#get me back into my hobbies... i miss you comic books i feel like its been a good year since i was invested

[20funnypuppies]

i might start running this blog like an actual blog uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhm yeah

[yaoyaobae]

Its been awhile and i have another OC to share LOL gotta draw brain rots instead of keeping them in your head forever ☺️💖

Name: Aurore Dormir

School: Royal Sword Academy

Pastime: Escaping school to wander in the nearby forest, spending time alone

Hobbies: Sightseeing, Gardening, Fencing.

Family: Father, Mother , *Brother ( silver, please refer to the last note regarding my own theory)

Aurore is a third year student at RSA, currently house warden of the sleeping beauty inspired dorm.

Aurore is also the next king of the Kingdom of Heroes, which naturally made him the center of attention in RSA.

Unlike Malleus whose powerful aura pushes people away from him, Aurore draws people towards him as they feel a sense of security around him.

He was only recently enrolled into school during his second year as his family brought him back from isolation for training, far away from the world’s eyes.

At first glance, Aurore may seem like the ideal dream prince: Kind, Polite, Courageous, Strong and Smart as he is consistent in securing top grades across his cohort. But deep down, he isn’t exactly the perfect prince most of his peers think he is.

Aurore is actually afraid of strangers and overwhelming attention ( he was raised in isolation so meeting humans are.. yeah) He is skilled at hiding his weakness but starts blanking out if there are too many people crowding around him.

As a result, he finds happiness in spending time alone in places where no one recognises him. He usually takes a short stroll around Sage Island’s various forests when his caretakers aren’t looking.

Strangely, Aurore mentions that his enjoyment from lonely strolls only existed because he would suddenly find himself in unknown places as a child…as if something or someone was calling him. But he became mentally stronger as he got older and knows how to guard himself during his impromptu walks.

Bonus personal theory/lore:

Hi! So if you have been following me since i started creating twst ocs, you would be familiar with a certain comic i drew for an Aurora Oc ( its not exactly Aurore because i didn’t flesh him out) . But to sum up my theory for that comic:

There was once a powerful kingdom that clashed with briar valley, humans and fae did not get along as well back then.

Somewhere in between the war, both of the queen’s sons were cursed by a powerful magician and separated at birth. The queen initially wanted to send her two sons far away from the castle, but only managed to send one tucked away in a casket that drifted on a hidden river which led to a forest.

The war ended a few days later, with both fae and humans forming a truce. The queen fell into depression after realising that her second son probably did not make it and blamed herself for not keeping him a little longer had she known he would have been safe and alive in her arms.

Time heals wounds, and with some reassurance from the King the Queen got back up on her feet stronger for the sake of her people. Of course, sometimes the servants would catch a glimpse of the lonely Queen staring into the far forests wondering if she will ever see those small pair of Aurora coloured eyes again.

Because the Queen conceived her two sons alone away from the servants, only she and the King were aware of their other missing son. The three fairy advisors who had protected them from the very start told the Queen that if word of two cursed princes were to spread, the kingdom would be doomed to fall . The Queen had no choice but to accept this decision, and so they entrusted their only son to the three fairies in case the curse within him acts up. Hence Aurore was raised in isolation away from the world’s attention and only enrolled in his second year to prevent the curse from possibly manifesting.

In this story I created Silver is the missing prince in question who drifted far into the forest and eventually picked up by Lilia. His only proof of his royal status is a ring with an aurora coloured gem (Book 7 mention).

Regarding the curse: Silver was cursed to feel drowsy all the time while Aurore was cursed to follow a voice in his head which leads him to sleepwalk into dangerous places alone. Silver’s hair colour reminds me of the spindle/needle, so in a way he contains the sleeping curse. Like Aurora, Aurore is drawn into strange places by a voice and eventually to the spindle. Hence these two will always feel an unfamiliar sense of closeness to each other.

“Yao why do you think Silver would have a brother? Much less the RSA guy inspired by Aurora? Doesn’t Silver already have Aurora’s traits?”

In general this is just my own fun theory to think about, but my reasons are because i think it would be interesting if Silver canonically had living family member(s) from a royal family( that ring kinda tells all). It would also put him in place wondering if he should return to his biological human family or stay with his Briar Valley family as he feels a stronger bond with them. With the way TWST tackles issues about fae/human like Sebek from example, i would love to see Silver’s resolve for his found family.

In my old comic, the Aurora OC actually dislikes Fae because of the war. He especially hates Lilia because he believed the war criminal took his own brother away and is promoting peace despite his past.

I feel Aurore would dislike Lilia but eventually learns to see the war from both sides as humans aren’t all that great either, he is still a naive prince with much to learn about the world. So while Silver does have Aurora’s trait, Aurore may have some of King Stefan’s from Maleficent/OG film. TWST tends to combine diff character traits anyways🌝👍

Anyways I adore these two so much and am looking forward to Silver’s past in the future updates! Thank you for reading about Aurore, till next time 💖

[drinkabletoxicdishsoap]

HAIII IM BACK LIKE I PROMISED HERES MY WINN BULLSHIT LORE

winn was superrrrr close to their mom before she died, she worked as a hair dresser for abit and then as a security guard at pattys and would take them to work when younger so they were very distraught when she died due to medical complications, emmet was a family friend and elijahs long time best friend from high school so they got married a little after her death (yes its suspicious and yes elijah mightve cheated while she was alive yes this is more convoluted then it should be) the cousins arent relevant at all, and yes charlottes name is a fnaf refrence i couldnt pass up the oppertunity

ignore the fucking . "missing since 2007" thing cuz its apart of that one au i mentioned i never talk abt anymore so it wouldnt fit into canon but tldr thats nick of time shes gone bananas dont worry about it (i had a fic in the worlds in like august . i still have the doc open incase i want to finish it since its halfway done but i cant write rn i can only do 1 hobby at a time #sad) also their maternal grandmama is a fucking asshole so who cares

(zipper is a border collie if u gaf......... btw)

I was going to make a separate Winn headcanon post but since you shared this beautiful family tree with me I want to share my headcanons about them!!

TYSM FOR SHARING ITT RAGHH ITS AMAZING AND YES I DO GAF !! THESE ARE SO COOL I LOVE LOVE YOUR HEADCANONS ABOUT THEIR MOM

If I do think of more, I’ll either reblog, edit, or reply!! I’m sorry if they’re out of character or it seems like I’m projecting

they listen to 80’s Japanese city pop!! please tell me someone else sees it and I’m not crazy 💔💔 I probably am oh well maybe it’s because im listening to that genre right now

following up with the music headcanons, I feel they would listen to a lot of bands. Not any certain kind of genre, they just love listening to bands :3 (weezer fan…)

hip hop listener

amusement park enthusiast

maybe it’s only because of the patty possum episode but I feel like they love arcades

GUITAR PLAYER THROUGH AND THROUGH TRUSTTTTTT!! ONE OF THEIR DREAMS IS TO START A BAND I SWEAR

lowkey a fnaf kid. Idk the patty possum episode reminds me a lot of security breach

has a lot of stress and anxiety problems but hides it because they don’t want to upset their friends

whenever they get a new interest, they dive deep into the lore

Minecraft kid.. watched a lot of Minecraft YouTubers (the ones who aren’t groomers I promise)

if I have to give them a style, it’s either grunge or Adam Sandler fits, no in between

listens to music A LOT to help them calm down. basically one of their coping mechanisms

always begged their parents to get them those playgrounds you build in your backyard

LOVES comic books!!!!

LOVES superhero movies as well

sonic fan

plays the pokemon games.. i think they’ve played every gen.. their favorite is black and white

card collector!!!

when it comes to vacation, they love going on excursions and exploring :3

I think they would enjoy gravity falls and adventure time.. maybe I’m projecting though my bad

I don’t know if anyone has read it but you know survivors? yeah I feel like they would love that but maybe that’s just me maybe I fever dreamed that

their favorite animals are bugs. They don’t discriminate they love all and any kind of bugs

they go to skate parks a lot ! They love helping out with people who are struggling with skating or just love hanging out with fellow skaters

very outdoorsy

they love action movies and games

I feel like they played a lot of the Mario franchise

SPLATOON FAN I SWEARRRRRR

I feel like they would love going to farms

posters everywhere in their room

Likes to hang out at roller skate rinks

graphic tees.. they’re so normal about graphic tees

pin and keychain collector

an anime kid but only for like the action animes. Mainly attack on Titian

plays basketball for fun

owns like 100 slinkys

That’s it 🤯 sorry it’s super long :d thank you so much for coming to another yap session! I hope you have a great day/night to whoever is reading this. thank you for sharing your family tree as well! If anyone has any more headcanons, feel free to share in my inbox, reblogs, or replies!!

[gr1evance]

strudel and the rest of the party from the campaign he's in will be in @group-oc-tournament, so here's a giant propaganda post about everyone's favorite pastry boy!

for some context, strudel is an au of captain starburst who's an au of nix... there's a lot of aus of that guy. nix is from my story grievance, he's a god living in a place called the purpose and he's battling feelings of anger, jealousy, and loneliness. unfortunately, he doesn't have the best influence by his side.

captain starburst is an au of him for me and my friends' shared superheroes/villains setting, superverse! he's a super upbeat and excitable hero who's learned to control his dangerous powers and use them to benefit his goal of helping people, at the cost of covering up his own negative emotions. also, he's married. all you really need to know is that strudel is an au of starburst, who's a superhero that's gay married. that's really all that's relevant, context wise. i just like to talk about my favorite guys.

starswirl strudel, or just strudel, was the protagonist of 2017 kids' cartoon sugar and spice. it takes place in a world made up of furries based around desserts, called sweets, in the bustling town of saccharine city. the show followed him, silly nerdy comic book-obsessed strudel, in his quest to become a real life superhero in a world where superheroes are only fiction. his best friend cinnasparkle bunbun keeps trying to talk him out of it, but strudel is determined. strudel eventually gets the hang of his new hobby, and ends up stumbling into an evil lair. unbeknownst to him, while he was working to become a superhero, someone else was working to become a supervillain. their name is peppermint patty, a dastardly force working to destroy saccharine city for good. the two become rivals and enemies fast, though... strudel seems a bit more interested in their henchman, really. gumdrop, or just gummy, is a goofy sour gummy worm-based snake working for patty. he's not very good at his job, much to patty's chagrin, but strudel quickly finds himself enchanted with him. after dancing around it, in the middle of season two, the two of them finally end up getting into a relationship.

unfortunately, due to the gay pairing and the show's general embrace of its progressive ideals and gender nonconformity, the show was cancelled shortly after. it still has a dedicated fanbase, but the show hasn't seen much attention since the cancellation. and apparently the show's creator went missing soon after, isn't that weird? before it ended, two prototype plushies had been made for the show. they were never mass produced, and due to the absence of the creator, left to rot in a closet. all but forgotten.

forgotten, that is, until one of them came to life. strudel began his new life locked in a closet alone, screaming for help in his new claustrophobic prison. he eventually managed to get out and bring gummy, now just a plushie, with him, settling into a small apartment where he could hide his identity. he became a massive shut-in, barely ever leaving unless he needed necessities, spending all his time on the computer or obsessively rewatching episodes of sugar and spice. he started collecting toys, especially merchandise of sugar and spice (fanmade or official). he continued to love superhero comics, becoming a moderator of a popular comic book forum, though he was frequently mistreated for having more "childish" interests and, well, being gay.

he carries the plushie of his boyfriend with him everywhere, including under his cloak when he goes out. he talks to it and treats him like he's still the same person, because to strudel he is. he hopes that someday he'll talk back. his life continued this way for a while, a sad, silent solitude, almost letting himself rot away in the same way he'd been rotting away in that closet. that is, until he saw a quaint advertisement for a spooky island trip. tired of being all alone, he decided that surely a trip with a group of strangers to a scary haunted island would be a great way to finally branch out and make some new friends! well, unfortunately, things went about as bad as they possibly could've, with the immediate death of the group leader. that was followed by their ship getting hijacked and taken to a definitely actual haunted island, full of monsters and the fact that death is impermanent. i'll save the rest for any other member of the group who wants to elaborate on the current island happenings, since this is just a strudel backstory post. he's some flavor of gay, he has a plushie boyfriend, and he's soft and smells like cotton candy pastries! (probably a better combination than you'd think.) if those are any reasons to vote for him <3 below i'll link art of him from my art blog, for anyone who wants to see a little more of him!

pennystrudel cuddles

reruns

my crt (flipnote mv)

[cheshirette]

Happy New Year!

here's some of my thoughts of 2022 and what i want to do in 2023 ↓

2022

This year started off nice, I got to work on cool projects and I tried out so many new things. Unfortunately halfway through the year it went downhill and despite being hired for my first ever job, it sucked and I fell into depression.

Fuzee visited me at home for the first time ever, and he stayed with me for a few months. This was probably the best highlight of the year for me because I missed him for so long... I was seriously struggling mentally and just having him here with me has done wonders. I was determined to work hard so I can eventually move out and stay with him.

