkey in the beginning) but does revert back to his true age near the end.

Age Appearance Manipulation do be like that.

Lost his right arm & left eye a period after Sun Wukong’s death.

Kai, to The Destined One: “When I was your age—“  Zhu Bajie: *repeats in spongebob mocking*

Despite not actually being able to be so GOD does this guy have a great time being an old man/monkey.

To Destined One: “FVCK ‘EM UP, SONNY!”

~

Havoc In Heaven / Lotus Lantern

This version doesn’t really do much in the story of both aside from what’s already been said, including an intimate relationship w/ Wukong, mentoring and taking care off the young monkeys, etc.

Their romance is more subtle in this version.

His design is more of a mix of the opera & ballet, but simplified to match the style of the animation.

If you thought LMK PeachSong (yea) was a chaotic pair, BOY LET ME TELL YA—

In the latter, Kai is sometimes seen either behind the lotus Wukong sits on doing his own thing (mostly just listening & basically giving off the “old married couple vibe” or being a guardian type to Chenxiang as he trains.

Grandpapi & Grandpapa be here wrecking so much havoc (badum chsss) .

[cirusthecitrus]

Iliad? In my She-Ra cartoon? It's more likely than you think

Some of you may know that og Hordak and Prime (from the motu franchise) also have "normal" names. Sooo, you know how long it took my dumb ass to realize that Hec-Tor and Anillis are spelled and pronounced suspiciously similar to Hector and Achilles - u know, the heroes from Homer's Iliad??*

I have no idea if this lil trivia fact is an intentional reference or not or if this specific choice of characters is supposed to mean anything at all. But it means everything to ME

Because why Horde Prime of all people was given the name of a hero?? Why Hordak, his brother, was given the name of his enemy and his victim? And why do these names fit the 2018s versions of these characters so well?

!I'm not an expert in ancient literature or greek mythology/history or anything close so my knowledge and understanding of the Iliad and its characters is literaly on the surface level! I'm only making this post cause looking for parallels is fun c:

Horde Prime as Achilles

The mythological hero, Achilles was often reffered to as the beast, or pure element, force of nature, or even a star. Not a person, not a human being

He was an exceptional fierce hero known for his passion and determination, but also his arrogance and stubborness. Noble yet often selfish and capricious, understanding and caring yet cruel

The one who possesed arcane knowledge about the fate of humanity, and with it - about his own destiny

The one protected by the gods, who was so close to godhood himself, whos body was immortalized in the river Styx

And yet, one small part remained vulnerable, a part of him stayed painfully human. And once it was discovered and aimed at, he was as good as dead

The one who was driven by horrific almost animalistic rage. Rage that came from pain and grief. Rage that came... from love?

Achilles lost someone dear to him and this loss blinded him with desire for revenge, made him chase after the warrior who took his loved one from him. He refused to let go, not even letting go of Hector's corpse

Hordak as Hector

Described as "deserving of love" Hector was a great warrior, deeply devoted and loyal to his home and his cause

A brave unstoppable leader who nonetheless made many mistakes by letting his human emotions and traits make him act unwise, arrogant, reckless and naive

The one who believed in his gods and trusted so many, but in the end was only deceived and lied to. And this lie was the reason why Hector could not escape Achilles' wrath

The cause and the victim of Achilles' rage. His personal enemy, the one who killed his beloved. The one who feared Achilles so much yet in the end stopped running away and faced him in their first and final duel

The one who lost everything. Doomed to die tragically by Achilles' hand. Hector didnt even beg for mercy, only for his body to be treated with respect, but Achilles could not be reasoned with. Instead he dragged his corpse behind his chariot for days on end, not letting him rest. Not letting Hector return home to his family

But wait, who is Patroclus of this story?

Funny how this part of Achilles' story fits Hordak a lot more, since it was him who lost a dear friend and it was him who was consumed with grief and fury. Thus, in a way, Hordak is both Hector and Achilles and Entrapta is his Patroclus. But what's Prime's deal then?

We can always enter fanon territory and headcanon that Prime might have lost someone a long time ago and grief turned him into a monster. Could be a lover, could be a friend or family, could be his old self even. But then what Hordak had to do with it? Why he became the target of his rage?

Perhaps in this version Patroclus isn't even a person. An idea of perfection and control. Hordak's imperfections ruined the image of his ideal world where everything goes his way, ruined his own image, the facade of an all mighty god who could not make a mistake or create something less than perfect. In a sense Hordak's defect and later betryal killed everything Prime was working on and was trying to achieve, everything he believed in

Perhaps Hordak is both Hector and Patroclus. A brother Prime loved so much, but only when he was still a perfect obedient doll with no name. But once Hordak began to change, showing his personhood and becoming harder to control, becoming unrecognizable, HP could not accept it. In his mind Prime lost a brother, and someone who named himself Hordak was his murderer

Again, I have no idea why the hell they chose these names for their aliases. Achilles and Hector were in no way pure or flawless people, but... they were still heroes. Does this say anything about the characters of Horde Prime and Hordak or their dynamic? Especially their motu versions**?? Or was this just a reference for the sake of reference? (oh maybe im only seeing things and its not even a reference??) They could've chosen an iconic pair of tragic brothers instead idk on the surface it'd seem more fitting :/

But i'd rather keep my tinfoil hat on and think that it was all intentional, because I'm LIVING for the implications regarding Prime's humanity .з.

**Motu fans and experts if you're reading this, i'd love to hear your thoughts on this, you have to know more than me!

[ricewater26]

Nick Sturniolo Best Friend Head Canons

Definitely spills the juiciest tea with you. Motherfucker this motherfucker that and a bunch of references to random shit to describe the person he's talking about

Man goes CRAZY for your birthday. Like he's planning a big party, he's buying the cake, helping you find the birthday outfit. Just hyping you up the whole day, he wants it to be perfect for you.

If you're having a bad day, he's trying his best to make you smile. Wether that's being dramatic or turning on your favorite show (even if he wants to watch RuPaul's Drag Race), he's got you covered.

You're spending the night at their house? Obviously, you stay in Nick's room, and lets just say, you're not getting an OUNCE of sleep. You guys are up all night playing fortnight, jamming out to music, or making each other laugh over stupid shit, but you are NOT sleeping.

Y'all play Just Dance every once and while for funsies.

Matching Pajamas. No further explanation needed.

Nick's definitely going to look after you like a sister. If it's cold outside, he's not letting you go without a jacket. If you've barely eaten, he's asking Matt to take everyone out to eat. If he feels like you've had too much to drink at a party, he's making sure your safe. He cares about your well being so much.

Any time you tell this man good news, I feel like he has the cutest reactions. Definitely has the hugest smile on his face and doing a little happy dance in his chair

If he happens to start talking about you in one of their videos this man has a LIST of things he wants to say about you. Things he loves about you and random fun facts combined:

"She has the tiniest little snore, like imagine a smurf snoring, that's what she sounds like"

"OMG and she'd die for Stranger Things. If you think your a die hard fan, she'd make you feel like a FOOL whose never even heard of the fucking show in a Trivia match. "

" She's so easy to talk to about literally ANYTHING. I feel like I could tell her I wanted to transform into one of the fucking Paw Patrol dogs and she'd be like "AS YOU SHOULD".

" I know I've been talking about her a lot, but seriously, words can't even describe how much I love and appreciate her. Y/N IF YOUR WATCHING THIS I LOVE YOUUU."

[darksideofthemamon]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie vs book trivia

When I heard that The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes was getting a movie, I was excited. Excited, but, a bit worried because as much as I liked the book, it was kinda long and did drag in some parts. I was worried how this would be onscreen.

Turns out they found a way to make it work! The 10th Hunger Games was way more action-packed in the movie than it was in the books, and that kept me engaged as a viewer.

On that note, here are some book-movie comparisons and trivia! This isn't a criticism nor is it a complete list. It's just a fun trivia post because I found the differences fascinating and need to ramble

Full spoilers for both book and movie!

First-scene cannibalism

I don't recall them getting into this in the movie, so here's some trivia: the guy who commits cannibalism at the very start of the movie is, in the book, the Snows' neighbor Nero Price, a titan in the railroad industry, and Tigris and Coriolanus recognize the person whose leg he was sawing off as the maid of the Cranes (whom the Snows also knew).

Nero has a daughter who is Coriolanus's classmate and fellow mentor in the 10th Hunger Games, Persephone Price. She and Coriolanus's best friend, Festus Creed, become close, which grosses Coriolanus out to no end.

[Festus and Persephone had] been spending time together, trying to come up with a joint strategy for their tributes, and Coriolanus could see that Festus was falling for her. Did you tell your best friend his crush was a cannibal? Never a rule book when you needed one.

2. Felix Ravinstill doesn't die in the book

The one who dies originally from the bombing is another classmate, a minor character named Gauis Breen.

This is one of the changes in the film that I think enhanced it! It's just a lot more impactful if the death of the president's son is what pushes Dr. Gaul to unleash the rainbow snakes.

3. Clemensia's fate, Coriolanus's offenses

"You're quite the rebel." "I'm bad news, alright"

It surprised me quite a bit when this happened pretty early on in the film. In the book, stealing food from the Academy is a major offense, and Coriolanus doesn't take to being called a rebel until after Clemensia gets bitten by Dr. Gaul's snakes (an event that really shook his belief in the Capitol as it showed him that even Capitol children were, in fact, not safe from the Capitol).

In the movie though, he does it before visiting Lucy Gray in the zoo (the same scene where Arachne dies).

On that note, the movie only shows the compact and hankerchief as his damning evidence. The book includes the napkin he stole from the Academy that got lost in the bombing.

4. Weaponized drones

In the movie, Coriolanus spams water bottles to distract the other Tributes from Lucy Gray. In the book, weaponizing a drone was a tactic used by the District 3 tributes, Circ and Teslee.

5. Lysistrata is more proactive in the books

In the movie, Coriolanus needs to ask Lysistrata to weaponize water against her own tribute, Jessup.

The book not only has Lysistrata display more knowledge of medicine (as her parents are President Ravinstill's personal physicians), but also has her be the one to initiate protecting Lucy Gray from Jessup.

In the film, Coriolanus says "Send him a drone." In the book, Lysistrata says "No, let me. He's my tribute, after all." (Then Coriolanus tries to refuse, but she insists).

6. Lamina was portrayed as more "impressive" in the book

I found this one really fascinating as I was watching it play out.

Lamina, at the start of the movie, was always crying. Then she climbed a beam and killed Marcus.

The physicality of climbing up that beam is treated as more impressive in the books, with Lamina's surprising strength, agility, and balance being attributed to her coming from the lumber district, District 7. After mercy-killing Marcus, she stays up on the beam, which is acknowledged as a good strategy, implying that she might actually win.

It wasn't a bad strategy. Safer than on the ground, for sure. She had a plan. She could kill. In less than an hour, Lamina had redefined herself as a contender in the Games.

While Lamina does all these in the film, less attention is called to it.

I liked that in the book because it showed us how swiftly tributes can go from underdogs to contenders with skills apart from brute strength.

7. Dill and Wovey's deaths get swapped

Another good change they made for the movie!

In the book, Dill (District 11) dies of natural causes (tuberculosis) while Wovey (District 8) dies of Lucy Gray's rat poison. We don't see Lucy Gray's reaction to this.

But in the movie, Wovey dies from the snakes, while Dill drinks poisoned water, which we see Lucy Gray's regretful reaction to.

I think this was such an impactful change they made for the movie. Why? Because Dill is District 11's female tribute... just like Rue. Except in the 74th Hunger Games, District 12 female (Katniss) regrets not being able to save Rue. In the 10th, Lucy Gray regrets accidentally killing Dill.

8. Treech does not die from rat poison in the book

He instead dies from one of Dr. Gaul's poisonous snakes that Lucy Gray kept in her pocket. On that note...

9. Snakes were not the climax (Reaper was)

The Games don't end with everyone covered in rainbow snakes. Some of the tributes survive, and the next day most of the snakes are dead (because some muttations don't survive well out of the lab).

Rainbow snakes made for a great climax though! Additionally...

10. Coral was not the final boss/main rival in the book (Reaper was)

Though she was a deadly opponent, she wasn't the last one Lucy Gray had to fight. In the movie, Coral dies from rainbow snakes, all while pleading with Lucy Gray, while Reaper accepts his fate as the snakes get him.

In the book, Coral dies from the snakes, but Reaper survives. Then there's a bit of a waiting game the next day until Reaper drinks from a puddle of poisoned water. All that said...

11. Lucy Gray flat-out wins in the book

But in the movie, Dr. Gaul was ready to kill all the tributes with her snakes, but then Coriolanus, backed by the student body, shouted for her to let Lucy Gray go. And she does.

This was such a great change for the movie because not only was it more climactic, but it very much reminds us of the power audience reaction has over the Hunger Games ("if it weren't for the baby", and such)

[akirenhell]

Devilman OC: Azrael, the angel of death

SO AFTER AN UNGODLY AMOUNT OF TIME, I've finally decided to make a post about one of my most developed OCs I've had. (who is also related to Devilman. How surprising.)

