#extremely specific dynamic but i love it so insanely much

[gtcopter]

friendly chill human vs borrower fiercely protective over their little sibling vs said little sibling warming up to the human FIGHT

[moe-broey]

Another important thing though...

[screambirdscreaming]

I swear I've been down this rabbit hole before

It goes like:

Some nice looking models on etsy/etc, but none of them are articulated which is sort of unsatisfying -> cool articulated prints on thingiverse/et al, but they are all vague in their crab details or stupidly cartoonish -> if I get my search terms just right, image search starts to show me BEAUTIFUL things, but they are all, to a one, listings in high-end online auction houses for 19th century netsuke.

Actually re: previous reblog I could get so into ball jointed dolls if people made dolls of crabs. Or other arthropods for that matter. Why is this not a thing.

[honeydewandcake]

lowkey going insane over the edgy sprout and cosmo dynamic so,,

how would they react if they started developing feelings for eachother? esp because they live together it’d be much more harder to ignore it and push those feelings away

also i had this specific scenario in mind where like edgy astro gave sprout a nightmare of like cosmo getting badly wounded/killed so like for the whole day afterwards sprout is extremely on edge and somewhat clingy and cosmo is just like “??”

If they started developing feelings for each other I imagine that they wouldn’t have trouble accepting the new feelings. Although love is kind of foreign, they would probably care more for their best friend than be stubborn about it

[fantastic-nonsense]

I love your thoughtful SoC meta! I would love to know your thoughts on Kaz and Jesper’s relationship. Specifically, I adore Kaz but one thing in particular that always seemed so dark to me was that he enabled Jesper’s gambling addiction even though he obviously does care about him. Kaz is obviously willing to do a lot of fucked up things in service of his goals, but this one in particular, toward his own brother figure, I find sad. It’s kind of addressed during their fight at the end of CK but still feels a little unfinished.

I love Kaz and Jesper's relationship. There's sooooo much to dig into there (way too much for a single meta); it's super juicy and complicated, and one of the best complexities of it is that they often enable and feed off of each other's trauma. The pre-canon status quo is a situation where Kaz and Jesper are, in many ways, using and abusing each other as a way of avoiding dealing with their own trauma. It's a fascinating push-and-pull dynamic because neither of them are pushovers and yet neither one is particularly interested in facing their Issues™ head-on, and they both seemingly recognize that in each other and give each other an uncharacteristic amount of grace in helping the other avoid dealing with it.

In Kaz's case, that most often looks like enabling Jesper's gambling addiction and then repeatedly bailing him out of trouble under the justification of "he's loyal and competent, it would be wasteful to let the other gangs kill him." In Jesper's case, this looks like ignoring Kaz's countless and extremely obvious issues in favor of playing the loyal second. Basically, it's not just Kaz enabling Jesper's gambling addiction; it's also Jesper enabling Kaz's unhinged ruthlessness with little pushback other than a few snarky comments.

They also project a lot of their own issues onto each other! Kaz pushes Jesper away in part because he's projecting the grief and blame he feels over Jordie's death onto Jesper, but Jesper is using Kaz's ruthless pragmatism to escape the crippling disappointment of returning home to face his father's judgement for being a college drop-out, gambling addict, and gang member. And Kaz withholds praise and verbal declarations of trust from Jesper because he hates acknowledging that he cares about people, but Jesper uses Kaz's emotional detachment as a crutch to avoid dealing with his own commitment issues by pining after a boy he knows will never reciprocate his advances. This status quo is, of course, insanely unhealthy for both boys long-term, but where would we be if any of the Crows actually dealt with their issues in a healthy way?

That dynamic, imo, is also only possible because Kaz and Jesper have known each other for longer than anyone else in the main crew; Kaz may have let Inej in further, but he let Jesper in first. As far as we know, Jesper is the first person Kaz genuinely lets past his mile-high walls since Jordie died...but he very deliberately holds him at arms' length in a way that he does not with Inej (something that Jesper notices and is jealous about!). Being "the first" in this case unfortunately comes with a lot of baggage, and Kaz and Jesper would both lowkey rather die than talk about how much they care what the other thinks of them.

Kaz clearly didn't recruit Jesper looking for a friend or someone who reminded him of his dead older brother; he recruited him because he saw someone with a useful skillset who he preferred to be at his side rather than in a rival gang or dead in the canals. It's to Jesper's credit that he managed to break through those walls anyway, but there's only so much he can do in the face of Kaz's armor. And like Inej, Kaz's closed-off personality and actions hurt Jesper repeatedly. But he stays anyway, because he (like Inej) sees the boy underneath the mask that Kaz wears and cares a little too much to let him go:

“He wouldn’t—” Jesper stopped short, and then he laughed. “Of course he would.” Jesper flexed his knuckles, concentrated on the lines of his palms. “Kaz is…I don’t know, he’s like nobody else I’ve ever known. He surprises me.” “Yes. Like a hive of bees in your dresser drawer.” Jesper barked a laugh. “Just like that.” “So what are we doing here?” Jesper turned back to the sea, feeling his cheeks heat. “Hoping for honey, I guess. And praying not to get stung.” Inej bumped her shoulder against his. “Then at least we’re both the same kind of stupid.” “I don’t know what your excuse is, Wraith. I’m the one who can never walk away from a bad hand.” She looped her arm in his. “That makes you a rotten gambler, Jesper. But an excellent friend.” “You’re too good for him, you know.” “I know. So are you." -Ch. 17, Six of Crows

Kaz is unused to verbalizing the trust he places in others and actively in denial about how much he cares about them until Crooked Kingdom; he spends his time deliberately being cruel and pushing people away even as he proves over and over again that he doesn't actually want them to leave him. This casual assholery hits those closest to him (Inej and Jesper) the hardest because they are clearly trusted with his life but not with his heart, and that hurts them both.