Living here at home isn't doing so well for me. I still live with my parents and I have a very controlling Mother. I've been purposely avoiding her so that I can be at ease, and I would put so much effort into locking myself up in my room or going out with friends. I hope I can finally get away from this next year.

Emotionally, I was doing really bad. October was super bad, and my friends were nice enough to help me get back on medication. I feel like ever since I went back to fix myself up, my long lost motivation came back and I've been drawing so much and it feels so good! I'm really happy I got to go back to this.

Lots of friendships crumbled this year, but I also befriended many people this year too. I'm still really sad about this separation and I continue to yearn for the old times where all my friends hung out together and nothing was wrong, but I have to leave those memories behind. I do miss them a lot but.. I dont know, I was left conflicted for so long.. I'm still grateful for all the friends I met this year.

I finally opened up design commissions as this was something that many friends encouraged me to do, and so many people were interested. I was worried it wouldnt go so well but I was surprised to see the demand!

I did a lot of new things and picked up old hobbies I've long abandoned due to depression. I bought lots of new books and read a lot of them and bought a new sketchbook from the farmer's market and decorated it with stickers I had lying around. feels weird how I got over my sticker anxiety but its soooo nice decorating things and it makes me feel so relaxed!

Commissions were super slow and I feel like it was hard for me to get around with my absence during my last job. I need to work harder.

I recently started getting back into drawing things with backgrounds so I hope I can keep this up.

I got more comfortable in streaming and didnt feel so anxious after having meds. I even hosted my first birthday even and I'm glad it was successful!

2023

This year I have a weird goal where I want to collect as manu stickers to the point that I can fill up a box. I like using stickers and tapes for decorating my sketchbook so I hope to collect more.

My biggest goal for this year is to move out of this house with Fuzee. I cant stand being in this toxic household and I havent felt safe in a long while. I plan on raising money so I can get out.

I want to make merch, stickers or small postcard prints sound nice

I want to make little comics on my ocs again like I did years ago, especially now that I feel like I can draw anything

I aim to explore doing Live2D stuff so I can do commissions for it in the future

I hope to get hired for some job position again. I wish I could get hired for character design 💦

I wanna do weekly(?) community drawing session with viewers and enhance my stream setup and hopefully upgrade my computer.

I wanna go on a trip next year somewhere, I think it would be nice to go to the mountains again.. 🏔️

I want to try and do silent vlogging. I got invested in it last year and I want to give it a try ✨

There's probably more but I'm just generally excited since it's bunny year 🐇 Thank you all for sticking around with me, I'll try my best this year!!!!

[sebastianinjapan]

June 18 - Kyoto International Manga Museum

Today is the day I’ve been looking forward to the most. It felt like I was traveling to the Mecca of my hobby, and while I received no divine visions for my cross world pilgrimage here it was still amazing. The museum presides within a old elementary school, and basically functions as a massive library housing manga as early as the Prewar period. Recently back home I found a copy of Tank Tankuro which is the only Prewar manga I own, and it was so nice seeing it on the shelves here among the few Prewar books that have been collected by the museum. While I don’t understand Japanese just by opening up a random book and flipping through the pages I continue to be in awe at the range of topics, art, and storytelling tackled by manga. While I love films, I feel like manga (and comics by extension) are a unlimited art form not bound by funding or feasibility of creation. You can make any image and any story you want. Thankfully the gift shop wasn’t to alluring (I was seriously worrying) but I did end up finding the first volume of Hokusai manga (the second I found on our first day) so now I have about 800 pages of his beautiful prints. While I know he isn’t connected to the manga I read today, I would still argue inspiration exists at least in the visual aesthetics pursued through Japan (which I love). At the museum we were also treated to a kamishibai performance, which are paper plays voiced by an operator who manipulates images in a small screen. This can be seen almost as a precursor to manga, before humans were able really conceptualize sound image. Once the performance ended my whole class left, but I saw that in the English library they had volumes of Phoenix which can reach hundreds of dollars. With this in mind I stayed for about an extra 2 hours reading what is considered Tezuka’s masterwork. In all honesty it just wasn’t for me. At one point a character stabs another, while declaring his love for her. As she bleeds out they make out and I just had to put it down for a bit. I ignored my hunger while reading but once I left I quickly ran over to the Sukiya across the street which provides quick food at a questionable quality. In preparation for our day trip I chose to rest for the day, finding a yummy French bistro which was equally as affordable but way better.

Academic Reflection

Reading this paper was like butter. It took me about 30 minutes, but I guess that’s what happens when it’s about something you love. I was truly surprised at the quality of this writing, as some papers I’ve read have been really hit or miss. This paper not only provided a wide range of arguments about the possible origin of manga (correctly citing Bringing up Father, which the book Comics and the Origins of Manga by Eike Exner which I’ve been reading also cites) but also described why these arguments exist. I found this of particular interest, as those who argue for mangas connection to ancient Japanese art forms do so in an attempt to legitimize manga as important to Japanese culture. This is because (similarly to video games in the West) manga has been demonized by the broader society as a sort of deviant activity which promotes further deviant behaviors. On it’s face this is wrong, but it also gets closer to issues of class that are faced abroad (more specifically in Japan) regarding how those with privilege view art created and consumed by those of a lower class. These individuals may feel frustrated because manga/anime has become a major (if not the main) cultural export of Japan versus its other high art forms like kabuki, noh, etc. I personally find this sad, but as more and more Japanese people consume manga regularly perspectives are bound to continue to change into the future.

Continuing off manga as a low class art, the papers mention of gekiga made me happy. Recently in my own manga collection, I have been diving deep into gekiga with authors like Tadao Tsuge, Yoshihiro Tatsumi and Yoshikazu Ebisu (Yuichi Yokoyama as well however he is part of another gekiga wave). These authors brought a new energy which was vital for the continued evolution of manga into the future. Without names like these (and many many more) I don’t think we would have manga like it is today. Even though I couldn’t read them I flipped through some of these authors book, and the power of their composition/art was enough to follow the stories.

I was also shocked to see how profitable the manga industry is with it reaching into the billions of dollars. The museum and reading broaches the topic of piracy. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the potential profit numbers of piracy for manga didn’t exist on the scale it does (and the scale is truly massive). However, this reading and our past reading on otaku culture show how ingrained into manga culture derivative work/piracy is. Personally, I engage heavily into this community reading leaks for manga like Jujutsu Kaisen weekly and reading scanlations of manga that will likely never get English releases (I value reading manga physically so I will wait if the possibility exists). For manga like Jujutsu Kaisen I purchase the volumes on release in the West, and I think this is why piracy is allowed. Not only would it be very difficult to crack down on all the scanlation teams (manga publishers would likely have to invest into groups of lawyers which would be costly), but they effectively act as free advertising. While this may be a divisive take for people who are hardline on intellectual property law, I think manga would exist as an interesting case study when a medium and this underbelly synthesis together.

[galaxy98]

(Very long post so heads up)

I'll admit, I remember my initial feelings back in 2019 when Martin made those comments to be little bit..I guess miffed is the best way to describe it and it kind of came down to 2 factors.

The first one being the way how the headlines and journalists frame it as him saying that the movies aren't "real movies" which I thought it undermined the human ability to engage with art, regardless of how it's perceived as high or low. Keep in mind, this was several months after Endgame and I was mostly going off the feelings people had towards that.

And the other is that when you're involve in multiple hobbies/mediums, there's a common pattern when the veterans of the industry come out and say that said thing is not the same like it used to be. This tends to happen a lot in Professional Wrestling. So when you hear it so often, you start to eventually tune it out.

But remember, I said INITIAL.

I think as time went on and when Martin elaborated on his points, I got an idea of what he was trying to say. Didn't fully agree with it, but I get it.

No I think my problem nowadays is less to do with what he said and more to do with how two groups of people interpreted his words and how the discourse keeps getting dragged into 2023. Though in some circles I'm in, I have more to say about the latter.

It felt like ever since he made those comments, social media--and by that I mean Film Twitter--has been trying to out-hot-take one another like they're somehow on the same level as Scorsese's. Everybody is set in their ways and nothing is being pushed forward.

Not helped by the fact that the MCU is now involved in the discourse about anti-intellectualism along with things like YA and Cartoons. Though I think THAT discussion had evolved into something a bit more...stupid, that's beside the point.

Here's the thing about me.

I'm not anti-curious. But I'm also somebody that hasn't fully gone beyond what the medium--or any medium--has to over. Ditto when it comes to Animation. I ironically even got interested in the MCU post-Endgame to coincide with my growing interests in comic books so you can imagine my shock when I realized that I may have it missed at its peak popularity.

I almost bought myself into this self-deprecating lie that I'm incapable of understanding anything beyond what I'm comfortable with and it made me very self-conscious.

So I try to compensate by watching more movies/expand my media literacy just so I can avoid that feeling or scenario of getting punked online.

And let me tell you, that is such an unhealthy way to look at art.

You engage with it because it's something you yourself wanted to do, not because of what other people think of you.

If they weren't going to give you a chance AFTER you tried to put in the effort, then they were never going to know anything about you nor care to.

I know deep down that I'm not the person they think I am because I don't treat art like it's a binary.

Or to put it in other words:

Just because I got something out of Elemental doesn't mean I'm not gonna get something out of the movie Flee.

It's more freeing having to do things for yourself. It helped a lot once I leaned more into that mindset.

Not only that but I also got the chance to discover some new stuff thanks to the library and the Criterion Collection. That's how I got to find Tampopo, M, Catch Me If You Can, Metropolis, The James Bond Series, The Gunfighter, The Searchers, and The Maltese Falcon.

Even some of the "comfort" movies I watched gave me the incentive too.

Shang-Chi led me to Michelle Yeoh in EEAAO and Tony Leung in the Infernal Affairs Trilogy.

Elemental is the reason why I recently rented movies like The Apartment and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It gave me that itch when it comes to romance stories.

Hell when it comes to Martin Scorsese, watching Casino for the first time had finally led to me watching one of his movies in theaters with Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Whatever the case may be, I did it for myself. It was more of a fulfilling experience that way.

That's why I find this whole discourse to be tiring.

@kylekozmikdeluxo

Here's a big reason why I sympathize with Martin Scorsese over all the endless flack he gets for a few concerns he had about superhero/tentpole movies and their effects on the overall cinema landscape...

About three years ago, in the midst of pre-vaccine COVID times, I was deep into my Beach Boys hyperfixation. At the time, I maintained a wordpress blog called "Kyle Loves Animation and More". On it, I decided to do a personal deep dive into Beach Boys album released in the early 1970s called SUNFLOWER and SURF'S UP.

I related a lot of my own neurodivergent experiences to the way Brian Wilson, a neurodivergent himself (and possibly autistic, like me), wrote songs in his idiosyncratic ways. It was a pretty long article, and I felt I put a lot into it. I tried to understand the thought process behind the songs, relating some historical context, and my own personal views on the music.

I was once part of a Facebook group dedicated to all things Beach Boys, and I decided to post the article there. It got some pretty decent marks from the community there, but there was this one man... Who presumably grew up in the '60s/'70s when their music was new, unlike me, a 1992 baby who was introduced to the Beach Boys' music via their parents... This one man found this ONE sentence in the article...

Where I remarked that the album 20/20 was "fascinatingly uneven"... I didn't even mean "uneven" in a bad way, but as a matter of fact... And he got soooooo upset... And made one comment about that... How dare I use the word "uneven" to describe the genre buffet/half made-up-of-leftovers album 20/20!

So I tried to explain, calmly, what I meant by that... And he didn't respond to me. He said to another commenter "who cares about the history of the album? the music is good!" To another commenter. Not to me directly... Passive-aggressive, much?

And also, as an artist MYSELF, I do very much CARE about the history of any given piece of art... What circumstances lead to the creation of this thing? What drove the artist? Yes, I care about the history, too! It's a fixation of mine!

...

Anyways, Scorsese. Marvel movies.

I totally get it.

Here, Scorsese is trying to make new films, new statements through the cinematic art form, openly worrying about his age and whether he has enough years left to tell more stories... He's openly reflecting about life itself, how he feels... He has an entire legacy of films behind him that far outweighs the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and I'm saying this as someone who likes the MCU and has seen at least 85% of the movies in THEATERS), one film of his alone arguably does that...

And yet all some people care about is whether he regards THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER as a work of art or not...

And ironically, a director like Francis Ford Coppola has said even more scathing things about Marvel movies... But he doesn't get an *ounce* of the flack Scorsese continues to get... And this was WELL AFTER Scorsese took the time to explain what he meant...

So yeah, I find that all so frustrating. If I were Scorsese having to read all of that (he probably doesn't, good for him), I'd be so goddamn frustrated lol.

(As an aside, on my other tumblr, I did a little article analyzing the current trajectory of superhero movies and how they are evolving, or need to evolve, in a post-ENDGAME world... I put a ton of paragraphs and research into it... And I got this one comment that was like "hush"... From an MCU stan... See what I mean?)

