#ena viewing space

[azen13]

Looking at the items the Starlight Pawnshop has to offer... I'd like to purchase the < Avian Necklace >, please. Because a pretty little songbird deserves only the prettiest chain with which to tie it down.

Paradise Lost, Paradise Found

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Avian Necklace: A silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a bird mid-flight, imbued with a strange energy strong enough to shackle its wearer in paradise forever.

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Description: After the Charmony Festival, Sunday returns to Penacony with the Stellaron Hunters, desperate to be reunited with his lover.

CW: Yandere Themes, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Intense Distress, Manipulation

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It is a Monday night in Penacony, and all is well in the world.

Sure, your hotel room is cramped. The mattress is lumpy. The view is horrible. But it is real, and that is all that matters to you. After an eternity of dreams so sweet you felt like you were drowning in joy, you would rather be stuck in this dingy hotel room than some luxury VIP suite anyways. It’s comforting in all its imperfections. 

That is, until you hear someone knock on your door.

The sound is rhythmic, three short, quick, evenly spaced knocks. It’s all you truly need to know who stands outside your door. Your heart already knows, beating so fast you feel like you could go into cardiac arrest. 

But then you hear his voice. Smooth and rich like espresso, laced with a subtle sweetness. “Darling,” Sunday whispers quietly, “please, open the door.” It is both a request and a command, though it isn’t infused with Sunday’s usual pacifying power. 

He liked doing this when you realized Ena’s dream was all an illusion; he would give you a chance to submit and  acquiesce to his love and care, but when you inevitably refused, he had no qualms about worming his way into your mind. Once inside, he’d gently smash any shred of resistance you had, before pulling you into his arms and crooning his hymns, praising your holiness. 

Isn’t this dream so blissful? he would ask you quietly, his hands ghosting over your skin, soft as feathers. I can give you anything you want. In Ena’s dream, it was true. Sunday could give you anything you wanted, even your freedom. But you knew it was an artificial imitation of independence; no matter where you traveled in the pseudo-universe, he was always there, always watching you. That was good enough for him: knowing you were safe, his hands cupped around your world like the way one would hold a bird.

The sound of Sunday’s voice breaks you out of your momentary reverie. “My dove, please, I don’t want our reunion to be bitter, but it seems like you aren’t giving me a choice.” You can feel the resonant harmonies in Sunday’s words grow louder, gripping your mind gently, giving you one more chance to open the door through your own free will.

You look around your room for any way out. On the opposite wall is a single window. You’re on the first floor. All you have to do is break through it and find someone. Frantically, you rush over, scrounging around for something to break the glass. You hear a loud sigh. “I wish you could just understand, my love,” Sunday laments. 

The lock clicks.

Instantly, you are pounding and clawing on the glass like a rabid animal. In brief moments of clarity through your haze of desperation, you can feel your shoulder ache from ramming into the glass. Your throat feels raw. Someone is screaming. It’s you.

Sunday’s hands are just as excruciatingly tender as you remember, gliding over your arms and clasping your wrists in a tender but firm embrace. “Shh, it’s okay, my dear,” he whispers quietly. Beneath the insanity that clouds his own eyes, you can glimpse genuine concern in his gilded gaze. “Calm down, shh, yes, relax,” he coos. 

All of the sudden, the world goes soft and blurry; every color in your hotel room, the pallid, washed-out grays and pale, muted blues seem to turn into a psychedelic kaleidoscope, luring you deeper and deeper into a state of tranquility. 

With slow, delicate motions, Sunday lets go of one of your wrists, a placid smile gracing his face for a mere moment. Making sure that you won’t hurt yourself anymore than you already have, he reaches into one of his coat pockets, pulling out a small necklace imbued with the power of the Order. 

“After the Charmony Festival, I was in such a deep state of despair. I thought I had lost everything. My dreams. My power. My home. My sister. My love.” His grasp on your wrist tightens, though you’re so lost in his spell that you can’t even feel the pain. “But now…now I have you again, my dearest,” he whispers hoarsely. Sunday can hardly believe you are real, with how constant misfortune has haunted his life. Time and time again, he has lost everything. Everyone. All his dreams and aspirations have shattered to pieces like stars crashing down to the earth from the heavens. But not you.

“Perhaps my plan was ill-timed,” Sunday muses as he loops the chain of the necklace around your neck. “But for right now, if I can’t give everyone paradise, then at least I can give it to you. And that will be more than enough,” he whispers, taking your appearance in, drinking it in like a man without water for forty days. 

The effects of his tuning are fading, but the power of the necklace is taking root in your mind, warping and twisting it until you understand. Truly magnificent. He can see the clarity and consciousness in your eyes, but he can also see behind it, the compulsion to listen. 

“Now, we must go,” Sunday says, his hands moving to clutch both of yours, pulling you up from where you’re sitting on the floor. “The rest of the Stellaron Hunters are likely getting anxious and ready to leave.” Still, he can’t help but steal one more moment alone. He presses a quick, light kiss to your lips, looking at your splendor one last time.

His sweet, foolish, caged bird.

[2500ji]

alright, that’s it.

i’m sick of seeing hate against people who don’t read the project sekai stories. this fandom has a lot of problems and this collective hatred of anyone who doesn’t dedicate hours upon hours to read the stories is one of them.

first of all, the event stories are fucking long.

each episode can be anywhere from 15-30 minutes if read as the game intends (with auto on). multiply this by 8, and you’re talking possibly 2-4 hours PER EVENT. this doesn’t even account for mixed events, which have 2 extra episodes.

not to mention, there are 137 events on the japanese server (and 101 on the english server) at the time i am writing this. 3 hours average times 137 events equals a total of 411 hours. that is 2 and a half weeks of solid content. to say that’s daunting for people who started playing the game any sizable amount of time since its release is a massive understatement.

not to mention, the events, if viewed in-game, take a massive amount of storage space. not everyone’s device can handle the insane amount of space needed for this game’s events (even moreso if you plan to listen to the voices)

not everyone plays the game for the events, and they’re NOT needed to enjoy the characters.

i get it. if someone who hasn’t read the events is trying to have in-depth analyses of the characters or the groups, they’re bound to mischaracterize. the thing is, nobody’s really doing that.

not everyone downloaded the game because they wanted to read 400 hours of stories. yes, they are a fundamental part of the game. i’m not trying to deny that. however, so is the rhythm game. i don’t see any hate towards people who hardly touch the shows. because they’re not for everyone.

you should be able to talk about, write fics for, and roleplay as the characters without needing to read the stories. yes, people may mischaracterize. but reading the stories doesn’t make you exempt to that either. i’ve read fics from people who read every story for the group the fics were about that still managed to get so much wrong.

the events can be serious triggers.

i’m a HUGE niigo fan. i buy nightcord merchandise, i’ve played almost all their songs, and i love the characters. i have not read a single solely-niigo event. you know why? because they are extremely triggering for me — the most blatant example being the most recent event on ensekai; “farewell, my mask.”

project sekai’s stories are beautiful. but if one’s writing is always light-hearted, it will not touch people as dearly. (i mean, for christ’s sake, No Seek No Find revolves around this exact statement.)

and project sekai is no exception — their stories unapologetically dive into extremely heavy topics, including but not limited to emotional abuse, grief/loss, and being hospitalized. reading the nightcord stories as people have tried to genuinely harass me into doing would result in some extremely bad feelings.

and i’m not the only one — many people i know, some who have even reblogged and expressed agreement with posts hating on those who don’t read the stories, have shared my sentiment. you cannot insist people read the stories like i’ve seen many people do, because you have no clue what might trigger someone.

what should we do, then?

first of all, build up some tolerance. not everyone is going to read the stories, and some people may mischaracterize the characters. did someone make a character analysis that ignored a big aspect of a character? scroll past the post. did someone write a fic making a character say and do things they usually wouldn’t? hit the backspace button.

second of all, try to be open-minded to the opinions of people who haven’t read the stories. maybe they get their content through the commission song lyrics, or maybe they diligently read the area conversations. or maybe they don’t! maybe they just want to talk about their fave.

if someone’s misinterpretation is genuinely harmful or bigoted, call out the harm and bigotry. that person who called ena an abusive sister despite akito acting similarly? call out the misogyny. this goes for any harmful interpretation of a character or group.

and finally, try to have some fun. this is a game. we’re all fans. if you do nothing but perpetuate hatred, nobody’s gonna wanna play toys with you.