Before starting, however, I wanna give a huge shout-out to @missn11 and @amyfartsart for the wonderful drawings they did of my boy. Seriously, go check out their art if you're also a Devilman fan. They're both a joy to talk to. ^w^

As the title suggests, Azrael is the angel of death in the Devilman world, with his main job being appeasing dying souls and then guide them to the afterlife; be it Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. It should be worth noticing that the angel is the "unnoficial" ruler of Hell as well (since he's related to Ryo/Satan), so he also makes sure to keep everything under control in the land of the damned. At least, as much as he can help it.

Despite his gloomy appearance and quiet nature, Azrael is a kind and sweet person. He’s always willing to help people, and he’s quite friendly as well. So much so he's even able to befriend demons of all beings, besides just humans, which makes sense considering everyone is equal in death’s eyes. He’s also incredibly curious, to the point that almost becomes a fatal flaw for him considering it can get him into danger.

However, Azrael isn’t as innocent as he seems. He can be quite cocky when he wants to, and despite being a silent dude, he’s a surprisingly strong angel in battle. So much to the point he became a rather feared fighter for demonkind. He’s overall a rather lovable dork, so long as you don’t get on his bad side.

While his main job as an angel of death is to appease dying souls, he doesn't always gives the same treatment to the souls of rotten, corrupted people. In fact, they might get something worse and more terrifying coming from Azrael before he drags them to Hell with him.

On the same topic, Azrael has a bit of a dislike for “unnecessary death”, especially when it comes to wars or politics that bring more bad than good when it comes to humanity or demons. Even more so if it is something that can be easily avoidable. He also has a strong dislike towards injustice, and will call out those who genuinely oppress someone with their ignorance. He’s not even afraid to be brutally honest with them.

~~Little bit of backstory and fun facts about Azrael in readmore~~

Powers and abilities:

-Being able to fly

-Superhuman strength

-Incredibly quick healing/regenerative abilities

-Can teleport himself

-Invisibility

-Can lend some of his powers to anyone by just handing them a feather

-Cannot die

-Facial distortion

-Shapeshifting

-Telepathy

-Merging with a living being and allowing them to use his powers

Trivia:

-Azrael got most of his fighting abilities thanks to the demon champion Amon taking him under his care.

-While Azrael can fight bare hands, he tends to use his whips most of the time, with one made out of leather and the other made out of silver. (Think of it like something from Castlevania). He also has a scythe, but oddly enough, he doesn’t use it in battles that often.

-Azrael actually has a castle in Hell, which is located in the first circle of Hell known as Limbo. It’s called Pandemonium, and a few demons live there with him.

-He has three demon familiars. A goblin, a pixie and an imp. They're his most trusted allies and they're based on the horsemen of the apocalypse. (Besides death).

-Since Azrael can shapeshift, he can turn into a crow or a black cat.

-Azrael’s bodily temperature is incredibly cold, which not only allows him to travel around the hottest spots in Hell with very little problem, but it also allows him to eat the spiciest of foods you could ever think of.

-Huge video game nerd.

-While Azrael genuinely cares about humans and thinks they’re interesting, there is some stuff about them that he can’t help but find weird. An example would be why they are so obsessed with the meaning of life, why some of them need to follow a religion, things like that.

-He’s a surprisingly decent cook, and has occasionally cooked demon meat before.

-He sometimes uses his whips to fish.

-Azrael possesses the terrifying ability of being able to distort his own face, which he can use to make the most scary of expressions that look like something straight out of the Mandela Catalogue. Some demons are genuinely horrified by this ability of his.

-Azrael keeps a journal where he writes down information about demons. It also has a few silly doodles of demons as well, as some sort of reference picture for each one.

-While Azrael cannot die by any means, the only way that he could be killed would be if it was done by his own hand.

Backstory:

While living in Heaven, Azrael was a bit of an outcast amongst the angels due to his gloomy appearence and quiet nature, with Satan being one of the few who he talked to. The two angels developed a brotherly bond between each other as time went on.

After getting the job of angel of death, it didn't take too long for Azrael to discover the existence of the demons, which was a frightening discovery as he ended up losing an arm during an ambush. Thankfully, it grew back thanks to his healing abilities, and despite the horror that shook him to his very core and the pain inflicted on his body, Azrael's morbid curiosity desired to know more about the demons.

With only his heart and instinct to guide him through, Azrael would continue with his job of reaping souls while living in the brutal world of the demons, gaining allies and enemies along the way. He even encounters Satan once more, who's now the main ruler of the demons, and the two decide to keep in contact with each other.

However, thanks to the violent and raunchy nature of the demons, Heaven's ruler, God, decides to destroy them by sending several angels to Earth in an attempt to hunt them down, with the attacks becoming more and more frequent as time goes by. It gets so intense to the point Satan has to request Azrael if he would join the demons’ side so that he could aid them in the war.

Unfortunately, due to a mix of fear and hesitation of wanting to hurt his divine siblings, Azrael has to decline the offer; and while it pains Satan, he somewhat understands his decision. However, the three-headed demon Zennon (one of Satan’s second in command) isn’t pleased at all by this and angrily declares Azrael a traitor of demonkind, something a lot of demons end up believing as well. Considering he isn’t longer welcome there, the angel ultimately ends up leaving in exile.

While Azrael still doesn’t end up joining the battle and remains neutral to both the forces of Heaven and the demons, he still tries to aid the demons in any way he can by building shelters where the weaker or smaller demons can hide from the war. All while he focuses on collecting the souls of the dead demons, and witnessing just how brutal his siblings have become by mindlessly destroying what was once a chaotic yet beautiful world.

Eventually, Azrael is taken back to Heaven after he has been found out helping the demons, and after a rather heated argument with God, the angel of death ends up being trapped in a void of darkness that leads him to Hell; the afterlife of the demons and the enemies of Heaven.

Once the war is over, and with the demons (alongside Satan) buried bunder the ice to gather strength, Azrael gets free again; still quite affected over what happened. In fact, he barely talks to God and his other angelic siblings at this point, spending more time on Earth collecting souls and even in Hell or the void, for he no longer feels safe in the realm of Heaven.

From here on, the events of Devilman take place. Something Azrael ends up witnessing on every detail, including how the human Akira Fudo became a devilman thanks to his friend Ryo Asuka (who Azrael quickly assumes is actually Satan taking the form of a human), his battles with several demons…And the tragic end of the world by the demons revealing themselves to humanity, driving them insane with paranoia, and with the demons and devilmen going through a war with no winner.

Things would get worse as not only Akira ends up dying, but Azrael eventually finds out about the timeloop God has put Satan through as punishment for what he did thousands of years ago.

Obviously, due to his fear, Azrael at first tries to stay out of this; thinking Satan deserved such a fate upon him. However, the longer the time loop continues, and the more suffering he sees, the angel starts to realize just how utterly cruel this punishment is. It doesn’t help that, loop after loop, Satan starts to become more jaded and emotionally exhausted, to the point Azrael is worried his brother could become an empty shell of his past self.

Once he realizes just how utterly despicable this is, Azrael finally makes his choice: to finally stop God from putting his creation under such a vicious cycle of self destruction, even if it means he has to kill the being he once called “father” to free Satan, Akira, the demons and all of humanity.

[spiderlilyvalley]

If you're interested in the makings of this piece, I have a few bits of trivia about some of the elements in it. One of my favorite things to do in all of my art is incorporate religious imagery, which becomes pretty clear by the last two panels LOL.

Anyway, I want to go ahead and start with Simon's design-- he's made to represent Jesus, so I wanted to incorporate his brown skin, long black hair, and skinny body to represent the image of Jesus as a young boy. Another aspect of Simon is his connection to the nature of the island, and the fact that his skin has slight crosshatching emphasizes the blend between himself and the world around him.

One of the parts that I'm like "hehe im so artsy" about is Simon's leaf crown. Instead of having a crown of thorns, as Jesus has, he has a leaf crown. Both of them represent essentially the same thing, however; mental anguish and being doomed to die. Thorns are only added at the very end, after his eyes turn dull like the Lord of the Flies'.

A strand of hair goes in the middle of Simon's face to separate his extremely bright eyes from each other-- he is split down the middle of himself, battling his spirituality and his desire to appear more human, and therefore more likeable in the eyes of the boys. That or I liked how it looked.

Anyway, some fun little easter eggs: On page 7, on the left side with the Lord of the Flies, the intestines turn into a double headed snake, a symbol of duality and wisdom. These reappear in page 9 and 11 as Simon's hallucinations get worse.

On page 15, there are small black dots on Simon's body. These are obviously the flies, but they are also where Jesus is nailed when he is put on the cross. The hands, the feet, and the chest. I thought making that panel look like a crucifixion would be too on the nose, so I thought having upturned hands, a common sign for repentance, would be alright too.

Page 16 has Simon passed out at the bottom of the panel. This is a direct reference to the statue, "Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb," which has been recreated a lot.

The reason I didn't put the lord of the flies in the middle of his body, as the angel is, is because he represents the devil, and therefore is not at his side-- he is wanting to drag Simon into hell by the feet.

Another fun little easter egg is that the butterflies only reappear in the last panel, drinking Simon's sweat. That poor guy! Anyway, thought it would be fun to give a little insight on some of the things I did in this piece... yippie

Simon's Conversation With The Lord of the Flies

Definitely not my usual content, but I thought I'd share to tumblr too.

This was done without any planning/layouts, with only pen. It's very experimental because I was experimenting with different ways of shading and comic panel layout so... bare with me there.

I love Simon very much, and the interaction between him and the LOTF is my favorite scene of the entire book. I made this in a week long frenzy for my AP Lit class and... well, here it is.

(Also, sorry for any formatting/text issues, it's very hard to take good pictures of warped paper...) 🪰 🐷

[tradgediesofthehosts]

Oh crap, it’s Schmitty’s birthday? Better post this now Disclaimer:Yes, I know Schmitty most likely looks a lot like his Voice actor, but I’m taking creative liberty into his design that would probably change later on. I don’t draw Schmitty as often as I draw [REDACTED], so the design sheet isn’t really great. Anyway, let’s get to his story in this AU.

TW:Kidnapping and Unlawful Human Experimentation(I don’t know if that stresses anyone to the point of needing a trigger warning, but be warned)

-Josh “Schmitty” Schmitistein (I hope I spelled his last name right) was born and raised in Chicago in the 1970′s

-Before being a YDKJ host, he breifly worked at a phone network company (This fact was based off of his voice actor voicing the AT&T customer service bot look it up)

-When he heard his rival from highschool was working for the show, he joined out of spite

-Spite never even imagining being famous at all, hosting the TV edition of YDKJ got a lot of attention, which put a target on his back.

-Before Vol 3, a group of illegal scientists kidnaped him (and a few other small celebrities) in order to test their Quiplash serum in order to artificially create magic and figure out how desperate does one have to be to be funny 

-They did this by turning them into quips and having comedy competitions and the winner get’s food, the loser is more likely to die of starvation.

-A few months in, Schmitty figures out how to completely control Quiplash, and escaped to Cookies house, and called 911.

-The police search the abandoned lab and found the only survivors were the earliest tests of quips that lost all humanity, the others that were there were either killed or taken somewhere else.

-Schmitty, reluctantly took them in order for them to have a chance to turn back into a human in the future

-In the mean time, Schmitty discovered that he can change one of his hands into a quip form, he can defy gravity in his quip form(as in if he jumps mid transformation, he doesn’t fall down), he is pretty much indestructible in his quip form, and being in the quip form for long periods of time hurts....a lot

-In YDKJ:The Ride, when he fell to the bottom, he hit his shoulder on a rusty piece of metal, causing horrific scarring. (don’t worry, he got a tetanus shot afterwards.

-After hosting a few more YDKJ shows, he realized it wasn’t working out for him so he retired and just read sponserships.

-He also picked up videogame dev as a hobby, when he thought of an idea.

-As a big fat “Fuck You” to the people in charge, he made a non-serious videogame based off of the event called well Quiplash. 

-When the game went viral, he quit completely and focused more on being a game designer.

-Around the time the sequel came out, he, Cookie, and his writer friend, Spencer Ham, met up again a year after YDKJ’s final season, meeting a government official Adal.Thus began Trivia murder party.

-Out of the 4 hosts he wasn’t very good at it, nearly got caught a couple of times, thankfully Adal erased any evidence.

-In 2018, Binjpipe came to ask him and Cookie about hosting a YDKJ reboot, he declined being more intrested in being a game designer. That was the second to last time he ever saw Cookie again (for now, the very last time will be explained in Cookies story)

-About a year later, he was dragged into a shadow portal all the way to the recentally opened Hotel in Germany. 

-[REDACTED] casually kidnaps him and he decided , in order to help his friend out he should create a TMP specific version of quiplash.

Now some fun facts about him

-He was medically diagnosed with Intermittened Explosive Disorder aka Anger issues.

-He is Bisexual with a preference for woman and uses He/Him pronouns

-He’s been through 2 divorces in his life time

-His and Cookie’s rivalry has the same energy as Dj Grooves and Conducter’s rivalry in a hat in time(minus the possible bird racism or any racism really), so yeah, they are very fruity

[fishnets-fingers]

Helluuuuu <33333 :D

-----

[How she wears high shoes and hasn’t fallen on her face was still baffling to him. He trips in his heeled Gucci boots all the time, yet here she is - her heel three times bigger than his.] Same Harry, same.

[They were both driving over to Chapel Hill for a horror movie trivia night hosted in a college bar.] ...I just think you're cool. I dig your cinema.