[super-predictable98]

Her Hero Academia | MHA/BNHA AU

Chapter 5: The Day I Didn't Become Class President

Warning: strong language, mention of injury

(Her Hero Academia Masterlist)

"What the hell is going on?" Alma muttered as she approached the school and noticed the commotion taking place at the gate. There were dozens of reporters, people with cameras and microphones. She was certainly an attention seeker, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with that first thing in the morning.

"Hey! Hey you! Can you tell me a little bit about how All Might's classes are?" one of the interviewers asked, shoving a mic in her face.

"Good morning to you too..." she laughed. At first, she was prepared to take flight and avoid all the press, but she wasn't about to miss the chance to gush over her favorite hero. "All Might is the best teacher I've ever had, but I couldn't expect anything less from the number one! He's very caring, responsible, and dedicated. I'm proud to be his student!"

"About the allegations that his work at UA would interfere with his hero activities..."

"It won't, All Might can do anything and everything perfectly. Don't worry, Japan! The Symbol of Peace won't stop shining because of us. And watch out, villains, because as soon as I'm done with high school, it's over for all of you! Mark my words-"

"Iwazaki, what are you doing?" Aizawa rolled his eyes as he made his way to the gate. "Get inside, you'll be late to class and I will count that as an absence."

"Great! A teacher!" the bubbly reporter redirected the mic. "About All Might... Oh my God, you're all disheveled, what's wrong with you?"

"He's not here today and you're bothering my students, please leave."

"Do you just talk to people like that, miss?" Alma asked, already angry for being interrupted and ignored. She wasn't Eraser's biggest fan, but it still made her mad to see someone being so disrespectful.

"I would like to talk to All Might directly..." the young woman tried again, but Aizawa simply took Iwazaki's arm and pulled her inside, making their way to the building and ignoring the mess of voices and camera flashes going off behind them.

"Let's go, don't ever do that again," he warned quietly, but firmly. "Those vultures are not your friends, they only want to catch the smallest mistake to have something to talk about. They'll twist everything you say, is that what you want?"

"No, sensei. I'm sorry," she flinched as the reporter tried to follow them, activating the barriers and alarms.

"Next time control this urge you have to be the center of attention," he closed the door behind them, refraining from thanking her for standing up for him back there. "I watched the fights from yesterday. Good job with the quick decision making, but try not to let your feelings get in the way again. You can't depend on your necklace."

"Y-yes, sensei..." she blushed remembering how her floating almost cost her and Koda the victory. "Can I drop by the workshop to see if it's fixed?"

"Go ahead, you have five minutes or I'm marking you as absent!"

As soon as Alma watched Aizawa enter the classroom and disappear from view, she sighed, letting her body leave the ground and hit the ceiling at full speed. What was it about people bossing her around that made her go head over heels?

"Well, at least I managed to hold back this time," she mumbled as she crawled down the wall on the way to the workshop.

"Oh my God! Look at you, walking on the walls like that one hero... The old one from the comics..." Hatsume giggled.

"Spiderman?"

"Yes! Do you like old comics?"

"I like old everything, I collect vintage items. CDs, DVDs, books, clothes, games..."

"That's an interesting hobby, why are you so interested in it?" the girl asked absentmindedly as she looked through a pile of half-finished support items.

"My dad used to do it when he was alive, it was something we used to share-"

"TA-DA!" she finally pulled out the CV necklace from the pile. "Your costume is already back in its case, but I thought you might want this. I fixed all the wiring and it should be working normally, but let me know if you have any issues. Of course you won't because I was the one working on it and I never half-ass my babies!"

"Thank you so much, Hatsume-san!" Iwazaki's face lit up as she put it on, the day was already looking up. Maybe she could even forgive Ashido for breaking it and start over. "I owe you one, you have no idea how important it is to me, you saved my life."

"Don't worry about it... Just don't forget my name if you ever open a hero agency, or if you happen to know anyone who works for a support company!"

"I won't, I'll pass your invisible business card to everyone I know."

"Great! Do you wanna try any of my other babies? See if there's anything you'd like to keep?"

"I'd love to, but Aizawa sensei will kill me if I don't get back to class asap, I promise to drop by though! Thank you so much again!"

Iwazaki quietly made her way back to class, holding onto her necklace like she was scared to lose it again. Everyone was silent, focused on small pieces of paper in front of them.

"What did I miss?" she asked.

"We're voting for class president," Uraraka whispered, already writing a name down.

"Class president..." Alma really wanted that position, maybe if she was class president, All Might would see how great of a student she is, maybe that would catch the eye of every pro hero out there.

As much as she wanted to vote for herself, she didn't. First, because she thought it was unfair and unethical to do so, and second, she didn't wanna seem pathetic if her only vote was from herself.

Without thinking twice she wrote down 'Todoroki' and folded the piece of paper in half before taking it to the box where the votes were being placed. Aizawa was fast asleep, so she quietly checked his book to see if she was marked as present.

"Back to your seat, Iwazaki!" he grumbled.

"Yes, sir," she ran back.

After the votes were counted, the results were displayed on the digital board and a loud unison gasp took over the classroom. Midoriya was leading with three votes, Yaoyorozu and Alma in second, each with two votes, the rest of the students had either zero or one vote from themselves.

"What?" Todoroki grimaced, knowing he didn't vote for himself, so someone else did. Deep inside he was curious to know who, but he wasn't going to ask.

"M-me?" Midoriya cried, shaking from head to toe.

"Very well, let's vote one more time to decide our vice president!" Iida marched to the front to get more paper. "Now please write either Iwazaki or Yaoyorozu's name down."

I could detail how the voting went, but I doubt Iwazaki herself would like that... She lost. By three votes. For the rest of that moment until lunch, she didn't smile once, which was very out of character, but sometimes even a glowing energy surge like her gets upset.

"I'd be happy with vice president, but how can I win against the student who got in through recommendations?" Alma huffed as she sat next to Kirishima and Kaminari at an empty table with her lunch tray. "Damn those rich people..."

"Don't let it get to you, Haruhi," Kirishima joked. "Maybe you just need a Sakura Kiss?"

"Wait, you actually watched that show? It's early 2000's, I didn't think anyone else here even knew about it," she finally perked up and he was filled with pride for getting that smile out of her.

"I like some old-school stuff, my favorite hero is Crimson Riot, I like old martial arts movies too!"

"There really is more to you than what meets the eye."

"What? You're saying I look dumb? Or uncultured?" he laughed.

"No, I'm just saying you don't look like the type of guy who would watch shoujo anime."

"Shoujo?" Kaminari gasped, his reaction way too exaggerated for the situation.

"Host Club might be shoujo, but I watched it because it was all about making girls happy and that's super manly."

"I see! I wonder who else voted for me on the first round, I know Koda did, I accidentally saw it, but I didn't vote for myself."

"I did."

"Red... You really did that?" Alma was about to cry, but didn't wanna show.

"Of course, I think you'd be a badass class rep, you're a great leader."

"That's so sweet! Thank you!"

"You don't have to thank me, I just wanted what's best for the class-" before Kirishima could finish that sentence with an awkward smile, an alarm went off.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" she screamed, watching all the other students leaving the cafeteria in a hurry.

"Intruder alarm," a young man with blonde hair stopped by their table. He was definitely older and reminded her of someone. He was standing tall and smiling even though everyone else was panicking, it instantly made her feel calmer. "Do you need help getting out?"

"Don't worry, senpai, I have a plan," Alma grinned back at him. "Kaminari-kun, Kiri-kun, hold onto my arms, I'll get us out of here. Do you need help?"

The boy simply shook his head and ran into the crowd, permeating through everyone in search of his classmates. Kaminari and Kirishima didn't think twice and followed her instructions, she was a great leader after all...

"How can you fly in the middle of this madness?" Denki asked.

"I never had trouble floating, my trouble is staying on the ground," the only thing that worried her was the strength, she didn't think she'd be able to stay happy in that situation, but the fact that Kirishima voted for her and the encounter with that nice senpai were the perfect energy boost.

In only a few seconds, she managed to get both boys out of the building safely. Aizawa and Present Mic were outside as well, trying to stop the press from coming in.

"I'm going back, I need to get more people out," Alma said before she realized the intruders were only a bunch of harmless (annoying, but harmless) reporters. "Fuck, I need to let them know!"

"So manly..." Kirishima murmured, watching her fly back through the door.

"That was kinda hot, no one ever carried me like this before," Kaminari stared agape, but the scene that unfolded in front of them wasn't very heroic.

Through the glass, they saw as Uraraka touched Iida's hand and he used his engines to boost himself to the front, probably already knowing about the press as well. The problem is that in the middle of the way, as Alma tried to go in the opposite direction, he ran her over, sending her straight into a wall where she hit her head and fell unconscious.

"IWAZAKI!" Iida freaked out, trying to decide which of the problems he should take care of first.

"She's super resistant I think, she'll be fine," Midoriya screamed.

And that's how Iida became the class president after heroically calming everyone down and organizing lines to get the students back to class. And that's also the story of how Alma didn't become the class president, or vice president, or even the treasurer, but she did become the hero of two boys.

"Iwazaki-san! Iwazaki-san!" Midoriya's voice trembled when she finally opened her eyes. "Oh, I'm so glad you woke up, are you feeling okay?"

"I've seen better days," she groaned, sitting up and rubbing the back of her head.

"I thought your resistance wouldn't let this happen."

"I wasn't that happy to begin with, so I guess I was a little more vulnerable."

Next to Midoriya, Kaminari, Kirishima, Iida, and Aizawa were waiting for her as well, while Recovery Girl was getting her some candy.

"That was a pretty bad hit, anyone else would've been in a worse situation," she dropped some gummy bears on the girl's hand.

"Thank you so much... How did I end up here?"

"I brought you," Kirishima murmured. "I hope that's okay."

"You carried me in your arms and I wasn't even awake to see it?"

"What?"

"Nothing, I'm a little dizzy still, I'm probably not making any sen-"

"I APOLOGIZE!" Iida exclaimed.

"Shh, don't scream, her head," Aizawa warned.

"As class rep, I'd like to apologize for my careless actions, I really didn't see you there, I'm sorry Iwazaki-san."

"Class rep?" she frowned. "Yeah, I guess it makes sense... No need to apologize, I'm fine. What time is it?"

"It's three, but that's not important, we never got to thank you," Kirishima bowed. "You were awesome!"

"Yes! I'd probably be a pancake right now if you didn't take me out of there," Kaminari laughed. "Thank you, Iwazaki!"

"It was nothing," Alma blushed furiously, shoving more gummy bears in her mouth to distract herself. "Anyone would've done the same. I just feel bad for missing all the afternoon classes."

"We have a rescue practice tomorrow," Aizawa explained. "It might be a little intense, do you think you can do it or do you need me to excuse you from the exercise?"

"No way, sensei!" Alma's hands balled into fists. "It'll take more than that to take down this hero, I'll be there for sure! Besides, it's just practice, if I get tired or if my head hurts, I can always take a break right?"

Tag list: @elliethesuperfruitlover @myherokatsuki

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A stroll through Magnolia Park

One of the weird ironies of living in the US and having family, friends and colleagues abroad is the vast, iniquitous gap in vaccine availability based on where you live, and, more particularly, whether you live in a poor country or a rich one.

Vaccine Apartheid is a global terror and horror, but that’s not the “ironic” part. That would be the American vaccine deniers who have effectively killed the dream of herd immunity, and taken anti-vax from a threat to public health to a threat to civilization itself.

The way this manifests is often quirky and personal — like the news that some of my beloved cousins in Canada and the US have become anti-vax, anti-mask conspiracists, losing themselves in the Qanon cult.

They’re never far from my thoughts, but doubly so yesterday. You see, here in LA, we have high levels of vaccination and a general lifting of restrictions that — in contrast to the premature “re-openings” elsewhere that led to lethal outbreaks — feel prudent and safe.

That’s given my neighborhood — Burbank’s Magnolia Park — a new vitality. The centerpiece of the neighborhood is a couple miles’ worth of pedestrian friendly, retail, dominated by independent and idiosyncratic retailers that draw people from all over the city.

Many of these did not survive the pandemic, but a heartening number of them held on, and it’s great to see crowds out there on a Saturday. Yesterday, I rode my bike up to one end of the strip, outside Porto’s, the regionally famous Cuban sandwich shop, locked up and strolled.

Magnolia Park’s retail is dominated by vintage clothes and memorabilia stores, a legacy of our proximity to the studios (Disney, Warner and Universal are all a few minutes’ drive), which created demand for wardrobe and set pieces, and a supply of post-shoot surplus items.

It’s also got some great restaurants, like The New Deal. Unfortunately, thanks to Burbank’s antiquated blue laws, almost no one has a real liquor license (wine and beer licenses are easy to get, but spirits licenses are all but impossible).

The sole exception on the strip is…unfortunate. Tinhorn Flats (AKA “Tinfoil Hats”) is a fake saloon with a nice back garden that had one of those rare liquor license, and paired it with mediocre bar food. The best thing about it is its fantastic neon sign.