For Inej, resolving that behavior looks like giving him an ultimatum ("I will have you without armor or I will not have you at all") and telling herself to walk away unless he meets her challenge. For Jesper? That looks like duking it out on top of the Geldrenner when they're both at rock bottom, because of course that's the only way either one of those boys is ever going to verbalize the tension that underlies their relationship. There's just a lot of baggage and mutual toxicity and unsaid words that neither of them are very interested in dealing with until everything comes to a head during the Clocktower fight.

I think we also forget that the Kaz-Jesper dynamic we see in the majority of the duology is not their normal dynamic: it's how they interact when Kaz is mad at Jesper. And a mad Kaz is, within the scope of canon, a pretty cruel Kaz, which is something that I think a good portion of the fandom likes to handwave away in favor of pointing towards Kaz's active attempts to be better in the back half of the duology.

Ultimately we only see the "normal" Kaz-Jesper dynamic for the first 12 or so chapters of Six of Crows (when the Dock Fight/Eyeball Incident happens) and the last few chapters of Crooked Kingdom. Those chapters are a really interesting look into what that relationship looks like when they're on good terms. It's clear that they're good friends, trust each other a hell of a lot, and joke around with each other quite a bit (the "saves ammo" joke in the parley chapter, their interactions during the Hellgate breakout, the "man with a knife!" "man with a gun!" exchange immediately after Kaz throws Oomen overboard, etc), but we also see the stress points: Jesper getting mad at Kaz for not telling him about Big Bolliger's betrayal, Kaz sending Wylan with Jesper during the prep chapters to keep an eye on him, and Jesper's bee and honey conversation with Inej on the Ferolind, for example.

These stress points are what fracture and crack in the aftermath of Jesper accidentally alerting the other gangs that they were headed out on the Ice Court Job and nearly causing Inej's death, and further buckle under the stress and pressure that Kaz and Jesper deal with during the following month and a half: the Ice Court job, Van Eck kidnapping Inej on Vellgeluk, Colm showing up in Ketterdam, and the Sugar Silo/Auction scheme.

In this way, I think Kaz enabling Jesper's gambling addiction is less about Kaz being actively cruel towards someone he sees the ghost of his brother in and punishing Jesper for the sins he percieves Jordie to have made (which is also true, and a meta for a different time!) and more about the weird balance of toxic mutual leniency Kaz and Jesper have allowed the other to provide for them for over two years...and how that leniency breaks down once it's not just Kaz's life or time on the line when Jesper fucks up.

Put more succinctly: for a long time, Kaz and Jesper existed in a toxic balance of enabling each others' worst impulses and behaviors, which was only able to be verbally addressed when they were both at rock bottom, desperate, and seemingly had very little left to lose. This conflict is somewhat addressed and resolved in the conversation where Kaz refuses to give Jesper the last of the parem and offers up a tiny bit of information about Jordie—showcasing his own growth and how he's finally trying to break the cycle by refusing to enable Jesper's self-destructive tendencies—but that level of tension is unable to be properly resolved in one single blowout argument. And I think it's deliberately left a bit unfinished because neither of them are really in a place where they're ready to address everything they've left unsaid for so long, even in the epilogue chapters.

However, we do see the beginnings of that reconcilitaion (Kaz asking Inej to tell Jesper that he's "missed around the Slat") and the story ends on a hopeful note regarding Kaz's commitment to removing his armor, which implies a lot about the resolution of that dangling thread. And of course, we know that by Rule of Wolves they're back to being thick as thieves and fucking around as usual, so clearly they hashed it out at some point in the in-between (and personally? I don't think it took either of them very long after the CK epilogue chapters to do that hashing out).

tl;dr: I love it when two traumatized and emotionally constipated teenage boys use each other to avoid facing their own personal problems and then get into a fistfight to avoid talking about how much they care about each other. Top-tier dynamic. Chef's kiss. I could talk about them for hours.

[crooked-wasteland]

I think what annoys me so much about the way the show blasts Blitzo for being a cold and unromantic partner is that it’s a perfect example of ignoring worldbuilding to make a character look worse.

By human standards, Blitzo abandoning someone when they tell them that they love him is pretty cowardly and understandably upsetting. But in Hell standards? Verosika should’ve fucking known he’d run away because Hell seems to look down heavily at the concept of love. This is like knowing that it’s taboo to kiss and then getting mad at a character for not kissing you. You can’t blame someone for being adjusted to what society expects of you. Verosika can still be hurt but it’s genuinely insane how much she clings on to this hate like he did a crime.

And the fact that we just skip over seeing their relationship is also infuriating because I get the feeling that Viv was both not interested in actually showing us what Verosika was like and also afraid to make her do anything that feels more in line with her character which is act angsty and spiteful

I've had a thought about Verosika. From the we've seen this season, the writers have actually listened to and addressed criticism for the show. The Ghostfuckers leaks show an overhaul of the original story, the fact that episodes got shifted around at the start of the series, the blatant un-writing of the assassination plot, and the fact that Unhappy Campers was the only pre-special episode to not be in the season 2 trailer (most likely because it was still in the early stages of animation due to massive rewrites to incorporate more Millie) are all evidence to this. It's obvious the crew is not happy about it, but they are listening.

With that in mind, the show has repeatedly been accused of extremely sexist writing in favor of the male cast. As such, it's not surprising to see the pivot more towards "humanizing" the female characters in specific. I remember seeing a lot of comments about how they wouldn't forgive the show if they made another female character irredeemably cruel and brainless following The Circus, and even louder after Western Energy.

What fans had wanted was a complicated or even toxic dynamic where both characters weren't perfect, but still held Blitz accountable for his actions, fairly. What they got was the cheapest, laziest writing I've ever seen. Not only does it not make sense in regards to the established world building of Hell's attitude towards love, it still makes no sense for Blitz to run away just because Verosika said she loved him, only to then adopt a child. He explicitly goes to the pound looking for a pup, pivoting to taking in Loona out of pity. It's like saying marriage is too much of a commitment, but still having kids.