[Layla wanted to have the all American experience of trick or treating but since they were both in their twenties, it was completely out the window.] sigh :(

[ Layla suggested they still do it but he refused.] fook him.

[He was sorry for the other contestants because he knew the five foot nerd next to him will annihilate them all.] help- how dare he

[Anne had upcycled her corduroy pants - that she’d had since high school - into a skirt for this occasion.] Anne supremacy

[God I wanna sink my teeth into them, he thinks. Very fitting for a dog. He snorts.] eye-

[“Scooby-Dooby-Doo!” They both yell out, erupting into giggles.] hahah xD

[ then stop texting me!!! you heard the rules no going on the phone. we’ll get disqualified!!! i’ll never forgive you if we do.] you could've just written down the text and i would've told you that Lails typed this.

[They were currently in the semi finals of the horror trivia quiz] no cause whatever this is, it seems damn fun

[wiggling between a girl in a sexy catholic girl costume and a large man in a very poorly put together vampire costume.] no cause majority of the times it's always this: a good looking girl with a fuckfaced boy. But that's not the case with Layla and she won.

[“So you definitely are cold,” he smirks, hands coming to drag down the zipper of his onesie.

“Why are you undressing yourself?” She asks, eyes wide in panic.

“Relax.” He pushes the brown felt fabric off his shoulders to reveal a green t-shirt. “Lucky for you, I thought ahead. Had Shaggy underneath all this time. Knew you’d get cold.” He can’t help the smug smile that spreads across his face. “Shame though really wanted to peel off your boots with my teeth.”] I'd have died if it wasn't for the fact that this series hasn't ended yet.

[She places an fluttery kiss at the sweet spot below his ear, and his pupils dilate in response to Layla’s sultry promise.] uh yeahhhh shore

////

[“நேரமில்லை! I have two more chapters left to revise!” She shouts, blinking around the room, taking her surroundings.

Harry giggles. “Morning nerd.”] lmaoooo

[she feels the sheets rustle and a few seconds later, a mop brown ringlets infiltrate her makeshift fort. His thumb goes to caress the indent on her left cheek, which make an appearance as she twists her mouth.

“Morning,” he says, a teasing undercurrent.

“Too loud,” she complains. “Is it always this bright in the mornings?”

“If you’re hungover, yes,” he chuckles.

“Head hurts,” she breathes out.

“Here, I got some Advil from mum.” He shuffles out and pulls the duvet off her head.] you're making it hard not to die, Maya

[Did we go to KFC last night?

Another burst of Harry laughing at Layla. The crinkles by his eyes deepening, dimples carving out, head thrown back, front teeth on full display, his silhouette illuminated by the yellow lights.] sighhhhh

[He came over to say hi and had to tell him that he was having a baby girl. It was killing Vasanth to not tell anyone and he was also not the best secret keeper in the family. Harry swore that he would keep it from Layla but like Vasanth, it was getting harder and harder to keep mum as time went by.] Just men things.

[“Ah, KFC,” she mumbles against his skin. “I haven’t had anything from there in years be-“

“I told you that you don’t eat KFC ever since you read that article about force feeding chicken antibiotics. But you started crying and I’m pretty sure you were fake crying to get your way,” he chuckles, remembering Layla crying - or at least trying to, excessively blinking to get her phantom tears to stream down her face.

Layla smiles.] um... chill anyways so-

[“Oh you fell asleep real quick too. You passed out mid conversation. I had to carry you to bed from the car. You even refused to do your skincare when I tried to wake you up. I used a wet washcloth to wipe your makeup off, because I knew you’d be mad at yourself in the morning. I didn’t get to do all your skin care steps. Sorry. I really tried. You kinda grabbed onto me and refused to let me -“

“Thank you.” She kisses his happy trail, right under his navel. “Sorry I was difficult.”

“Don’t be. You always do shit for me. It’s nice to take care of you.” He massages small circles right by her brows] good for her. good for her.

[“I have no idea what that is.”] same.

[“Never mind. I have one in my room. Can’t wait to slather it all over my forehead,” she mumbles, hoping that would make the searing pain in her skull go away.] OH GOT IT. not same Harry, it's you alone.

[“Delete it,” she says.

“No fucking way.” He snatched his phone from her hands before she wipes it from his phone. “I love it! It makes me laugh every time I think about it.”

“You love that you can use it to blackmail me,” she says, deadpan.] it's not so good for her after all LMAO

[“How about I just take you there? You see for yourself.”] I have a feeling she carved something on the tree trunk...

[“I like the permanence of it. Especially with us sometimes feeling like what we have is ephemeral. But I’m not sure-“

Layla stops herself, feeling his body slump behind her - even though she couldn’t see his face, she could definitely tell that he was disappointed. So she twists her body around to face him. Getting on her toes, wrapping her arms around his neck. “But I’m not sure,” she continues, bumping her nose against his to aid in her mission to make the corner of his downturned lips slink up. “I’m not sure I liked that I did it drunk. I would definitely loved to have done this with all of my faculties intact, so I could remember it too. Just remember feeling absolutely loved by you and nothing else.”] I need a moment.

[And he smiles, a big one, that tells her he feels the same even if she is struggling to say it right now. A smile that tells her that it’s okay and that he will wait. A smile that tells her that she is the one for him and that he is grateful for her parents forbidding her go on a solo Singapore trip that made her fly out to her Uncle’s in the middle of summer. A smile that tells her that someday sometime in the future, he is sure they will come back to this same tree trunk and laugh wistfully about the night that they were so in love - one absolutely drunk off their mind and the other completely sober - that Layla decided to poorly carve out a conjoint version of names in the tree: hails.] MAYA YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT OMG I LOVED THIS I FREAKING LOVED THIS AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup! I just did that! Thank you for this. You are always so sweet to me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the reactions! They keep me going honestly.

Thank you for the ship name <3

[wisteria-lodge]

snake primary + snake secondary (bird model)

Hello! I recently discovered your blog and really love the thought you’ve put into the nuances of the SHC system. I’m super into these kinds of personality analysis systems (I’ve probably been through them all at this point) because I think it’s interesting to know how people tick - I also think self-awareness is important so that you know why you do what you do, essentially. I took the SHC quiz and it told me I was a Snake Primary with a Bird Model, and a Bird Secondary with a Snake Model. I agree that I’m probably a (somewhat petrified) Snake Primary with a strong Bird Model, but I’m not sure which is my true secondary and which is the model. Maybe you can help?

I can sure try :)

Some things about me: I’m an oldest daughter, and I’m almost 100% sure my dad is a Bird Snake and I *idolized* him as a child - I thought he had it all figured out. He was the Zeus to my Athena in my child’s eyes, and I think I got my Bird primary model very early from copying him.

I mean, I know what you mean in a “sole creator” sense, but there is no *way* Athena thought Zeus had it all figured out.

My two younger brothers are a Lion Snake and a Lion Badger, and my mother is possibly a Double Badger, though I’m not as sure about her - maybe she just thinks that she *should* be a Double Badger. I think all that is important to help illustrate that I didn’t really feel *at home* when I was with my family, though I loved them, since I was the only Snake. My parents also had a terrible relationship and are now divorced, so there’s that as well. I think the only time I have ever been truly morally outraged was the revelation that my dad had engaged in infidelity against my mom, and then again when he started dragging his feet over a promise the he had made my youngest brother. We didn’t speak for a long time after that incident, but I was really cut up over dropping him.

Oh yeah. That’s very Snake primary. Morally outraged because your People are getting hurt.

We eventually started to reconcile, and the only reason we did was because he called and said he was driving through my city one day, and even after all of that, I said yes to meeting up because I felt sad that I had dropped him. I think this family dynamic, plus some other childhood stuff, led to me sort of “checking out” and petrifying pretty early.

Just a theory - I think it’s possible that this hit your secondary more than it hit your primary. You seem pretty strong and confident in your Snake primary so far. Even the fact that you can identify it coming from such a non-Snake environment, and don’t feel guilty about it, is big.

I had a lot of trouble making friends in school.

I’m thinking this might be more of a secondary thing.

and generally ended up with like one friend who was the other weird girl, and who I always sort of kept at arm’s length emotionally. I moved schools several times as a kid and after the first best friend (who was the daughter of my mom’s best friend and was like a sister to me until she moved away), I really didn’t try too hard to make new “best” friends.

Hmm. See, this reads like a *default* friend to me, not a friend of choice. The other weird girl. The daughter of your mom’s friend. That’s an easy friend to have… and not one that you necessarily sought out. I’m not surprised that your primary didn’t latch onto her with that Snake intensity.

Even now, though I definitely have concentric circles of loyalty and a significant other who is my “top person”, I’m not sure I have that blind Snake I-would-literally-die-for-you loyalty toward anyone - I’d kill or hide a body for my top circles

That *is* Snake loyalty. Snakes aren’t going to die for someone else, are you kidding? That’s a sucker’s game. They value themselves too much.

I would give up a lot of my own comfort for my significant other. Maybe I’m just afraid to let myself feel that unquestioning loyalty, though I want to feel it, or maybe I’m really a Bird and just want to be a Snake because that would mean I could be un-broken eventually.

Let’s talk about your secondary, I want to hear about how you think you’re broken, because so far you seem fine. Congrats on the SO!

I don’t think I’m an Idealist though - I’m surrounded by them and I know I don’t care about “principles” the way they do. Then again, maybe I’m a Bird whose truth is that moral relativism is the truth lol. Anyway, I think for my primary, I’m probably a petrified Snake with a Bird model unless I’m totally wrong about myself.

I think you’re just a Snake who… is a Snake.

(you’ve got that Birdy influence though, from your dad, and they do like to complicate things.)

As for my secondary, I loved to read (everything - all kinds of fiction, especially sci-fi/fantasy/mystery and, like, Victorian sci-fi/horror adventures, nature books, medical texts, etc. Wikipedia was a revelation when it came out), and I was smart and good at taking tests and knowing the answers in school, so at a certain point I think I just defaulted to being “the smart one” and used that as armor to help keep people from getting too close.

yep yep yep, welcome to the ‘fun Bird model’ club, we have snacks

I do genuinely love to learn, and I’ve always been known among friends and family as the one who either knows the answer or will look it up. I love pop culture trivia and nature facts. I also love and am good at debate, but not really when real feelings are involved - I more love the “battle of wits” aspect, where I can match up against a person to see if my knowledge and ability to adapt my argument on the fly can stump them. 

I also would argue the unpopular point, or the point I didn’t agree with, just for sport. Fun Bird secondary model.

I developed terrible anxiety and probably some depression as well in high school.

Okay, now I’m seeing the problem.

and now that I’m older, I suspect that I may have ADHD, though I haven’t been officially assessed. I didn’t discover my executive function issues really until college, when suddenly being smart and being able to figure out the test answers through context clues and what I remembered from lectures and readings + whatever trivia I had gathered about the topic wasn’t enough anymore.

I suspect you’re right about being ADHD. Or at least being neruodivergent.

I am horrible at studying! I would plan out my study sessions and make these nice little cheat sheets (these were allowed on exams) and they didn’t work at all! I did very well in my literature minor though, because all the graded assignments were papers rather than open-answer tests, and I could get my thoughts out better and with more resources at my disposal if I forgot something and needed to go back to the book to check.

Oh ouch. Yeah, I’m not even relating this back to a secondary, because I’m reading this as a working memory thing? Like ugh tests are such a terrible way access knowledge. What is even the *point* of memorization anymore? You should have been able to have a college career that was completely writing papers, like I did.

I was at one point very jealous of my Lion Snake brother, who I felt could do “whatever he wanted” with minimal consequences, while I always felt constrained by being “good” and not rocking the boat too much with my family.

Yep. That’s being an oldest daughter.

I couldn’t understand why he didn’t seem to care about being considerate to everyone else in the household (especially my chronically overworked, can’t-say-no Badger mom lol).

It’s because he’s the youngest. Mine’s the same.

This attitude was definitely influenced by my anxiety issues at that time, since I had (and still have) a lot of trouble asking for anything - help, permission, whatever. I’d rather do things and explore on my own, without anyone watching, so I don’t have to ask and don’t have to explain.

Did you low-key raise your younger siblings? Because it sounds like you raised your siblings.

I feel better with a little bit of distance, and definitely wear masks in most situations. I’d say my masks are half conscious and half reactive - I do have some idea of how I’d like to be perceived, but it’s only kind of systematic.

That makes me think Snake or Badger secondary.

I have a few “characters” that I use as touchpoints when I’m going into a new situation, but once I’m there I mostly just act nice and funny and see what happens.

So far I’m going with Badger secondary (be nice and and assume it’ll be fine is very badger) with a fun Bird secondary model, that you can do an Actor Bird thing with. Although liking to “just see what happens” is pretty snake.

The characters are really just costumes I use to give off a certain first impression, although I do really like the costumes and find them fun. I love clothes, makeup, and perfume too, because I enjoy the idea of making multidimensional costumes for different settings. I actually enjoy the mask a lot of the time - I have tattoos that are purposefully in places that I can cover easily, because I enjoy the idea that there’s something under the professional mask that people only know about if I show them. I’m a bit socially awkward I think (I repeat myself and talk a lot), but most people tend to either like me or tolerate me, and I don’t get into a lot of interpersonal conflicts. 

Hm. Either Courtier Badger or Snake secondary, fun Bird secondary model. However. Especially after talking about your Actor Bird in such fun, positive, happy language… I am going to call you out for “socially awkward” and “people tolerate me.” Which tells me you don’t have as much faith in your social skill set, and it’s *maybe* a little burnt.