The worst thing about is that it’s owned by mask-denying, covid-denying far right Trumpian conspiracists who defied public health orders, flooded their social media with culture war bullshit, and became a rallying point for every Bircher, Klansman and Qanon in the Valley.

I do mean “rallying point.” As Tinhorn Flats waged war — installing generators after its power was cut, removing the boards over the door, etc — it hosted weekly Sat gatherings of unmasked, unhinged conspiracists waving American flags and signs decrying “Hollywood pedos.”

They’re still out there, every Sat. If you’re one of the many people who comes to our great family owned grocery Handy Market (whose neon is better than Tinhorn’s!) for their weekly Saturday parking-lot BBQ, you’ve seen ’em, screaming about frazzledrip and “small business.”

They were there yesterday, between my stops at The Mystic Museum and Halloween Town, two of our three goth superstores (the third being Dark Delicacies) — Burbank will costume you, sell you an articulated bat skeleton and fill your bookshelves.

Then you can tour the museum-grade replica of the horror section at a 1980s video store:

https://www.themysticmuseum.com/slashback

and buy merchandise from a wholly hypothetical slasher summer-camp:

https://beardedladysmysticmuseum.square.site/#MJosnZ

It’s such an odd juxtaposition, to be walking around a neighborhood that is making a brave recovery from the lockdown, stopping in at these improbable, scrappy shops, and then walk past these superspreaders screaming in front of the chainlink-surrounded derelict bar.

But my first fully vaccinated Saturday stroll down Magnolia was rescued by a discovery at Halloween Town: the discovery of Round2’s “Haunted Manor” model kits, cheeky remakes of the classic “Zap/Action” MPC Haunted Mansion kits of the 1970s.

https://www.round2corp.com/?s=HAUNTED+MANOR&post_type=product&type_aws=true

The original models were from the high-water mark of Haunted Mansion merch, the era of the UV-paint-doped “changing portrait” cards, the magnificent board-game, and Randotti skulls, models and plaques.

http://www.hauntedmansion.com/spgm/index.php?spgmGal=Vintage_Collectibles&spgmPic=2#spgmPicture

They ingeniously incorporated rubber bands into their interiors to create pop-up effects, like a corpse that popped out a grave, causing the poor grave-digger to spin about. Between the kinetics, glow-in-the-dark plastic, and a good paint job, these were just fantastic.

Even if you never owned one of these kits, if you read comics in the 70s and early 80s, you can’t have missed their distinctive, brilliantly conceived full-page comics ads. Small wonder that these kits sell for stupid money in the secondary market.

The Take2 models (sold under the Polar Lights mark) are not quite replicas of the MPC models (presumably they couldn’t get a license), but they’re fabulous reinterpretations of the vintage designs and I love the renaming (i.e. ”Play It Again, Sam” becomes “Play It Again, Tom”).

Alas, I couldn’t find any sign of a Polar Lights remake of the MPC Zap/Action Pirates of the Caribbean models (whose ads were even better!).

https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean_model_kits

After all that, I confess I didn’t buy the kits (though I may go back today and rectify that). My daily work-load is so high that I’m lucky if I can manage to carve out half an hour every couple days to read a book, let alone put together and paint a model.

But of all the aspirational hobbies I’m wishing I was engaging in, assembling these models tops the list. Building a “Grave Robber’s Demise” kit wouldn’t quite be a “nature is healing” moment, but I know it would give me joy.

In the meantime, I hope you get vaccinated, too — and if you’re ever in Burbank, be sure to patronize our wonderful indie stores (and don’t miss Iliad Bookshop, one of the great used bookstores of the region!).

[nad-zeta]

How’s the most precious girl doin? I’m just here to get a ikesen and maybe ikerev mashup If your ok with that~ Hobbies: - music - comics - bored games - editing - writing My personality: I’m pretty outgoing but I don’t like crowded areas. I like quiet places or just being around a few good friends. I love making people laugh so I’m pretty funny~ and I find it hard to trust others. I’m pretty clumsy and get injured a lot too. I love sweet things and I get distracted super easy. Thx again❤️

Hi, there, dear! I hope you are doing well ❤️ Thanx so much for the request lol! I hope you enjoy it! ❤️ 

So I match you with.......................... Hideyoshi

The first time you got to Azuchi you and Hideyoshi did not get on well, at all. You were by no mean a quiet, meek lil lamb, so you definitely told Nobunaga how it is. You are loud and outgoing, and not afraid to let your opinions be known. Nobunaga found this to be extremely amusing, and as he went to touch your cheek, you legit slapped his hand away, you may have saved him from a burning building, but he was still a stranger. Hideyoshi was shook to his core, how dare you lay a hand on his lord. He saw red, he staked up to you, hand on the hilt of his sword. You stared him down. The atmosphere around the two of you was thick, just then you spotted a monkey playing in the garden. Like Wft, where did a freaken monkey come from? You watched the monkey play, forgetting all about the tense situation happening around you. Your face lit up in a bright smile when you saw the lil monkey chase around a butterfly man it was so cute.

 Hideyoshi cleared his troat still staring you down, shit you got distracted. You started telling him exactly what you thought of him, when all of a sudden, a fawn now appeared in the garden. Like, are these people secret zookeepers or what. You had to resist the urge to run outside and pet the lil cutie. As you were lost in your own world, distracted by the animals, the warlords started laughing and teasing you and Hideyoshi. “Haha, Looks like the lass got distracted again, I told you its boring to listen to your lectures.” “The little mouse certainly is an interesting little thing.” Even Nobunaga laughed “Seems like our new lucky charm has found a way to block out Hideyoshi’s annoying lecture, a skill I wish to learn from her. It might make my candy stealing lectures pass by much quicker.” Hideyoshi legit stood there dumbfounded. Shit, you got distracted again, damn these people and their cool wildlife. You stared up at Hideyoshi, all traces of your anger and frustration had melted away, there is just something about seeing cute animals that just calm you right down. Nobunaga finally decided to chime in telling Hideyoshi to calm the hell down and to leave you be

You worked super hard for the castle and its people, and you loved getting to know all the maids and castle staff. You had a particularly good day one day when you found the castles music room, you were low key surprised at the wide variety of instruments on display. You spotted what looked to be a piano in the corner of the room and couldn’t help but drift to it. Your fingers effortlessly glided along the keys, playing one of your favourite songs. Hideyoshi just so happened to walk past the music room at that exact moment and was awestruck at the beautiful melody you managed to produce. No one around had known how to play the western instrument that Nobunaga had acquired as tribute from his newest ally. He stood for a while and listened to you play. 

All of a sudden midway through the song you fell to the ground. Hideyoshi sprinted across the room and cradled you in his arms. It was the first time he really had a look at you. He saw dark rings around your eyes, and your skin was ghostly white. He had been so busy suspecting you and criticising your work that he had looked past the fact that you were working yourself into an early grave. He effortlessly lifted you up into his strong arms and carried you to your room. He carefully tucked you into the futon. It had been a full month, and you hadn’t done anything shady, sure the way you talked was a lil strange but other than that, you were actually just a sweet, kind girl, trying your hardest to fit in. Hideyoshi felt like kicking himself for being such an idiot.

You woke up the next day and was absolutely shook. Hideyoshi came into your room and served you breakfast and tea in bed. You had to rub your eyes to make sure you weren’t dreaming. He then bowed down low and apologise profusely for being such an ass to you. The way he was apologising you could have sworn he killed your firstborn son or something. You just smiled at him and shrugged saying it was cool and there was no hard feeling. Since that day you got to see the true doting mother-hen come out. He took you to the markets and insisted on buying you everything and anything you wanted. You were a little reluctant… that is, until you saw the candy stand. You sprinted to the shop and examined all the small candy treats they sold. Honestly, the thing you missed the most about home was not being able to eat sweets. You looked up at Hideyoshi with puppy dog eyes. He bought the whole shop’s stock, although he restricted your candy intake like he did Nobunaga. Needless to say, you were not happy about that. 

One night your sweet tooth was acting up, and you just needed to get your hands on some more candy. You snuck your way to the kitchen, climbed onto the counter and reached up to grab the jar. You got a fright when Nobunaga had climbed up next to you and grabbed the jar at the same time as you. “What are you doing here,” “Same as you fireball, stealing candy cause Hideyoshi has restricted me to only one piece a day, a restriction I find unacceptable of course.” After the two of you had munched on a few handfuls of candy, a familiar light flickered down the hallway and just like that Nobunaga disappeared into the shadows of the night, leaving you with the evidence. Hideyoshi came into the kitchen and saw you with the candy jar in your lap. He literally lectured you for three hours on the importance of not eating too much sugar especially at night, what he didn’t expect is that he would crumble under your puppy dog eyes, as since then he would give you some candy every time you went to visit him for tea. TBH he low key favoured you above Nobunaga giving you sweet candy treats just so he could see that cute smile grace your face

You were definitely giving Hideyoshi more grey hairs than Mitsunari ever could with your clumsiness. If you weren’t falling over your own feet, you were accidentally knocking vases down. It was for this reason that Hideyoshi would insist on holding your hand whenever the two of you went out to the markets. You clumsiness truly knows no bounds as one day Hideyoshi took you to one of his fav tea houses to relax and eat some lunch. You were so engrossed in conversation with the mama bear that when you reached out to take a sip of tea, your fingers slipped spilling piping hot tea all over your lap. You tried to play it cool like you didn’t just burn your legs with the hot as hell tea, but nothing gets past Hideyoshi. In an instant, he was by your side, helping you clean up the mess and dragging you back to his manor to evaluate the damage. You were so freaken embarrassed as he rubbed some salve onto the small burn wound that had formed on your thigh, Hideyoshi simply gave you his bright sunshine smile and patted your head. You found it difficult to trust people, but somehow his man now patting your head had managed to break through all your wall. You didn’t know the exact moment you had fallen for the castles mom, but you were definitely in love.

And Hideyoshi had long ago fallen in love with you. You meant more to him than anyone in the world… well, there is Nobunaga, but he loved you just a lil more than him. He had spent hours watching you draw little pictures in a book. You had told him you were busy writing your own comic book. You had shown him your favourite comic book from the future and told you it had inspired you to make your own. 

He got a cool idea of how to ask you to be his lover, when you had one day forgotten one of your comic books in his room. He pulled out a few sheets of paper and started making little sketches with speech bubbles. Finally, his masterpiece was complete. He wasted no time inviting you to his room to give you the gift. You opened the parcel, and your eyes went wide when you saw a small handmade book resembling one of your comics. You opened it up and started to read. It was a book about you and all the things Hideyoshi loved about you, and on the very last page, there was a little doodle of Hideyoshi with a speech-bubble stating that he loves you. You beamed up and him and jumped into his arms.

The two of you were the sweetest most doting couple. You want cuddles and snuggles Hideyoshi has got you. You and Hideyoshi have made it a tradition to have a weekly board game night where neither of you is allowed to focus on work. You know Hideyoshi has a tendency to overwork himself, so you designed this night to help him relax, plus you freaken loved playing board games. Most of the time you would sit in his lap while the two of you played. He would rub your back or gently stroke your hair as the two of you were played. You would make jokes and chat about your days. TBH it was often that these board game nights would lead to something *ahem* a little more steamy.

This man will pamper you day in, and day out, whether it is running you nice warm bubble baths or massaging your back after a long day of work, you can definitely expect to be spoilt rotten. Expect lots of soothing head pats and forehead kisses. His man will also give you a flurry of small lil kisses every time he sees you. His favourite is when you rest your head on his thigh while he gently strokes your hair while working. You truly love this big mother hen, and your fav is to be in his arms, cuddling him for hours on end.

Other potential matches.............. Sasuke 

Hope you enjoyed it, dear! 🥰

[robbyrobinson]

I

I haven't the faintest idea how I ended up getting into this position, but I am forever grateful that I managed to escape it. Ever since I was a child, I was an avid reader. I read just about anything: newspapers; comic books; obituaries, you name it. I'm certain that you had the same feelings I had. Of reading whatever you could get your grubby hands-on, you find yourself in a bind. Craving more knowledge, I am assured that you would've done anything to satiate your hunger.

When I was allowing my mind to humor the imagined solutions to my plight, it happened. While I was browsing the town's bookstore, I bumped into a strange man. He was the spitting image of a walrus. He was a rotund man in the perfect shape of an egg. He had a double chin that was partially covered by the thick, wintry whiskers of his mustache. Whoever this man was, he clearly was of some form of nobility. He was dressed in the finest black tuxedo that money could buy...if not for the fact that his paunch peeked through the bottom of his shirt. His arms were of a gargantuan frame with rolls of fat jiggling from the slightest movement.

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," I said. I had about four books in my hands at the time. I gazed down at them and collapsed on my knees to collect them without hesitation. The man tentatively wiped his shirt off with his pudgy fingers.

"It's quite all right, my good fellow," he said in an understanding tone of voice. While I should've been relieved that he wasn't going to take vengeance on me for my mistake, I felt the heat of his stare. He observed the books on the ground with a passing curiosity. "A fellow book connoisseur?"

"Well, yes," I answered while still being intimidated by the sudden interrogation.