[the-real-maglev]

Dream BBQ Analysis & Speculation: the Reveal Trailer

Hoo boy, at least I can get this one out of the way early. This trailer was a massive piece of whiplash when it was first posted and its still very engrossing to this day. I dread covering this one because there's a lot of stuff shown here but there's virtually zero clues towards what any of it could be at all. There's so many things packed into 25 seconds that it's almost overwhelming. I'll see what I can unpack though.

[Flashing lights warning, this is a bit redundant since the trailer also has the warning, but I felt like it'd be courteous]

The Japanese text just reads Dream BBQ, nothing of note there, even with the wierd backgrounds. Speaking of which, we see minimal scenery in this trailer due to the backgrounds instead primarily consisting of gradients and other such designs. There's also a bunch of misc clips during the opening that don't seem to bear any particular significance (like the wall of Froggy talking and Taski's anxiety dance), so I'll trim it down to only the scenes I deem important enough to cover.

The first notable scene is the rotating ENAs with the changing background color. Something I notice is that the uniform is rendered in grayscale here, but that's not the most interesting thing. First, one of the ENAs here has the season 1 colors despite wearing season 2's outfit and hairstyle. Maybe this is hinting towards them being one in the same rather than different characters like most people assume? The language the staff has used in regards to BBQ ENA's relation to season 1 ENA seems to point to that as well. Very interesting indeed, but that isn't even the most interesting part of this clip.

Thats right, four brand new color combos: green+eraser pink, yellow+orange (who looks like cheese personally), purple+tan and wierd color I can't identify+cyan. Whether these are hinting towards us meeting more ENAs or are just funky trailer visuals, only time will tell. I think the purple+tan one looks cool though. Very miniscule detail, the ENAs on the left have their torso color reflect the right side of their face, while the ENAs on the right side have their torso color reflect the left side of their face, something that goes for BBQ ENA and season 1 ENA as well.

That's not even all from this clip, since it gives the first look at Broken ENA. She curiously doesn't have her hat here, but that's probably just because she's upside down and gravity is active. I'll get into Broken ENA more when we get to the Steam trailer, there's a lot to say about her there.

This may be a reach but I feel like this shot may imply a casino area. My main thought is that this may be linked to the neon alleyway shown in the screenshots on the Steam page, but I'm basically just spitballing here.

Here we have the debut of a character I'll be dubbing Orca, since they bear resemblance to Peruvian orca carvings. Its details cannot be made out here due to the angle, however a clearer view of this character has appeared in the Fangamer merchandise, so I'll get into it more when I reach the merchandise. From this shot, though, I can assume this character isn't the most hospitable, considering our first impressions of them are them devouring ENA.

Here we have this headless blue horse made of... threads? Some sort of winding material. I feel like this character may be based on Leghorse from Space Funeral, but I'm willing to accept wrongness there. It's also surrounded by these root pants characters that I have a feeling will be recurring minor NPCs throughout the game. Interestingly, they seem to be bowing in worship to this horse character. I have a bit of a theory as to why

This here is a beta screenshot of the quest board, which was shown off in the 2022 ENA Day livestream (and archived on the ENA Wiki). I have far more to say about it when we get to the Steam trailer, but for now I want to draw attention to the icon beside the quest title on the left side, which depicts the horse character. Perhaps this horse will be responsible for quests? That would explain why the roots were bowing down to it, since it seems to give orders to others if it's a quest manager. The opening of the Steam trailer gives me other ideas though, which combines with the fact that the quest board has changed design to make me doubt that this is the case. Still an interesting prospect I think.

I need you to really take in this egg, it will be crucial to understanding Dream BBQ

Now we have a rather interesting character who hasn't been seen since. I feel like this might actually be a different character manifesting out of the clothes like how Phindoll just lives in and ophanim-esque residence. I'm thinking those birds could coalesce into a different NPC.

After those incredibly dense 25 seconds, the trailer thankfully slows down dramatically for the next two thirds of its runtime, spent mostly on this screen here. There's still plenty to dissect here, though. I will be going over each panel left to right in the bulletpoints below.

• First up, Froggy makes his debut here. A bit strange that Taski Maiden was revealed before him when he's meant to be the secondary protagonist, but I digress. Speaking of digression, the ENA Wiki says that he bears a resemblance to Tsubakura Enraku from Len'en Project (mainly in sharing key colors in key places) and the comparison is bizarrely sound so I just have to share it. The visuals definitely seem to paint a laid back, possibly slacker picture of him, which lines up with how he was described in ENA Day 2023, being a foolish comic relief sidekick with a high opinion of himself. He was described as being based on comic relief characters in old Japanese detective dramas, which makes me feel like he shares an origin with Gumshoe from the Ace Attorney series, though his only two known lines (from the Steam page and the delay announcement) seem to imply that he's going to be rather commanding and rude. I must also draw attention to the docks he sits at. The green sky and gray terrain make me think this may actually be a more dreary version of the overworld from season 1, which was depicted with a green sky in Temptation Stairway and always had gray grounds. Quite a neat area regardless.

• This is the first time we see BBQ ENA with her iconic megaphone and the first hint towards Meanie ENA's personality. Not much to say about this panel other than I find the pose to be amusing. I'll take the opportunity to say that BBQ ENA and Teto in Mesmerizer wear incredibly similar outfits and I'm taking my followers down with me. I'll take this time to spout my 10000 years theory, as I call it, which states that Dream BBQ takes place... well, 10000 years after Temptation Stairway. Reason I say this here is because the very insistent terminology of the team makes me think BBQ ENA actually IS the same person as season 1's ENA after all, it's just that she's matured after spending eons in the realm of Runas. Likewise, the world and other characters have changed a lot in that time a well to a point of unrecognizability, going with the statement that we might be seeing familiar faces but very different from when we last saw them. I find it to be a very interesting prospect personally. I'll be getting back to this theory soon in this post.

• Here marks the debut of the little guys that Taski Maiden lugs around. I'll say that I see Taski being a child and thus they aren't her children, no idea what relation they could hold though. I have a feeling there will be a quest involving bringing Taski's little guys back to her. I have some other misc things to talk about with Taski while I'm here though. First, I just love how free-form her design is. Like, it seems that every pattern on her body and even those wierd whisker outline bits are able to move independently and I feel like that will lead to some very expressive animation. I'd also like to note an insane theory I had that I heavy doubt will be true but I must still share because of the strange amount of evidence: Taski Maiden could be connected to (or straight up *was*, following the 10000 years theory) Moony. Both have gray skin (with Taski's skin tone looking like a middleground between the halves of Primal Moony), a single rounded eye (with Taski's being on the right side of her face, just like with Primal Moony), some other iconic attribute in place of a second eye (Moony's geometric inclusion and Taski's mask thingy) and are voiced by Lizzie Freeman (this is admittedly the weakest point because Lizzie also voices Sad ENA but it's an existing similarity so I've got to say it). Taski's little guys are even split into dark gray and light gray halves, with the darker side on the left, just like Primal Moony, with their body shape resembling a chibified Primal Moony too. If there really is a connection, it'd explain why Taski seems to be quite a major character. This even ironically plays into the 10000 years theory, with Moony getting less mature being an amusing contrast to ENA getting more mature. Nonetheless, it's a bit of a crack theory, but it's there.

• Then we have the noteface guy, who I nickname Henoheno due to that being the start of the long name that kanji face has. He's always struck me as looking like sort of boss, however there's like nothing to go off of. All I can assume is that his appearance in ENA Day 2024 means he'll be in Lonely Door and he'll be more important than the average NPC.

• And lastly, the sea of blood area. This area has appeared in just about all the promotional material, likely due to just how strange and creepy it is. Curiously, the eye in the sky changes colors in the Fangamer lenticular poster. I wonder if that'll happen in-game or if that's just something Fangamer did to give the poster more movement. This area seems extremely important and I'm sure we'll be spending plenty of time here, as disconcerting as the area may be. Possibly we'll even be revisiting this area in multiple chapters.

Not even gonna bother talking about Clown anymore because I already said a ton about him in the teaser analysis. This post has been in my drafts for days and it feels amazing to finally have it posted. I hope you all like my insane theories. The next post will be about the Steam trailer... or more appropriately, only part of it, since the Steam trailer is so loaded with information that I'm splitting its analysis into multiple parts.

[angeltism]

do ya have specifc gender headcanons for prsk characters?

Hmm yes but I don't feel too strongly about a lot of em n don't really think about them a lot. But I definitely do !

Strong (actively influence how I view the character , the pronouns I use for them , etc . In my mind , this is how they are and I consider it basically canon) : Transmasc genderqueer Mafuyu who uses any pronouns (also I have this xenogender in my hoard that's like,, you copy the behaviors of fem-aligned people to be more fem-aligned in gender ?? or something like that ??? that too .) , queer genderfluid Rui who mainly uses all pronouns but sometimes his preference changes , librafeminine Ena who doesn't care about pronouns , transfem Mizuki (I don't feel they're a binary woman, to me they feel more non-binary with a femme presentation or some kind of sorta-fem sorta-nb gender, but they are 100% transfeminine. I just don't know how to describe the other gender stuff they have going on.)

Yeah I like these (I can see these and think of them occasionally. I'll sometimes mention em but they mostly live in the back of my brain and make me go "huh! yeah!" seeing people agree) : Transfem Shizuku (both tfem bigender but aaaalso just as a binary transwoman) , transfem Tsukasa , transfem Airi, trans man Akito , genderqueer Haruka , transfem Toya , genderqueer An

These are fun but I don't think about them a lot (what it says on the tin) : Agender Kanade , bigender Shiho , librafeminine Minori , librafluid Kohane , transmasc non-binary Ichika , questioning Saki (she isn't cis . but girl I cannot figure out What she is . bear w me here)

Oh bonus category for xenogenders : Ichika using music, space and vocaloid related ones as well as songic genders. Saki using star and music themed ones. Minori and ones with a clover, idol or song theme as well as a few songic too maybeee? Haruka with ones related to penguins n maybe blue In General. Tsukasa with star-themed ones. Emu with like Most soft , sweet , sugary , funky vibe genders. Rui with Fuck All (aka whatever the mess of My hoard is because hashtag projecting). Nene with robot and game themed ones. Ena with ones that relate to art, cuteness, etc. Mizuki with pink and/or ribbon themed genders. Is this a lot and is it vague Yes but there's so many that exist so idk giving off the vibes and recurring themes seems like Good Enough.

Token cis (sorry y'all /j) : Honami I just can't think of anything for her either she's some kind of Honami Is Honami non-binary that I can't quite describe or she's a cisgirl to me. She isn't hetero though nobody here is cis AND hetero c'mon this is COLORFUL stage. Oh also Emu despite having a lot of xenogender swag I feel would still identify a lot with being a girl n I hc her as cis. But also she has the most xenogender swag I've ever seen in a character so. She's like girl+ . Does that make sense. Girl++ Extra Content DLC 🍬🩷🍭🍨🍫🎈✨🍪🧸

[umbry-fic]

reminiscence

Summary: Following an order given by the Queen, Mizuki embarks on the trail of a demon.

Fandom: Project Sekai Colourful Stage Characters: Akiyama Mizuki, Shinonome Ena, Asahina Mafuyu Relationships: Akiyama Mizuki/Shinonome Ena, Akiyama Mizuki/Asahina Mafuyu (implied) Rating: T Word Count: 1749 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 16/07/2023