(Also, not to get too armchair psychologist tell-me-about-your-mother, but if your mom has a  “chronically overworked, can’t-say-no” Badger secondary… that’s going to affect how you see Badger secondaries.)

Right now I work in a very Badger/Bird workplace, and it’s really a terrible fit, even though I can squeak by enough to fool my superiors into thinking I’m doing a good job. 

oh we’ve got some imposter syndrome, that can also be a burnt secondary thing.

It’s all long-term planning and daily maintenance tasks, and I really don’t like it. I change most of my plans partway through, but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m really an improvisational secondary at heart, or if I’m truly a Bird that’s just bad at planning for all of the variables.

I’m going to say you’re not a Bird. Making cheat-sheets (which is a very Bird secondary strategy) also did not work, and you feel confined by, not comforted by plans. You’re not a Lion, you enjoy keeping your true self to yourself too much. You could be either a Badger or Snake. And if you really hate daily maintenance tasks… that could be coming from a few places, but it makes me lean Snake. 

I love being in situations where I can iterate on a plan, or make a new plan on the fly. I love escape rooms and am pretty good at them; I still get stumped and need hints sometimes, but when I *get* a puzzle, it sort of just clicks for me? I don’t think in a very linear way and am not a good chess player, but I also have never studied chess so perhaps I just am at a knowledge disadvantage in that game. 

This is also you using Bird to have fun, and we know you *love* using Bird to have fun.

One of my proudest moments

okay this is definitely going to be helpful

was when I was on a day trip with my significant other, and we needed to find a place to buy food quickly so we wouldn’t miss a specific ferry and then a specific bus - we were on an island, and near the ferry station the restaurants were all too expensive and we were worried they would take too long anyway. He was starting to get frazzled, but I was able to think on my feet, and we just grabbed a calming beer (lol) at a creepy neighborhood bar, then got on the ferry and bought microwave meals at a 7-Eleven by the bus station. It was awesome and I was very proud of myself for staying calm and looking around myself for options.

Well that is VERY Snake secondary.

I generally take a long time making decisions when it’s not a crisis situation, because I have to *weigh all the options*, but I often end up in analysis paralysis. Crunch time is where I really shine as a decision-maker.

Snake again. From what I’m seeing, your Bird is a fantastic toy, but actually kind of makes you miserable when you have to depend on it for the important stuff. (studying, your job, making important decisions)

All of this long post is to say, I’m not sure whether my Bird secondary is a fun model that got repurposed into an executive dysfunction compensation tool and anxiety/depression soother to supplement my Snake secondary

I think you hit the nail straight on the head right there. 

 or if Bird is my true secondary and Snake is a model that I learned from my dad and brother + characters I admire in media 

oh your favorite characters are Snake secondaries are they? That’s a big tell.

and that I use when I fail to plan adequately given my executive dysfunction. 

Executive dysfunction is a whole thing, but you don’t have to “”plan adequately”” for everything.

I find both fun and both useful, but I’m not sure which is innate and which is the model! 

My money is on snake secondary, Bird secondary model. 

[artificialgrinder]

Drag or Die: Trivia and fun facts, Part 4

Book 1

Adore and Co:

Bianca's backstore was too much at one stage. Like the two were actually expecting a baby. So when Bianca left her marriage, it hit 10 times more. So after the little boy was born and grew up, she started passing by his school almost everyday just to see his son because when else could he see him? (This is stalkery behaviour though and I don't indorse it.) And then I thought to make it even worse by making the kid blind so that, as much as Bianca would see him, the kid would never see her. But then it was just too much, in poor taste and cringy. So I decided to take the boy out of the equation completely.

Adore falling into the shark tank and being saved Bianca wasn't going to be in the fic. My friend actually helped me come up with that idea. But originally, the baddies in town would find their way into the aquarium and apprehend both Adore and Bianca. But Raja and the rest of the queens would come in and rescue them.

There was then this bonus scene in which the aquarium troop grieve their hideout and Ginger in a forest, and Adore goes off to find Bianca who is taking it the hardest. They bond over their emotions. But then along comes this fucking bear that tries to kill them. But Dela comes along and shoots the bear. ..... So random, I know. I think it's cause I was in love with the movie Annihilation at the time and that bear scene scared the shite out of me but I wanted to have scary shit happen in the fic too. So that's where that came from I guess.

[drunklander]

Drunj!Der Yells About Outlander

Thoughts on Ep. 502

Watched this episode after winning Wynonna Earp trivia (fuck yeah, The Shit Tickets!) at a bar, put on by a queer af podcast, followed by going to see a queer af movie, and was all ready to get my Beauchamp fix... And it was like oh here’s a taste and a hint that we’re gonna end up in a story line similar to what we’ve already done multiple times, but now on to the menfolk.

For real though, this episode was like an OL greatest hits clip show. It had all the stuff we’ve seen before. A time traveler who wants to go home? Check. Rape PTSD? Check. A man being a dad to a kid who isn’t/might not be his? Check. That same man being the absolute worst? Check. Claire being reckless with future medicine? Check. Townsfolk questioning Claire’s medical knowledge in favor of the local Man of Importance? Check. Jamie trying to be on both sides at once? Check. A villain who seemed to have died the previous season and should have fucking stayed dead? Check.

We’ve literally seen all of this stuff before.

For a show that spent the first part of season two claiming to be a political drama and then last season claiming that they “weren’t political” I see we’re back to just leaning hard into politics that have direct parallels today.

No fucks left to give about the system Murtz is kind of my favorite Murtz. Like this dude spent his whole life living by a code and an oath and was fucked over by the system so many fucking times that he’s ready to just burn it all down. Curious to see how they walk the domestic terrorist vs. freedom fighter line with him for the rest of the season.

Got all excited about the bread title card because yay medicinal mold, but of course, the lead character was relegated to the B story.

Old timey medicine baffles me. Like the fact that bleeding someone was like a catchall remedy boggles the mind.

I feel rull bad for Mrs. Whoeverthefuck though. She tried.

Also, shit like this makes me be like, yo Claire, you sure you wanna stay here? Jamie’s really not all that and a bag of chips. But you do you, boo.

Speaking of Jamie, his hair looks really good. A thousand fruit baskets to the new wig person.

Lulz at Knox thinking the Gathering was about being loyal to king and country. Dummy.

Srsly though, Murtz Valmurtz is really getting under their skin. Is he like the *only* Regulator leader?

The convo between Knox and Jamie is literally as relevant today as it is in the 1770s. But yeah, the show IsN’t PoLiTiCaL.

The fact that fuckers think those at the bottom should be happy with their lot because “lol it could be worse” need to be punched in the face and taken out of power. Stat.

Also any time someone in power talks about civility as a reason not to rise up against injustice, I want to punch them. Because they deserve it.

I want to punch a lot of things.

This whole episode is very Les Mis, tbh.

Literalol at Claire covering dead guy’s face and not his body cavity before Bree comes in.

Aw Bree, why you gotta be a buzzkill? We were cheated of badass Doctor!Claire in S3. Let us have this.

Also, yeah, Claire, Bree’s fucking right. Which you’d think you’d know by now what with alL THE FUCKING TIMES YOU’VE BEEN CALLED A WITCH. AND NOW YOU’RE UPPING YOUR GAME TO LIKE NECROMANCY?!

Also the more she says no one will find out the more annoying it is because *clearly* someone *is* gonna find out and we’re gonna be back on the “she’s a witch!” “I’m not a witch!” “you literally have a dead guy in your closet!” merry-go-round again.

Today in most on-the-nose shots ever: How convenient that Marsali just happens to be doing some butchering right there, right then.

Petition for the show to go full Shondaland and just turn into a backwoods medical drama with Claire and Marsali, and all the others (cough the men cough) can fuck on off.

Tarring and feathering is like the old timey version of #AlwaysPunchAFascist but dialed to 11.

Oh the baggage behind Jamie saying redcoat man will someday wear his scars with honor that none of these fuckers know about...

Ok so clearly the English know that Claire’s a doctor so whenever shit hits the witchy dead dude fan, can we please have a quick resolution and not that dumb af “Claire goes to jail and of course her cellmate is a lesbian because Diana sucks at writing queer characters” nonsense?

Man Jamie is *not* subtle with this convo at the jail. Like Knox is right there and he’s just like hey buddies, I have people and we’re Scottish and y’know how we feel about protecting people vs. obeying the English.

I AM SPARTACUS FITZGIBBONS!

Aaand, naturally, the fuckwit preaching civility is the one to kill a man in cold blood. Rise up, motherfuckers. Rise up.

THANK FUCK ROGER IS A TERRIBLE SHOT BECAUSE IF THAT SQUIRREL DIED I WOULD LEGIT QUIT THE SHOW. RUN AWAY AND BE FREEEEEE YOU PRECIOUS LIL WILDERNESS FLOOFER!

Roger is, and I cannot stress this enough, the fucking worst.

He’s like look how shitty I am at being a soldier but then bitches about having to try to learn. And then he bitches about how dumb it is to shoot at squirrels as if being able to hit a squirrel wouldn’t make hitting a much larger thing, like a man who is shooting back at you, that much easier. And also, how the fuck does he think they get meat to eat? Shooting it, you twatwaffle.

And he’s like so fucking butthurt about being left behind. Like no shit, asshat. You’re bad at being in the past and have made no real effort and you whine a lot and are generally the worst. Of *course* you were left behind. Stop being emo about it and maybe actually try.

“He doesn’t respect me, Bree.” Yeah, no shit. Because you’ve done LITERALLY NOTHING to earn his respect. WHY ARE YOU SO TERRIBLE IT’S LIKE THEY’RE INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO MAKE HIM SUCK.

He also is like butthurt that his wife is a better shot than him when she gets the turkey he misses. How the fuck are we supposed to ship this. Ugh.

#BreeDeservesBetter

Oh Bree, sweetie, Jem won’t get hit by a car, but there are like eleventy million ways to die in the past. Just stick with the “you want to stay with your family” stuff.

Roger clearly doesn’t want to stay and is gonna pull a Fred and make Bree feel bad about wanting to all season, isn’t he. Fahkin’ doucherocket.

“I want to go but I’ll stay for you and look how magnanimous I am as I whine about it and make no effort to acclimate to the time.” Take your martyr card and shove it, Rog.

Shorter Jamie Fraser: “If you stand for nothing, Knox, what’ll you fall for?”

I’m already over Roger singing all the time tbh. Mostly because it reminds me that soon he won’t be able to do that anymore and we’re gonna be subjected to like half a season of him being more insufferable than he already is.

Wait, was Joan already born last episode? Or was there another time jump? Is Marsali preggers with baby #3? I lost track.

I love this scene between Claire and Marsali with my whole heart. Marsali especially.

CAN WE PLEASE JUST HAVE A WHOLE SHOW OF THESE TWO BEING ALL BADASS AND DOCTORY TOGETHER!?

Although, quick question, how fucking long is Claire planning to keep that un-embalmed body lying around in an un-refrigerated surgery/root cellar? Just curious...

Because you know someone’s gonna find it eventually and that’s gonna be a whole to do and I really need to stop being preemptively annoyed at plot lines that haven’t actually happened yet.

And with all this talk of plowshares and swords, I really am going to be singing Les Mis for days...

How long have these biddies been living on the Ridge? The fucking Leoch folks spent like a minute with Claire before they were like yep, she knows what’s up. These folks have apparently been here for months and are like loool, pass. They live in the fucking woods. You’d think they’d be more open to Claire’s brand of medicine.

Omg are they like the accidental antivaxxers of the Ridge?

#VaccinateYourFuckingKids

I mean, Bree, I think there’s some difference between Claire pretending to be a dude doc and telling folks to wash their hands and Otter Tooth.

Season 2 Claire and Otter Tooth on the other hand...

Ok so Jamie needs more men so that means next week is AHS: Beardsley Farm and then maybe (hopefully) instead of being like lol jk you can all go home, it actually goes right into the battle thing. Still not sure if they’re gonna do Roger getting hanged as the mid-season big thingy and then do the Bonnet nonsense in the back half or keep trying to do both of those at once.

Hey, Roger, pro-tip, next time you see Morag MacKenzie, maybe don’t fuCKING MAKE OUT WITH HER YOU FUCKING DUMBASS.

Claire’s totally right about how they should go back. Honestly, they should. But instead of talking with her like Claire is now with Roger, he’s just being all moody about how he’s bad at the past and wants to go back. You’re shooting yourself in the foot, broski.

Oh hey Husband the Quaker. And is that a fellow Quaker named Hunter with him? Are we gonna get Denny and Rachel this season?! Please and thank you that’d be great, I love them.

Murtz talking to his squad is full on Enjolras being like don’t worry fam, Marius will stand and fight with us. His place is there, he’ll fight with you.

The two very different but very similar ways Murtz and Jamie approach being Laird of their squads is fun to explore.

Bree lecturing Claire about changing the future by saving a few backwater hicks like Claire didn’t spend years trying to fucking change all of Scottish history is a bit rich. Like writers, we get it, you’re trying to be like oh snap, wait for the consequences of this bread!science! But like come the fuck on. We sat through all of season two.

“You’re a good dad, you know that?” Oh man, I’m getting that déjà vu about a shitty man getting kudos for being a good dad to a kid as if that negates all of his shittiness.

Oh hey, Bonnet’s back. Clearly we couldn’t have just let him die last season. Gotta drag shit on for longer than it has to. This is the [Outlander] Way.

If they were gonna keep him around as a villain, they shouldn’t have (in addition to all the other reasons) included him raping Bree. Jamie, Murtagh and Bonnet all making choices within and outside of the law to various degrees in order to make their living in the Colonies would be a really interesting contrast. But nope, gotta just go all in. BeCaUsE tHe BoOk.

Also I hate with the passion of a thousand fiery suns the Jemmy’s paternity stuff. Le sigh.

Remember in season one when the show was about Claire and she was in episodes for longer than 10 minutes?

I miss Claire.

[wexhappyxfew]

SHANNON!!! HAPPY TRIVIA TUESDAY AHHHH :) could i get some incorrect quotes for Natia and Agent Mortem, fun facts with Death, and anything with Natia and George Luz? 🔪, 🔥,🖤,🦅 + 🔪

KRYSTA!! HELLO MY COFFEE BEAN!!!! I hope you are well and I’m happy to finally be moving through these - it’s been so so EXCITING!! And you’ve really spoiled me with these AH!! Fun facts with Death is definitely something I can get behind - there’s PLENTY!

INCORRECT QUOTE [Natia + Agent Mortem]

Natia: How come whenever I have fun, it’s consider wrong?

Agent Mortem: People die when you have fun.

FUN FACTS with Death

I took the basic concept of Death, added my own personification to him and got the Death ideology I have today. BUT, something I really wanted to try with his character is to show the irony of how he is essentially Natia’s guardian angel. He’s goes against what he is meant to do for eternity to protect her. Sort of like a knight protecting his queen - he kills who he has to to keep her safe, that’s what he does, but in the end how happy will she be about that?

ANYTHING with George Luz and Natia Filipska

How about a snippet for these two? :)

EQUITY OF THE GRAVE, excerpt

Dazed out and not entirely paying attention to any one thing, a body quite literally flung itself beside her, nearly causing her heart to protrude from her chest and found George there beside her, a grin on his face, boots on the bed.

" What did I tell you about boots on the bed?" she scolded, knocking her hand at his feet, as he let out a laugh, pulling them off the bed as he continued to snicker endlessly.

" It's not important right now, Flip, c'mon we've been over this."

" When is it ever important?"

" See, you're getting the hang of this, c'mon. They got Seven Sinners down at the theater, and of course, what friend would I be, if I didn't scare the shit outta ya and drag you along?"

" A good one."

" You tickle me, Flip, now c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, it's about to start!" he said like a child as he popped up from the bed and raced around the other side, pulling her by the hands upward as her feet swung over the edge.

" Don't make me turn into an actual adult and start tying your shoes for you."

" That's concerning." she said with a smirk as George rolled his eyes, watching as she pulled on her boots, performing her signature double lace before, slowly standing to her feet and watching him. Wrapping an arm affectionately over her shoulder, George led the way out of the billet and into the cool night air, a growing smirk on his lips as Natia watched him, raised brow.

" What's that face for?" she questioned watching as she noticed the glint in his which seemed to make its grand appearance every once in a blue moon, sparkling under the night.

" Face? What face? This face? This pretty face."

" Shove off."

[tyrantisterror]

Revenge of the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest: ENTRY ROUNDUP!

Twenty three wonderful monsters were submitted by twenty three wonderful people to the second ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest.  Let’s give them all their due before the winners are announced, shall we?  Just as with last time, I went ahead and sketched them all, because I’m a masochist who enjoys hurting his carpal tunnel ridden hand, and because I feel like it gives every monster a fair shake.

@bugcthulhu starts us off with Rohobaron, a hot-headed retrosaur/crocodile chimera that can superheat his body to ignite the landscape and incinerate enemies with a touch.  Despite the fairly nasty powers, Rohobaron actually has a somewhat sweet personality, being quick to make friends and staunchly loyal to his allies, though his short fuse can also make him drag his friends into danger.

Design-wise, Rohobaron’s got a very solid concept, with those dynamic fuckoff-big arms and horns  being the most obvious selling points, along with little dashes of character like the gharial lump on his nose and the heavily armored plates on his chest.  You wouldn’t confuse him with the other retrosaur kaiju in the series, that’s for sure.  The idea of a monster this burly and gnarly looking being a sweetheart is the kind of “appearances can be decieving” thing that ATOM thrives on, and giving a kaiju powers that reflect its personality (in this case, hot-headedness = heat powers) is always cool.  There are some minor continuity issues with the bio given what’s going to happen in ATOM Vol. 2, but Rohobaron doesn’t lose points for not reading a book that isn’t fully written yet.  All in all, a wonderful submission!

@akitymh is next with Charlotte, a retrosaur of the herbivorous persuasion.  Exactly what clade of herbivorous retrosaur it belongs to is intentionally unclear, as Charlotte has a thagomizer like an armored goliath, but also shares some quirks with horned goliaths, despite lacking horns itself.  A missing link, perhaps?  She’s also unusually large for an ATOM kaiju, which suggests she’s been around for a long time - reinforced by her calm and sometimes protective nature, as the older kaiju tend to be less fight-focused than the young ones in ATOM.

Charlotte’s design is very interesting, and I like the idea of having some retrosaurs who don’t quite fit into any one given clade - it makes it more like real life taxonomy to have some oddballs here and there.  Her smattering of armor plates gives her and interesting look, and I like how her long hind legs allow her to go bipedal as well as walk on all fours.  Her neutral personality also makes her stand out among the mostly fight-happy monsters of ATOM.  All in all, a solid entry!

We continue the prehistoric theme with @ariccio50‘s marvelous armored retrosaur, Scolosurtr!  An genetically modified armored goliath, Scolosurtr’s most prominent features, as you have no doubt noticed, are the two massive yet hollow spikes on his back, which are connected to the kaiju’s two massive hearts and occasionally shoot projectiles when he’s pissed (though this is painful for the reptile to do).  Scolosurtr can superheat his blood as a defensive mechanism, which in turn allows him to melt the ice that often clings to his body in the frosty countries he tends to roam.  The armored monster is very easily stressed out, particularly by his fellow kaiju, and will even bite his tail in an attempt to calm down.

Scolotsurtr’s design is rad as hell - I love a giant monster that looks like a mountain, and the mini-volcano shaped shoulder spikes are such a cool pokeon-esque design feature (I say that as high praise).  His icy, antisocial personality is a fun contrast with his fiery look, and the personality tick of biting his own tail to calm down is a very endearing quirk.  Also, can we appreciate how wide this fella is?  Just an absolute unit.  His powerset allows him to stand out from the mostly tooth and claw fighters of ATOM, while still being balanced thanks to the pain it causes him to use it.  A very well rounded entry!

@scatha5 brings us our fourth entry, the enormous armadillo Rerradon!  Shy but willing to fight when backed into a corner, Rerradon is a formidable enemy when roused, with thick armor keeping him well defended and enough claws and spikes to make other monsters rethink their choice to attack him.

Mammalian kaiju are, as many have noted, very rare, and Rerradon is an excellent contribution to their small but growing ranks.  I’m a sucker for armadillos too, and Rerradon keeps all the traits I love about them while still having a unique and monstrous look to him.  My favorite detail on this fella, though, is one of his alternate names - “Dracula’s Weird Dog.”  Why?  Well, because of the fact it references some obscure monster movie trivia - both in the 30′s when the Bela Lugosi Dracula first came out, and the 50′s when it was prominently re-released, armadillos were not a particularly well known creature, and would have been considered exotic and strange by most Americans.  As a result, the film-makers of Dracula put an armadillo in the vampire’s haunted castle, banking on viewers thinking it was some sort of strange monster.  And, at the time, it works - most people who saw the film had no idea what the strange lizard rat thing was, though I imagine anyone living in the Southwest probably wondered why the hell an armadillo was in Transylvania.  Obscure references to monster movie minutia are exactly ATOM’s jam!

Our next monster is @quinnred‘s flying saucer mimic, Mogul!  An enormous descendent of the sea cucumber, Mogul needs both Yamaneon radiation and water to survive, and causes a great deal of chaos in the process of feeding until scientists realize dehydration can drive the creature away,  While too simple in nature to exhibit much of a personality, Mogul’s mysterious nature and accidental imitation of interstellar travelers allows it to leave a mark nonetheless.

An incredibly clever design that I wasn’t quite skilled enough to capture in my sketch (you should always check out the links to the originals here, folks), Mogul is tailor made to a great 1950′s style monster story.  You have the initial mystery with an inherent red herring built into it (i.e. everyone thinking the creature is initially a UFO), the startling discovery of what we’re really dealing with, and a creative solution that scientists come upon when studying the monster’s biology.  While Mogul’s simple nature means it might have trouble in a kaiju vs. kaiju story, it’s incredibly well suited to a stand alone tale, the kind that could really flesh out ATOM’s giant monster crisis.

@cerothenull brings us our first big arthropod, Acanpetax the enormous assassin bug!  A gnarly insect that wears the bones of kaiju its killed as armor, Acanpetax is a cruel and vicious hunter of its fellow monsters, though over time its vicious ways soften.

Kaiju bones turn to Yamaneon when they die, and Yamaneon crystals are shaped in a way that would give them a very coarse, spiky texture (if my muddied memories of Geology 101 are correct, anyway), making the insect’s armor even more evil-looking, which is great for a monster that (initially) plays a Heel role.  This guy has the makings of a great villain monster, and I like that, in ATOM fashion, he still manages to get a heroic turn over time, especially the implication in his bio that it comes from communicating with the spirit of the snake monster whose skull he currently wears as a hat.  It’s delightfully weird!  A big bug with a solid visual to work off of and a great role and character arc baked into his personality, Acanpetax is a strong contender!

(no seriously you really need to check out the original postings, my sketch here does not do this fella justice)

@evolutionsvoid also shows ATOM’s big bugs some love by bringing the fungus infested Megaria into their ranks!  Originally a larval cicada that was parasitized (and likely to die) by a fungus, Megaria’s sudden transformation into a kaiju brought her into a more balanced symbiosis with her parasite.  Neither an attacker or a protector, Megaria is a spectator of kaiju fights, and will eagerly watch her fellow giants battle without participating herself.  She is a force to be reckoned with when backed into a corner, though, as Megaria’s fungal growths have given her a variety of sound-based abilities, many of which she is not fully in control of.

It hasn’t been touched on in ATOM much yet, but plants and fungi are affected by Yamaneon radiation in a very similar manner as animal life, and Megaria presents a fun opportunity to explore that.  The idea of a parasite and its victim becoming partners post-mutation is really interesting, and Megaria’s design is just as interesting to look at as its concept is to think about.  Her fungal symbiote also gives her a great number of unique powers and abilities to make any fight scenes she’d be in unique, while her personality as a kaiju spectator allows her to stand out (I can see her making cameos in other stories as a background monster).  Another solid contender for the contest!

@highly-radioactive-nerd takes us back to the past with the helmeted retrosaur Tsunoking!  Technically a paleo tyrant, Tsunoking sports several defensive adaptations that are similar to those sported by many herbivorous retrosaurs as well, though perhaps his most notable adaptation is the crown of horns that gives him his name (see, he’s pointing to it in my sketch!  It’s a nice crown.).  A proud but honorable monster, Tsunoking is a powerful fighter who prefers to fight similarly powerful foes, and is also rather fastidious when it comes to personal hygiene.

I love the chimeric mix of features here - the dragon-y snout, the pachycephalosaurus dome skull, and the ankylosaurus tail club all give Tsunoking a very unique silhouette among the many carnivorous retrosaur kaiju in ATOM, and would no doubt provide some fun speculation for ATOM’s paleontologists.  The vanity gives his heroic personality a fun flaw to work with, and I likewise think his Samurai-esque honor code could be interesting to work with in a story.  A wonderful prehistoric monster to add to the roster!

@dragonzzilla brings us a very strange and melancholic monster, the bipedal caribou Najjuk!  In addition to its striking humanoid stance, Najjuk emits a great deal of toxic gas as a byproduct of its Ice Age biology, and its inability to cope with warm temperatures results in it becoming incredibly aggressive and dangerous whenever it leaves its arctic environment.

There’s a clear (but not too heavy handed) metaphor for global warming in the threat Najjuk presents, as the warming of the earth leaves it less cool spaces to seek refuge in, and the caribou’s methane emissions actually contribute to the problem that’s destroying its home.  The monster also has a great deal of pathos built into it - a herd animal that is the last of its kind, forced to live in a habitat that’s too inhospitably cold for most other kaiju to tolerate, making it an incredibly lonely monster.  Combine the symbolism and pathos of its plight with a very striking mammalian design and you have an incredibly unique entry into ATOM’s menagerie of monsters!

@virovac gives us a truly bizarre entry with one of the most clever descriptions I’ve read so far, the low budget monstrosity known as Nematerror!  A mutant roundworm, Nematerror is one of the monsters considered too simple in nature to have a personality, though it still seeks what it needs with enough voraciousness to be considered a threat.

The really ingenious thing about this entry lay in its description, as virovac chose to describe how the creature would look if it were an actual prop in a low budget 50′s monster movie.  Made from a garden hose, stuffed socks, and some other trash, Nematerror is the kind of cornball monster puppet idea that could only be carried out in the atomic era of creature features, the kind that Joel and the bots would have a field day with.  There’s even a description of how its hose nozzle could be turned around to represent a nematode’s malleable mouth parts!  It’s very clever, and definitely the sort of idea that suits ATOM’s love of cheesy monster movies.

@skarmorysilver brings us the old and crusty mole monster, Gnomoran!  A sadistic curmudgeon, Gnomoran is a deeply unpleasant monster to face in battle.  With venomous spit and caustic pus secreted from its many facial sores, Gnomoran’s natural weapons give it a revolting edge, which is made all the more nasty by its mean-spirited personality.  However, Gnomoran is also in immense pain, as its healing factor has been thrown off kilter, giving it the kaiju equivalent of cancer.

The design of Gnomoran is excellent.  Like many of the previous ATOM CKC entries, it plays on the secret connection between ATOM and my Midgaheim stories, in this case using my mole-derived Gnomes/Dwarves as a starting point, and working back to show their more explicitly rodent-like roots.  The star-faced mole nose, long beard, big ol’ horn, and lumpy tumors all give him a bunch of iconic design details, and his power set of venom and caustic pus is uniquely gross.  He’s a great Heel monster, with a nasty attitude to match his equally nasty looks and power set, all while still having the ability to be sympathetic.  Figuring out how to explain why his healing factor has gotten so out of whack presents a bit of a continuity hurdle - Gnomoran has symptoms of both cancer and old age, which normally aren’t possible in an ATOM-verse kaiju, so that would need a good explanation.  But design and personality wise he’s a damn good fit!

DA user Lediblock submitted the chicken/retrosaur hybrid Galiente!  Made by splicing DNA from Tyrantis’s blue nemesis, the Terror, with that of a chicken, Galiente is a panicky, defensive monster who is tormented by the knowledge that other kaiju find his flesh ridiculously delicious.

Galiente’s design is a freakish mix of reptile and bird that goes for body horror, with a patchwork mix of scales, feathers, and raw skin, twisted limbs, and, somewhat inexplicably considering the two animals it’s a mix of, velociraptor feet.  The result is a very tortured looking creature, which fits its nervous and tragically aggressive personality - Galiente is a monster that picks fights because it fears it will get hurt if it doesn’t make the first move.  There’s a sadness that goes along with its wretched appearance and attitude that’s very sympathetic.  The monster’s backstory would probably need some tweaks, though - the many ways it is tied to Tyrantis specifically seem a bit unnecessary, with the “people mistake it for Tyrantis” angle being a bit implausible (and somewhat redundant, given Tyrantis already has two enemies that are his twisted doppelgangers as is), and I’m not sure a monster hunting organization would recruit a chicken farmer into their ranks, no matter how good his business savvy is.  Still, a plausible backstory wasn’t one of the contest requirements, and design and personality-wise Galiente is a very solid concept.

@protagonistprepblog submitted Gentil, an armored monster with a sweet disposition!  Gentil is designed to be something of an earth elemental, with a mix of traits from various creatures associated with that element.  He sports a healing mist/aura, a poison blast from his mouth, venomous claws, and the standard kaiju powers of strength and nigh invulnerability.  He’s also smart enough to join an organization specifically to help people.

Gentil has a very striking design, albeit one that’s (intentionally) hard to place taxonomically.  He would probably be the result of genetic modification in ATOM’s world, though the way his creator described him as the kaiju of the Earth Element makes me think the intention is for something more magical in origin.  The sweet personality suits his name very well, and as far as monsters go he’s very friend-shaped.  Most of Gentil’s information was shared with me by his creator via DMs, and he’s a very thoroughly developed concept, albeit one that seems to fit a story of protagonistprepblog’s creation a bit better than ATOM.  A wonderful submission nonetheless!

@dinosaurana submits the nuclear gator known far and wide as One-Armed Louie!  Already a menace when he was just a big, one-armed alligator, Louie became a true menace when he survived the explosive failure of a nuclear power plant, resulting in a number of wild mutations that, among other things, allow the massive crocodilian to assume a semi-bipedal stance.  Louie’s aggressive nature and history of getting into mischief ironically make him a pretty good kaiju to have around, as he will more often than not turn those shit-starting instincts on his fellow giants and end up keeping them in line as a result.  Even Jim Madson, a gator hunter turned kaiju wrangler, can’t help but appreciate how the “rat bastard” has become something of a boon to humanity since becoming freakishly large.

One-Armed Louie brings a true crocodilian to ATOM’s cast, which warms my reptile loving heart.  One could argue that the retrosaurs are all just very weird crocodiles, of course, but while that may literally be the case, most of them don’t look like crocodiles - they don’t have that pure crocodile vibe - and Louie makes up for their deficiency by being very much a big ol’ crocodilian.  Big ol’ gators and crocs are a giant monster movie archetype just as much as big ol’ bugs, and Louie gives them their due very well.  He also looks absolutely hardcore, which fits his aggressive “rat bastard” personality to a T.  A very solid entry for the contest!

@iamthekaijuking submitted the modified martian monster Nyergolep!  Originally from the planet Mars, Nyergolep was kidnapped by the Beyonder Alliance and experimented upon until it developed psychic powers.  Designed to be a sort of anti-Kemlasulla, Nyergolep is a nervous wreck who hates combat and desperately wants to escape the Beyonders.

Nyergolep’s design takes a lot from Kemlasulla’s, albeit with a lot of twists - fitting for the “Anti-Kemlasulla.”  Its tentacles are much more massive than its legs, with the roles of each set of limbs being reversed (i.e. using tentacles for locomotion instead of grasping, using legs for grasping instead of locomotion), and it lacks all of the armor Kemlasulla has, including the bony plates protecting the head and eye.  The result is a very fragile looking martian, the squishy mage to Kemlasulla’s rough and rowdy fighter.  I like the wiggly line of its upper jaw the best - don’t ask me why.  “Nergle’s” design is a little too closely tied to Kemlasulla’s for me to give full marks in that category, though I do love that wiggly mouth.  Its personality is pretty damn good though, fitting with the other shell-shocked war veterans in the Beyonder Kaiju army.

@dragonseeker-rex submitted the cactus/bird hybrid Orothorn!  In a story that feels like it came from one of the more light-hearted Twilight Zone episodes, Orothorn began as a normal gilded flicker that happened to befriend an cowboy actor named Mick Auricson (specializing in playing cowboys was A Thing in the 1950′s) after Mick nursed the little bird back to health.  An ill-placed dynamite explosion near a hidden Yamaneon deposit not only supersized Orothorn, but fused it with some of the nearby cactus (violent bursts of Yamaneon radiation can do this kind of shit on occasion), creating a massive, thorny-skinned bird monster with a heart of gold and a fondness for humans in general, and Mick Auricson in particular.  The feeling is mutual, as Mick even commissioned a special kaiju-sized scarf for the bird to wear (which I forgot to illustrate, whoops!).

Birds are lacking in ATOM’s roster (we don’t even have any in the core 50 files), and Orothorn is a unique take on the concept, with cactus thorns sticking out from between his feathers.  Him being a kaiju that specifically emulates the heroic behavior of a cowboy (actor) is also adorable and so very in line with ATOM’s sensibilities, it’s genuinely cute and I love it.  It’s a giant bird with cactus thorns that wears a scarf and thinks it’s a cowboy, how can you not love that?

Dracosaurus Rex submitted the enormous tuatara kaiju Tuatani!  Initially mistaken for being a retrosaur, this three eyed reptile can shoot energy blasts from his third eye and carries a virulent disease in his blood that infects any who encounter it.  A lonesome creature, Tuatani is very placcid during the day but will go on nightly rampages from time to time, apparently in a fit of vengeful despair at being the only one of his kind.

A clear homage to the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Tuatani nevertheless has a lot to set him apart from his inspiration, with a multi-eyed motiff that sports an actual third eye as well as several eyespots.  The loneliness that drives him to lash out is a nice nod to both the film and the short story that inspired it, and his status as a Tuatara descendant would make him the last modern reptile missing from ATOM’s pantheon.  The nature of the disease in his blood would need some elaboration, as the immune systems of ATOM kaiju are very strong (being able to regenerate white blood cells almost instantaneously makes it very easy for them to learn which micro-organisms need to be destroyed), but it’s an interesting power for the monster to have.  A very solid entry!

@umbercario-sablesable gives us the giant silkworm, Munchy!  A caterpillar whose head, jaws, and true legs are covered in a metal alloy. Munchy lives to eat, and with metal jaws he can eat quite a lot of things!  While the insect will eat any non-living matter it comes across, it prefers not to eat living things, which makes it one of the few monsters who finds buildings more appetizing than the people inside them.  Though Munchy has little desire in this world outside of sating its gluttony, it isn’t a malicious creature, and so long as your house isn’t in its path you have little to fear from the monster.

Silkworms have a short but important role in kaiju history, as Mothra’s larva form is based on a type of silkworm, so making a silkworm kaiju plays into a very grand tradition.  Munchy goes for a more morally neutral route than Mothra, though, taking the voracious appetite of a caterpillar and exaggerating it to a proper kaiju scale.  The simplicity of it actually makes for a rather unique kaiju, as Munchy’s single-minded desire to eat as much non-living matter as possible makes it a very different sort of antagonist than the somewhat more complicated kaiju villains of ATOM.  Add to that the massive variety one can find in silkworms and you have a recipe for a very good monster!

(Apologies at the possible inaccuracy of my illustration - google could not find images of the  wakabayashi landrace species of silkworm that he is specified as being, so I had to just look up silkworms and hope I was somewhere in the correct ballpark - and then I missed the detail about his first pair of false legs being long enough to give him a bipedal stance so uh... well I think he’s still pretty cute, that counts for something?)

Sir K brings us the lung/ryu kaiju Yokaigon the Incredible!  Mistaken for a retrosaur by its initial discoverer (we certainly have a lot of scientists in ATOM who are very bad at taxonomy), Yokaigon is capable of affecting the weather like some of the few psychic kaiju in ATOM’s setting, suggesting latent psychic powers on the reptile’s part.  He is also able to absorb electricity and may or may not be able to fly.  Introverted and antisocial by nature, Yokaigon isn’t driven to seek out combat like most other kaiju, and prefers to be left alone.

With a backstory inspired by an absolutely terrible dub of Varan the Unbelievable!, Yokaigon is a fun homage that winks at some of the mythic creatures that existed in ATOM’s universe long before the series takes place - a surviving Loong/Ryu, much as Kraydi is a surviving dragon and Gorgolisk a surviving basilisk.  While Loongs aren’t covered in my Midgaheim Bestiary project, I have done sketches of what they would be like before, and it’s fun to see them mixed with a suitamation look here.  I don’t think a sea monster necessarily needs to make storms to still feel appropriately mythical, but the hydrokinetic ability to summon sea storms is plausible enough in ATOM (I’ve got a Yeti who summons blizzards in roughly the same way, so who am I to judge?).  And people always want more dragons.

@toothlessloveshiccup brings us the prehistoric arthropod Insectra!  Despite appearances, Insectra isn’t actually an insect, but actually a much older arthropod that is more closely related to horseshoe crabs.  Forged in a conflict between natives and an encroaching military force in the South Pacific, Insectra protects the local human civilization of her island home while repelling those who would destroy it.  With EMP blasts in her already powerful arsenal, she is a formidable enemy for anyone, man or kaiju, to face.

Insectra’s design has a great Hanna Barbera bug-monster vibe, the sort of thing you could see going toe to toe with the Herculoids or Space Ghost.  It’s simple in some places, but to the point, with great big spears for hands and wide, stompy feet.  Her motivation as a protector is a great nod to Mothra, while having an even more explicit anti-imperialist bent to it.  A very well rounded entry for the contest!

Shadyserpent brings us the draconic reptile Karax!  Another mythic creature sneaking into the world of ATOM, Karax is a serpentine beast whose vestigial wings allow it to fly (Yamaneon’s ability to defy gravity doing some of its most implausible work yet).  With terrible venom and a better-than-average healing factor, Karax is a deadly opponent, the dragon-like beast is thankfully more focused on collecting shiny objects than waging war against man or kaiju, though his desire to add to his hoard sometimes causes trouble.

See?  I told you people like dragons!  Karax’s design retains the ATOM-approved level of scientific plausibility, with his wings being fairly simple/under-developed compared to the more fantastical dragons of my Midgaheim stories.  He retains the prehistoric monster vibe that other Midgaheim survivors like Gorgolisk and Kraydi have, towing the line enough to fit in with ATOM’s menagerie while still winking at the mythic side of things.  His fondness for shiny objects is both a nice nod to his draconic nature and a fun character quirk that can get him into  the kind of trouble that stories are made of, and the fact that he’s also got more than a few references to the classic giant monster movie Reptilicus is also a plus!  A very good entry.

@titleknown brings us Neuro-Idiom, a brain monster who creates psychedelic mass hallucinations!  Formed from a bunch of aliens fusing their minds together, Neuro-Idiom conjurs other creatures out of thin air with its psychic powers, and has pretty much every other psychic power to boot!

Neuro-Idiom’s primary design, that of a big walking brain creature, fills a monster archetype that hasn’t been present in ATOM thus far - i.e. the big, ambulatory, disembodied brain, and yes, that is a SUPER popular archetype for 1950′s/60′s monster fiction.  Its psychic projections also pay homage to various monsters in fiction that were actually just the manifestations of an unsound mind - the Id monster from Forbidden Planet, the crawling brains of Fiend Without a Face, and the Crackler from Godzilla: The Series are examples of this concept.  The backstory of this monster would need to be reworked since it kind of ignores that “kaiju” in ATOM is a word with a very specific meaning (you can’t have a kaiju without Yamaneon involved), and the monster having amplified versions of EVERY psychic power makes it significantly more powerful than anything in ATOM’s canon, so that might have to be toned down a bit as well, but all in all it’s a lovely brain monster!

@drrockso20 brings us our final entry, the massive bison Chief Wrigley!  With gorilla-like arms and enormous horns, this big bovine has the muscle he needs to protect his herd and territory from any creature that dares to challenge it!  He’s not all brawn, either, as Chief Wrigley is clever enough to use the environment to his advantage, and even makes use of simple tools from time to time.  He can telepathically communicate with others, and can sometimes generate electric blasts from his horns.

With a very unique design, power set, and personality, Chief Wrigley has the makings of an excellent protagonist/hero kaiju, the kind who could headline his own corner of ATOM’s kaiju-verse.  Bison are a really underused basis for a kaiju, too - they have very unique heads, and their bodies are build in a way that’s very good at conveying mass.  With just enough special powers to make combat scenes interesting, but not so many that he feels out of place in ATOM’s world, Chief Wrigley is a strong contender in this contest!

Those are the entries!  Who will be the top three winners, and who will get the grand prize?  You’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out, but for now, let’s appreciate how many wonderful monsters we made here!  In a way, they’re all winners in my book, even if I can’t give prizes to the whole batch!

[transboygenius]

SE4SON: Chapter 8

[*The next day*]

Jimmy and Nick traveled down the path, dragging a heavy wheelbarrow behind them. Diana just led the way on her horse, telling stories the boys had no interest in listening to. They chose to ignore her as they talked among themselves. Ever since last night, the two have been getting along quite good. They shared their own stories, gave out their personal interests, and even exchanged embarrassing secrets. Nick told his first, just to make Jimmy feel less uneasy. To the boy genius's knowledge, they had a lot in common. He doesn't remember the last time he's had a fun chat with anyone. Usually, when he opens his mouth, out only came scientific factoids. However, what really puzzled Jimmy is that Nick never gave him word about his father. Nick just about told as much as he could tell, without going deeper. Him being gay, him having a crush on the boy genius, and the horrible trauma his father put him through.

"So... What was your dad like, Nick?" "As I told everyone, I don't even know the old man. I was very, very young when he was with us, so my memory isn't exactly stable." "Well, do you ever wonder what he's like?" "(Wonder? I know for a fact that he's a black hearted tyrant that deserves to choke and die) I know where my good looks came from, that's for sure. But, this is just a guess, he was probably a little bit hardheaded. Don't know any more about him, or heck, his full name as well." "Have you ever asked your mom? She likely holds more trivia on him. I mean, she was the one who married him." "Tried. She just doesn't like to talk about it. Don't know why. Look, Jimmy, do you mind if we change the subject? I feel like we're not getting anywhere in this conversation, about a person I never knew in my life. I just don't know him, that's all, end of story."

Nick didn't want Jimmy to know about his relationship with his father. If he told him, Jimmy might think he made up this sob story just for attention, or to gain his pity. Jimmy can be a very dubious boy. Plus, Nick's too embarrassed to express his life further on. He rather not have Jimmy involved into any of his family business. Nick lied that he didn't know his father's name, because the boy genius is sure to track down that man, and try to help Nick by reuniting him with his long, lost dad. Daniel has already made Nick's early childhood very unbearable for him, so the last thing he'd ask for is seeing his old man's mug re-enter his life. Nick's answer colored Jimmy curious. He said he was too young to remember anything about his dad. The boy genius presumed he was probably an infant by then. Why doesn't Nick know his own biological father's name? Why does his mom take it so personal? As much as Jimmy probes for a good explanation, he should know better not to meddle into someone else's family business. Mrs. Dean probably has a reason for withdrawing information from Nick.

Before long, the four of them (counting the horse) reached a huge wall, where the king's border shielded. The only way to get in is through the main gates, supervised by the royal guards. Since Diana left the border illegally, or doesn't carry any documents issued by the king himself, there's no way for them to pass. However, Diana made her own solution. Getting off of her horse, and dragging them alongside, she led the handcuffed boys to some piled up shrubs. Behind the shrubs hid an underground passageway dug under the border's wall. Diana placed the three sacks of loot onto the horse's back, while Jimmy and Nick had to pull an empty wheelbarrow, which is now refreshingly light. The inside was very dark, so Diana lit a lantern on the way. While the gang walked forward, Jimmy was a little anxious of what or who he might meet next, while Nick was looking forward to a much long break.

When they made it to the other side of the wall, they met with some dirt steps, and a trapdoor which brings about to who knows where. Diana gave it three knocks, and a high-pitched, nasally voice answered.

"Password!" "We don't even have a password." "Correct; You may enter!"

As the door opened, Diana and her horse walked up in, now in the kitchen of their homely hut.

"Diana! Butterscotch! You're back!"

Diana wasn't alone. Besides her horse, she was in the company of three people. Jimmy and Nick didn't expect it when they entered the room.

"And you smuggled some immigrants! Yay!"

Speaking of three people; One was a scrawny, short (but still taller than Nick), fifteen year-old girl with a visible overbite. Her hair was styled in pigtail buns, which resembled rat ears. Just looking at her, she kinda does look like a human rat. The voice, that answered to Diana earlier, belonged to her, and she seems to be very energetic.

"Oh my! Nice to meet you! Ya know, if I knew we'd be having guests, I would've had baked a pie!"

The other one appeared to be a slim man in his 30s, with a goatee beard. He was wearing a frilly apron, with a feather duster in his hand. Not much could be said about him, except he may be the only male in this house.

"What an unexpected visit! Did Diana happen to invite you young boys?"

The last one was a fat lady, who looked nice, but didn't seem to be too happy over Jimmy and Nick's arrival.

"...or did you just followed her here?"

The boys just got here, and already they made a bad impression to one of their new roommates. The human rat scurried over to them and sniffed at them.

"Thee two are very odd looking gents. Me like them already! They just like us!"

The human rat seems to take a liking to them. The boys decided to play it polite by introducing themselves.

"Salutations! I'm Jimmy!" "And I'm Nick!" "Oh! So we're introducing ourselves now? Okay! Sounds good to me! *Ahem* It's a pleasure to meet you, Jimmy and Nick! Me Oona! But to be honest, me hate that name! Me'd be much more happier if you called me Rodent Girl, thank you! By full name, that is." Greeted the human rat. "I am sir Benson! I'm in charge of all the manly work around here! Such as the cooking, the cleaning, and planting these pretty little pink posies in the garden!" Greeted the man. "And I'm Mitzi." Greeted the fat lady, in a stoic manner.

Mitzi caught her eyes on the chain between Jimmy and Nick.

"Pardon me, but may I draw the question as to wherefore thee boys are chained together? Did Diana happened to find you in some sort of a cellar or asylum?" "No, she rescued us from being burned at the stake." Nick replied, but that didn't make Mitzi look at them any differently.

"Mitzi, be not malapert to our new guests!" Said Diana. "These young gentlemen, thou are not gonna believe this, came from the future; the twenty first century! Isn't yond most wondrous? Oh, and as for the bilboes, this was just a did fail charm dissemble performance by some naive friend back home!"

All of them were amazed, but minus Mitzi.

"Is it true in the future they build carriages that no longer need to be run by horse power?" Asked Rodent Girl. "Yeah. They're called cars." Jimmy responded. "Cleaning machines that help pick up all the dirt and dust so sweeping isn't a hassle?" Asked Benson. "I believe you're referring to vacuums." "Metal people built by man that conflict havoc on humanity?" Asked Mitzi. "I think Jimmy invented that once." Nick joked, which earned himself a smack on the arm by the boy genius himself.

The boys then remembered the handcuffs.

"By the way, do you have anything we could use to unlink this chain?" Asked Jimmy. "Why don't you just ask Diana? Breaking that will be just cake for her!" Rodent Girl suggested. "We did. But then she told us the short story about some guy's arm she accidentally popped off."

Benson and Diana shared a small convo within themselves.

"Did you tell the lads that the man's arm was merely just a wooden prosthetic?" "No. I felt that would make me sound less hardcore."

Diana suddenly had an idea.

"I'll tell you what. My associate, Mitzi here, has studied and practiced the art of locksmithing! She could perhaps make a duplicate key to undo those shackles!" "Do I have to?" "Yes you will! These are our guests here!"

Having no choice but to approve of Diana's request, or demand, she told the two young boys to follow her. Luckily, Diana stayed behind them. They were too scared to be alone with that woman. She seems to look at them as if they were criminals. She wouldn't be, by any chance, working with the green hoods of Derryberry Everlanes? Maybe she'll have a change of heart once she gets to know them. That way, they wouldn't have to worry about her poisoning their milk.

............................

[*40 hours earlier, in another time*]

Sheen should've had warned Judy about Jimmy's new security system. However, she easily creamed it by reflecting the lasers into the cannons by using the mirror from her facial cream concealer, then she took on the guard bots in a little taekwondo, thanks to the lessons she took to not only protect herself but her family as well. After cleaning the security system's clock, she investigated the lab from top to bottom. And if she can't find him, she might as well pick up some clues that will maybe spell out her son's disappearance. She covered every area in the lab, knocked over some heavy machinery, and she even hollered for Jimmy's name at the top of her lungs. Despite making no progress, she continued searching. She hasn't seen her son in two days and she wasn't gonna stop until she finds him.

Poor Judy has lost her mind. She hasn't ate or slept. All she had on her mind was Jimmy getting hurt. This boy was her only child, and she won't rest on her little baby. So far, she's only covered the lab. Sheen did say this was the last place he remembered Jimmy went to. Since then, that was the only place she's checked, and right now, the lab looks like a tornado just hit it. Her husband tried to talk her out of it, but she's so Jimmy-crazed, she refuses to listen to anyone.

..........................

[*Five hours later*]

Carl Wheezer was putting on another magic show on his front lawn. Sheen, his assistant, was wearing a ridiculous feminine looking outfit Carl made for him. He has more audiences than he had last time, probably because he's starting to improve. ...or because they had nothing better to do, and the show was free, after all. There was only one adult in the audience. The only one who appeared to be enjoying the show was Bolbi. He's the one to clap when nobody else will. (And for some reason, one of the spectators was a measly Twonkie.) Today's performance, he borrowed a five dollar bill from a volunteer, cut it into tiny pieces using his scissors, then blanketed a cloth over it. After chanting his own original magic words, he pulled the dollar bill out, which was back in one piece again.

"THIS IS NOT MY DOLLAR, WHEEZER! THIS IS A COUPON FOR A FREE WHOLE FISHCAKE AT THE RAMEN BOWL!" "What?! A-heh, I'm sorry, Benny! I am TRULY sorry! I may be having some technical difficulties occurring at this moment! If you excuse me, I'd like to have a private heart to heart with my assistant here!"

Carl then grabbed Sheen by his bowtie.

"Sheen. You were suppose to put a five dollar bill under there." "I know. But when I looked into my wallet, all I had was three dollars, 76 cents, and that coupon, which to me, is worth as much as five dollars." "Why?" "You kidding me? You get to portion your own fish cake slices."

Benny was glaring at them, while angrily tapping his foot on the pavement. Carl and Sheen combined their money together, and paid him back the amount his original bill cost. Then he left.

"Sure wish Jimmy was here, Sheen. It's not the same not seeing your best friend watch you from the audience, especially under all this pressure. I was hoping he'd get a chance to witness my new tricks. Where is he, anyhow? He and Nick have been gone for three days." "Well, I don't know about Nick, but he might still be with Jimmy." "Possibly. I mean, we haven't seen him around anywhere. But I have met a few skateboard kids who keep breaking their legs frequently." "What is it, a trend now?" "I don't know. None of them even knew Nick, apparently. Hey, remember yesterday when you presumed that Jimmy may be in his lab, and said it'd be a good idea if one of us checked? Well, when I decided to check there after school ended, it was already occupied by Mrs. Neutron. She said she had everything under control, so I trusted her on that. Say, I wonder if she found Jimmy yet, cuz she's been down there for quite so long." "About how long?"

Suddenly, Judy Neutron came upon them, looking like she's gone through hell.

"Hi, Mrs. Neutron! You're looking extra beautiful today with the bright sun rays shining off of your lovely complexion." Said Carl, in his lovestruck mood from the sight of her. "Carl, I have been searching in my son's lab all day and through the night! My hair is out of shape, I'm covered in transmission fluids, I still haven't found my son, so don't try to suck up to me!" "No really! No amount of filth could ever mask your stunning beauty! Heck, you'd still look good even in that embarrassing t-shirt with a picture of your favorite 70s' sitcom character on it." "Carl Wheezer, PLEASE! I'm in no mood for th- How did you know I owned a 'Welcome Back Kopper' t-shirt?" "Um, ItsJustACoincidence! Sheen, she's all yours! And I don't mean that literally, by the way."

Carl pushed Sheen in Judy's direction.

"Hi Mrs. Neutron! Nice filth!"

Judy grabbed Sheen by the ear, as if he were her own son.

"Don't you 'Hi Mrs. Neutron' me! Now tell me what gives! You said that you remembered that Jimmy said he'd be in his lab! Well, I checked the lab, and guess what, he wasn't there!" "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Maybe he already left the lab. Ooohhh! Maybe Nick's mom has a clue!" "Nick's mom?" "Well, Nick happened to be with Jimmy, or rather, stuck to him, when they headed to the lab. They probably undid the handcuffs right now, so that's why they were in the lab." "Hmmmmmmmmm."

Judy took Sheen by the arm, taking him with her somewhere.

"Where we going?! Are we going out for ice cream?" "Nope! Since you know more than you think you do, you're gonna help me find my son!" "But, Mrs. Neutron! Carl needs me! And there's a rerun episode of Ultralord coming up in just an hour!"

Carl, feeling absolutely helpless right now, just waved goodbye to Sheen. And since his back was turned away, all of his audience got off from their seats, and walked away. Except Bolbi, of course.

.............

[*Meanwhile, back to the middle ages*]

The boys sat on the floor, since none of them could share a stool together, as they watched Mitzi smelt a new key before their eyes in just 5 minutes, thanks to the new supplies Diana stole. When done, she grabbed a hold of Jimmy's wrists and inserted the key into the hole. By just one turn, the cuffs fell off like it were the end of slavery. Jimmy and Nick rubbed their aching bare wrists in relief. It felt like months since they could move both of their arms. No more painful dragging, and they can finally give each other some space for once. They don't have to sit, or lie down, in uncomfortable positions anymore. As much as Nick loves Jimmy, even he can get tired over a little too much bonding.

"Thank you, Mitz! You're a real lifesaver!" Nick was grateful enough to thank. "I never planned to save your lives. And don't call me Mitz." But Mitzi seemed bitter about it.

Mitzi, feeling like she helped enough, exited the room just to be away from them.

"What's her beef?" Asked Nick. "Well, it could be the fact that both of you are men, or she just isn't use to having strangers around here, unlike us, where we are open to warm welcomes." Replied Diana. "Hope you're right about the second part, otherwise she's never gonna learn to like us." "Good luck on that; She can be a tough nut to crack. By the way, how long do you gents plan to stay with us again?" "Until we build something that could take us back home. I was hoping I could borrow some vital replenishments that are pertinent enough to engineer a fully operative time machine, and I would also need some hypothetical earthbound to constitute power into it, such as raw minerals or a strike of lightning. Maybe both." Jimmy exclaimed. "What he say? Is this some kind of future language?" "Nope. Cuz otherwise, I'd understand him." Said Nick. "I mean, the right tools and supplies I need for a brand new time traveling device." Jimmy clarified. "Ohhhhhhh, why didn't you just say so? You boys are welcomed to use anything in the hut's shed, just as long as you don't break them." "Yes ma'am." "And would it be okay if me and the gang visited the future with you fellows? From all those facts I've heard from you, it sounds exciting." "I don't think so. It could possibly affect the timeline. But if you like, we'd be happy to visit you occasionally." "Oh, stop it, you! I'm already getting attached!"

Diana has been very good to them, so it's the least Jimmy could do. The boy genius planned on inventing that new time machine right now, but finally being released from those prison cuffs, it's best to start tomorrow and just relax today. Jimmy is usually in a rush, but sometimes you just need to catch your breath. He can't just keep pushing himself to get work done. Jimmy has had this new perspective ever since that little heart to heart with Nick by the campfire last night. Speaking of Nick, what does he have in mind now that he was free?

.............................

Jimmy and Nick were both chilling outside of the hut, sharing more conversations together.

"So you were jealous of me back then?” Asked Nick. "It was just a phase. I mean, you had everything I wanted. You were good looking, and tall, and strong, and pretty much loved by almost everyone in school. As I grew older, I came to realize that I love myself just the way I am. All that popularity really isn't worth it." Replied Jimmy. "Glad you've come to your senses. There's really no reason to be jealous, because living the popular life just sucks. There's nothing really to do but to shut up and look pretty. You're lucky to have real friends. My friends, if I can even call them that, just like me for my qualities. When we play games, it's only for sport, not fun. As for all those girls, don't get me started with them. No matter where I go, they're always there. I don't even like girls." "Don't tell me you still believe in cooties."

Nick doesn't know how to answer to that. By giving the wrong response, Jimmy is sure to come on to him, about his secret. Thankfully, he was saved when Jimmy asked something else.

"Call me nosy, but why did you and Betty even dated? Not that I still care about her or anything. I swear I moved on." "We never really dated. The whole relationship was merely a sham. We only hooked up because that's what the school wanted, since she is the second most popular kid in school. The fact that we're both pretty, they thought we'd be perfect for each other. She didn't have a thing for me, and I didn't have a thing for her. We set that public breakup for our own sakes, and not to mention freedom." "Did she mention anything about me?" "Moved on, huh?" "Sorry." "Mind if I asked the questions now?" "Shoot." "Hope this isn't too personal, but what did you ever see in Cindy that made you realize you were in love? Wasn't she always mean to you?" "Gosh, I don't think science has an answer to that. Heh heh. Well... it could be from the aftermath of the love potion. Or maybe because we're both smart and we carry the same strategies. Plus, we make a pretty good team. ...when we're not arguing." "That's it?" "Mhmm. That's it." "Well, pardon me for being critical, but in my opinion, real romantic relationships are made out of healthy chemistry. It should be based on trust, understanding each other. Working things out. Not having more heated arguments than a middle aged couple. Also, physical and emotional harm will get you nowhere. It takes more to soulmates than having a lot in common." "I know. And that's the reason why I decided it was now over between us. We weren't necessarily all those things you just said. We were just unhealthy for each other. When it comes to science, it triggers us into warfare. I thought it would be best for us that way, even after all those heartwarming moments we've cherished, the times we stood by each other's side, and when we were trapped on an island together... Nick, do you think I've made a mistake? Maybe Cindy was right. I probably was just thinking of myself." "ABSOLUTELY NOT! If you feel in your gut that it was right, then it's right! Having a fair share of sweet moments won't erase bad history! Look at you two; You fight like dogs over a bone with meat still on it! Your relationship with her is much too dysfunctional, which could possibly lead to abuse in the future! Can't you see she's giving you stress! That could be why you're always pushing yourself to do better! And when you're pushing yourself to do better, you neglect your friends! Don't you remember? You'll find the right someone eventually, but Cindy just isn't the one!" "I see you make a good point, but..." "But?" "...why are you making a big deal out of this?" "I'm your friend, Jimmy. Am I not allowed to be concern for you?"

Now Jimmy knew right there that Nick was much more different than his friends back home. Nick actually cares enough to show him which path is best for him, without being controlling. He acted as the voice of reason. Sheen never lectured him like this, and neither did Carl. Cindy did a lot of yelling and harsh scolding. If Nick haven't said something, Jimmy would've gotten pulled into the Stockholm syndrome.

"And besides, I know what it's like to be stuck in a relationship where you're hurt all the time!"

Nick had broken his rule of going overboard with his information, and he regretted saying it right away, but he had to let Jimmy know he wasn't alone. Now, he may die of embarrassment. Jimmy wondered, who was Nick ever in a relationship with that hurt him so badly? Their privacy was soon invaded when they spotted Benson poking his head out the window.

"Were you eavesdropping on us?" "Heavens, no! I was just gonna call you two for supper when I accidentally overheard your entire conversation!"

Jimmy and Nick got up and decided to head inside for grub.

"Look, Jimmy, I'm sorry for flipping out like that. I don't know what came over me. Should've just kept my whore mouth shut."

Jimmy only responded by wrapping his arms around Nick's stomach area, and embracing into a warm hug, with his face buried in his chest. Nick's cheeks were beginning to glow red again. He just received his very own hug from the boy he loved. Wait. He thought Jimmy was disgusted by the concept of men hugging each other.

"If you feel in your gut that it was right, then it's right."

Jimmy hugged Nick out of sympathy, since he showed him his. The sweet, caring guy before him was the person Nick hid from him for two years. He was the friend Jimmy should've had a long time ago. The boy genius eventually released from his hug, and headed inside for supper. Nick was completely frozen from that hug, yet his face feels so hot. He stood like that for three minutes, before shaking it off and stepping back inside the hut. Although he may not be ready to face Jimmy again after that one hug.

"(It was just a hug!)"

[ambivalentangst]

Could you do impaled palm with Lance? P.S. I love your writing

!! And I love you my lovely anon, thank you for both being so kind and sending me your request. I hope you enjoy it!

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tw: graphic descriptions of injury, near death experiences

Lance heard the building groan from atop him and sighed. He had a bone to pick with whatever force in the universe decided to put all those weird trivia books he’d read as a kid about surviving dangerous situations to use. On the bright side, he could put coping with excruciating pain and staying calm while waiting for rescue as a skill on a resume. Then again, when they got back to Earth would they even need jobs? Maybe if they were lucky the government would give them a salary for, you know, saving everyone’s asses out of the kindness of their hearts. Lance frowned and doubted it.

He attempted to shift again, trying to twist his body into some impossible pretzel that would somehow make the metal spike driven through his hand a wee bit more comfortable. Even aside from that, he had a pointy bit of something like concrete digging into his back, and his right leg had approximately two inches of wiggle room to either side before he found it resolutely stuck. Lance sighed again and ignored the way his voice trembled to make the emission sound more like a whimper. “This is totally unfair,” he grumbled. Lance was running out of options here.

He’d already tried to make himself physically at ease (the building shifted again and Lance was pretty sure his trapped leg could take maybe a half hour more of that before ending up broken). He had called for help (multiple times and had gotten nothing but silence and the uneasy sound of gravity working on rock). Lance was left with a few other choices to explore. He could always stew in silence and wait to die, but that didn’t sound very fun, and Lance was trying to think optimistically so he did his best to amend dying to being rescued. Lance elected to fill up the empty space with chatter, a talent that had gotten (more than once) his knuckles whacked quickly with a ruler before his family had moved to a nicer side of town.

“You know—and I guess I’m talking to whatever cosmic force is out there overseeing my slow and agonizing death—I’d like to think I’m a good person. I try to be, at least. Saving people, being a team player. The least you could do is make this quick instead of drawing it—”

As in on cue, there was another groan of the warehouse-type building that had elected to fall to pieces while Lance was staked out inside for a mission. He bit hard on his tongue to cut off the scream that tried to burst out of him. The thing skewering his palm shifted and further elongated the wound it had created. Lance took a few deep breaths as tears rose to his eyes, and coped with the cry he held back with a soft, “Fuck.”

He thought whispering a stream of ow ow ows would be a little childish, but Lance needed to stay calm and that sounded like a good outlet for the pain so he did it anyway. Another few inhales and exhales and he kept talking. “Okay, so I asked for that. I’ve never been one for superstitions, but as Hunk would say, I jinxed myself. I just,” Lance sniffled, trying to clear his throat, “I need there to be something for them to find. Something they can take back home. My mom deserves that much after I left her for so long. Let my family, the space one included, have a proper funeral, please.” As Lance tried to ignore the stickiness of his own blood helping to glue his hand to the ground it laid on, he wondered if they’d even noticed something was wrong yet.

Sure, Lance had his helmet, but he’d been knocked out in the initial collapse and he knew for a fact that the comms weren’t working. He wiggled the fingers on his free hand in an effort to remind himself that he had some level of control over things still.

Lies.

Lance’s back arched off the ground in pain as the metal slipped suddenly from its  spot balanced upright. Lance was suddenly very claustrophobic, and more rock was pressing down on his knee painfully. Lance’s head wasn’t too far away from meeting the same fate. He began to talk faster in his nervousness. “Don’t make it too gory, okay? They’ll never just leave me here. Red and maybe Blue will dig through the rubble until they find me, so just don’t make it too rough on them when they do.” Lance bit back a sob. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He was going to die alone, in the dark, and it was going to hurt.

Lance quickly discovered that in his efforts to make it through the pain, his estimated half hour of leeway had run out much faster than he anticipated. His helmet slammed against the ground as he threw his head back and shrieked with the crack of his leg. Lance did not talk past that point.

His tears grew damp in the blackness, finding it harder to breathe with each passing second he drew wet, dirty air into his lungs. His palm and his leg had reduced him to a pain filled haze, chest rising and falling too quickly for comfort. It was a gruesome eternity before Lance became dimly aware of light filtering through the wreckage above him as the faint sound of voices reached his ears. Lance’s stare was blank, though he blinked a few times. Why was it so bright all of a sudden?

The voices were growing louder, grating on Lance who tried to twist away.

“—down here—”

“—found him—”

“Lance!”

Lance felt a strong, smooth embrace around him and he groaned softly, though something like warmth ran through him when he saw the yellow accompanying it. “Hunk?” he asked softly. “Hunk, it ‘urts.”

Hunk was gentle as he untangled him from the ruins of the building, nodding. “I know it hurts, but you just have to hold on a little longer, okay?”

Lance felt his chin dip in acknowledgment, but still knew very little aside from his hand—still sticky—and his leg. Hunk yelled something about shock and infection. It all hurt too much to process, and as Hunk dragged him up he was just grateful to be cradled against the burst of color across his chest plate that marked him as a friend. They had something left of him after all, and that was all Lance needed to feel that he was safe.