"That is very good news," he replied. His smile shifted down into a frown. "But these books just won't do."

My interest peaked. "You know more appropriate literature for me to indulge myself in?"

"Yes. Just between you and me, let's just say that I have a collection of forbidden literature."

That proved to be the most intriguing part of the discussion. This man I had met on accident had access to literature that was assuredly banned by the government. I've heard stories of such books containing such unorthodox material, they were buried away, never to be seen by the light of day. The opportunities were limitless. I could barely conceal my excitement as I almost glossed over the gentleman providing me with his address. He became like a penguin and wobbled away, throwing his weight on his legs. Before I walked over to the counter, for a moment, I could've sworn that I saw a large, monstrous anomaly acting as the man's shadow.

II

Not too long after my realization that I neglected to ask the man of his name; a series of disappearances befell the city. Children between the ages of 10 and 16 were reported missing. They each disappeared not too long after the other. Approximately, there were six missing children. I thought back to the man I met at the bookstore and how eerily his shadow matched the news reports of the children complaining about being relentlessly pursued by a monster shrouded in darkness. It sent a chill up my spine whenever I weighed more on it.

The day of my little get-together with the man from the bookstore arrived. I fidgeted through my important papers until I fished out the note with his address on it. His home was a decent walking pace from mine. With my briefcase in hand, I traveled down the path. When I reached the house, it did not resemble anything I have imagined for a man of such a high status. The outer layers of the house contorted and shifted. The outer layer was transforming into indescribable shapes unknown to man. The trees around the settlement transformed into scaly talons. I turned to leave, but the voice of the fat man was calling out to me over the onslaught of chaos.

I walked through the shifting front door and trudged down the hallway. The walls were now a fleshy mass of red meat. They shook violently so much so; I was afraid they would leap at me. The other sights were…unappealing. In one room, what I could only describe as the most horrid of debaucheries was transpiring before my eyes. A wave of men and women bereft of clothing were committing the most audacious of sins. They danced around in a perverted succession and clawed onto each other in large orgies. Their incessant moaning disturbed me. “Lust,” I thought. It was undoubtedly a section dedicated entirely to the deadly sin of lust.

The next room was worse. Inside, chains of people were wrought with hunger. They tore into each other as wild dogs looking for scraps. Limbs were ripped off and fingers were plucked one by one like feathers. Not once did they grant me a passing glance. Instead, they continued to indulge in their cannibalistic rituals, never once feeling their hunger subsiding. What I have experienced was the sin of gluttony in its most perverted form.

Sloth was next. It was another guest room. It was relatively easier on the eyes, but that would be comparing a severed arm to a paper cut. Fat blobs sat on the bed and floor without rhyme or interest in anything currently happening. They were of people who were so corrupted by their slothfulness, they were reduced to creatures even below the worms.

The further I glanced into the rooms, the more I felt my mind crack from my incapability of understanding it. A hand reached out and touched my shoulder, sending me over the edge. “Glad you could make it; the festivities had just begun.”

It was the fat man again. But something was horribly wrong. He did not have any noticeable change in his demeanor. He still was just as jolly as he was when I first met him. In fact, he treated the unholy nightmares festering in his home with seeming indifference. That kind of indifference a man may feel when he views the same events daily. I now felt uncomfortable being in the same room as him.

Before I could respond, he whisked me away into the kitchen where he had a lavish array on the table. It looked normal at first glance, but after seeing all the bizarre, surreal nonsense in the respective rooms, I couldn’t help but be suspicious. The obese man sat at the head of the table and glutted himself on fattening foods from turkey legs and mashed potatoes. Thinking back, he looked even more massive than I gave him credit for. He looked up from his many plates and eyed me inquisitively.

III

“So, how are you enjoying your stay?”

I slammed my fists on the table in a dazed frenzy. “What in the name of all decency is going on here!?”

He frowned and sighed deeply. “I see you don’t understand. Such a shame.”

“Shame?” I asked.

“Yes,” he answered, “I’m sure that you noticed by now that I am by no means an ordinary man.”

My mind became a blank. Not human? What is he suggesting? I knew he was insane, but what the hell did he mean by those cryptic words? I hushed my thoughts when he began to speak again.

“I am of a race of gods eldritch to your thought processes. Please, call me the Defiler.”

“Where are you going with this?” I asked now in irritation. Great; this man was insane, and he also believes that he was some powerful deity. I rubbed my throbbing temples in bewilderment. If this were a dream, I very much would’ve loved to wake up. I’d imagine waking up in my bed in the early morning going about my day and then indulging in my cherished hobbies. Instead, I was currently in a grotesque house filled with unspeakable perversions getting lectured to by a deranged man who may as well have escaped from a mental asylum not too far from here.

“I see that I am boring you, boy,” he said. His face was contorted into a vengeful scowl. “I am here speaking to you, but I am also far away.”

“How far, fat man?” I asked.

“My body is indescribable to you mortals, but I am confined behind a stone wall.”

I listened tentatively despite my disbelief. What he said next horrified me. If the idea that he was locked away behind a stonewall was already unbelievable, what he spoke of still to this day greatly disturbed me.

“Do you like my latest body?” he asked, “after all, this freak was just like you before I found you.” He told me that there was a man who was much like me who hungered for knowledge. After he grew bored with the typical literature he read, he sought more. In his endeavor, he met a member of an underground cult who told him that he could have access to the more problematic pieces. He was exposed to the depravities that the cult performed in dedication to some Great Old One or something of the sort. Despite it, he nevertheless allowed his cravings to overpower him, and he read a book that summoned that unearthly presence to him.

“It’s a pity that this body is going to waste,” the fat man bemoaned. “It’s about time I parted with him; we had so much fun together.” He feigned a single tear. “Those children were my favorite part.”

“Children?” I said.

He wordlessly took me forcefully out of my seat, and we both walked to the basement of the house. The remains of the missing children were spread astray. I choked back vomit as I took a closer look at them. Large chunks were noticeably taken from the corpses. I looked back at the fat man, his grin only growing larger with a more deranged glaze in his eyes. His smile circled around the tips of his mouth.

“What? What can I say; after I had my fun with them, I got hungry. Can’t blame a Great Old One becoming famished.”

My fists clenched. After everything, I was mentally preparing myself to punch this “god” back towards whatever plane of existence he originated from. “What else did you do to that man?”

He smirked. “When I possessed him, I cast his soul aside. He will forever be trekking that long path between life and death. I maneuvered him like a flesh puppet subservient to my rule. I do wonder though if he ever was made to watch his body cozy up with strangers?”

“What are you wanting from me now? And what is the reason behind any of this!?” I finally yelled.

He shrugged his shoulders. “After about three hours or so in my home and you still fail to understand?” He sighed. “I live for the carnality of you simple humans. I know all of man’s depravities and abominations, and I bask in it. That sense of pleasure mixed with pain is intoxicating. But what I desire the most is to be free from my prison and walk among you simple humans!”

The man’s disguise was wearing thin. His skin became papery with small cracks forming all over. Like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon, his disguise cracked open. Underneath was displeasing to man’s eyes. An abnormally fat, headless man burst through the skin and towered over me. His hands were large and enshrouded my head. What sent me the most alarm, however, were the two mouths within the palms of his hands. Hot drool dripped down from his serpentine tongues. The room transformed into a chasm of red meat with oozing slime. A book manifested before me. It opened to the section that mentioned the fat man, the Defiler’s, name.

“Say my name and free me!”

My eyes darted towards his name. I tried my darndest to fight, but once my mind was set on the name, my tongue began to betray me. “Y…Y…”

The Defiler stiffened up in anticipation. “Yes! Yes!”

I grasped my throat and grunted. My attempts at choking myself were also proving to be unfruitful. “Y’gol…”

I immediately stared down on the floor of the basement. Beside one of the bodies of the slain children, I saw a carving knife. With my little time, I made a grab for it. The Defiler was perplexed, though because of lacking eyes, he could only express it through his mouths. I grabbed the knife and held it in front of him. My tongue slid out unconsciously from my mouth, and I grabbed it with one hand.

“No, no!” he screamed.

It was painful, but I sliced my tongue off, allowing half to fall on the floor. The Defiler shook violently. I was running out of blood quickly, but I ran forward with the knife and tussled with the Great Old One. He pinned me tightly with one of his hands and he tried to shove me up his other mouth. I clenched my knife and I rammed it into his chest cavity. He loosened his hold on me and tumbled forward. Blood was leaking out onto the floor. Nevertheless, he laughed. Despite the pain and blatant loss of blood. He was still laughing as if he was having the best day of his life.

“Don’t think that this is over, fool,” he said, “I can never truly die. Shame we won’t be able to play some more, though. Oh well, I guess I’ll go defile some other poor sap.” He laughed through his hands and contorted into dust. Without its owner, the house began to collapse, and debris came raining down. From the sound of the bloody screaming, the Defiler’s followers were also being buried alive. I staggered my way through the horrific freak show and exited the house. The house imploded, burying itself deep into a crater in the ground.

IV

Even though it was a few months ago, I still find myself thinking back about how my lust for reading nearly cost me my life and the threats of that beast getting released. But he also said that he would try to corrupt some other hapless victim. I just wonder who will be the next to fall, victim?

[nyrator]

another long vent post about depression/anxiety

extremely depressed tonight

first made the mistake of driving myself to the grocery store at 6pm, first I had to try scraping the ice off the windshield with nothing but a broom and bare hands, then driving itself was nightmareish, the car feels like a death trap to me, very loose and sloppy compared to my last car, so loud and uncomfortable with no audible music to calm my nerves. My eyes have worsened to the point where I can’t see anything at night- glare takes up my whole vision, even with anti-glare shades. I was driving well below the speed limit the entire time and still almost hit three pedestrians who were all recklessly out on the roads in all black for whatever reason. My nerves are completely shot from it, my chest feels like I’m in a vice and can’t breathe, my eyes are wide open and hunched over the steering wheel, and my body feels both like I’m about to wet myself at any moment and that I’m too stiff/tense/frozen to function as a human at all, it’s that fight-or-flight response at its extreme. Meanwhile, my skin must be weak- my knuckles bleed when driving, and my wrists bled just from carrying in bags of groceries.

then getting home and just dealing with personal drama of someone I know who is so depressed and self destructive and too smart to reason with, who refuses/is unable to seek professional help, who just doesn’t understand or just can’t help venting to me nonstop, no matter how much I beg them not to over and over- their life is so terrible that suicide seems like the only option to them, and I don’t want them to do so, but I can’t keep suffering like this either and I feel like the only thing preventing them from doing so, as poor a job as I do as a human being anyway. But I can’t help them if they can’t help themselves, even if they were just ate a bit better, or just had a journal or someone anonymous they could talk to, but it seems inescapable and impossible to change anything and all we do is argue over it until I snap at them to leave me alone. That person is probably reading this right now and probably hating it, but I doubt anyone on this site even knows who they are.

Tuesday morning, I couldn’t sleep at all from anxiety- it was so severe and inescapable, I laid in bed for four hours feeling like I was dying until I was finally able to sleep for two hours. I can’t seem to stay asleep longer than two hours anymore. Was supposed to hang out with friends that day, but between lack of sleep, depression, and my absolute terror at driving in a snowstorm, I ended up just staying home.

Anxiety has gotten so bad again. I know a lot of how the mechanics work behind it, I know a lot of pains are from tension and lack of breathing. But my old coping mechanisms don’t work anymore. I can focus on breathing for several minutes straight and then fall right back into suffocating. Music, counting things, meditating, none of it helps anymore.

One way to describe the feeling of anxiety- it’s kind of like when you fall asleep on your arm, and you feel all the blood rushing back into it and that tingling sensation. Imagine that, maybe a bit less, but throughout your entire body (especially chest), your body is stiff and not numb, and your entire body is vibrating or shivering/shaking or something.

I still spend 16+ hours laying in bed every single day. When I got home from shopping, the walking around (and the stress of driving) was enough to send me straight to bed, I was so tired and weak. It’s probably why I don’t sleep properly, I’m half awake in bed all the time, what need is there for sleep

I have mail I haven’t opened, taxes I still have to do, messes to clean, and don’t care for any of it. Can’t even talk about some things I’ve been doing to myself out of spite or general depression, the way I’ve been abusing. I promise to try not to do anything too crazy or directly harmful, but even then I worry about slipping up- I tried one thing I shouldn’t talk about, which wasn’t too serious, but still seriously concerning how easy it was to try doing

still haven’t contacted a therapist, my fear of calling someone is so strong I can’t overcome it, especially not after just waking up. Talked to some friends, some agree that I should, at least one thinks it’s a waste of time and money- up to $125 per session to just get a glorified phone call thanks to covid restrictions. I just don’t see the point if I’m still stuck in my apartment at my computer, especially if I have an internet addiction already.