Notes+Warnings: A Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery inspired fantasy AU. Warning for blood.

~~~

Mizuki crept through the forest wreathed in fog, taking care to avoid the stray branches littered about the snow carpeting the ground that leapt into view without notice. They scanned the space between the creeping trees, trying in vain to make out anything past a few inches ahead. It was like a curtain had been lowered all around them - a solid barrier that light was unable to breach. They could only forge ever onwards with the biting cold as their sole company. Each step made the frost laying on their bones dig its claws deeper, their breath emerging as crystallised puffs, shivers wracking their shoulders. The only thing that continued to drive them forward was the mission they had been entrusted with, which they were bound to carry out by the vow of fealty they had sworn to their Queen.

Their target truly was an elusive creature. A demon, mentioned only in hushed whispers and in embellished horror stories that graced sleepovers, their rumoured ferocity enough to elicit fear in the hearts of every citizen that lived in this fair kingdom. By order of the Queen, they’d been following up on a sighting of one for weeks, chasing after leads that disappeared like smoke as the sun set and rose, prepared to put an end to that which threatened the peace and safety of this land.

There wasn’t a single hint to latch onto - no footprints left behind on the snow to trail, nor any unnatural sounds to follow. It was enough to make them wonder if this had been just another instance of a hysterical villager, or a prank by a child that had gone too far. Yet, their target was within reach. They could feel it, a strange humming in their blood that had been getting louder over the past day. If they could just hold out a little longer -

A flash of brown against white made them pause. Could it be…? Could the end of this mission finally be within reach? Holding their breath, a bubble of forced calm descended over them in an instant, washing away the dregs of frustration. They shifted their stance, cautiously drawing their sword from its scabbard, the smooth slide of metal against metal slicing through the silence.

The air exploded into motion, a lance of pure flame shearing through the fog and nicking their cheek, flinging flecks of blood to stain the snow red. Shouldering through the fiery pain with naught but a grimace, as they were trained to do, Mizuki lunged, sword poised to pierce. A matching sword of flickering fire attempted to stop them in their tracks but only succeeded in ripping their cloak from their shoulders, sending its rippling form into the sky to burn to ashes that fluttered back to the earth.

The pained gasp that met their ears when they slammed into the ground informed them that their blade had met its target. With a grunt, they pressed the sword through the cloth it had caught and into the frozen ground, trapping their assailant beneath them, a thin stream of blood running down its edge from where it had grazed a shoulder. Still able to feel the ghostly remains of heat searing their skin, their hair falling out of their ponytail to fan their face, they raised their head, relieved that this long and miserable hunt had finally reached its conclusion.

The “demon” that met their gaze didn’t resemble any of the grotesque descriptions they’d heard passed around the royal soldier’s barracks. Pinned beneath them, there was only a girl that seemed to be around their age, with brown hair that ended in curls tumbling across the snow, and stark black horns curling from her head. Her clothes were dishevelled, brittle leaves stuck to the worn fabric. But what was most surprising were her eyes: wide, and fixed on Mizuki as if she were in the midst of seeing a ghost.

They could have sworn they’d never met this person in their life. After all, they never really left the castle, and their memories from before they’d arrived there were nothing more than a blank. Yet there was something incredibly familiar about her - the shape of her face, the flow of her hair, the curve of her horns. As their gaze traced over it all like they’d done it a thousand times before, the humming only intensified, enough to make them want to clap their hands over their ears.

More importantly, her use of magic marked her as the target that they were meant to eliminate. But Mizuki found they couldn’t move a muscle, some strange spell compelling them to stay as still as a statue. They could only stare, fascination warring with unease as the demon raised a trembling hand to their face, thumb brushing tenderly over the wound her own magic had left behind. It came away red with blood.

“It worked,” she breathed in a voice filled with wonder, a soft smile growing on her face that only made the unease roiling in their stomach grow. “It really…”

Her hand fell away, sorrow washing over her face like the relentless waves of the ocean, drowning out every last trace of joy.

The spell shattered, and Mizuki wrenched their blade from the ground, chest heaving as they let it hover over the demon’s throat. Their breaths came quickly, their heart racing, their vision blurring with unbidden tears. What in the world had that been…?

Closing her eyes, the demon let her head fall back against the ground, baring the pale skin of her neck to the sharp end of their sword. Not another word left her lips as she waited, the picture of serenity painted beautifully upon a canvas of snow.

It wouldn’t feel right, to end the life of someone who wasn’t even fighting back. None of this felt right, a sense of wrongness screaming in their heart and begging them to stop.

But it was their duty as a loyal knight to follow their given orders and dispatch this threat to their kingdom. To do otherwise would be treason - and they knew what the consequences of that would be.

It would be far easier to just lift their sword and end it all here, to stab through the seed of doubt that had ingrained itself in their heart. To leave it untouched and allow it to grow would be dangerous.

Gritting their teeth, they closed their own eyes, raising their sword with trembling hands -

“Ena!”

A shrill cry and a lance of pain straight through their shoulder made them roll back, sword clattering to the snow, hissing as they pressed a hand to the wound.

Another demon, this one with hair as white as the snow, burst through the trees, hurrying to help “Ena” to her feet. She shot Mizuki one last glare filled with terror, before scrambling to pull the both of them out of sight.

Mizuki should have given chase. Instead, they sunk to their knees, staring at the snow that had turned into a bloody, upturned mess, resembling a trampled flowerbed. They couldn’t hear anything over that strange humming that could be more likened to a tortured scream, their hands instinctively reaching for the top of their head.

Only for their fingers to close on nothing. Of course there would be nothing there, they reassured themselves. They were just a human knight that had been found by the Princess without a single memory but their name.

They repeated that fact in their head, over and over again, until their breathing had calmed down and the swirl of thoughts in their mind had cleared. Rising unsteadily to their feet, they retrieved their sword, sparing a glance at the gap in the trees where droplets of blood formed a trail.

If they followed it, they could easily catch up.

But… was that really what they wanted?

Sliding their sword back into its scabbard, they turned and left in the opposite direction, wishing to finally be free of this accursed forest.

~~~

“I lost track of them. That is all, Your Highness,” Mizuki intoned flatly from where they knelt on the floor of the throne room, head bowed.

“I see. That is disappointing.” There was nothing overtly threatening about the Queen’s words. Yet they could still feel those cold purple eyes trained on them, invisible thorns wrapping around them, squeezing and threatening to draw blood. “You will hunt them down the next time you meet, knight. You’re dismissed.”

Or else.

They rose, turning to catch the eye of the Princess. Mafuyu held their gaze for a while, something lurking in her eyes, before she gracefully followed her mother out of the room, her dress trailing behind her.

Later that day, when all light had bled out from the sky to be replaced with inky darkness and winking stars, there was a knock on their door.

“Hand it over,” Mafuyu mumbled after she’d made her way in, beckoning for the bandages they had set out on the table.

In silence, she dressed the wound on their shoulder, the moonlight filtering through the window set in the wall painting her in silver. Exquisite beauty that almost hurt to gaze upon, a blooming flower that would never wilt.

How did you find me? What truly happened, on that day?

The questions stuck in their throat like a round stone, refusing to be disgorged no matter what, even as their hands clenched, nails digging into the skin of their palm.

“Did they really escape?” Mafuyu asked in that quiet voice of hers, leaning back in her chair. Mizuki had always felt like she could see right through them, and they had never felt it more than in this moment, being the sole holder of her attention.

Resisting the urge to avert their gaze, they didn’t answer, and she only hummed knowingly, choosing not to pursue it any further.

~~~

That night, their dreams were a mess of faces and fractured shards of memories. Stumbling through a snowfield, frost eating at their skin and terror making its home in their heart. The day the Queen swore them into knighthood, the very sword they wielded now resting heavily on their shoulders.

A girl tending to their wounds, worry glimmering in her brown eyes as she gently stroked over the jagged edge of a broken horn, jutting from their head.

The vivid images slipped through their fingers with the morning light, leaving nothing but an aching hole in their heart.

[k0uhi]

hmn project sekai scenario where all the teams end up meeting through their sekais through the sheer power of connection

Mizuki is the one who starts it. Mizuki starts most of the things they get up to, and today it's because they were bored.

It took everyone some goading — Ena was complaining almost the entire time, but quieted down when she got tired, muttering about something or other by the time they make it to a place unfamiliar.

They walk to the edge — Miku came with them.

Though they commented before that SEKAI seemed to go on forever, the space seemed to almost turn more blank than it already was, from grey, to white, shards of memories and feelings sparse until there was nothing at all.

Kanade was curious if there was an edge — Miku didn't seem too concerned, only observed.

At last, they reached a place they couldn't seem to press forward.

Mizuki excitedly pressed her hands on the invisible resistance, as if testing it.

Kanade tried joining them first, commenting on its strangeness; Mafuyu was called by Kanade to ask how it felt for her, and Ena was tricked into touching it too.

The moment Ena, despite her hesitation, touched the resistance, she seemed to fall through and disappear. Mizuki panicked and managed to grab Ena’s hand. Mafuyu, instinctually, tried to help Mizuki, and Kanade was still holding onto Mafuyu when she realized she had to help pull Ena back. Miku was helping pull Kanade, but too late, Mizuki stumbled, and they all came crashing through —

The wall. They were now on a street with graffiti.

Miku was nowhere to be found but —

“What kind of food have you been eating, dammit?”

“Shut up, Akito! Someone who didn’t want to share his pancakes with me shouldn’t be saying anything!”

“Grah! You shut up! Why the hell are you even here?”

“What! I should be asking… you… that…”

“You didn’t even notice we’re not in SEKAI anymore?” Mafuyu muttered. She made no attempt to lower her voice. Ena whirled around to snark back at her, but Akito retorted with, “Did you just say SEKAI?”

Mizuki had helped Kanade stand, though they didn’t look any worse for wear. "Hey, it's the little brother!"

"Mizuki," he started, when another voice called out, "Akito, something weird happened, Miku just— Mizuki?!"

An came running into view, and screeched to a stop upon seeing the group. "What's going on?"

"'Miku'...?" Ena repeated. She looked at Akito. "Don't tell me, you have a SEKAI?"

"Me?" Akito looked like he was ready to start another fight when An cut in and said, "Let's go to the cafe so we can talk this out?"

[sutekh94]

Okay, I would NOT have been as generous as Tracy in responding to that anon. Then again, if I got that anon's message in my asks, I almost certainly would not have responded with anything to begin with, but still.

I feel it's worth saying that Tracy, Viv/Spindlehorse, and Glitch are NOT the entire indie animation scene. They're not some holy trinity of indie animation that's somehow acting as gatekeepers, preventing all the smaller projects, studios, and even people in their bedrooms making and posting stuff on Newgrounds from finding success.

That's not how that works. That's not how ANY of that works.

Indie animation is projects like Gwain Saga, ongoing since 2015 and largely made by one person, GeoExe. The aforementioned Godspeed by Olan Rogers, someone who had an actual TV show (Final Space) that got screwed over by a corpo merger. Horatio the Vampire by Dashiell Jackson, kinda flying under the radar with a small audience but still amazing on its own merits. I could go on and list more shows and projects, but my point and view are, all of these have found some level of success. Are they as popular as projects like Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus? No, but that doesn't matter.

Nothing is stopping anyone from making the next Gwain Saga, Horatio the Vampire, Godspeed, or ENA except themselves. Instead of being jealous at the success of people and studios like Tracy, Viv/Spindlehorse, and Glitch, why not focus that energy on making your own indie project? As Tracy said, it's a better use of time and effort than lashing out at the most popular creators in the indie animation scene and making assumptions about them that for the most part just. aren't. true. It's a helluva lot more rewarding, too.

I hope you know that literally nobody is going to be able to live up to the standard you, V*v, and Glitch have set and your arrogance and exploitation of your fanbase and connections has screwed millions of creatives out of their dreams because Hollywood is a joke that isn't worth telling and wealthy e-celebs like yourself have claimed the indie scene all to yourselves and moved the goalposts into the stratosphere.

Nope. This isn't a zero sum game. There is not some limited, prescribed number of indie trophy slots that a few studios greedily filled up, blocking everyone else out. That is not how it works. Nothing any other creator is doing - short of personally sending hired goons to your doorstep or stealing your credit cards - is taking anything away from you or preventing your success. In fact if an indie creator can manage to demonstrate that they've got something viable going, it may help to map out a pathway for others.

I think I'm not going to bother trying to address whether or not cartoons in return for support from fans - an entirely voluntary exchange - constitutes exploitation. And I'm living in the Midwest driving a 2007 economy car with 200k+ miles on it, but let's just skip past the assumptions that I'm wealthy and connected too.

Instead, let's get to the weirdly myopic notion that the indie scene is held captive by three studios. Maybe YouTube algorithms or Twitter bubbles are somewhat to blame, but in actuality there are so, so many individual people, friend groups, and small production houses out there making independent animation, I cannot possibly name them all.

Here are some anyway:

Far-Fetched Worthikids Satina | Scumhouse Noodle and Bun Punch Punch Forever Ramshackle Noodle Papajoolia | Pipi Angel Hare | The East Patch Jonni Peppers Salad Fingers Monkey Wrench Studio Heartbreak Felix Colgrave JelloApocalypse Odd1sout (started indie, got picked up by Netflix) Allie Mehner JaidenAnimations Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy Cloudrise | The Worlds Divide Telepurte RubberRoss James Lee ENA Godspeed | Olan Rogers Ollie and Scoops Meat Canyon Port by the Sea Kekeflipnote Boxtown Kevin Temmer Weebl Joel Haver CircleToons Long Gone Gulch Atlas and the Stars Animist Skibidi Toilet A Fox in Space Alex Henderson Talon Toniko Pantoja Sr. Pelo Hullabaloo Kane Pixels (started indie, picked up by A24) Homestar Runner Fennah Gods' School Alan Becker Dungeon Flippers JazLyte Psychicpebbles (started indie, Smiling Friends picked up by AS) Piemations vewn Metal Family Dead Sound chluaid Jacknjellify Betsy Lee | No Evil

By no means a full list. That's just YouTube, and mostly just English language stuff, and I didn't even get to the multitudes of Warrior Cats animation collabs.

The point is, the indie landscape is vast and populated by creators new and old, making all kinds of animated media from skits, to shows, to ARGs, to films. Audience sizes vary as much as the content, stylistic approaches, subject matter, and budgets do. There are no compliance standards, no gateways to entry, no goalposts. There's not even any preset definition of success except what you decide for yourself.

Anyway, instead of nurturing your resentments, consider making something. I assure you, it's a far more rewarding use of your time and energy, and pretty much no one can stop you. ------------- EDIT- Made some additions to the list based on comments. Thanks!

[cyprusqualitytime]

Eframia Combination by Prestige Bookings is a luxurious villa experience that combines the best of both worlds: Eframia Ena and Eframia Dyo. Location: Situated in Peyia, Cyprus, Eframia Combination offers direct access between the two villas via a connecting back gate. It’s just a 3-4 minute drive from the award-winning blue flag beach of Coral Bay and the resort center. Bedrooms: With a total of 6 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms, you’ll have ample space for large families and groups. Facilities: Two Swimming Pools: Enjoy not one, but two private swimming pools—one for each villa. Spacious Outdoor Areas: The massive outdoor spaces allow you to bask in the Mediterranean sun and take in the stunning views. Open-Plan Kitchens: Both villas feature well-equipped open-plan kitchens. Private Parking: Uncovered parking for up to 4 vehicles ensures convenience. Tile Flooring: The floor type is elegantly tiled. Security and Amenities: Monitored Security Alarm System. External unmonitored CCTV system Free Internet IPTV. Free Wi-Fi (20mb connection). Highchair & Infant Cot (if required & pre-ordered). Safe Box. Air conditioning included in the bedrooms (subject to fair use policy). Be

[everybodyneedsart]

Csató, József - Not Enough Buckets To Hold The Tears Of Joy @ ENA Viewing Space, Budapest

[grox-empire]

! INCOMING TRANSMISSION FROM THE GROX EMPIRE !

Hello, Welcome to my blog! My name is Calypso, But I also go by Espoir, Grox, Or whatever nickname you'd like to call me! This is a place where I post whatever the hell I want. Lore tidbits, Art, Shower thoughts, You name it!

I go by They/Xe pronouns, Sometimes It/Its if I feel like it. People I know well can use She/Her for me!

I'm a bit shy so I may be a bit slow to respond to asks, But feel free to send me them, I don't bite!

I'm currently working on a webcomic called daybreak, A hard sci-fi spin on the game Spore!

I'm autistic!! Please talk with me about my interests they make me so happy

SPEAKING OF, HERE'S MY INTERESTS! Bold = Current special interest / Hyperfixiaton

I AM CRITICAL OF ALL MY INTERESTS AND THEIR CREATORS! If something I like is irredeemable PLEASE for the love of god LET ME KNOW and DESCRIBE IN DETAIL WHY IT'S BAD!

Spore (Specifically the grox! I will reblog all grox art)

Daybreak (My webcomic/Headworld!)

Speculative Biology

Aliens

Space

Bugsnax

No Man's Sky

Edmund Mcmillen games (Mostly The Binding of Isaac and The End is Nigh)

ENA

All Tomorrows

A-Life games (Mostly the creatures franchise)

Dinosaurs

Animals in general

Minecraft

Terraria

The Owl House

Rain World

Computer Malware

Art

Internet History

ARGs / Analog Horror

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Please talk to me about Charlotte)

Undertale/Deltarune

Warrior cats

Object Shows

I don't have a very strict DNI, But other than that DNI if:

You fit general DNI criteria. If I catch you doing homophobic/racist/transphobic/ableist shit I will block you.

You consume media uncritically

You're a Pedophile/MAP, Zoophile, Proshipper, Or otherwise support any of those things. Get away from me, You're gross. If I find out that you support any of these things you are getting blocked.

You are an NSFW account or a kink account. If you keep that on a private account it's fine, Just don't interact with me on NSFW accounts. I am under 18 and generally uncomfortable with those topics.

Genshin and DSMP fans are on thin ice.

Ace-exclusionists, I'm asexual and do not want you interacting with me.

Other than that, I tend to just block anyone who makes me uncomfortable.

The #daybreakposting tag is for my spore-based worldbuilding project, Daybreak! It's about a young Grox named Celeste who wishes to escape the empire, And eventually starts a rebellion to earn her freedom! There isn't a single cishet character and basically, the entire main cast is autistic so I'd appreciate it if you'd check it out! PLEASE talk to me about it or its characters it makes me so happy when people ask me about it (Also the protagonist is autistic)

@cosmikazie drew the lovely art you can see at the top of the post!

Here's my sona's ref if you wanna draw her, She's a grox btw!!

Other places you can find me!

https://twitter.com/CalypsoGrox https://artfight.net/~Grox

https://toyhou.se/Groxx

http://www.spore.com/view/myspore/EspiGrox

[k9ok]

Tell me, whom does tho blorbofied in your mind-

Do you just mean who do I have who is blorbo?

Tbh I think the top one would probably be Ena. I haven't thought of her much recently but she's really the pinnacle of blorbo for me.

I'm just gonna list some others sure

Ena (joel g). She's so funky and gender and a little manic. She's just like me for real, she's cute, I love her. Highly recommend the series btw. So excited for the game. Both yellow blue and white red Enas are beloved

Miku Hatsune (vocaloid). She's just a cool girl who gives me so much gender euphoria. I really wish I took the time to become a better fan of hers but rn I just kinda like her design

Meta Knight (kirby). What a lad. He's so serious and yet so sweet. He's so cool.

Kirby. He's just a little boy

Lila (spooky month). She loves her son and his special little interests. She's always delightful and protective of her family. She's adorable and her mentioning how her voice was different in the first one cemented a trans headcanon whoops. Oh well. Gender time

Rosalina (super mario galaxy). YES. What a great design. I love her story. It's so tragic and I feel like people don't really pay as much attention to it as they should. She is The space mom. People don't focus on that they just focus on her being basically another empty girl slot in the cast. Kinda sad. Some people get it though. Ily

Daisy (mario). YES. SCREAM LIKE YOU MEAN IT. She's so cool. She's viewed by the community as who she is but sometimes it for the better. Sometimes people don't see her like I do 😡. Love her though. Btw all mario princesses are trans.

Peach (mario). This one to a lesser degree than the last two but I Love content with her hanging out with the other two, especially Daisy. THEY ARE FRIENDS.

Tbh basically any character where I go "YES LOOK AT THEM I NEED TO REBLOG 1000 FANARTS" I classify as a blorbo, So I'm probably forgetting some too. It is also stacked by the amount of transgender feelings I get. My most recent blogging spree of fanart wat Pink Link. I kinda wish I did more digging on these characters cause I love them.

Anyway thanks ig www. I should really keep a consise list so I don't have to do this from memory next time

[voillohiarchive]

questions from here (I’m just. I love infodumping bout insys shit <3)

1. What kind of system are you? (Describe this in any way you like. No need to use -genic or popular terms if you don't want to)

Eltegenic/Caregenic! We are very introject heavy (only like. 3/4 non introjects at this point?) and we are also caretaker/protector heavy! (Around 20 at our current count :D)

2. How many of you are there?

uhm by last count 130 something! our member count changes a lot tho, new members being formed all the time.

3. How long have you known about your plurality?

uh since last year I think? I can’t rlly remember the month or anything I just know we’ve known about it for around a year

4. What kind of spaces/communities do you/did you hang out in? (Both plural-relevant and non-plural-relevant spaces are valid answers, past and present)

TUMBLR!!!!!! It’s my only social media cite and this is where we are out as plural <3

5. Had you heard of DID/OSDD/DDNOS before you became plural/discovered your plurality?

yeah! I actually discovered my plurality from someone with OSDD.

6. Do you have a wonderland/innerworld? If so, what do you call it, and what are some things that you and your system members do there?

yes we do! It changes a lot tho, and like every time I’ve described it it changes right after :/

7. What do you call your system members?

people, headmates

8. If you're plural but don't use the word "system" to describe you&, what word do you use?

we do use system, but our system name is The Voillohi Family if that counts for anything

9. What are some of the best things about being plural?

I get to make sus jokes but with sys therefore adding an entire layer of inside-jokery

10. What are some of the not-so-great things about being plural? (Any answer is valid- nothing is too minor or too major to be an answer to this question.)

when walk-ins walk in knowing nothing about plurality/systemhood but we all have adhd so we don’t teach them for a couple hours

11. Do you have a spiritual or psychological view of your plurality?

wtf does this MEAN- I’m just plural bitch ✌️

12. Do you ever experience "switching" or "posession" or any sort of change in who controls the body? If so, what do you call it, how easy/difficult is it, and what is it like? Were you always able to do this, or did you have to learn how over time?

whoevers fronting at the time :/ unconscious masking makes it difficult tho

13. How do you and your system mates relate to each other? (Are you friends, family, romantically involved, caretakers, etc.)

All of the above

14. Have you come out to anybody in real life/in a singlet space about your plurality? How did it go?

it went alright! varying degrees of… not acceptance but just treating it well ig :/ still love em all tho <3

15. What kinds of forms and appearances do your system members take on?

humanoid mostly. We do have this one guy who doesnt have a body

16. What are you and your system members interested in?

fandoms: ENA, Drawtectives, Cookie Run, Deltarune, The Backrooms, Liminal Spaces, Weirdcore, Dreamcore

17. What is your life like in the meatworld?

>:/ I’m not telling u it’s none of ur business

18. What are your music tastes? Movies? Favorite colors? Animals? List any other favorites as well

Music: LOVE! Intrested in many kinds. Movies: ew no. Colors: we love all of them<3(except coral and mustard yellow) Animals: not animal ppl ig

19. Does your system have a host/original? If so, what do you call them? Explain what role they play in your system

my name is midnight and I don’t rlly front that much anymore ig? I’m just kinda there tbh

20. Do any system members have notable relationships outside of the system? Explain them!

not rlly

21. If you haven't been plural for your entire life/haven't known about your plurality until later in life: what was life like before plurality compared to life now?

you think I have the MEMORY? /j /lh /nm

22. If you chose to become plural: why? What has changed since then?

N/A

23. Is there anything you'd like to say to the plural community at large?

omg endos r real xeno origins r valid stfu sysmeds fuckin dicks

24. Is there anything you'd like to say to any singlets reading this post?

STOP BEING ANTI-ENDO FOR FUCKS SAKE

[sol-rizen]

By what is the check of “vibes” you speak of?

this one is going to be difficult i think. ironic, isn’t it? maybe it’s since i’m at three for three here.

again, i associate you with vi, as well as sombra, killjoy, and junkrat, as well as your dnd characters, cloud and imhotep. i also associate you with like. robodogs/robocats. yes i am including the iDog. but also the ones that are more articulated and can run around. i also associate you with deer. and ROCKS

it’s almost like bathing in a prism.

the sky is bright, it is cottoncandy pink, clouds of sorts go throughout it but this almost feels like more of a self-contained orb of sorts, however it it large. you can compare it almost to a roblox obby background but less obviously so. it’s almost hard to tell ground from sky, or ground from ground, really- the green low-poly triangle grasses and the lowpoly hills, rolling into each other and into masses of purple, and yellow, and pools of light colors that seem opaque. yellows, blues. orange in the reflection. trees of some sort popping in and out of view. the air fluttering with rainbow static full of noise, akin to so many thoughts, so much information in code terminals that pop into midair and out like popup screens of neon signs, their backgrounds transparent, all firing at rapid speeds. it is incredible, but one can believe at times it may be more a nuisance.

there’s a deer creature. its most interesting feature is its antlers. they are made of polygons in the 3D ENA-like way, a deep but vibrant purple. Some of its polygon surfaces shine with a rainbow-white crystalline quality, reminding one of that translucent rainbow tinsel stuff, or holo effects, and it glitters and shines with movement. the deer itself seems energetic, a :D look upon its face, the purple-green creature enjoying its ability to run wild and free in its habitat. on its chest it has a heart of gold- well, visually a heart of emerald. it is green. its hooves a darker color, somewhere between gold and purple.. maybe it has something programmed in to change its colors.

as widespread and amazing as this is, while there is a lot of light and energy there- one is reminded its supply at a given time is finite. it can be depleted, it can be recharged. it needs to be cared for, it needs to be appreciated for what it is, and respected by itself and by what lies beyond its borders. with less energy, the place appears duller, more boxy at its borders similar to an office, the neons a dull yellow amidst the greyish. the deer remains, working on what it can, lapping from the waters polled amidst the drab. it can still, theoretically, “function” like this, but it’s.. not always optimal, especially if for a long time. whether the spark be lost from itself or from forces outside itself.

but it’s alright for it to not always be clean and completely perfect. it’s alright for it to need a little cleaning up, to have a little light it can’t spare at times.

it’s still the same space, its still the same wondrous thing.

and it’s okay for it to save its energy or take its time to recharge.

-yeah. hey. uh. idk. have fun

[sourcemates-finder]

hello! i go by many names, but mostly anne/noel/saint (ae/aer/she pronouns) for now. i am a fictional introject with many sources, although currently i am looking for project sekai, angels of death, and ib sourcemates! i am an introject of ena shinonome, an shiraishi, ichika hoshino, and minori hanasato (project sekai), rachel gardner (angels of death), and ib (ib). i also have other sources, which you can talk to me about on @noel-cerquetti! im looking for nearly everyone, although i ask that daniel dickens introjects ask to interact. im friends with most of the pjsk cast, although i do have some girlfriends (kohane for example), and akito is my brother. i view garry and mary as family as well, and zack as my closest friend. please note that we are polyfragmented and have a busy schedule! we are bodily 15, although i am ageless myself. feel free to dm me on tumblr! (although i am most active on discord, which you can ask for). (sorry if this is kinda long it was like. really hard to read originally for us so i spaced it out)

Hello!

Don’t worry about the length, you can make it as long as you want :] Also, thank you for putting which source goes for which name; it’s very helpful!

If there’s anything you’d like us to add to (or take away from) the tags or body text just let us know! :)

[randomblog1981]

A day in the life of baby Jack

Words: 1129

Also on Ao3 (MaggieWJV)

Jack was getting used to Rowena turning him into a toddler, he didn’t mind, but he never seem to remember what happened when he was a kid.

He doesn’t remember how but he was a cute 2 and a half year old boy, wearing an oversized t-shirt.

“Okay, now auntie Rowena has to go” Rowena says after playing with him for an hour.

“I would turn you back to your teen self… but I haven’t caused the Winchester any trouble in a while, they might get used to and I can’t allow that” Jack stares at his aunt confused, he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, he just wants to keep playing.

“Play” he says and gives her a doll, Rowena smiles but refuses “I already spent to much playing, but don’t worry I’m pretty sure your dads are here” she grabs a glass and throws it into a wall, making a big crushing noise.

“What the hell was that?” Jack hears someone walking towards them.

“That’s my cue” Rowena gives Jack a kiss on the forehead and disappears.

He sees Dean and claps, Dean will play with him, he always has the most fun ideas.

“Daddean” that’s how he calls Dean instead of Daddy Dean, Dean lowers his view and sees Jack sitting in the floor, wearing a big t-shirt

“Oh man, I’m gonna kill that witch”

“Ant ‘Ena” Jack smiles, he knows his dad usually laughs when he calls Rowena an ant, but is not his fault he can't pronounce all the words.

“An ant I would like to step on”

“Play” Jack grabs the doll again and looks up to Dean.

Dean as usual just gives up, he did like spending time with baby Jack, but he doesn’t like dolls. He picks Jack up.

“What if we play our favorite game?” Dean says.

Oh, he knows what he’s talking about, is one of his favorites games, it’s called let’s wake up Sammy, he loves waking up his dad, Dean seems to enjoy it too.

“Sam” Jack squeals.

“Exactly”

Sam’s taking a nap after a long night up, he thinks he deserves one. Dean and Jack are outside his room, waiting.

“Okay, you know how this works, I’ll put you at his side, you just have to yell very loud in his ear. Got it?”

Jack nods like is the most important job in the world, even more important that killing God himself. They enter the room, Jack’s ready, Dean nods, giving him the signal.

“WAKKKKKK‘ AAAAAA” Jack screams while Dean laughs and Sam almost has a heart attack.

“Ahhhh!!” Sam wakes up, sitting up and searching everywhere, he sees Jack at his side and Dean laughing from the door. “Dean!”

“It wasn’t me” Dean keeps laughing.

“Daddy” Jack smiles at Sam, happy because he’s up now and he can play with him too. One look at the kid and Sam isn’t angry anymore, but he will get revenge later.

“Hello, angel” Sam smiles and scoops Jack into his arms, kissing all over his face. “Having fun?”

Jack nods and grabs his hair, one of the things he likes most about Sam, his long hair.

“Where’s Rowena?” Sam asks.

“I don’t know. She wasn’t even here when I found Jack”

Sam smiles looking at Jack playing with his hair.

“Someone needs clothes” Last time the guys had bought baby clothes for Jack. They thought about throwing them after Jack returned to normal but the clothes were cute and they kept it just in case.

Jack didn’t like the idea of clothes, he likes the t-shirt his wearing, he feels free and he can use it like a blanket too.

“No” Jack says.

“You don’t want clothes?” Sam asks.

“No” Jack repeats.

“Not even the Star Wars jammies?”

Jack thinks about it for a moment, he likes those pajamas and they are comfortable enough.

“Oki” Jack nods.

Now he has clothes on, he’s wandering around the bunker, his dads were discussing ‘adult stuff’ and he was bored, he just wants to play, but his toys aren't fun without a playmate. He looks around and sees something that caughts his attention, an outlet.

Jack doesn’t know why he wants to touch the outlet, now that’s at his level it seems attractive, he walks and puts his little hand on the wall staring at the outlet, there are little spaces just the size of his fingers, how would it feel to put his finger there, he wonders, he decides not to think about it to much and just do it, he’s about to, when someone yells.

“JACK, NO, COME HERE” Cas is the one who yells, Dean and Sam following him behind.

Jack doesn’t know why his dad yelled at him, he steps back confused and scared, he’s never seen Cas mad at him before. Tears start rolling down his cheeks, and he starts sobbing.

“I think you scared the kid” Dean picks Jack up, far from the outlet and safe in his arms.

Jack’s still crying and doesn’t know why. He just hides his head in Dean’s shoulder and sobs.

“Shh shh it’s okay, did meanie Cassie scared you?”

Jack nods still hiding his head.

“I’m sorry, Jack” Cas gets close to Dean and pets Jack’s hair. “I’m sorry I yelled I was scared, can you forgive me?”

Jack turns around, his teary eyes looking at Cas.

“Hug” he says and opens his arms at Cas.

“Of course, baby” Cas gives Jack a warm hug and a lot of kisses.

“You stole my Jack” Dean complains.

“We should get him to bed” Sam says taking Jack from Cas’ arms.

“Nap?” Jack asks.

“Yeah, nap” Sam gives Jack nose kisses.

“Damn he’s cute” Dean takes a picture. “How long is he gonna stay young?”

“Last time was 2 days” Cas answers. “But we don’t know what Rowena did”

“It doesn’t bother me honestly” Sam says.

“Me neither, except that I don’t change diapers” Dean says.

“So we aren’t gonna try to return him to normal?” Cas asks.

“Actually, this is normal, Jack’s 2 years after all”

“His birthday is in a few weeks” Sam smiles.

So yeah, they didn’t try to turn Jack back into a young adult. But when he woke up from his nap.

“How did my little angel sleep?” Sam opens the door with chocolate milk in a child cup.

“Good, I guess” Grown up Jack says. “Why do you have a child cup?”

“Mm… never mind, it’s good to have you back”

“Back? Rowena did it again, didn’t she?”

“Yep”

“Did Dean take photos?”

“You already know the answer” Sam laughs and turns back to the kitchen.

“WAIT” Jack says loudly from his room, Sam stops walking and pays attention.

“Is there more chocolate milk?”

[appleasing]

In Defense of Zoom

I recently attended a virtual closing of It’s A Woman’s World, an exhibition at The Women’s Art Gallery, owned by the Cincinnati YWCA. The gallery had an exhibition set to open on March 13, 2020, consisting of selections by local and regional Cincinnati artists from the collection of Sara Vance Waddell. 

Due to the world circumstances that we are all familiar with, the exhibition never opened. In order to circumvent the exhibition from never being seen, Sara Vance and the curator, Ena Nearon, teamed up to host the virtual closing. The event on Facebook was called “The Closing That Never Opened”. 

On Friday, I joined a Zoom call with around fifteen people, consisting of the curators, the artists, and various patrons. First the curator and the collector spoke about the theme of the exhibition, then each of the present artists were able to discuss their work. Images of work were screen-shared so patrons could visualize the exhibition. 

It was a lovely way to spend an evening, relaxing in my room getting to know artists and hearing them discuss their work. The true charm coming from the inherent strangeness of these virtual events. They’re awkward, and suffer under the brute hand of art historians who can’t differentiate a tweet from a remote controller. They show mistakes, and they show a human side to people who are typically well-organized and composed. 

The question really becomes, “Is this strangeness a bad thing?” And honestly, no, it's a step in a positive direction.

I have written before about how online exhibitions and events increase accessibility. Artists and organizers are constantly pining for this, with an obsession with getting the “everyday person” into galleries. 

I was able to attend this event sitting in bed while drinking a six pack. I did not have to walk or drive to a destination to see the exhibition. I did not have to socialize with anyone directly, or even get dressed. All I needed was a computer, and if I didn’t have one, I could’ve used my phone. 

There are people who have interest in art that struggle to go out and see exhibitions, for anything from physical to mental health concerns. There are people who cannot enter buildings due to limited wheelchair or elevator access. There are those who are exhausted after a day of work who don’t have the time or energy to see an exhibition. There are those who feel anxiety walking into unfamiliar galleries alone, or those who have depression and may be unable to leave the house. 

It’s hard to make time to see art, especially with smaller galleries. However, this form of exhibition viewing eliminates that. As long as you have internet access, you are able to see an exhibition while sitting in your home. I am aware it is not a solution for everyone, but it’s infinitely more accessible than the limitation of in-person exhibitions. 

On a side note, during the summer it can be very hard for me to leave the house due to personal health issues. If this exhibition was not virtual, I simply wouldn’t have gone to see the work. I was able to attend from the comfort of my room, without anyone having to see me, which increased my attendance likelihood exponentially. 

What is also palpable from these Zoom sessions is a sense of openness that I am unaccustomed to seeing from the art world. Opening and closing events tend to feel formal and well-planned, with art patrons that all seem overly accustomed to taking up space in a gallery. There is a haphazardness to technology that has brought out humanity in places where it is usually void. 

Video-chatting at all is awkward in its nature, and it has been tickling to see my peers figure this out on the fly. Since it’s something usually done from home between friends, it denotes intimacy rather than professionalism. I listened to three of the artists from the exhibition discuss their work from the comfort of their own living room. It did not feel like artists talking to their patrons, but rather like chatting with a pal about something they made. It was close and cozy, and broke down a lot of barriers that are in place at a traditional event.

This personal aspect shifts focus to the art. Gallery openings tend to be over glorified parties and networking events, not necessarily a time to admire art. It’s a party, a place to drink free wine, not a place to admire the labor of the participating artists. 

I cannot tell you how beautiful it is to see fifteen art patrons on a screen, three of them frozen due to connection issues. One of them is screaming, asking how Zoom works while the moderator scrambles to figure out how to mute their microphone. It’s awkward, it’s funny, and it puts everyone on an equal playing field. There are no special screens or podiums for organizers or artists, it is just fifteen people sitting in this strange unexplored virtual space that forces art historians to learn about computers. It makes these spaces feel more human and inviting, with all of us along for the ride to figuring out how to navigate the new normal. 

In my opinion, we should consider this format long after galleries re-open.

Of course not everything has to be online after the pandemic ends. It will be exciting to see art patrons all in one place again. I don’t hate art openings, I love a good party, and I am so excited to get back to that. 

However, if the cries from the art world about making spaces more accessible are true, then it would be a mistake to go back to form. The art world is inherently exclusionary, with art being a luxury little have ability to purchase let alone appreciate. We do not have to exclusively have online events, but there needs to be a balance. Galleries have the ability to stream artist talks for free, share images of their exhibitions online for the world to view, and stop upkeep stale and unnecessary barriers. 

To not think of the everyday person when the world reopens is to admit that galleries were never interested in making these changes. We are at the most interconnected time in all of human history, and the fact that these inclusive options are only being explored now, when it affects the able-bodied, is ridiculous.