Instead, Medrano overcorrected to pander to critics the same way she panders to her fans. Verosika is not an irredeemably cruel and stupid, spiteful woman. She's a perfect victim actually. Not only is her only crime falling in love, but the relationship ended so fast and sudden that she didn't have any time to do anything.

All these choices feel not only deliberate, but resentful in how little care went into the writing. The most drastic overhaul being to Ghostfuckers where the entire narrative trimmed down and immensely reworked already existing elements into the script. It goes to show the level of improvement possible to an idea when given better direction, but it also shows the limitations of not having actual writers on the team.

Ghostfuckers does an amateur's best and comes out generally okay, but still suffers from over reliance on tropes without narrative substance. It's the genuine best that can be done with this team. And unfortunately that's still not good enough.

[hana-no-seiiki]

...... I want to know more about fenrir. I've known about him for three minutes but I want to smooch him so badly.

Fenrir is very much a dog. His real name is only known to you. And to those that didn’t read the previous Cat Villain! Reader post (shame on you lol no jk it’s been like a minute since that one) he’s one of your villain fuckbuddies.

Very much enemies to partners in crime. He used to hate your ass and would chase you around the neighborhood. And even when you two first partnered up it was basically the funny man / straight man dynamic wherein he’d keep your head in the game during heists.

But once you two hit it off he basically became your dog. He particularly fell in love with your kindness. The fact that you sacrifice and risk your freedom and everything you know just to give to those less fortunate.

He can be a bit radical/extreme. He will very much go to hell and back for you, but expects you to use his actions in a way that benefits others.

You met prior to Jason’s death and while you were dating Nightwing so it was also vv much platonic back then.

But then it turned romantic after shit hit the fan and you went insane.

He basically became your stress toy as you tried your damn hardest to look for Jason/bring him back to the land of the living.

You two are friends first though. So a lot of inside jokes, bickering, and fist bumps every heist or attempt to troll the vigilantes/heroes. (See; CV! Reader being every Robin’s Cherry Popper)

He can turn into a massive wolf and is usually the first line of defense against the vigilantes that try to stop you.

He hates being collared or treated like a doggy and had once bitten off a policeman’s hand for cooing at him. But the moment you call him your pup he’s on his knees.

Please smooch him, he needs more of your attention fr fr.

He eats a lot. You have to set aside a portion of your “earnings” to satiate the man’s void of a stomach. Dude is unapologetically feral when it comes to his precious sustenance. Surprisingly open to vegetables despite his whole canine thing.

Annddd lastly, he used to be a full on vigilante/hero before you two got close. Worked specifically with investigators to track down high profile criminals.

WAIT WAIT - ALSO- he likes to wear puffy/oversized/warm clothing mostly cause he wants to lend them to you for use whenever it gets cold in gotham. otherwise man’s got you covered with a fan, umbrella, and sunblock. He’s basically a personal assistant and he often fights for that spot with Tim.

He hates Tim. And everyone else but you. But he has a sort of rivalry/vendetta against Timmy boi.

(Ironically, he fights the most with Damian. Powers and what Damian does for animals aside, Fenrir just hates the dude’s blunt personality and tends to bicker a lot with him if not fully getting violent)

“I’m yours to use as you wish.”

Pssst also here’s an old sketch of him that I should really work on lol (these are just doodles of my dc universe ocs dont mind the other two characters)

[termitnik]

what are some common misconceptions about pathologic characters that ur sick of seeing in fandom spaces

anon thank you for blessing me with this wonderful ask this fine day

i'm gonna keep it pretty short for daniil because i don't want this to become a defense post about him and i think i've already said all there is to say but literally can we stop mischaracterizing him to this degree? it's very obvious that daniil does care about the town and the people around him given that he keeps trying to help in any way he can even when he has nothing to personally gain by doing so. and unless you're going for all the 'i'm an asshole' options in his dialogue he's actually polite and even endearing at certain points? especially that considering that during his own route he's pretty much thugging it out on his own, if anything helping the other two playable characters instead of the other way round, but in the haruspex and chageling route he's the one you turn to for help when stuff gets tough. here's a post that includes some of his lines that illustrate this point. also the implication that he's some clueless asshole that doesn't know what he's doing while artemy is The Good Doctor That Saves Everyone TM is a horrible misreading of the story and the framing of the plot. the bachelor's route is specifically a story about a person who finds themselves in such a hostile setting that, despite their best efforts, is unable to find their footing and ultimately fails at everything they try to accomplish. by interpreting this aspect of the game as daniil himself being incompetent you have missed out one of the most major points this game is trying to make.

as for artemy, i partly blame this on the developers themselves and how they handled his p2 characterisation but i dont like how the grittier aspects of his character are ignored in favor of a loving father persona. artemy can be a huge dick in classic, as can all three playable characters and a big part of why i like his and daniils relationship so much is because they're both these cold, reserved, introverted guys but allow themselves to enjoy an easier dynamic between them. i think that aspect of their relationship doesn't really work if you hc artemy as someone who is kind and cheerful from the get go.

in a similar vein i also don't like how perceptions of clara often boil down to silly teenage girl who makes meta jokes when her character is so much more than that. people completely ignore the unflattering aspects of her character, like how self-righteous she really is. i mean she's literally making it up as she goes and yet she feels so confident in herself and her methods that she finds it acceptable to trick the only two doctors into a rivalry (and then sell them out to each other for supplies despite fully believing that they intend to kill each other). also, most of the time she is not as silly and impish as people make her out to be- that's mostly the changeling. in the moments when she is herself, clara is pretty depressed.

i also dont like anna angel slander because, is she a child murderer? yeah. was she also abducted as a child herself and found herself in an extremely difficult position at a very early age? also yeah. iirc correctly shes 18 in the game and the ace of diamonds events happened years prior so basically she was a child herself. not that its wrong to criticize child murder because obviously but the way some people speak about her is insane.

also this is completely hc based and of lesser importance than everything else but i have difficulty getting behind anything remotely kinky when it comes to burakhosky because to me they will always be the kind of couple that read in silence next to each other before falling asleep at the late hour of 10:30 pm.

[starsonablackboard]

mutuals appreciation post! i've been feeling sentimental about the fact that i met so many wonderful skillfull artists and just great people here in such a short time so i want to tell each one of you a couple of nice words

@miaumiaoumao it amazes me how many art styles you can pull off. that's a very rare skill in my experience and you absolutely slay every time. your silly cartoony comics are always a joy to see, and the way you do lineart in the more realistic styles is asolutely wonderful. im staring at the "peer into the darkness" piece (the second one) while im writing this and i cant stop. the way how it's all pencil-y, grainy and textured scratches some deep itch of mine

@fanaroff i love how squishy and soft you draw your characters. your style is so interesting to me, you push the proportions yet it still looks balanced and right. also your characters often feel very grounded in their environment and space, they feel solid. like i know how they would feel if i could touch them yk? i guess that's what i mean as squishy and soft aha

@myballsitchaurghouchie my god where do i begin. your character designs? immaculate. so eccentric and bold and full of character, i love all of the wiskers-ear tufts-fly aways you give your narinder, and the way you stylise your lamb's wool and goat's hair looks insanely cool. you know how to pull off both extremely soft and gentle atmosphere and extremely dynamic one. i see your art quite infrequently but each time it's a joy to behold

@aniimoni i fell in love with your art from the first glance. despite the fact that the majority of your works that i see are digital ones, they all feel so... tactile? sensory? as if i can feel non existent grafite under my fingers, trace the brush strokes. the art that you do is so very gentle, the care you put into it is obvious even through the screen. also i love your lamb's design so very much. and narinder's penis ears. what can i do

@sriibble don't know if i should tag you since you're not in our weird cultist club and you already know all im about to say but hey, no harm in some praise, is there. i've seen you skills evolve over these years, but honestly each time i see your new drawings i feel like im awestruck for the very first time. the way you work with colour sometimes looks like magic to me, you can take the palette that makes no sense and bend and mold and twist it into something absolutely beautiful. i know you draw without lines or contours but each time i actually see im in awe. maybe i sound cheesy but it feels like you actually create art, like it runs from your fingers and molds in your palms like clay. жесть меня понесло конечно но и ладно. люблю тебя моя радость, чмаф

@greedykrab the way you work with colour is insane omg. your drawings have such pure raw energy to them, the way you draw, messy and confident, is mesmorising amd so so expressive. you convey atmosphere masterfully, that black and red drawing of narinder in the window still scares the shit out of me. i adore your dark warm kinda dirty paletts, i feel like you know very well how colour and lighting behave, your pieces always feel so real

@midia666 your bishop designs are so unique and striking, i feel like they do an absolutely awesome job at being, well, character designs -- conveying personalities through the way character looks. you have such a good grasp on human (and human-ish) anatomy, your linework is so confident yet so gentle when it needs to be. и я всегда радуюсь видя крутых русскоговорящих художников тут. спасибо за ваши труды <3

@donutfloats it's maybe a strangely specific way to start but i love how you draw wide open maws full of teeth <3 you understand anthro facial (muzzle? snout?) structure so well at such level which i strive towards. the clothes you give your charactes are always amazing and i wish i could wear them, and the diverse body types are so pleasing to look at. also mephis is my fav i love them sm

@teruuu i scroll through all of you guy's art tags so i can formulate my thoughts better and oh god ru i forgot how absolutely batshit insane your art can be in the bestestest of ways. all those scribbly lines and sharp teeth and broken colours, absolutely wild amazing and so so vivid. your designs are a delight to look at and even more a delight to draw, your characters are so expressive and fun and your lineless artstyle is so polished and pleasing and nice, it's amazing in a whole different way <3

@linvxtheghost your art lately been such an interesting middle point between lineless and line..full? and your colours are vibrant yet very balanced, it's like you draw with acrilic markers but in didgital, yk?? it's such a cool look! your more soft colouring stule is also so so nice and gentle and glowy i adore it sm. and your sketches are so dynamic and fun!! твои рисунки всегда будут близки моему сердцу леша и вообще ты крутой художник блин. (бтв если ты таки запостишь мои комишки я зареблогаю the shit out of them)

woooow that was a lot but a fun lot! i hope i didn't leave anyone out?? i double checked. you guys are all so wonderfull and skilled im so glad we're mutuals!!! have a great day and take care <3

[bamjammy]

My Billford friends. I present you: Will Wood. This is song is them. Not up for debate, thanks and I’m correct. Analysis below. Also TBOB spoilers probably

This is a lyric by lyric analysis about why this song is them. Most of (if not all of the song) is Bill’s perspective in my mind, Will Wood definitely captures his weird chaotic energy. Not every lyric matches. That’s ok, I’m just gonna skip those. The song is still them. Lyrics will be in quotes, analysis will be in parentheses and also a different color.

“Why do you wanna kill me?”

(I also hear this as “what are gonna do, kill me?” sometimes cause it’s a little hard to understand him. I feel like both fit a bitter/cocky Bill talking to Ford in the pyramid)

“Say you're still her, the woman you were, and you haven't turned into someone who never could love me again”

(Ok obviously Ford is not a woman, we can just ignore that part. The point of the lyric is the narrator, in this case Bill, wanting reassurance that he is still loved, I feel like this would be more subconscious on Bill’s part, but that denial is absolutely palpable during weirdmaggedon/TBOB)

“'Cause you never broke my heart, no, you fixed it, and now it works, but only enough just to suffer that hurt. Whoa-oh-oh-oh”

(Ok I fucking love this line especially in this context. This is literally their entire dynamic like, c’mon. Bill, up to the point of meeting Ford, had been manipulating people all throughout human history. It really feels like Ford is the first one he got so deeply attached too, so much so that he would want to convince him to join him in ruling over everything as an agent of chaos. Ford was captivated by Bill the moment he met him, believing him to be a higher power capable of provisioning him with what he needs. As their relationship progresses they sort of have a reversal of roles, Ford comes to despise Bill and fear him, Bill comes to be obsessed with Ford. He NEEDS him. God I love this line)

“What can I say to convince you to slip back into my arms again? I won't do you no harm again. Let me tell you that I'm sorry and that-”

(I don’t think Bill would ever say sorry out loud unless it was specifically to be manipulative, but after reading TBOB there is clear regret at losing Ford. Even if it’s not remorse you can tell he wishes he’d gone about things differently even though he refuses to admit it. Also the “slip back into my arms again” thing, again I associate with him trying to convince Ford to join him in weirdmaggedon.)

“I'm just a little bit crazy about you, Just a little bit out of my mind, Just a little insane without you”

(Bill’s always been a little insane by nature of who he is, but he goes to such extremes to get Ford to stay with him (see TBOB missing journal pages) and then STILL tries to convince him during weirdmaggedon after he’d already been rejected and despised. He makes him CRAZY. It’s kind of sad)

“Please come back and be just a little bit mine- Just a little bit mine”

(He wants him back soooooo bad it’s really just pathetic at this point)

“I never thought, and if I did, I forgot while blacked out in love”

(I don’t think Bill thinks through much of what he does to Ford in those desperate moments if at all. They’re just that- desperate. Can also be interrupted as Bill possessing Ford, when he “blacks out” and finds himself harmed or in danger, he obviously can’t remember those moments when Bill takes over. Bill interrupts this as “blacked out in love” either to justify it to himself or to convince himself Ford still loved him. I think that’s a fun interpretation)

“That what's only starting would've come to an end but now, I'm hungover and hung out to dry, and I'm giving it time”

(Time passes faster for Bill, it should feel like a blip in his life but it consumes him. The “hungover” part, see TBOB “Losing Sixer”. It’s the best page)

“Does not knowing the truth turn my words into lies? Whoa-oh-oh-oh”

(I could see him absolutely trying to play dumb in last ditch attempt to get Ford to trust him again. Fucking loser lmao)

“What can I say to convince you or do to make you agree with me?”

(Again, desperate. See all my previous allusions to the weirdmaggedon scene)

“I don't need you to be with me, Just try to remember what you'd see in me”

(I feel like this line could be a breaking point for Bill, where he’s desperately grasping at anything to make Ford continue his work, including harming, threatening him, etc. I know a lot of these lines have come back to the same thing but it’s just. The vibes, y’know? I feel like this is specifically the part where Bill tries to call Stan, which scares Ford into actually reaching out to him, Bill inadvertently causing his own demise. That’s from TBOB btw. I warned you about spoilers)

(Cut the chorus since I already analyzed it)

“I'll be here singing 'til our heartbeats might slip back into that rhythm again”

(Bill waiting for the right moment to strike. The moment Ford steps out of the portal Bill sees an opportunity, he’s done biding his time. You feel me?)

“Whether it is or isn't the end, Who cares? God knows that I could use a friend!”

(Bill is living in so much denial it’s suffocating. I mean, it’s not even just Ford, it’s his whole life. He’s in denial about how people in his home dimension treated him, he’s in denial about the fact that he’s not all powerful, he’s in denial about how similar he is to humans, and he’s in denial about Ford not loving him (and also in denial about Loving Ford). There is no end because he refuses to accept it, but then tries to brush it off like he doesn’t care, because he’s in denial about caring. My boy, YIKES!!!)

Cut the rest of the song cause it’s just the chorus again but longer. Anyway yeah the point of this is Bill is a desperate freaky ex with weirdo Will Wood energy, Will Wood’s music is good and I love it and you should listen to him if you haven’t, and I’m not normal about them and their weird fucking dynamic. Enjoy and eat well my strange creatures

[carlyraejepsans]

Do you/ have you ever shipped Papyrus with anyone? I used to ship Papyton but not anymore (not that I think it’s wrong to ship it, I’ve seen a lot of people who think it is???)

????? who beefs with papyton... worst i ever heard against that one was "fandom shipping focusing on two male characters who never meet" which. fair enough, i think they work kind of complementary as characters which can make it a fun dynamic, but considering they trump soriel by hundreds of fic and those two have a notoriously insane dynamic textually canonically in your face on-screen, romantic or platonic... yeah. i wouldn't exactly rule "women-allergy" out.

but yeah, mostly papyton as well. i think his and mettaton's personalities are fun to play against one another. I've thought about a few funny scenarios of him and asgore in the ending where he becomes the ambassador, but there's not much interest beyond that (and the hilarious state of the The Skeleton family tree)

Extremely specific situations like daemoverse and the exiled queen ending? I like to let him join in on soriel. but honestly, 99.9% of the time i love reading him as aro so much... his date arc is such a good segment for that. it's okay, he can buy himself flowers. draw his face in the sand. talk to himself for hours... (?) say things you don't understand (okay flowey i know it's you. stop that)

[mommyownsmee]

hii, do you have any tips for aftercare on dom/mes? like dealing with dom drops etc. i want to take care of them too but i'm not really sure how.

(i love how you explain bdsm, it's so clear and you really care for the community 🥹)

Thank you so much for your message, it‘s incredibly nice of you to think of your Dom/me this way and wanting to practice aftercare for them too.

[I‘ll be calling the/my Submissive S/O in this text because of personal reasons. I‘m writing in a perspective that shows me in a D/S dynamic! I won‘t openly confess to any relationship status here on Tumblr for my own and any other persons personal safety.]

At first I need to explain everything about Dom/me/ Top Drop and what‘s it caused by - so everyone of you understands why a Dom/me needs aftercare too.

If some of you aren‘t interested in this please scroll to the bottom, as that’s where I give examples for aftercare on Dom/mes.

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Of course every Dominant experiences Dom/me/ Top Drop differently and this is just an example for one kind of Dom/me/ Top Drop and one specific kind of trigger. Every Dom/me experiences their Dom/me/ Top Drop differently and for every single one there are different triggers.

Here is how a Dom/me/ Top Drop feels for me:

I get it only shortly after a scene and only if I had an orgasm [where I got touched/penetrated/etc. In fact the orgasm itself is my trigger and that‘s why I often prefer just not to come, which is totally fine for me. It‘s enough for me just to see my S/O in pleasure. It gives me everything I need as a Domme and there is nothing that I miss. I can come from my mind only/ no physical interaction on me or others and this kind of orgasm doesn‘t trigger my Domme/Top Drop at all]:

The scene is over. I’m looking at my S/O, or listening to her breathe on the phone. We’re just there together and everything seems fine. Then, in just an instance, I get this insane amount of longing. I start feeling extremely guilty, especially if my S/O has any marks or bruises or just because of the fact that I just lost control for a second while I had an orgasm. I know it sounds like I‘m a control freak, but in fact it‘s only because I‘m autistic and I like routine. Having an orgasm which got triggered by physical interaction on me is extremely exhausting for my mind and it often happens that I just pass out after them for a minute because those orgasms are extremely intense for me and my body - and this is what really scares me.

So within a few seconds I‘m mentally going through „I need to be held close“ - „Why did I hurt the person I love more than anything else?“ - „Am I enough?“ - „What did just happen? I can‘t remember the last few minutes [only after my orgasm]“ - „Is she okay? I need to check up on her asap“ - „Am I still a good Domme?“ - „My S/O deserves better“ and finally it just ends with „I miss her so much it physically hurts“ and „I just wish she was here/ could come up to me and hold me close and tell me that I‘m enough and everything is fine and we are still we and nothing has changed and that you still love me as much as I love you“.

For me a Dom/me/ Top Drop feels like a gush of depression right in my face. I‘m starting to cry, shake and curl myself up. It‘s awful. I’m starting to rethink my role or effectiveness as her Domme. I maybe notice that I've overthought something during our time together. And above all, I just miss her. Since my S/O and me don‘t live close to each other it‘s hard for me to compensate all of those feelings mostly alone. It‘s a lot better the times she‘s here, but my Dom/me/ Top Drop still happens. I'm aware that it's the amazing chemicals that my body produced while having her with me slowly start to dissipate after our scene and it‘s hard for me to overcome this.

I think the hardest is to filter away the guilt and shame of what we like to do in a scene, and the guilt of what I might have done to my S/O during it. Self acceptance and allowing that to take time is the key. Communication, no matter the distance, is absolutely essential. The biggest thing is to stay honest with myself and my S/O about it. Check-ins are necessary for our dynamic.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

In my opinion Dom/me/ Top Drop and Sub Drop are fundamentally different. A Sub Drop is tied to an actual chemical change in the body, endorphins, dopamine, levels changing over the course of moments. I feel like a Dom/me/ Top drop is more mental. The body produces adrenaline and other drugs during a session, and when we are coming down from them, it is like falling into a deep hole sometimes. We feel a remorse, regret, a disappointment for something not going as planned. I think a Dom/me/ Top Drop is similar to fucking up something important at work or in our personal life. When we put our heart and focus into something that we think is important and it doesn't go well we feel responsible and the pain that comes with failure. As Dom/me we are very vulnerable in these moments, and often have problems showing this. Where a Sub might need chocolate and snuggles, a Dom/me needs reassurance and physical touch from their Sub and told that they're human, that mistakes will happen and we learn from them and improve.

In my opinion Top Drops are happening the same way as Sub Drops and aftercare is a must. It's so important for the relationship, or growth can't happen if these things don't work. A Dom/me might need as much reassurance/ love after a scene as a Submissive does - so please always talk about these things before the D/S dynamic starts.

Just don't be too hard on yourself no matter if you’re the Submissive or the Dominant and keep learning.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

[for both Dom/me and Submissive]

Affirmations of affection

Reassurance

Talk and communication about the scene in detail (emotions, what to change, what was good, what was bad)

Cuddling

Touches and closeness in silence

Slowly 'come back' to the present

Helping each other clean up

Sharing a shower/ bath after

Watching movies

Jokes and being silly together

Food, fluids

[limbus-limousine]

Keep saying this but I loooove how relationships are talked about and portrayed in Demian (1919). Like. To an insane degree that I can barely put into words. It bothers me how overlooked it is sometimes? People always have a tendency to shove fictional relationships into very cramped, defined little boxes and then fight over the plastic label.

The way relationships are seen in Demian is one of the main reasons why I hold this book so close to my heart, because it was the first time I saw my thoughts put into words that I could analyze and study. That and the whole premise of how growing up in a religiously oppressive environment disguised with love and purity will inevitably affect how you process your feelings toward others... Makes me relate to Sinclair a lot. And it feels like a gross oversimplification to restrict his feelings as platonic or romantic.

I've talked about how I see Demian and Eva as extremely related entities before, how they are essentially the same. But I think their distinction as physical characters is very useful for the storytelling and symbolism. As I see it, Demian (the book) is all about love. It's not just about finding love in someone else but also finding love in yourself, in what you do and where you are in your life. This might be more of a personal interpretation, but to me, Eva represents a very, very specific feeling, in a way it's a culmination, a point where you finally stop to think and say to yourself "maybe I am okay. This is what okay feels like to me". Freudian influence aside... The motherly themes hit me really hard for this very reason:

When I read how Sinclair slowly fell out with his family, it spoke of a very specific experience. A very specific realization. "This deal isn't that of a bad friendship or acquaintance. I won't have a second chance. Simply because of how I was born, where I was born, there are human experiences that I'll never be able to know, and I am powerless to change that", you cannot choose your family, your mother, right? It's what you get, and you see around you what could've been but never was, and it makes you feel weak.

That's why Frau Eva is such an important figure. Because that is when Sinclair finds his family again, in a way. Why should blood matter so much? Sure, there's a biological connection, it's also been studied that romantic relationships reach their "high" during their earlier days due to hormones and neurotransmitters, right, "love at first sight", but those will eventually cease production as all does. It is your choice to nurture that relationship and to cherish it, to keep and to care for it. Blood does not matter, home is a person and it's right next to me, right now. I think that is what Frau Eva is, as a whole. And allowing that feeling to coexist with the platonic and the romantic is very important as I see it. One of the main problems of this motherly dynamic is the power difference, what makes Sinclair struggle in his childhood is the constant sensation of being watched, of being subjected to severe judgement. Frau Eva is supposed to remove that factor, she listens and she welcomes any thought or idea, there isn't fear of rejection or punishment, that's what makes it feel "like home". That was, kind of, the last step to reach the fulfillment Sinclair needed. I see Eva as the "destination" of this whole thing.

And Demian, he is the journey. One of the biggest mistakes one can make is to dismiss the process and work that goes into an achievement, because it is important. There is no Eva without Demian, they are intrinsic by nature. And journey is something that never leaves you. Even when Sinclair reaches his destination, he never stops caring about Demian. He visits Eva and he visits Demian, even if he has to walk through horrible weather, he speaks of his dreams to them, and he sits at the table and eats with them. Because during your journey you gain so many things you never expected, and at the end of the road, they become part of your fulfillment and needs as much as the main achievement is.

What Sinclair obtains from Demian and Eva, and everything in between them, is a unique relationship, deeply fulfilling, trusting, reassuring, a place where you know you can come to, even when you're at your lowest. Eva capitalizes on the genuine care, nurturing qualities, but Demian, too is a mentor, although I find falconer to be a better comparison. He helps the sparrowhawk grow its clipped wings, but in turn, he shall not stop it from flying, only the bird itself can choose to return the falconer's affections. But at the end of the day, all the falconer wishes for is to see him take flight. Sinclair obtains everything: friendship, camaraderie, acceptance, relief of a deep rooted guilt, no judgement for his human desires, the care and trust he lost from his mother, and something to look forward to after waking up in the mornings.

At the end of the book, Sinclair is separated from both of them, as I've said, they are intrinsic. But of course, they don't fully leave. As I see it, the kiss being from Eva means that your achievement is and will always be a sweet thought. Something you hold dear, that you can think of to comfort yourself. But Demian is there to deliver it and to fix Sinclair's wounds because journey is experience. It is what strengthens you and gives you the tools to face future endeavors. And it feels safe... You are finally safe within yourself.

But what about the scary factor, though? Because that is present too in both Demian and Eva (which I happen to really enjoy, as well). As always, I think it's a balance. It's good to know fear, it's a human emotion like any other. But the fear that radiates from them is more... Animal-like. The fear Sinclair once felt was a deep rooted terror that was born from something divine. You're being watched. You're being judged. You're wrong. You're a sinner. That's scary. Because it's telling you that the danger comes from yourself. When you see a beast staring into you, you don't feel self conscious, you don't feel repulsed, you feel the most natural shape that fear has. Beautiful things are scary. A snake can be scary. The stars can be scary. But it's not their fault, and it's not your fault either, it's just how it's meant to be. Because all feelings —love, anger, fear, sadness— and more, they are all important, they are all natural. But natural feelings can be beautiful. Artificial feelings make you fear something you've never witnessed, they make your stomach churn at the thought of yourself and they make you cry for something you haven't done. And most people around you live holding onto relationships that are, fundamentally, held by artificial feelings.

That is... Most of what I interpret from this book. And, god. It feels more like the book read me and not the other way around. I think I've truly found a bigger respite in art thanks to this novel. I have wanted to see the same beauty in the naturally grotesque... Learn about myself until rotting, flesh, maggots become just as beautiful and full of meaning as spring rivers and flowering plains, and for anger and fear to turn into something I can love and cherish like I do my inner child. Although they, too, have surely grown up.

That's it. I wanna play toysssss

[thegirlwhowrites642]

of the 7 hp books, which one do you think is the best overall and which is your personal favorite?

My favorite is OotP for a billion reasons, I think I made a post about this before but this is Tumblr so it's basically impossible to find it again.

In short: it's the one that got closer to satisfying my interest in a more politics-focused plot; I love Harry's angst (if I had written it, there would have been more, trust me); I love the hinny dynamic in this book; romione acting as Harry's parents is particularly strong here and I find that sweet (it's extremely dysfunctional for their friendship with Harry, but it's sweet as a dynamic between the two of them); we actually get a marauders scene. Mainly this.

I always re-read it when I'm particularly sad, like really really sad: tragic catharsis.

That said, the sixth book is the best-written one as far as I'm concerned. The earlier books don't have major problems with the writing, but the characters are significantly less complex (if they were a separate story from the later ones, I would probably consider them better written because I would classify them more as fairytales, but it's all the same saga).

It's also the book that clearly went through more editing work, arguably sometimes too much, but it has a pretty great pacing.

HBP relies on a binary structure that creates a very interesting opposition of light and darkness, Harry and The Chosen One, love (Ginny) and death (Voldemort). And while the writing of Ron and Hermione starts to go a bit insane in this book, what goes on with them is not relevant enough to impact negatively on my evaluation of the writing (the romione subplot at the end of the day, it's there for the drama and pure entertainment).

Harry is especially interesting in this book because it's the only chapter of the saga in which he is a fully three-dimensional character. Harry is of course three-dimensional but you tend to see a specific side of him based on the book (and in the earlier ones the characters are not deeply developed anyway).

In this book though, Harry is in control of his life (or at the very least, he feels he is). He knows about the prophecy, he works with Dumbledore, and you see him fully confident in himself, you see the hero. You also see the future auror with the subplot about Malfoy.

And of course, in this book Harry is in love with Ginny, you see the light fun side of him. You see the cocky side of him. The side of him who is satisfied by knowing Ginny is proud of him for inviting Luna to the party but is also terribly annoyed by Ginny not being jealous. You see Harry the person he could have been in a way you never see in any other of the books.

It's also a very important book because while of course, you need to take into consideration what happens in DH, this is the book you mainly need to go back to when you want to write post-war Harry. Because that Harry is in control of his life and he chooses to live that life by Ginny's side. He is gonna be a fully complex human being who will have darkness in life but also always light balancing it out.

Ironically, HBP is also the book that fundamentally sets up all the choices that make me hate DH and think it's a horribly written book but they don't impact HBP, so...

[bunnywan]

i get that when it comes to writing fiction you as the author have complete control of the story you want to write and don’t have to take canon into account at all but considering who anakin is on top of you not even really giving a shit about anakin why write obikin at all (you’re obviously not the only obikin writer and i’m sorry for only asking you but i would really like to understand the appeal of writing about such a horrible character especially because you couldn’t care less about him anyway) you don’t owe me an explanation so feel free to ignore if you want

genuinely cannot decipher the tone of this ask and it’s sending me.

anyway: my relationship is anakin is Extremely Complicated. as a character in a story, i do give a shit about him. i fell in love with star wars and specifically the prequels and even more specifically obi-wan — and that’s all anakins story. as a character he’s brilliant and awful and terrifying and tragic and so fucking doomed it makes me insane. i LOVE anakins story.

however, anakin just … as a guy or whatever. does not matter to me in the way he does for a lot of other people. he’s not baby girl. he’s not a meow meow. i don’t find him particularly endearing or attractive. he’s exhausting. and, when you add in my love for obi-wan (which i won’t even try to explain cus that’s too much), anakin becomes an asshole. it’s like having a friend with a boyfriend who treats them like shit. JUST DUMP HIS ASS !

and you’re right, anakin is horrible. he’s a murderer and a facist and a creep and he’s fucking EVIL. but here’s the thing: i love obi-wan, and obi-wan loves anakin. and through obi-wan, i can love anakin. through obi-wan, anakin becomes endearing and beautiful and worth all the trouble.

their dynamic is so fascinating to me bc obi-wan is so good. he’s literally described as “the bedrock that all goodness rests upon” or something like that. and yet, he loves and misses and longs for that horrible murderer facist evil creep. so yeah, that’s it <3

[gofishygo]

i had a thought about marine life cod something something sighhhh and now i wanna draw them. all of them.

the first thing i thought of was vampire squid!konig.... you get what i see right, or like, he could be some other (massive) squid

gaz reminds me of a nurse shark.. number one, they're cute and look sweet, number two they look awfully boopable🎀🎀 there's no number three but just look at pictures of them that's literally gaz

soap would be a ray maybe?? specifically a spotted eagle ray. he could be a narwhal too because they're silly <3

phantom jellyfish!ghost obviously!!!

i'm thinking price could be a whale, but i'm not sure what yet? i;m so indecisive... beluga!price or humpback whale!price, perhaps?

and nikolai is a pilot whale like are you joking

i have no ideas for the others yet sadly because i have a little pea brain, but ill probably come up with some things soon...

fellow anon, DRAW THEM . I LOVE MARINE LIFE COD AUS SO MUCH RRHHRHRHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHHRHRHRHRHRHHRHRHRHHRHRHRHH !!!!!!!!! please pleasep lease dra them if u have time ....... they give me brain juices... .. . .. .

yayaya !!!! konig could definetly be a vampire squid !! tbh ive always seen him as maybe under the octopoda order (mostly due to the insane amounts of cthulu nd octo konig in this fandom) but i can certainly see him as a vampire squid !!! he gives the vibes- generally trying to contain the power he has and not get unnecessary blood on his hands (vampire squids are detritivore) nd a lot less menacing than it seems . more of an avoidant personality as well !!

and YAYAYYYAYAYYA gas is definitely some type of less aggressive shark !!! honestly nurse shark matches him the best but i occasionally believe he is a catshark or epaulette , they're easygoing and docile (IF UNPROVOKED) and so so cutie patootie i project my fav sharks on him bc he is my fav character

and soap does give ray vibes, but hear me out : eel soap >!?!! especially variants that hunt via electricity (like him !! but he uses bombs that arent necessarily IEDs but SAME THING) and r super duper energetic a lot , but oh em gee,,,,,,, he would make such a good spotted eagle ray .....

ok we all agree on phantom jelly ghost its cannon guys he is literally the big mysterious jelly

and price , although i like to think of him as a great white (better dynamics w/ other characters), he honestly would match a lot of species of whale much better . i forgot the name of this species specifically , but i do believe it was some type of bleaked whale ?? they scar white from injuries over time, and have a long lifespan . most of them will turn white over their lifespan due to the injuries that they get, and i think that does go after price's military career and how his scars the events he's lived through have sort of become part of him (ghost could definitely be this species too now i think about it), and how he's lived past points where his allies have fallen .

OK NIK AS A PILOT WHALE . YEYSYYEYS THATS FUNNY AS FUCK HAIJASHFKFH

i would like to think that laswell would be some form of species of whale , maybe one that is intelligent and capable of many forms of mutalism relationships due to her being ... yknow .... insanely based ....

makarov would be an orca. highly intelligent, only realised to be extremely dangerous once studied. ganging up on every fucking fish in the world. capable of competing with other apex predators like great whites.

graves.... unpopular opinion, but he is a stonefish . sneaky bastard and incredibly fucking dangerous . but stupid looking and a silly skrumkle very much so .

nyways i am too tired to think but i will go to sleep dreaming of the 141 eating salmon tonight ......... thank u very mysterious but very lovely fishy anon ...........