The lack of doing anything is driving me insane, I think. I’ve played four single player games in 2020- ACNH, KH MoM, Panel de Pon, and Picross. In terms of things watched on my own, probably just Japan Sinks and whatever else was on Netflix the few months I had it. Don’t feel motivated to play or watch anything anymore, nothing seems interesting, and mostly just do things with friends if at all

Even ACNH, the game I play the most, I barely do anything in it- mostly just get new items from stores, that’s it. My island decorating has come to a hard halt, mostly because I barely have any furniture I’d like to embellish it with, and mainly because I have no ideas to layout most of it

I want to create, but don’t have the energy to make anything at all. Rotten Nyan is still my current goal, but anxiety has made it next to impossible to work on. I’ve tried several times the past few weeks, all met with failure- the anxiety’s too much, half the time I don’t even know what’s causing it, but my body just gets too tense and cramped without even doing anything, and I just can’t breathe at all while working on it.

Thought about making an omake comic for it, then realized what a terrible idea it was, and how hard it is to draw comics in general. Or anything in general. Wrote down the entire comic while laying in bed one day, went to draw it, was unable to, tried making it a yonkoma, gave up, and felt sick thinking of all the gross things in it that I just made a vent description of Middle Lave and just posted that to the RN tumblr instead.

I can’t think of any ideas, I feel like my art has regressed- I’ve taken more shortcuts for the sake of my hands tensing so fast from anxiety, and I’ve gotten decent at drawing middle Lave I feel, but anything besides a character standing is impossible for me- any environments or character interactions that I’d love to do just feel impossible, let alone my inability to write good ones. Anything I try to think of writing-wise always ends up the same gross content that burned into my memories that I just can’t feel comfortable talking about much at all, nor do I think it’s content people want to see at all.

There’s a lot of detailed kind of art I’d like to do. I kind of want to loosen my restrictions on myself and just draw whatever suffering I feel like, maybe once I use the RN twitter more I might get a little more courage to do so. I see many artists draw detailed scenes in single images, and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t capture that feeling.

Part of me feels torn about it being an autobiography for people to relate to, and being a suffering experience for people to find some weird enjoyment out of. I feel like I’ve lost sight of what it was originally meant to be and now just enjoy “bullying” Middle Lave half the time I guess, but unfortunately for me, bullying makes me feel like vomiting and is hard to draw consistently- maybe I’m too nice. I don’t know, I’m just rambling at this point. The comic is still laid out and just meant to explore the life of Lave, but it’s just so hard to work on.

In terms of other things, I have no idea what to do

Vtuber/streaming? Hate my voice, can’t focus on learning what I need for it in terms of rigging and texturing models. I only know the basics of making 3D things and nothing else.

Console art? I already designed all the ones I’m mainly interested in, but like I mentioned before, can’t think of any character interactions at all that I feel like drawing.

Making a game? I know 2k3 well enough to make anything in it event-wise, though never got over my map failings, and I can’t commit to anything long-term. Godot or another program, or programming in general? Good luck.

I just want to make something, work on a project without losing steam or letting anxiety prevent me from learning. Can’t focus on anything long enough to learn it- Japanese, making a game, programming, a new hobby, anything. I just don’t have the drive to do anything and will give up anything I even try to start, so what’s the point in even trying anything. I have books I haven’t read that I’ve been meaning to read for years, and still don’t have an ounce of energy to want to even organize them on their shelf, let alone open it

At the very least, I got my first big commission (second one ever), designing an OC for someone, and it’s going well, though tonight I’ve lost steam to finish it, and I hope I can get it back tomorrow to try to finalize it.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I really wish I just had someone guide me with art- I miss doing those 30 day challenge kind of things, or “send a number/emoji” kind of asks for OCs, but tumblr’s so inactive that I don’t see them on my dash anymore, and don’t know how to even look for them, especially not on sites like twitter these days. Though, the problem is, no one knows exactly what I like, and I feel awful letting people down if they ask for something I don’t want to draw

I can’t focus on exercise long term, and I’m so out of practice that exhaustion is too strong to beat. I’ve been trying to walk up and down on a step stool for exercise to get me back into basic movement, but even that’s too tiring. Want to do it while watching something, then I realize, I don’t watch anything at all, not even youtube, just an occasional artist stream that I mainly chat with rather than watch

I feel like I’m going to collapse if I turn or move too suddenly, and my eyes are absolutely terrible- glasses are okay, but without them I’m completely blind now- not just blind, but it’s like my eyes see at two different angles sometimes, like one is slanted or something, very disorientating.

It’s 7:30AM, and no desire to sleep at all. Terrified of laying in bed and letting anxiety take over me again. Part of me wants to become completely nocturnal and just avoid everyone during the day and just respond to messages in the AM hours, just wake up at midnight each day and avoid dealing with people. Go to sleep when everyone starts to get active and just isolate myself entirely from society.

I feel like I exist with no purpose whatsoever, and it’s driving me insane- not that life is meant to have a purpose, but I could at least be doing something more than laying in bed all day every day for a year

[artpoint420]

Melvin and the Silent Diagnosis for a Brilliantly Broken Psyche

Hypothetical Diagnosis Insecurity masked with narcissistic tendencies characterized with compulsive obsessions driven by blatant autism, and no that is not an immature insult I test extremely highly for Asperger's myself Here's the Evidence: (I will state before hand that Melvin-borg is a completely separate character in my mind, and thus will not be included in this particular theory.  Melvin decided not to turn out like him, so they are canonically separate characters) He is obviously and frequently inspired by George and Harold, but his deeply embedded fear of rejection makes him dangerously bitter, and it doesn't help that everytime he breaks out of this protective shell, he is rejected or betrayed once again. It’s important to note that while he may be high-functioning (aka: Aspergers) he is still Autistic. That’s because Asperger’s is not a form of autism- it is autism. Period. And any kind of autism or mental attypicality left untreated can develop in to many, many other severe mental disorders, or, in general, make life a metric heck ton harder and complicated than it already is. I also need to confess that I test highly positively for autism myself as well as being an INTP female (Myers-Briggs Personality Test). Not to brag, but all that combined with my naturally creative nature makes me rare af, but it also means I can't communicate or handle stress #liketheothergirls, so that has lead me to being/feeling bullied and ostracized.  I also have anxiety and depression issue which run in my family, and mild insomnia, and may or may not be relapsing into an eating disorder. Paired with psychical problems like acid reflux and severe neck tension, health, whether psychical or mental is of uttermost importance to me.  It suffices to say, autism is not easy to deal with and if not taken care for properly a person, especially if not made at least aware of what autism truly is, it can truly ruin their life. Combined with the neglectful nature of his parents (at least in the books) I and many others in this fandom truly believe Melvin is at least autistically coded. Not only does this fit the archetype of his character but it also fits the theme of the books to a TEE. At its core, CU, of all things, is a children's book series, about living your best life despite not being “normal.” Even characters like the teachers or Mr Krupp who strive for “normality” are shown to actually have deeply repressed creativity, or, in some cases, deep trauma from their own childhoods. It suffices to say that I resonate deeply with Melvin. Say what you want about him or me, I was able to relate to him the second he spoke his first line in the second book. Sorry to turn this into a long vent, but I feel it is best to use myself to support this theory as well as harder evidence, even if it is mostly a means of self-therapy. To start, we both are obsessed with school even to a detrimental degree. Ever since head-start (Pre-K but a million times better), these "book-smarts" were the first thing I ever truly excelled at. When the other kids bullied (or as I now know as teasing) me, I would lose myself in a stack of homework or a book 2-3 grades past my grade level (this is before I drew or wrote as a main hobby). Similarly, Melvin is rarely seen without a book or gadget, just like me. We both over analyze things and hide our feelings. We both have intense crushes on others but are terrified to dare express them, or do but to nothing but awkwardness. We were both science kids, and fascinated by words and/or numbers alone (I still am just in a more artistic way). We both struggle to communicate and relate to others. We both have a unusual sense of humor and are highly observant of surroundings all the while missing what’s in front of our noses. We both have interests that quickly spiral into obsessions and dropping the obsession only when sick of it. We both practice similar forms of stimming. We both not only thrive but crave control and structure with the world around us, even to the point of being "control freaks" and creating odd habits, routines, and rituals regardless of whether they are necessary or make sense. We both have an intense fear of intimacy and rejection to the point of practicing self-isolation and in some cases self harm or other unhealthy coping methods (seen with Melvin over eating sweets or over working himself. For me it’s disordered eating or self flagellation, something I have all but completely dropped but still) We also both tend to see ourselves as inferior to others and attempt to mask those feelings with a superiority complex (I feel bad for my siblings but I didn’t know what I was doing, and no it was not abusive just sibling rivalry and I’m the oldest anyway, and we are country kids and understand “rough-housing” =/= using each other as a punching bag, but accidents happen I'm sorry) We both seem to become easily overstimulated and have explosive mental and emotional breakdowns when things just . . . become too much However the harsh divide between male and female and fictional and nonfictional means we both present certain traits differently. Whereas he presents a more linear line of thinking my mind is overwhelmingly sporadic. Also, I have over sensitivities to touch and light (and sometimes certain noises, but not anything not normal? Wfk.) But maybe he does have oversensitivity but I can't think of an example off the top of my head. Enough about me however. I know Melvin and autism has been done to death.  Hell, I just did it to death.  My actual theory is more on the inner mechanisms of his mind and predicting how he will develop should the series allow for full character development. Also, similar to my Krupp theory, I will be listing his crimes out and give him a proper sentence for his age and maturity level (which will be light as I am sympathetic to his plight).   This is already getting too long, so Imma try to finally get to the point.  Characters with autism are honestly a mixed bag, sometimes there as standardized as my mystery Daddy Sherlock Holmes and other times they are as subtle as Pearl or Peridot from Steven Universe (has Rebbaca Sugar confirmed this? sorry). Honestly, it does distress me that autism is almost always used to have an evil genius character or some weird side character for brownie/ diversity points. (this makes me a bit hypocritical I guess, considering my own stories. I guess tropes are tropes for a reason) And while Dav Pilky May not be subtle with his scholastic politics or humor his one spectacular tool in his writing books has always been, when it comes to his characters, showing instead of telling. This is something I latched on to even as a kid, and I was already thinking up theories on the characters before I even knew character theories were a thing.  Like what happened to Harold's Dad (hint, hint).  Why was Harold's sister rarely used?  Does Mr Krupp actually like their comics (a now accepted theory, but not just min? And many many others I'm probably never gonna write.  It took until how long in the books to reveal George and Harold have ADHD? Before that they were simply described as being as smart as Melvin but just in different ways. Personally I feel that autism is inverted ADHD. This is an opinion I’ve recently formed so if I’m wrong bloody attack me in the comments. Anyway, Melvin presenting autism makes him the perfect foil to George and Harolds’ more sporadic antics. The only true difference between autistic folks and ADHD folks is that those with autism tend to crave a structured environment full of rules, and set goals to achieve, while such an environment is HELL to children with ADHD (aka:George and Harold). (Even though if with adults they can trust, children with ADHD thrive in structured environments if they are surrounded by adults or authority figures they can trust.)  I know some will tell me ADHD is on the spectrum, but I just learned this like actually the other day and don’t fully understand it.  My prediction is that Melvin will eventually and naturally mellow out if just because staying so high strung all the time is a huge waste of mental energy.  I know good as hell I had to.  Also, he mellowed our in the books and went from a screeching revenge exacting lil narcissistic white boi prick to a person who simply wants to pursue his interests and even helping George and Harold (selfishly, but help nonetheless). He even went from enjoying the fame and attention of hero-ing to realizing it did not fufill him. Indeed quite the opposite.  His true passion lay in solving world problems through science, and I don't think the ending for him in the books could have been any more perfect considering his character.   In the Netflix show, similar to how I think Krupp's personalities are merging, I believe that Melvin will eventually become more like his Broski alter ego (which I calmly demand more of).  Overall, given that this show needs to go back to the status quo more often than not, I don't think his core character will ever change, and it doesn't need to.  Multiple times throughout the series he's been shown to crave friendship from George and Harold, despite audibly hating him . Textbook Tsundere, I know.  He will form a friendly rivalry with George and Harold, I have almost no doubt about that, taking the season 1 finale, season 2 finale, season 3 first episode, and halloween special into consideration. (Yeah, if someone will send me clips I will give them my eternal gratefulness) To conclude, because by god this is long, Melvin is, SHOCKER, just a little kid.  A little kid who likes muffins and dolls and has big hopes and dreams.  A little kid whose love for science and unrecognized creativity is channeled into making inventions that are even more impressive than those of Professor P (sorry P).  But he is a little kid with his own needs and stuggles which at this point remain unmet.  His parents are canonically neglectful, I cannot repeat that enough times.  The effects of neglect are a hell-hole of its own regardless of growing up with undiagnosed autism.  But that's just a theory- Alright, that was a banger, I guess next up is Melvin-borg since writing this has given me some interesting ideas for him.  Let’s see how long this hyperfocus train will go!

[theorangedeath]

Some webcomic recs

Webcomics are as underrated as they are varied. I mostly read printed comics now, but there’s no way I’d have gotten there had I not found webcomics before - believe me, I tried, but this damn hobby is super inaccessible to a beginner, not to mention expensive. Webcomics are like fanfics in that regard - hell, some of them are fan comics - in that there’s something for everyone, all within your reach, but in order to find something you like you have to either 1. Get very, VERY lucky, 2. Be prepared to read a lot of bad stuff in order to get to the good stuff, or 3. Hear about them from people you trust. 

I was a 2 - i would read anything, back in the day - and while i’m not as unconditionally enthusiastic as i was, there are still some gems I wish got the same appreciation as some talents in the industry. I’ll spare you the rest of the article (dm me for comic rants though), let’s get to it! 

note: all the comics are numbered as “1″ because tumblr messed up the google docs formatting 

Comics i still follow as they update because either tumblr starts posting about them right away or they’re on tapas

Check Please! 

https://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/

I’m probably not the one introducing you to Check Please, as it’s one of the most popular webcomics out there, thank god. The parts of the fandom i’m familiar with are cool and wholesome, just like the work itself. It’s about a southern gay kid, Eric Bittle, who joins the hockey team in his college. It’s impossible not to love every single character there, the sports drama elements are great, and the format is like solidarity put into panels. The Samwell Men’s Hockey team’s motto is “we’ve got each other’s backs”, and there isn’t a single part of the comic that doesn’t 100% incorporate that. 

Heartstopper

https://tapas.io/series/Heartstopper

The 2000s so far have been a rough contest for the title of “sweetest ya romance” but guys, we found it, we can stop now. Nick and Charlie are in highschool, Charlie is gay and out (not by will), Nick plays rugby because apparently that’s what british jocks do. Can i make it any more obvious? It took me a while to fall in love with the artstyle but when i did i fell HARD - the creator is re-drawing some of the older chapters, though, so your experience might be different. The story’s captivating right away, and you want everyone there to be happy from pretty much page 1. The creator also writes ya prose, and some of her books are about other characters from the same school. I love all of them, but Radio Silence is my personal favorite. She also has two novellas about Nick and Charlie themselves, available as e-books. 

Charity Case 

https://tapas.io/series/Charity-Case

I rarely start new webcomics anymore, but boy, this one got me FAST. and that was even before I realized it’s a polyam love story, which i love but is surprisingly rare in webcomics - at least the ones i know. Julien, an irresponsible young musician, resorts to sharing an apartment with two roomates who are a couple. I fell for the unique, gorgeous artstyle first, and by the time i realized i’m also super invested in the story and characters, it’s already become one of my favorites. Plus, Julien’s hair looks so soft! 

The Property of Hate 

http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/

THIS is what comics should be. There’s so much passion here, not just for the story but for the storytelling as well - and the two aren’t as separated as you might think. A young girl is recruited by a TV man to be a hero. The world they enter seems nonsensical and arbitrary at first, but as they travel she discovers its logic, stories and secrets. She will also, as her title suggests, need to save it. There’s so much i love about this comic that i don’t know where to start, so i’ll just say this: it’s absolutely inspiring, in every sense of the word. Also, read the creator’s duck comics, they’ll make you feel things. 

Webcomics i occasionally remember to catch up on, get blown away all over again by how good they are, vow to check them regularly for updates then forget. And repeat 

Wilde Life

https://wildelifecomic.com/

I think this is the first ever webcomic i read that had a plot? I got on the wagon at around chapter 1 or 2 and it’s hard to believe it but it only gets better with time, even though it already starts at 100%. Oscar moves to a new town and immediately makes friends with a ghost and a grumpy teen werewolf. It has both monster-of-the-week type problems and overarching plots, and reading it feels nostalgic and brand new at the same time. The fantasy world has this special feel to it, that makes me miss growing up in the american wilderness even though i, well, didn’t. Plus, the creator is cool as hell. I knit her a hat in high school in exchange for a commission. 

Sfeer Theory

https://sfeertheory.com/

This comic got me through a hard time and i’ll forever be grateful for that. Also, it’s really, really good. This is another case of a comic where you fall in love with the art right away and before long you find yourself caring very much about the characters and the story. You might also find yourself growing out your hair to style it like Luca’s. If you’re me it’ll be a lost cause, so, uh, keep that in mind. Luca works as a technician at the prestigious Uitspan university. A mysterious, powerful man is looking to change that. While the comic’s biggest strength is probably the gorgeous, fascinating worldbuilding - and Luca’s hair - the characters are also ridiculously easy to relate to, even if we don’t know anything about them. Even the most meaningless extras are somehow compelling thanks to the dynamic, rich art style. And did i mention the hair? If you like it, you won’t be disappointed by everything else Little Foolery makes. 

How To Be a Werewolf

http://www.howtobeawerewolf.com/

I almost didn’t read this one! My brain has decided i don’t like werewolves and i don’t know how to reverse that. But then i saw Elias’ body language and it was extremely fun and friendly, and so was the rest of the comic, and the rest is history. Malaya knows she’s a werewolf, but seeing as she doesn’t know any other werewolves, dealing with that is hard. That is until Elias discovers her and decides to help, along with the rest of his pack. It’s filled with family and solidarity feelings, some dark mysteries and themes, and the art is beautiful and expressive. 

Monsterkind 

http://monsterkind.enenkay.com/

Another case of read-everything-this-creator-makes-it’s-all-amazing! Wallace, a social worker, moves - or rather, is moved - to District C, which is mostly populated by monsters. His heart’s in the right place, and apparently so is his apartment, because his neighbors are cool as heck and agree, some of them reluctantly, to help him get his bearings. There’s a mystery to uncover, some monsters to help and a dashing tea octopus to woo - for Kip to woo, anyway - and it’s all a delight to read. Every single character brings their own lovable-ness to the table, and even with the darker parts, reading this comic kinda feels like being hugged. 

Comics that no longer update

The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal - finished 

http://tjandamal.com/

Guys. guys! I’m pretty sure this is my all time favorite comic, web OR printed. I have the printed version, i still read it online occasionally, a lot of the songs mentioned in it are now saved on my spotify, i had it as my phone background for a good couple of years, the whole package. Amal comes out to his family and it ends with him having to drive to his sister’s graduation in Providence. There’s a guy in his kitchen who just so happens to need a lift there, and he’s willing to pay, and Amal’s too hungover to argue. What follows is the best roadtrip story ever. I’m seriously considering getting my license just to recreate that route. I just really love this story, okay? Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the creator’s music taste is GOOD. 

Prague Race - to be continued in text 

https://www.praguerace.com/

The fantasy aesthetic to end all fantasy aesthetics. And the characters are good and interesting. And the world is well built and leaves you wanting more. AND there’s a cat. And it looks so good! Leona is irresponsible and spontaneous and gets her friends in some weird shit that leaves them trapped in a strange world, dealing with several curses, trying to survive and make sense of it all. I could spend a lifetime looking at the art and die happy. 

Shoot around - finished 

https://www.webtoons.com/en/drama/shoot-around/list?title_no=399&page=1

A girl’s basketball team and its coach, Jeff, deal with a zombie apocalypse. They make the most of the post apocalyptic world. There’s drama, friendship, found family, love and hope - it’s basically everything a zombie apocalypse narrative should be. And i love how the creator plays with the colors from chapter to chapter! 

Rock and Riot - finished 

https://tapas.io/series/Rock-and-Riot 

It’s cute! It’s fun! It’s a 1950’s queer ensamble cast high school drama! It’s what Grease would’ve been like in a better timeline, except we still got it in this timeline. The artstyle fits perfectly with the story and characters, but if you want to see what’s the creator capable of now, read their newest comic, Project Nought. It’s a cool sci fi story and just like in Rock and Riot, it’s super easy to connect to every character there. 

Alright there’s a lot more but i somehow wrote 4 google docs pages of webcomic recs in one sitting (this is what i’m able to focus on? Really, brain?) and i think that’s enough for now. Like i said, please dm me if you want to talk about anything here, rec some of your own, listen to my rants or tell me i’m a nerd. Or all of the above. I might make a similar post with print comic, but right now i have some dogs to pet. Keep being cool! 

[entamewitchlulu]

so i did a reading challenge this year and i wanna talk about what i read

transcription under the cut

i did Popsugar 2019 and wanna talk about what i read:  Book Reccs and Anti-Reccs 

1.) Becoming a Movie in 2019: Umbrella Academy (vol 1) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. A fascinating take on superpowers, dysfunctional families, and the apocalypse. Can get pretty gory, confusing here and there and you have to pay close attention to panels for lore, but overall an entertaining romp.

2.) Makes you Feel Nostalgic: Circles in the Stream by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Middle grade novel about the magic of music, belief, and of course, friendship. Definitely written for kids, and has some unfortunately clumsy Native rep, but overall an absolute joy to dive into once again.

3.) Written by a Musician: Umbrella Academy (vol 2) by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba

4/5. Ramps up the confusion to ridiculous degrees with some absolutely bonkers, unexplained arcs, but still fun to watch this dysfunctional family do its dysfunctional thing.

4.) You Think Should be Turned into a movie: All That Glitters by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Continuation of Circles in the Stream, but with more unicorns, more rainbows, and more fae, which makes it automatically even better than the first.

5.) With At Least 1 Mil. Ratings on Goodreads: 1984 by George Orwell   

1/5. I understand why it's important and all but wasn't prepared for some of the more graphic scenes and the overall hopelessness of the message.  Would not recommend or read again.

6.) W/ a Plant in the title or cover: The secret of Dreadwillow carse by Brian farrey

5/5. A fantasy world where everyone is always happy, save for one girl and the princess, who set out to solve the mystery of their kingdom. Poignant and great for kids and adults.

7.) Reread of a favorite: Cry of the Wolf by Rachel Roberts

4/5. Yet another installment in the Avalon: Web of Magic series, which clearly I am obsessed with.  Please just read them.

8.) About a Hobby: Welcome to the Writer's Life by Paulette Perhach

5/5. A welcome kick in the pants, chock full of great advice told without condescension, and full of hope and inspiration for writers both new and old.

9.) Meant to read in 2018: The Poet x by Elizabeth Acevedo  

4/5. Absolutely beautiful coming of age novel told in verse.  Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook version.

10.) w/ "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title: Black Sugar by Miguel Bonnefoy

2/5. I think maybe I just don't understand this genre.  Or maybe the translation was weird. I was confused.  

11.) w/ An Item of Clothing or Accessory on the cover: Our dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

4/5. It had a lot more slurs/homophobia than I was prepared for, but otherwise is a very touching, relatable collection of queer characters living in a heteronormative world.

12.) Inspired by Mythology or Folklore: Ravenous by MarcyKate Connolly

3/5. A girl goes on an impossible quest to save her brother from a child-eating witch. Really wanted to like it more because I loved the first one, Monstrous, but it dragged a little.

13.) Published Posthumously: The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones

3/5. I adore Diana Wynne Jones, but this one was missing some of the magic of her other books. Not sure if it was because it had to be finished by someone else, or if I just grew out of her stories.

14.) Set in Space: Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

4/5. Powerfully written story of a girl straddling tradition and innovation, who wields power through mathematical magic, surviving on a spaceship alone with a dangerous alien occupation after everyone else has been killed.

15.) By 2 Female Authors: Burn for Burn by Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian

2/5. Ostensibly a story about a revenge pact in a small island town, but leaves far too many dangling threads to attempt alluring you to the sequel.

16.) W/ A Title containing "salty," "bitter," "Sweet," or "Spicy": The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith  

3/5. It's okay but I literally just never know what anyone means at any time. Are they being reticent on purpose or do i just not understand communication

17.) Set in scandinavia: Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura

2/5. Technically and historically accurate and well made, but the story itself is not my cup of tea.  Very gory.

18.) Takes Place in a Single Day: Long WAy Down by Jason Reynolds

4/5. A boy goes to avenge his murdered brother, but ghostly passengers join him on the elevator ride down. Stunning and powerful character-driven analysis.

19.) Debut Novel: Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

4/5. Charming and then surprisingly heart-breaking comic about Nimona, a shapeshifter who wants to become a villain's minion. Really love the villain/hero dynamic going on in the background, along with the dysfunctional found family.

20.) Published in 2019: The Book of Pride by Mason Funk  

4/5. A collection of interviews with the movers, shakers, and pioneers of the queer and LGBTQ+ community.  An absolutely essential work for community members and allies alike.

21.) Featuring an extinct/imaginary creature: Phoebe and her Unicorn by Dana Simpson

4/5. Incredibly charming, Calvin and Hobbes-esque collection of comics featuring the adventures of Phoebe and her unicorn best friend.

22.) Recced by a celebrity you admire: The Emerald Circus by Jane Yolen

2/5. Recced by my fave author Brandon Sanderson. An unfortunately disappointing anthology proving that any story can be made uninteresting by telling the wrong section of it.

23.) With "Love" in the Title: Book Love by Debbie Tung

4/5. One of those relatable webcomics, only this one I felt super hard almost the entire time.  Books are awesome and libraries rule.

24.) Featuring an amateur detective: Nancy Drew: Palace of Wisdom by Kelly Thompson

4/5. REALLY love this modern take on Nancy Drew, coming back home to her roots to solve a brand new mystery. Diverse cast and lovely artwork, though definitely more adult.

25.) About a family: Amulet by Kabu Kibuishi

4/5. Excellent, top tier graphic novel about a sister and brother who have to go rescue their mother with a mysterious magic stone. LOVE that the mom gets to be involved in the adventure for once.

26.) by an author from asia, Africa, or s. America: Girls' Last tour by Tsukumizu

4/5. Somehow both light-hearted and melancholy. Two girls travel about an empty, post-apocalyptic world, and muse about life and their next meal.

27.) w/ a Zodiac or astrology term in title: Drawing down the moon by margot adler

3/5. A good starting place for anyone interested in the Neo Pagan movement, but didn't really give me what I was personally looking for.

28.) you see someone reading in a tv show or movie: The Promised NEverland by Kaiu Shirai

4/5. I don't watch TV or movies where people read books so i think reading an adaptation of a TV series after watching the series counts. Anyway it was good but beware racist caricatures

29.) A retelling of a classic: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero

5/5. We can stop the Little Women reboots and retellings now, this is the only one we need. In fact, we can toss out the original too, this is the only one necessary.

30.) w/ a question in the title: So I'm a spider, so what? by Asahiro Kakashi

4/5. Cute art despite the subject matter, and a surprisingly enthralling take on the isekai genre. Love the doubling down on the video game skills.

31.) Set in a college or university campus: Moonstruck (vol 2) by Grace Ellis

2/5. An incredibly cute, beautiful, and fascinating world of modern magic and creatures, but unfortunately falls apart at the plot and pacing.

32.) About someone with a superpower: Moonstruck (vol 1) by Grace Ellis

4/5. Though nearly as messy plot-wise as its sequel, the first volume is overwhelmingly charming in a way that overpowers the more confusing plot elements.

33.) told from multiple povs: The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet by becky Chambers

4/5. Told almost in a serial format, like watching a miniseries, a group of found-family spaceship crew members make the long journey to their biggest job ever.

34.) Includes a wedding: We Set the dark on fire by Tehlor kay mejia

4/5. Timely and poignant, a girl tumbles into both love and resistance after becoming one of two wives to one of the most powerful men in the country.

35.) by an author w/ alliterative name: The only harmless great Thing by brooke bolander

3/5. Much deeper than I can currently comprehend.  Beautifully written, but difficult to parse.

36.) A ghost story: Her body and other parties by Carmen Maria Machado

4/5.  It counts because one of the stories in it has ghosts. A sometimes difficult collection of surrealist, feminist, queer short stories.

37.) W/ a 2 word title: Good omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

4/5. Charming, touching, and comical, probably the best take on the apocalypse to date. Also excellent ruminations on religion and purpose.

38.) based on a true story: The faithful Spy by John Hendrix

4/5. Brilliantly crafted graphic biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and his assistance in fighting back against Nazi Germany.

39.) Revolving around a puzzle or game: the Crossover by Kwame alexander

4/5. The verse didn't always hit right with me, but the story is a sweet, melancholy one about family, loss, and moving on.

40.) previous popsugar prompt (animal in title): The last unicorn by peter s. Beagle

5/5. Absolutely one of my all-time favorite books, it manages to perfectly combine anachronism and comedy with lyricism, melancholy, and ethereal beauty.

41.) Cli-fi: Tokyo Mew Mew by Mia ikumi and Reiko Yoshida

4/5. Shut up it counts

42.) Choose-your-own-adventure: My Lady's choosing by Kitty curran

3/5. Cute in concept, a bit underwhelming in execution. Honestly, just play an otome.

43.) "Own Voices": Home by Nnedi Okorafor

3/5. The storytelling style was definitely not my style; while the first book was slow, too, it felt more purposeful. I found my attention wandering during this installment.

44.) During the season it's set in: Pumpkinheads by rainbow rowell

3/5. Cute art, but precious little substance.  The concept simply wasn't for me in the first place.

45.) LITRPG: My next life as a villainess: All routes lead to doom! by Hidaka nami

5/5. An absolute insta-fave! Charming art, endearing characters, an incredible premise, and so much sweet wholesome fluff it'll give you cavities.

46.) No chapters: The field guide to dumb birds of north america by matt kracht

3/5. It started out super strong, but the joke started to wear thin at a little past the halfway point.

47.) 2 books with the same title: Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roger

4/5. A brave and enduring personal story of growing up in and eventually leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. Really called to me to act with grace and kindness even more in the future.

48.) 2 books with the same title: unfollow by rob williams and michael dowling

1/5. How many times do you think we can make Battle Royale again before someone notices

49.) That has inspired a common phrase or idiom: THe Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

4/5. Definitely good and deserves it's praise as something that pretty much revolutionized and created an entire demographic of literature.

50.) Set in an abbey, cloister, Monastery, convent, or vicarage: Murder at the vicarage by agatha christie

3/5. I just cannot. physically keep up with all of these characters or find the energy to read between the lines.

ok that's all i got, what did y'all read and like this year?  (oh god it’s gonna be 2020)

[lostsoulobsidian]

She likes detective stories

ElongSue fanfic, Ralph Dibny/Sue Dearbon (kind of, implied I guess). The Flash CW

After an interview with Sue’s former boyfriend, Ralph thinks about her and he's shocked to notice he's starting to see her as something else than a case.

It hadn't been easy, getting an appointment with Mr. Wladon. He was quite busy, being the head, in Washington, of the consulate of Modora, a tiny but wealthy republic in Eastern Europe. 

He was also the man whom Sue Dearbon had had her most serious relationship with, according to her parents.

Ralph had had to call to the consulate several times, but his secretary kept giving him the round around, because he was a nobody, until he decided to throw discretion away and say it was about Sue’s disappearance. After that, the secretary rushed to call him back to make an appointment.

Once he was, at last, at his magnificent (and maybe a bit pretentious) office, he got to study the guy. Bito Wladon was a handsome, well dressed and dark-haired man, with a fancily trimmed beard and almost as tall as Ralph himself. Obviously, that young lady was used to have only the finest in everything - clothes, jewels... and boyfriends.

"Mr. Dibny". He greeted, extending his hand to him; his English had a weird accent. "My secretary informed me that you want to talk about Susan Dearbon. I-I didn't know she was missing. I thought she was on a trip across Europe''.

Sue's parents had spread that excuse around for all the not-so-close friends, relatives and acquaintances for the sake of discretion. Starting a nationwide search when she could have just fled for her own will would have entailed a scandal for both the Dearbons and Sue herself.

"When was the last time you saw Miss Dearbon?"

"In July of last year, when we broke up. We went separate ways since then."

He sharpened his senses. Being dumped is a good motive for revenge.

"I know this could be a little personal to ask, but why did you break your relationship? Was it a mutual decision or...?”

Wladon seemed embarrassed but answered anyway.

"She did break up, but it was my fault. I... proposed to her, I think before she was ready. Maybe I scared her. She said she was sorry but didn't want to tie herself down to anyone."

"Sorry to hear it", Ralph tried to sound sympathetic.

"I knew she didn't believe in marriage, but I had to try. She is the most amazing woman in the world, and I would have been the luckiest man if she had accepted me. But I doubt there’s someone so lucky. She never got too attached to anyone. She’s a free spirit".

For some reason, Ralph started to feel uneasy.

"Do you know if she had enemies, anyone who would want to harm her for some reason..."

"I don't think she has enemies; she is the kind of person who everybody likes. But she might have gotten into trouble".

"Trouble?", Ralph raised his eyes from his notebook. "Could you explain that?"

"Well, she has a thing for detectives".

He blinked in confusion.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, she likes detective stories, mysteries. With passion. She has read all the books about mystery and crimes, and has watched every movie and show with detectives, especially the noir genre. Though her favorite are the ones of The Thin Man series."

"The Thin Man?"

"Yes. You know, the classic films with William Powell and Myrna Loy. They are her favorite movies."

"The Thin… all right". Ralph wrote the title on his notebook. He didn't know whether it would be useful but knowing his target's thoughts and preferences could help him to track her steps.

"She liked this detective thing so much that she liked to play it in the real life. She used to think her life as a mystery, adventurous story; and see herself as a detective amateur."

"Like Nancy Drew, you would say?", Ralph pointed out.

"Sort of", Wladon nodded with a smile. "She used to see hints for crimes or conspiracies everywhere and liked to follow the tracks she considered to be the most important, like it was an actual investigation", he recalled. "Her friends and I didn't mind that hobby of hers, it was one of her little eccentricities that made her so special. But now I think she might have run into something dangerous. Maybe, a real crime."

"I see", Ralph answered. "Do you remember something she could have said about those so-called 'investigations' of hers? Anything remarkable?"  

"I don't know, she liked to follow up so many seeming clues... I remember once she told me she thought there was a dark, criminal organization wherein the highest echelons were involved. I didn't pay her much attention; she was always with those conspiracy theories. I'd wish I had listened to her so I could provide you with more details. I don't know whether she was right or wrong, but I couldn't forgive myself if something has happened to her."

Should he follow up on that "dark organization" track? Maybe he should gather more information from other sources. Until that, it seemed too vague for centering his investigation on it.   

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Thank you for your time, Mr. Wladon."

Ralph was quite sure that Bito Wladon was not responsible in Sue Dearbon's disappearance. Husbands, boyfriends (including former husbands or boyfriends) ... used to be the first suspects when a woman went missing, and usually not without a reason. Ralph's instincts didn't use to fail him. He used to know, just looking into the suspect's eyes, whether they were innocent or guilty. Many times, the husband or boyfriend was the culprit, like Regan Gimlin.

But that was not the case. Wladon's eyes didn't show guilt nor fear. He seemed to be ambitious and condescending, sure, and there was something in his eyes that Ralph didn't like, but he felt it had nothing to do with Sue. He seemed truly worried about her, maybe a bit more than worried. If he had to, Ralph would had bet that he was still in love with her.

Maybe he didn’t like him simply because he was a politician. Ralph had never liked politicians.

He turned to leave, but Wladon called him:

"Mr. Dibny?"

"Yes?" He turned again to him.

"Please find her and make sure she's safe".

"I will", he promised.

His suspicions were correct: Wladon still loved his ex-girlfriend and couldn’t cope with having lost her. Ralph couldn't blame him, though. He would have felt the same if he were in his place. Not that he would have the chance of knowing how it would be like, ever. He never was able to make work his relationships with regular girls, so a top-class one like Sue Dearbon would never even look at him.

That night, he looked again into the file of his case. He took a photo of his target and looked to it for a while. It was a pretty recent one, maybe from a couple of months before she went missing.

He had to admit she was quite attractive. No, she was gorgeous: her dark hair framed an angel face, and she had beautiful blue eyes and a cheerful, sweet smile. Her features were classy and somehow fragile, the kind that made you want to wrap her in your arms forever, to protect her. And something in her eyes was inviting and defying at the same time.

"A free spirit", Wladon had said.

The kind of girl who could drive any man crazy.

The kind of girl who could become any man's dream.

"She has a thing for detectives..."

He shook his head. What the heck was he thinking? Those thoughts were out of character for him. He was a professional, and she was his target. Nothing more.

He would have to be careful or would end up like the guy from that classic movie he watched ages ago... Laura, it was called. In that movie, a detective investigates the murder of a pretty, classy woman (not very different of Sue Dearbon), and he obsesses so much over her that he ends up falling in love with her memory...

(Later, it was revealed that she's alive, but that was not the point).

Sue Dearbon was not dead, he could feel it. She was alive somewhere, but she surely was in trouble, like Wladon said. Why else had she vanished with no trace, nor telling a thing to her worried parents.

She was alive somewhere, waiting to be found. Waiting to be rescued.

And he was the right person to do it.

"She likes detective stories"...

He searched for The Thin Man first movie and found it in one of those TV on demand channels. The main characters, played by Powell and Loy, were Nick and Nora Charles, a married couple who investigated mysteries together. The story was a little predictable and Ralph solved the crime much before the end of the movie, but he liked it. It was quite funny, and the Charles' relationship was couple goals.

But later, when he went to sleep, he had quite a weird dream. He was in The Thin Man universe, he was Nick Charles, and Sue Dearbon was Nora, his wife. And, just like the Charles, they lived an adventurous life, investigating mysteries together. And they were madly in love.

He woke up abruptly, sweating on his futon. Even more than usual.

"What the..." he muttered astonished. "Stop with this nonsense, Ralphie. Now", he ordered himself.

That dream was totally stupid, of course. But somehow it made appear a strange feeling of longing in Ralph's soul that didn't go away for a long time.

TRIVIA:

Bito Wladon, in DC comics, is the ruler of Modora and the villain Sonar. In The Elongated Man miniseries (1992) he's the main antagonist and in Justice League Europe issues #46 to #50 he even tries to steal Sue away from Ralph to make her his consort.

It is stated that Ralph and Sue Dibny characters are inspired in Nick and Nora Charles, from The Thin Man book (by Dashiell Hammett, 1934) and its subsequent film adaptations, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy.