#hence the burnout and quitting

[heylittleriotact]

All the uncertainty about Astarion’s age due to the numbers on his headstone very possibly being incorrect absolutely fucking tortures the mortician in me: errors on monuments are sometimes a thing and they fucking SUCK, especially when the error is incorrect dates of birth or death - families understandably tend to get really upset about that sort of thing: what do you mean you put the wrong day or year of birth? That day each year was so special to us when he lived! What do you mean you put the wrong date of passing? We’ll never forget the day that he left us, but it obviously means nothing to you if you can’t even bother to confirm the date yourself!

Errors sometimes mean the monument company is eating the cost of providing an entirely new one to the family (rightly so) and they’re not cheap, and they take a decent amount of time to make so it’s not like there’ll be a replacement ready in the next week or two. No. It can take months to finalize a new one and arrange for it to be placed, and in the meantime the one with the error is just… there for everyone to see, robbing the deceased of the simple dignity of having their correct age - the span of their entire life - displayed.

So what gets me - what reaaaally gets me in regard to Astarion’s headstone, is that if it is in fact incorrect, it has been incorrect for around two centuries, meaning no one who knew him in life noticed the error - or cared to have it fixed. It also serves as one further little cosmic “fuck you” to Astarion: a reminder that he matters so little that no one even gave a shit that the permanent monument over his resting place in the cemetery had a glaring error on it.

He neither seems to notice or care during the graveyard scene because he’s got other (better) things on his mind, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be annoyed about it.

[dysfunctional-doodle]

Yeah, both Mikey and Donnie didn't get much character in the movie. Makes me sad when those 2 don't get much screen time 😔

Do you have some head cannons for each of the 2007 turtles? There isn't much to go on, so I it's hard to think of any

Yeah, I don’t have many hcs. I do think it’s canon (I don’t know if it was ever confirmed) that the 2007 movie is actually the turtles from the 90’s movies, as hinted though a lot of background details. But that could also be just Easter eggs but I like to think it’s true.

A few rough hcs:

1. Mikey got hurt quite badly sometimes when doing the birthday parties, but no one noticed/he didn’t tell anyone due to the strained relationships in the family. As a result he’s gotten very good at lying and makeup/skin painting due to hiding his bruises. It’s a habit that has unfortunately stuck after the movie - Leo realises this after he tries to walk off getting punted off a building.

2. Raph was suffering from depression due to Leo’s departure. This was why, unless he was beating people up at night (an unhealthy outlet) he was in bed all day and unresponsive. Also this was why he was so closed off to everyone, especially Donnie.

3. Donnie has insomnia which can go on for days. He first got the tech job to do the night shifts and try and shut off his brain. Without stimuli and patrolling, it only got worse, hence his own short fuse towards Raph

4. Every night Mikey waits for Raph to return, trying to stay awake all night. He sleeps in snatches in the afternoon/early evening after the parties are over, wanting to stay up late and make sure Raph comes back and isn’t hurt

5. Donnie also has major issues with burnout that Mikey can help fix

6. Leo has mild OCD, hence why he doesn’t like change that much. His training helped with this, but he has to work on his anxieties all over again when he comes back to New York and his brothers have new and developed skills and fighting styles

7. These boys turtle pile. They also love water and basking. Over the 2 years Leo is gone they don’t do this as it feels wrong to do it without him

8. When the dust settles and a year or so has passed since the movie, Leo invites his brothers to go to the jungle he trained in and spend a month there to work on their skills and to have a nice holiday. Not what many class as a vacation but they actually thrive in the environment. Leo misses the jungle and it was a large part of him, so he wants to share its importance with his brothers.

9. Raph is VERY protective of his brothers. After the movie and his fallout with Leo, this is turned up to the extreme until they all ambush him and get him to relax. Turtle piles.

10. Mikey is one of those people that can eat literal nuclear waste and be fine. He has an iron stomach

11. As I always say, Mikey has ADHD

12. Mikey is also very bad at directions and maps. He can navigate by remembering landmarks and have a rough idea of the direction he came from, but he gets too distracted and wanders off. As a kid, Splinter had to put one of those long leads on him when he went to the surface.

13. The PB&J mischief duo is real. Both of them like chaos too much and form alliances against Raph and Leo

14. Raph is very very scarred. He has a habit of jumping in front of weapons and getting into fights too often

15. Leo has a specific cleaning routine for his katana he does everyday without fail. He will not class training as being finished until he has done this.

16. Leo is a terrible driver. Mikey is actually very good

17. Mikey is good at ventriloquism. He totally doesn’t exploit this talent in the lair

That’s all I can think of for now!

[elitadream]

While I followed you because of the Mario art, I completely understand needing to stop a project or interest due to burnout and pressure from fandom. I look forward to seeing whatever you want to draw, and I hope you have a nice day!

Thanks, I appreciate that! 😌🫶

While my interest in this franchise is still there (I've given it a few tries on the side as an experiment and, sure enough, coming up with new concepts for it is still as easy and fun as ever!), being actively involved as a creator online had indeed become a little too overwhelming for me, hence why I've had to let that rest. <:)

I will be happy to focus on those other things when I can find the time to! I may not have played many games outside of Mario, but I still have thoughts on quite a few of those and I'm very much a movie enthusiast too. 🤭 Wishing you a nice day as well~ 🤗💫

[yunarim]

╰┈➤ summary : you and your reliable partner grim are the most famous interdimensional travelers under the Official Isekai Association. you're used to traveling into psychological thrillers and horrors. however, this time something goes wrong, and you suddenly turn into the protagonist of… an otome game?!

— characters : jade leech, leona kingscholar | kalim al-asim, azul ashengrotto | lilia vanrouge, idia shroud

⌞tags⌝ : gn reader, fluff at times, occasional angst, typical manhwas tropes, mention of a typical isekai manhwa death by truck hit... yeah, you go from the first route to the last (from jade to idia), hence the parts are connected — w.c. : 4.6k+

⌞notes⌝ : i've been reading too much isekai mangas/manhwas lately and here we go lmao. also forgive me for not writing for so long, i've been experiencing a huge burnout ;; i originally intended to write for dorm leaders but then gave it a second thought and came up with another plan hhhhhh i hope i'll manage to finish other chapters on time but pls be patient with me, i'm preoccupied with too much work lately 😭😭

You sigh and stretch out your hand, looking at it while lying on the bed, and wonder, how in the dimension did you manage to land in an otome game realm. You heard your colleagues complaining how annoying those can be, not to mention many of you forgot about romantic relationships long long ago—when you probably got hit by a truck in your original world?—and to think you somehow appeared in a world which didn’t belong to your department. 

Your specialization was horror and psychological thriller stories, and even if you possess no magic (which is strange, given after transmigrating for so many times, you don’t remember getting magic abilities at least for once, but whatever), you’ve got an excellent, strategic mastermind. And if something dangerous happens, you have your partner and friend, Grim.

“It’s been a while since we’ve isekaed into a high school setting,” you say to yourself, system windows appearing before your eyes. 

“Main goal: TO GET A HAPPY ENDING WITH *name*!!”

Ah really…

You set a reminder and throw a quick glance at already fallen asleep Grim before going to sleep yourself. If you can’t escape the world until you complete it, then so be it.

“Event: TO BECOME A SCHOOL COUNCIL PRESIDENT: success!!”

One mention of a school student council you’ve encountered in many worlds (though possessing not really sweet memories of dealing with many psychological intrigues and schemes), and the local headmaster named Crowley happened to be fairly overjoyed and excited to proclaim you as a council’s president, much to everyone’s indifference chagrin. 

You were quite surprised to realize that the school that large didn’t invent such a common structure. On the second note, it was easy for you to operate and deal with information provided through leading the council. Much to your chagrin this time, you needed to pick a route to escape this world.

It was an otome game. You couldn’t care less at first, assuming you and Grim landed in another horror, however a fantasy atmosphere lingering everywhere made you two slightly confused. And the conclusion was made right after you saw heart-shaped indicators above six people’s heads. 

“Do you remember what our colleagues told us about otome games?..” You asked Grim, sitting in the auditorium that Crowley assigned as the Council’s room. 

“Nah,” Grim yawned. “Not my field.”

“As if it’s mine,” you frowned. “What, not even MC’s words? She ended up transmigrating into a closed apartament and had only 11 days to get an ending…”

“Come to think of it, we have 11 days till the festival.”

You raised your head, turning to the voice’s source, and slightly parted your lips. 

“Jade,” you said, standing up. “Good afternoon.”

Jade Leech, to be more precise. You’ve scanned through his profile when you first interacted with him two weeks ago when you ended up transmigrating here in Twisted Wonderland. As expected of a fantasy world, he wasn’t a normal human being, but belonged to merfolk. You don’t remember having much experience with them, and maybe picking him as your first route wasn’t exactly your best choice.

“Good luck on surviving the event,” Grim said, jumping off the chair he was sitting on, and headed to the exit.

“Ah,” Jade’s feigned surprise made you blink at him questionably. “How unfortunate, you’re supposed to help us with the preparations, Grim-san.”

You saw a system window popping up above your head as a reminder of not forgetting your main goal, and sighed.

“Not this kind of event he meant…” You mumbled, knowing exactly well that Jade heard you. 

“How about we discuss the budget, Yuu-san?” Leech took a seat beside you, to which you nodded. 

Appointed as a council’s treasurer, Jade actually managed his sources with an outstanding performance. Since you had no experience in entering otome realms, it was quite hard for you to predict what was going to happen next. Your fellow transmigrators you barely saw in the interdimensional space used to exchange their thoughts on their journeys before traveling to the next world, and somehow you, who witnessed a ton of horror stories, possessed psyche of a solidity, while otome novels and games travelers happened to be constantly overworked and heavily damaged in terms of their minds.

You never asked why. They’ve mentioned the necessity to go through an endless amount of routes and paths, to make people fall in love with them, and then leave them behind in their worlds. You also heard the system was erasing their memories, so they would live happily after experiencing love and joy of being loved, but the system never really cared about the travelers themselves. 

The department you were assigned to provided you with a psychotherapists’ help if needed after coming back to the office, so you would heal after experiencing terrible things and emotional drainings, but your and Grim’s emotional state has never reached the point of damaged position. 

Some of your colleagues even stated that you were emotionless and—

“Yuu-san?” you found Jade leaning closer to you, his face showing slight hints of a false worry made of politeness. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I am sorry. Let’s continue.”

“I’ll be honest with you,” Leech stood up and came to the bar counter of the Mostro Lounge you’ve been occupying for the council discussions regarding the upcoming festival. 

“You don’t seem like the type to be honest with people,” you let the conclusion slip of your tongue before meeting his gaze you couldn’t decipher. 

“Then would you like to consider this an observation? A remark of sorts.”

“Alright then.”

“Sometimes it’s quite peculiar how you’re so composed and calm for a magicless person who got here in a school of magic,” a majestic coffee aroma filled the room. “Not to mention we’re fairly… uncommon individuals here.”

“You seem quite normal to me,” you answer emotionlessly, closing your eyes. “But you can say my opinion of what ‘normal’ is may differ from others. Yours, too.”

“Then I would be really willing to know how exactly.”

His voice suddenly appeared really close to your ear, but you didn't even raise an eyebrow, accepting a coffee cup from his elegant hands and looked at him.

Normally you wouldn’t want to have people interfering in your business, but a heart-shaped vitreous icon with a pink liquid in it made you widen your eyes in surprise. 

There was no liquid in it before. 

Now that you think about it, yes, your colleagues said there were indicators showing your progress, and apparently you really made it further, somehow managing to get Jade interested in you more than he was. 

“You’ve seemed to be spacing out a lot lately, Yuu-san.”

“Now that the festival is almost here, I guess I’m slightly nervous.”

“You don’t seem to be the type to get nervous so easily.”

You suddenly chuckle with a light grin on your face at his reversed pun and sip a coffee he brewed.

“It’s brilliant,” you compliment his work, staring straight at his mismatched eyes and seeing something in there. “May I ask you to brew this exclusively for me when the festival comes? In order to celebrate our successful and thoughtful work.”

“It would be my greatest pleasure.”

You had no idea about how romance works, but you did know you needed to get on Jade’s route as quickly as you could and come back to the office immediately. You wanted to get the detailed information about how you ended up transmigrating into an otome game, so now, sitting in the library and reading mycology books, you hoped to find something useful.

“Aha!” You exclaimed, summoning your transmigrator’s interface and taking a screenshot of a book page containing a mushroom’s drawing. “This is it!”

A mushroom which could be served as a component of a firework supplement, making it iridescent in rainbow colors right in the sky, which also was overflowing when put in soil. You found yourself smiling at the thought of Jade’s reaction, and headed to the mountain near the school.

Unfortunately, you’ve spent all the transmigrator currency you’ve earned during the previous isekai on preparations to the festival, thus you couldn’t afford any equipment for climbing. Well, even if something happens, you still have the system to save your progress, so you could reload and try again. Thinking about the demerits you could get for being not careful and damaging your body made you cringe, though.

You've reached the mountain, and a deep dark forest loomed before your eyes, a cold and moistened fog made you shiver in displeasure. How unfortunate that such a beautiful colorful mushroom grew in such an obscure place.

You made your way further, checking the map with the system tools, and took one more step to darkness. A small iridescent light on the ground made you rash towards it, and you grabbed the mushroom you were looking for.

“Here you are!” You smiled, grabbing more of them, but…

A sudden feeling of ground slipping under your feet made you scream in horror and turn off all the system signs, alerting you about the danger you’ve encountered. 

Who knew there was a cliff?! 

You tried to grab onto the branches of the occasionally falling trees to slow down your uncontrolled flight, but they were more likely to do more harm than good. You somehow felt someone’s gaze on you, but there was no time to think it thoroughly. You were ready to collapse on the damp ground, but a sudden prehensile grip prevented your fall, and you opened your eyes in a daze.

“Are you alright?!”

You could promise a genuine—this time—worry slid over Jade’s confused face, but he quickly tried to regain his composure. You took a look at his grip and wondered if he’s going to let you go, but at your gaze he instead tightened it, holding you even closer.

“What were you thinking, going to the forest unequipped…”

“Don’t worry,” you’ve tried reassuring him, but receiving only a frown. “I would have survived.”

“Falling from this height?” He asked, his voice raising slightly. 

“”... I believe you’re not the type to worry about others,” you mumble.

“What made you think I was worried?” He chuckled, still not letting you go. “Would have been troublesome if you died on the school grounds.” 

“No,” you answered with a suspicious calmness you’d better hide. “You’re worried. Your pupils tremble.” 

“... Let this be at least in theory,” he sighed. “But what made you come here?”

“Oh,” you sigh and finally unclench your scratched fists and hand over only one mushroom you’ve managed to preserve. “Here. I wanted to give you this mushroom. It’s iridescent and can be used for— Huh?”

Jade chuckled, looking into the sky which suddenly shone pretty bright with glimmering stars, and sighed heavily, finally letting you go of his grip, but holding your shoulders nevertheless, obviously scared of you falling. 

“So you did this for me.”

“Yes, I did, but what… Ah.”

You looked up at his head where the heart icon was, seeing the liquid feeling almost to the top, and gasped. 

So he was genuinely worried.

“It seems you’ve realized something,” he said, fixing a strand of your hair and smiling rather wearily. “I’ve never thought you’re the type to risk your life for getting gifts, Yuu-san. Especially for me, given how actually twisted I am.”

You found yourself giggling softly at his remark.

“I’m the twisted type myself. I believe.”

When the festival came, you thought you wouldn't be able to see Jade due to how busy you two were.

He was busy with calculations, and also constantly disappeared in the kitchen due to the insufficient number of workers, but somehow everything went smoothly.

You were greeting the guests by showing them the area and were up all day long actually dreaming of laying down, while Grim helped with the special effects on stage spraying his blue flames along with the rest of the guys.

Finally, it was time for the fireworks show, and you, making sure everything was under control and the visitors were enjoying the show, went to the roof of the school, dreaming of relaxing on the bench alone.

Being in an otome was tiring you out more than you thought it would, and you laughed at how you presumed you would just allure the love interests and get back home. 

You grew to genuinely like Jade maybe not as a love interest, but maybe even someone closer than a character of another world. 

“Resting here all alone?” 

A familiar voice was heard, but you didn’t dare to look, continuing keeping your gaze fixed on the night sky, knowing exactly well who came.

“Ashengrotto has finally freed you from the kitchen?”

“You could say so, even though Leona-san asked for an extra meat dish I’ve created yesterday…”

“Is that so…” You smiled as Jade sat right next to you, lying on the bench. “The fireworks show is going to start soon, right?”

“Not just soon,” he chuckled. “Right now.”

There were loud bangs just after a thin thread of light pierced the night sky and burst into a bouquet of multicolored lights that shimmered in rainbow colors right under the stars, and you released a smile from your lips, surprised at your sincere joy.

“It’s beautiful.”

Jade silently watched the show with you and then bent over your face, covering the view of a clear night sky when the show was over. An unfamiliar expression on his face made you blink in surprise. 

“It is beautiful, indeed.”

“Somehow I feel you’re not talking about fireworks?..” You questioned, chuckling, and gasped the second after.

The heart icon was fully filled, a bright pink light radiating from it and covering Jade’s cheeks with a slight pink hue. Or wasn’t it an icon?..

“You know, Yuu-san,” Jade smiled. “You were right when you said I’m not the honest type, but right at this moment, let me tell you something.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Thank you for your beautiful gift,” he said. “I’ll treasure it. And also… you.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to say something, stretching your hand and touching his cheek, cold because of a night breeze and maybe just because he was always naturally like that, and dared to cover his eyes with your hand. 

“Thank you for appearing in my life. I’ll treasure you too.”

And with that his soft chuckle dissolved in a bright light and system notifications, congratulating you with getting a happy ending.

Happy ending, starting again in your room with a piercing pain in your heart.

“Ah…” You said, seeing Grim sleep peacefully next to you. “So that is why they said otome games are hard to escape.”

Shit, you thought, waking up the next morning. 

You came to the conclusion that it wasn’t really necessary for you to fall in love with the love interest (it was enough just to open up to him?), and weren’t sure if Jade really grew to like you. 

But you definitely came to a realization that it was painful to see him in the hall, talking to his brother and noticing you, nodding in a greeting way with a familiar feigned politeness, a glimpse of warmth, which appeared in your previous walkthrough, was no longer lingering underneath his eyes. 

You found yourself wanting to taste a coffee he brewed for you exclusively, but he was no longer here by your side, his profile image became gray, and a ‘COMPLETED’ line appeared in capital letters in the system interface. 

Was that it? All the feelings both of you developed turned into a finished story without any chance for rereading it? Otome games were unfair. But transmigrating still was your main job you couldn’t decline, and even in thrillers and horrors you used to enter so often there were people who you genuinely liked and treasured.

Still, you knew that once the story ended, you got back into the office and traveled to another world, then another, and another, and… There was no point in developing feelings anymore.

You chuckled to yourself when Jade passed through you, and raised your head, meeting someone else’s intense gaze.

Leona Kingscholar. The system made a melodious sound, letting you know about your next ‘target’. You quickly checked his profile, appearing right before standing in front of you Leona, and wondered, what type of a character he would be. 

Slightly older than his classmates, and he also belonged to royalty, how very interesting. You closed the system interface with a snap of fingers and greeted your next… target.

“Good morning. May I help you… Eh?”

Leona approached you, his face suddenly extremely close to yours, and sniffed your neck, then clavicles and stared at your eyes, allowing you to notice how beautifully the emeralds of his were shining.

“What a strange smell.”

“Excuse me, I took a shower in the morning.”

“Not that,” Leona sighed, a heart above his head being absolutely empty and transparent. “The smell, not of magic, but similar. Also like that fish guy.”

“Fish guy?..”

He was probably speaking about Jade, but how in the world did he manage to sniff that?! Your eyes widened in shock for a brief moment. 

“If you’re talking about Ja… Leech, then maybe it’s because hu just was there.”

“Whatever,” Leona shrugged, sniffing you once more, to which you attempted to distant yourself. “There’s also a dirt smell. And also raining, alcohol, hospital… A blood? What the hell, herbivore?”

Now this wasn’t funny at all. The last world you’ve transmigrated into was centered around a story about doctors, crimes and, well, the usual horror stuff you had to deal with, and how did Leona manage to casually sniff it on you like that?

Naturally, you wanted to get rid of any suspicions and shrug it off, but you also needed to get him on your side and find a way to reach a happy ending with him. A slight fearful thought of collecting people’s hearts like some sort of a hobby slid through your mind, making you nauseous, but you swallowed the feeling and forced a cheeky smile.

“Care to figure it out?”

Leona looked at you with an unreadable emotion and made his way to the exit, leaving you all confused.

“It’s not my business, herbivore. But do something about this smell, it’s disgusting, Savanaclaw students are really sensitive to the smell this strong.”

“As if I can just wash it away…” You mumbled to yourself, following Leona’s distancing figure with your gaze and parting your lips in a surprise way when noticing a little amount of pink liquid in the heart above his head.

So you did pique his interest, after all.

The progress with Leona’s route was incredibly slow and strange. You took the sequence the system suggested automatically, providing you with calculations regarding the difficulty on each walkthrough, and at first you blinked questionably at Leona’s one, seeing only 40%, since now you’ve been feeling all 100%. 

He wasn’t hard to find — the botanical garden was his second alma mater, and yet when his words he said to you the first day of his route lingered in your mind, ‘It’s not my business’ line repeating in your head like an annoying pop song, you almost thought that it really was not his problem at all, as if he totally didn’t care.

You almost convinced yourself, but small steps you took towards him also helped you in discovering concealed aspects of his character.

At first you visited the botanical garden just out of a habit you’ve managed to form in other isekais, and ended up finding Leona there without fail every time. At first you were silent, observing him and his unwavering composure—you thought of that as indifference—but not so long after you took the first attempt to start a casual conversation.

“Leona,” you once said, seeing him sleeping under the tree and knowing he heard you talking. “Do I still, uhm, reek?..”

“I sense the strong smell of that fish guy.” 

How in the world did Jade’s lingering scent still remain on you?

“And also that bat.”

“Bat?” You asked, wondering who he meant. 

“Lilia Vanrouge.”

You knitted your brows together at his reply. You saw Vanrouge only once, right before Leona came into the garden one day, and briefly talked to him. Lilia was also listed among your potential ‘love interests’, but a 100% difficulty level was confusing to you, and the one talk you had did really confirm that he’s going to be a tough character to deal with. To make him fall in love with?..

“I see… I wonder how it works for you beastmen, your sense of smell.”

“Like a second skin,” Leona opened one eye and glanced your way. “I don’t get how you humans live with such a short range of smell.”

“I think that’s only about you,” you suddenly said, meeting Leona’s gaze. “No one from Savanaclaw other than you mentioned what I smell like.” 

A short pause stretched between you two, but somehow you didn’t find it unpleasant, more like relaxing and thoughtful. Kingscholar chuckled, tapping on the spot beside him with his tail and attracting your attention.

“Yes?”

“Come here.”

You did as he said, wondering what was that about, and ended up being held in his arms. He sniffed you once again, but with more care and politeness than he did the first time, while you couldn’t tear away your fixated gaze on his bright focused eyes.

“Those strange scents are still on you. What kind of life did you live before getting here, herbivore…”

“And you said it’s not your business, huh,” you grinned and gasped the second after he suddenly laid on your lap. “Hey!”

“It’s still not my business though.” He answered, closing his eyes and resting comfortably. “But don’t get near other Savanaclaws. It’s really a disgusting smell.”

“Which is why you’re on my lap, am I being correct?” You chuckled. “Still, I don’t think others have the audacity to come near me. Or such a strong sense of smell like you do. You’re impressive, Leona.”

For a moment you thought he stopped breathing, but then heard a bitter laugh coming from his lips.

“One day you’ll take your words back.”

Till today you really wondered what he meant by that, seeing no particular reason to actually question his skills. Even despite his poor attendance and self-deprecating lines, he really was an amazing, outstandingly clever person you really did want to get to know more.

And today an occasion came up, when you visited the botanical garden again, now it was more out of a habit, and found Leona with the first-year students you didn’t know, challenging him in chess. 

“Good afternoon everyone,” you greeted them, hearing excited ‘hello’ from other students and receiving a light nod from Leona. “What are you doing?”

“Miserably failing to win Kingscholar-senpai in a chess match,” one of the students answered. “No one has succeeded yet…”

“Check and mate,” Leona announced, when the first year he played cried out of indignation. 

“How are you so talented in chess, Kingscholar-senpai!!..”

“Hmph,” Leona chuckled, but you somehow knew somewhere underneath his ever-so-mighty persona he was genuinely happy to receive those compliments. “Right, herbivore. Come play with me while I’m in the mood.”

You tilted your head, thinking beforehand. You couldn’t remember the last time you played, but possessing a naturally inquisitive and quick-witted mind due to your job, you nodded, taking a seat in front of him.

The match was silent, and if at first you heard first years hitched breaths, during the second hour passing of the match, even those students left, leaving a silence lingering between you two. 

“I really admire you, Leona,” you dared to break the silence, seeing Leona’s hand holding a chess piece stop for a second. 

“Flattery will take you to nowhere,” he replied, performing an en passant of your pawn, to which you pouted. “Huh, you can be cute sometimes.”

“And you can be sweet, I see,” you flirted back. “But… I’m sorry. Checkmate, Leona.”

Two knights endgame, huh. 

Leona was staring at the chess board for a fairly concerning amount of time before bursting into laughs. 

“W-what’s wrong?..”

“Remember I said you’ll take your words back?” He raised his gaze to meet yours. “Take it now. Tell me I’m not impressive anymore now that you’ve outsmarted me.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, feeling annoyed.

“What are you saying.”

“I can’t believe it, huh,” he laughed again. “You, a magicless human, out of people… Hah! What a ridiculously clever herbivore you are. It pisses me off.”

“You know what? Shut up.”

You grabbed his shirt, seeing his absolutely unimpressed expression, and clenched your fists with even more force than you thought you would, and pressed your forehead to his, chess pieces scattering around the table. 

“Even when you have no one to believe in your abilities, even you yourself doubt them…” You took a deep breath. “I myself will be that one person who will believe in you AND believe you.”

You heard a splash, realizing it was the liquid in the heart above his head filling half of it, and then a genuine laughter came from Leona’s chest.

“You’re insane, herbivore.”

You really were insane, indeed. 

To the point you couldn’t even take a quick look at Leona in the past week due to him being anywhere but near you, which annoyed you for sure. You had a whole month planned for you two to spend together in case his route appeared too difficult to reach an ending, so many things to witness, but instead…

Instead you managed to meet Jade thrice or even more, then stumble upon Lilia ‘ku-fu-fu’-ing at you cheerfully and mysteriously, and all those were driving you crazy slowly. You wanted to have a chat with Jade who portrayed no such interest you used to witness in his route, much to your dismay, but you also wanted to finally find Leona and genuinely get to know him more.

“Oh, Yuu-san.”

You were resting at the school yard, students walking here and there, chatting and playing, and you saw Jade approaching you, nodding to him.

“Good afternoon.”

“Oya, isn’t it Yuu?”

… Jade and Lilia. And no signs of Leona or whatsoever. You blinked at them, trying to conceal your honest feelings, and listened to them talking.

“It’s rare to see you all alone,” Jade noticed. 

“Indeed, you could be often seen in Leona’s company. Did you two have a quarrel?”

“We…” Despite how much you wanted to protest, you weren’t sure anymore. 

“We have not.”

A sudden warmth spreading in your chest and a heart pounding faster than it was made you turn to Leona, who appeared behind your back, and you smiled at him.

“Herbivore,” he called you, shoving his nose into the crook of your neck and making you giggle. “One week of me being busy, and you already have such a strong scent of those two. How come?”

“Look who’s talking.”

“My my, do you have a problem with us?” Lilia obviously tried to tease Leona, but the last one suddenly fell silent.

“Leona?..”

“Yeah, I have one.”

His arms enveloping you made you yelp softly, and an unfamiliar burning on your cheeks made you bite your lips and stare at Leona’s cheeky expression.

“I liked it more when you had an aroma of garden’s flowers on you more. And also…”

A kiss he pressed on your lips was bright, passionate, also confusing to everyone else, and very much awaited by you. 

“That way I don’t need to worry anymore. Care for another game of chess, herbivore?”

You smiled at him, wanting to reply instantly, but the heart icon above filled to its max, and splashing beats of bright light covered your watering eyes. 

“Yes, let’s play one more time, Leona!..”

You… 

You really were growing to hate otome games to your very heart.

© yunarim 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐲, 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧.

[brucewaynehater101]

Oh fuck, hi, I'm the anon who sent the the Waltz's World au

Something I forgot to mention was a scene I removed but was gonna describe in bullet points instead, probably cuz of burnout or poor memory or whatever

So a scene I considered writing but never went through with was one where all the Batkids are in the Batcave during a time they beforehand confirmed neither the Bat or his allies would be in it except whoopsie daisies Bruce did a surprise visit

Bruce is walking down into the batcave off-schedule, and when he enters it, he sees all his vigilante kids which alarms him because he didn't want to reveal his identity yet

And then without noticing Bruce there, they all detransform back into the Wayne kids, and afterwards they realized they accidentally revealed all their idenitities to their dad, who they already know is Batman but does he know that?

Either Bruce puts two and two together, realizes his kids who have been vigilantes by his side this entire time always knew he was Batman and now Bruce, Alfred and Barbara have to tackle the fact the Wayne Kids are Waltz's World

Or the Wayne kids successfuly trick Bruce into thinking that they believe Bruce and Batman are dear friends/allies and now Bruce has to tackle this knowledge and keep a facade of being two people until he's ready to reveal he is Batman

Either way it's gonna be an emotional rollarcoaster all the way

Honestly the reveal for Barbara and Alfred would be an emotional rollarcoaster since they know Waltz's World and the Wayne Kids but view them differently cuz civillians =/= vigilantes until they do

=============

Also I think I forgot to mention that Cassandra uses the vigilante name Orphan in this au

=============

Tim would pass down Robin to Damian and become Red Robin since the batkids have a closer and healthier relationship with eachother

and I think it goes without saying that Tim's relationship with gender in this au is gonna be a rollarcoaster (not that the others journeys wont be) since said identity was acquired from a wish to be treated like an object because it believed (at least subconciously) that that would get it more love from its parents; being seen as a thing instead of their own son, so Robin's gonna have to look inside itself and ask "what am I? Son and Heir of the Drake family, treasure of the Waltz, who am I?" so uh. yeah. fuck

Dick would be in actual tears if Tim figured out and confessed why his Waltz pronouns wound up being it/its

Hello again! That scene would definitely be a woozy (all of them at once sounds chaotic in a fun way). Also, your concept of Alfred and Barbara having separate feelings for the other batkids due to civilians being quite different from vigilantes makes so much sense. I wonder how often they saw each persona before the reveal (Alfred wouldn't have much of a reason to meet the vigilantes due to them "not knowing" Bruce is Batman). It feels like Alfred would have a relationship with them only through what Bruce relays to the older man.

I agree that the batkids would most likely have a better and closer relationship with these dynamics (particularly because Bruce as a father/authority figure isn't meddling with their dynamics to each other).

With the it/its, one would have to be careful to navigate that situation. Those pronouns are perfectly acceptable and fine to use [hence why I have it in my bio], but they have been used against queer folks. There is a very distinct difference between using the pronouns as pronouns and using them in a derogatory manner. People have different feelings about using it/its pronouns (especially between individuals who use it), but one of the reasons some use them is seeing one's identity as nonhuman (like those comments that one's gender is a cryptic goblin in the woods). I think Tim could, in this AU specifically, move from a belief that it needs to become a tool for the Drakes in order to be loved into the notion that it's a cherished being. It probably agrees and disagrees with the statement, "Tim is a human."

Perhaps it's changing appearance (people see it as whomever they want to protect) also fits into its perception of self. It also likely does identify as agender or gender void.

Tim will have to grapple with its trauma, but seeing itself as not quite human is completely okay! I'm sure you, the wonderful asker, know this already. I just wanted to clarify for anyone unfamiliar with it/its pronouns

For those who want to see more of this AU, I linked it below. The post is very long, though

[kabukiaku]

Oooh! Admittedly I do not know a lot about the former Ghouls prior to Copia & Terzo’s reign. So it is cool to see those photos of Secondo and Alpha. That is an interesting contrast to Terzo and Omega too, I find!

Not to worry, I’ll do a headcanon list or something at some point when the academic burnout goes away

moment of silence for the lack of a cowbell emoji ��

yeah, same here, especially Primo's era!! I like to think Alpha was actually summoned by Secondo, but was then assigned to Terzo when he became Papa. Hence why the two tend to clash a bit here and there.

Alpha and Omega known each other for much longer as they have existed in the Pit. Life of course, changed dramatically for them once they got summoned into the human realm and had actual corporeal forms.

It was quite an experience for them to adjust to being on Earth, and learning the strange customs of humans. I grab a lot of my ghoul inspiration from the gems of Steven Universe :)

but yes please! send me more of your headcanons. im always down to talk about ghouls, or papas....or papa/ghouls :)

[possum-quesadilla]

Chapter seven of Time is a Flat Circle is up and boy oh boy is it a doozy! Here are the extras for this chapter! <3

- This chapter’s title is from “Nobody” by Mitski. She was my rock throughout writing this chapter. If I had less self restraint, the entirety of both of the LoopJuice playlists would be all Mitski. I feel like this song, and the line I chose for the title in particular, really reflect what our sweet little demon wants deep down.

- “Christ on a fuckin’ bike” is taken straight from a coworker’s vernacular.

- “When did I teach him how to summon new clothes?” He did! It was mentioned in passing in a previous chapter that he showed both Adam and Barbara how to conjure new clothes. This is to show how shoddy his memory has gotten.

- “‘Beebleboose’” is, of course, a reference to everyone’s favorite sad puppet show. Also, he can’t even type out his own name due to the curse.

- “.. that erotic Colonel Sanders romance novel..” this is a real thing, unfortunately.

- “The idea of eating brought the bitter taste of bile to the back of his mouth.” One unfortunate possible side affect of burnout is an aversion to food. Everything suddenly seems disgusting, and just the idea of eating sickens you.

- “His lips remained still. It felt as if his whole mouth was coated in cotton.” This is sign of overstimulation I personally experience quite regularly. Your mouth just refuses to work!

- On that same note - a side effect of persistent autistic burnout is significant memory loss and/or brain fog. Hence why Beej forgot (and still continues to sometimes) that the humans can now remember everything.

- “Can I touch you, Bug?” Always ask permission before touching someone who you believe to be having some sort of panic attack or meltdown. Barbara knows to do this due to her experience with Adam!

- “Look at those chompers!” Indeed! Beetlejuice’s teeth are based on that of a spotted hyena, like Adam theorizes later. They have a specialized premolar that can break bone. Here is a pic for reference!

- “How come your tears are black?” It’s actually because they’re mixed with soot from the hellfire in his chest! Beetlejuice’s tears smell like a campfire.

- “Sometimes he still felt like roadkill again.” He has yet to be hit by a car, but he has been trampled by horses.

- “He was a bit taken aback at how curly and.. fluffy his hair had gotten.” They have hair that naturally curls, it’s just been so long since it was clean enough for them to see it. After this point, Beetlejuice’s hair is curly and voluminous! That’s why the other characters find it hard to resist playing with.

- “.. odd rumbling sensation..” Beetlejuice doesn’t know what purring is, or that they do it. They just find the noise embarrassing.

- Adam had a hyperfixation on animals at large when he was young, and spent his free time as a wee tot rereading books of animal facts. This is why he is so knowledgeable and enthused about BJ’s animalistic traits.

- “I met a real foxy witch in a swamp who had an alligator familiar once.” This is a reference to the webcomic Muted, which is about queer witches in New Orleans. Give it a read!

- “C’mon Beej, don’t be like that! You’re, like, the Mike to their Debbie and Dave!” “… what?” “You’re the Gonzo to their Kermit and Miss Piggy!” These are references to my (and Lydia’s) favorite throuple ships in media, besides Beetlands. Mike, Debbie, and Dave are from “Killer Klowns from Outer Space”, and Gonzo, Kermit, and Miss Piggy are, of course, from The Muppets.

- Beetlejuice’s frantic shrimp pocketing is based on another character I deeply relate to, Eleanor Shellstrop from “The Good Place”.

- “‘who in this wide world does not know the great B-” This line is a reference to the musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, specifically the song “Pretty Women”. I cannot stop the musical references unfortunately

- Ms. Keaton is supposed to be the old woman who tries to bring a pie to the Deetz family in the musical, but her name is, of course, a reference to Michael Keaton, the original actor for Beetlejuice in the Tim Burton film.

- On the surgeries Beetlejuice mentioned - he has gotten top surgery! He is very proud of his top surgery scars. They are not the scars he mentioned being ashamed of in a previous chapter.

- As stated, Lydia is a demigirl! She uses she/they pronouns, and Beetlejuice is nonbinary and uses he/they/it pronouns.

- On the head bumping - Lydia picked it up shortly after Beetlejuice first did it to her. It’s how cats and Beetlejuice show affection. Barbara and Adam are slowly starting to adopt it over time as well.

- Beetlejuice’s horns are, like Adam theorizes, based on a sheep’s. Here is a little sketch of how they used to look, and how they look now! (Also, a peek at his ears. I’m not entirely happy how they came out in the drawing, so this may change.)

- The tail!! Here is a rough drawing of how it looks.

- It is not scaled like a snake, but rather like a possum’s tail. It is prehensile, meaning it can grip things and even support his weight if he used it to hang upside down. It reaches down to about his ankles. The tip shakes like a rattlesnake’s (no noise, though) when he’s nervous or deep in thought, or just as a self-soothing thing. This is based on what my own cat’s tail does when he’s nervous!

- The ear-piercing scene is meant to evoke a similar one in “The Parent Trap”, since it is a sibling bonding scene I really enjoy and find very affective.

- On the demons of their past - each demon’s name is based on a star, like Beetlejuice’s own. They are unafraid to envoke Rigel’s name because he is dead. Deb and Cyrus are nicknames based on their true names, like Beetlejuice and Betelgeuse. I am excited to have Deb and Cyrus to show up in Part 2!

- Beetlejuice’s first marriage was by choice to someone he knew. Their second marriage was an arranged political union.

- Deb is a trans woman!

- “I’ll talk more, just cut it out with the weird… teary eyes!” Not even demons are immune to puppy-dog eyes.

- Beetlejuice’s favorite meal was a bone broth made from meal scraps and various herbs.

- “Chari-sard” Adam was comparing Beetlejuice to a Charizard. Both the demon and the Pokémon have flames that are connected to their life force, and they will die if it ever goes out.

- The whole scene describing Beetlejuice’s favorite meal is based on a similar scene in “Isle of Dogs”, where a stray dog describes the only time he was ever adopted before. He bit a member of his new family so hard he had to be hospitalized, and he doesn’t know why he did it. He says he thinks maybe he was scared. The grandmother of the family brought him a bowl of chili while he was locked in the garden shed, which he says he likes to imagine was for him. He escaped after that and went back to being a stray. This scene strikes a chord with me, and reminds me very deeply of Beetlejuice. He doesn’t understand why he lashes out. He doesn’t want to. He’s not a violent demon. He’s just… scared. (Highly recommend “Isle of Dogs” if you enjoy this fic! It, along with Wes Anderson’s other films, really resonate with me and my experience as an autistic/neurodivergent person. There will be references to “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and “Asteroid City”, as they also greatly influenced how I think and write.)

- Barbara enjoys cooking, as she has a very perceptive palette and likes to experiment. Adam is more adept at baking, because he likes to follow instructions.

- The “shrimps is bugs” hoodie is a real one that one of my good friends has. He is studying etymology.

- “Don’t be suspicious, don’t be suspicious-” this is based off of a popular gag in “Parks and Rec”, one of my favorite shows. (And Adam and Barbara’s! The millennials in my life love a good workplace comedy.)

- “Why couldn’t he just he just grip the spoon the same way he had with his left hand?” Beetlejuice is unaware that dominant and nondominant hands are a thing.

- Like my beloved millennial dad figure, Adam has a deep love for a random movie from the 80’s. I feel like every dad’s got one. His is, of course, “The Terminator”. Arnold Schwarzenegger was his bisexual awakening. All of the factoids he shares about the film are true!

- Finally, the legs! Like his horns, Beetlejuice’s legs resemble that of a sheep’s own back legs. His hooves are cloven, like stated, and his fur is black with brown undertones, like a black cat, or this sheep below! The fur doesn’t grow out much due to stress, but he used to have to shear it often by himself as a child. He probably will have to start doing so again the healthier and happier he gets!

- Nurse Ratched is a villainous nurse from pop culture. Research her with caution, as she does some rather heinous things. Barbara likes true crime!

- A “Texas Switch” is a technique used in filming, and is used in “The Terminator”. My favorite example is in “A Quiet Place Part Two”!

- “Odd, reattached limbs had never healed that quickly before.” That is because they are getting proper care!

- “To distract from the odd little sound they involuntarily made, (seriously, what was that? A chirp?)” It was a trill! Or as I call it, a ‘mrrp’. Some people call it the “cat activation noise”.

- “Some strange show about people working for the government” this is, of course, “Parks and Rec”!

- And that’s it, nothing else happened in this chapter and it ended happily :) (The flashbacks BJ had while having a panic attack are from his mother, Rigel, and Lydia stabbing him, obviously. Yes, all of them stabbing him in some way.)

[circusmothman]

Soon the Scarlet Flames shall rise...

Another year another "birthday" drawing for Grimm on Samhain/Halloween, and this year marks the fifth one in a row, quite a milestone if you ask me. Now it is quite obvious though this one does not match my usual quality of these images, that is because... this particular piece is only a placeholder for the actual image I am still working on. There is a more impressive artwork coming one of these days, but life, migraines, burnout and just overall exhaustion and lack of motivation just took a toll, hence not being able to finish the original idea on time. But this way he still got even a little something until the full thing is done, so stay tuned for that. And yes that's what all the cryptic "soon" messages are about lol.

Happy October, and all hail to the Nightmare Song.

[oleander-comic]

Something Something Burnout

DON'T LET THE TITLE OF THIS POST ALARM YOU lmao. I'm not quitting or taking a hiatus (a super long one, anyways) or anything like that. I do really really want to see the this to the end.

As most of you know, earlier this year my pacing was absolutely mental. I mean, updating every 2-4 weeks. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep that up forever and this post was probably a long time in the making.

Recently, working on this comic has felt more like a chore than a hobby/side project, and I don't want that to get worse! The last update, which was 7 pages total, was the update that took me the longest. Now, it's been more weeks since the last update than pages I have sketched. SO as you can see, my pace has slowed.

The slowed pace is for a multitude of reasons. School is kind of kicking my ass right now, I have other free-time activities I've been doing (I started reading for fun again!!), and, most of all, I can feel burnout on my heels. And I kind of have burnt out a little?

This next chapter, Chapter 12, will be the last update of 2023. It won't be particularly long, but I'm taking my time. It'll be November or maybe even December before I'm finished because of my slowed pace. In 2024 I'm going to focus more on myself and my (rapidly declining -_- oopsies) mental health, so there definitely won't be another 13 chapters in one year lol.

In this past year, the response to this comic has been overwhelming in a positive way. This account recently reached 200 followers!!! That's such a big number to me and I want to give each and every one of you a hug.

So yeah. Sorry for the longer post (hence why I added the readmore). I just had a lot to say and wanted to make a pretty big serious post about the state of myself and the comic.

:)

-Xebec

[sugarmasonmearii]

Character Sheet Project: Wander

---

Pardon for nothing much these past few days. I had a horrible Pokemon Burnout and was not in the mood to draw anything related to Pokemon. (hence me posting "looking for commissions for other canons and creatures elsewhere")

I stepped back and attended to a character sheet. My Minecraft OC/sona, Wander. Her story is rather complicated, as I have her on one world, a Human from the realm Minecraftia (or my AU of the Minecraft's universe, where humans are essentially like mortal gods, or they exist in many realities of Minecraftia, those kinda jazz. Whereas on the other, she's just a human from overseas looking for a new life.

One thing I can say is a common thing about her regardless of her alternate appearances: she is quite the strong woman with building and exploration prowess. Laid back. With big sister energy of course.

---

If you're interested in a character sheet like this for your OC, you can commission me. [Do check here] for details. Or you can check my [Carrd art commissions.] Or you can DM me too.

You can support me via [Ko-fi] and/or [Patreon] too! Subbing to certain tiers will grant commission priorities and discounts! OCs and Art are mine. Minecraft belongs to Mojang Studios

For my personal use only.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Not gonna lie I'm a little nervous about doing that donation commission art thing in a few days. The way I'm doing it is that when someone wants to take a comm slot they'll send the money directly to a fundraiser/go fund me/charity ect

But I fear that someone will preemptively donate then try to take a slot even if one isnt available or the event is done (because burnout, I unfortunately cant do it forever, you know?)

Like would I just have to suck it up and draw something for them? I cant pay them back because I literally do not have the means or funds to. Hence why the money is going straight to (x)...

I don't know I'm probably overthinking this and stressing myself out when I dont need to, but this is quite literally the first time I've done ANY art thing that involves money and idk, I'm just scared I'll be somehow labeled a scammer if someone doesnt respect or pay attention to the fact I can only take a handful of comms at a given time

Like I'm not insane for worrying right? But also I feel.. bad for worrying. Because even if they overlook my personal boundaries the money will still be used for good and I should just be happy about that and do what they 'paid' for

Idk

It's odd

Like I genuinely do want to do this event because I myself dont have money to donate to Gaza and I think that desire outweighs that worry but

Eifkdkvktlblfwovlg

You know?

[trustywukkiii]

DS x Dungeon Meshi crossover !!! What would everyone's race and class be??? 🫣

OMG YES. TY THATS SO BRILLIANT.

Okay so.

Peri is definitely an elf. But she could never connect with magic quite as well as the other elves. She was pushed intensely into magic school in her early years, forced to learn every spell and such, and eventually the burnout would get to her. It’s not that she finds it hard, or has difficulties with mana, but she’s just not as interested in magic. The burnout was especially difficult to recover from when she couldn’t fit in with her fellow peers. Instead, she loves the work put into swordsmanship, hence she’s a paladin! She wears full on armor, and wields her sword to guide everyone. She can use magic to heal, but she MUCH prefers exploring dungeons and fighting monsters.

Rogue is a beast-man ranger. How he became so was still a mystery, but he had an idea. Last thing he knew before turning was that he had died during his mid adolescence deep into the dungeon with his best friend, Ace. He woke up on the upper floors by himself, only that he had a fluffy tail, and pointy ears on top of his head. Most of his skin had layers of fur, especially around his forearms and chest. After coming to terms with it, he had trained for a decade to use as many weapons as he could, such as the bow and arrow. Determined, he uses his strength and knowledge in tracking to find the one man who can turn him back into a normal human.

James is an ogre thief rogue (ironic, I know.) It should be obvious that you shouldn’t underestimate him, but he was short and skinnier than all the other ogres. You’d probably miss the two short horns hidden beneath his dark and fluffy hair. Although, this guy has a sleeper build. He could easily topple you down and hold a knife to your neck if you piss him off. Fortunately, he doesn’t use his strength often. Instead, he’d rather take steal money from royal pockets of passing parties. In his life of crime, he decided to join Rogue’s party, “inspired” by his determination to dive deeper into the dungeon. In all honesty, he had hopes for a new life with him.

Ace is a hardcore elf cleric. He was declared as one of the geniuses in school for always being engaged with learning magic. Little did they know he fixated in ancient magic in his own time, learning and creating some of his own spells for the sake of protecting and healing his loved ones. Being the exceptional healer he was, he can’t always save everyone. Being an elf weighed on him, having such a longer lifespan than the person he cared for the most wouldn’t end well for him. Thus, with his knowledge, divine faith, and his utter desire for immortality, he became a Lord of the Dungeon under the supervision of the demons— the Sisters of Fate.

Kilo is an elf wizard. She thrives in the pursuit of magic. She had always wanted to explore dungeons and understand the riddles encrypted into them. While her older brother Rogue supported her, he couldn’t afford to leave his eyes off her, in fear the same fate would happen to her if she got hurt in a dungeon. But that didn’t deter her whatsoever. The immense mana running through her would certainly motivate her. And she loves summoning her own familiars time to time, just to tease James.

Aster is a paladin kobold through and through. He abandoned being a prince of the island after a fallout with his brother. And upon sensing his desire for strength to protect his loved ones, Ace invited him as his own guard dog, as plainly as it was. He didn’t need to speak much. He needed only action when given orders.

Zian is the King of the Island where the dungeon was held, he’s also a kobold with white fur. After inheriting the throne and abandoned into the position, he was incredibly pressured. He was weakened, and lost. Fortunately, he was noticed none other than Ace. They had made a deal, for Zian to offer as much resources (adventurers) to feed the dungeon’s strength, and Ace to grant him whatever he needed to rule smoothly. Zian wasn’t quite happy to see his Kobold kin alongside the Dungeon Lord.

That’s about it from the main cast! Defying Sea and Dungeon Meshi are quite literally my favorites things in the world. So THANK YOU for this prompt. I loved writing all this :,] Might make an AU of it…

[oopdeathnote]

Also also I would love to write a death note - magnus archives fears au but I have no ideas so here are my unsolicited opinions.

Light serves the end with aspects of the web. A lot of Light’s actions are motivated by the fear of death, which is very appropriate for an End avatar, and given that Light’s primary motive in the show is bringing death to to people it fits. Obviously he’s manipulative enough to have a bit of Spider in there as a treat. For what it’s worth I also think he’s a bit Lonely coded, but it’s not his driving motivation so I’m not really counting it.

L serves the Hunt with aspects of the Lonely. Just because he’s smart doesn’t mean he’s an Eye avatar, and literally his whole thing with Light is a cat and mouse game. He enjoys the chase. Bro he is so hunt avatar coded. Again, isolation isn’t his driving motive, but it is something he has very much accepted, which is very Lonely aligned.

Misa serves the corruption with aspects of the end. The corruption is constantly linked to unhealthy relationships and the desperation to be adored which is incredibly Misa, plus I want moe fucked up nasty woman <3 End mostly just for being a Death Note user.

Death notes are leitners in this au.

Ryuk and Rem are Ceaseless watchers with aspects of the end bc their whole thing is like not interfering and curiosity about humans, even if they’re not typical eye avatars.

Mello is the desolation with aspects of the lonely because come on just look at him. His violence isn’t quite as random as the Slaughter, and his driving motive is beating Near, plus all the burnout references in Desolation statements and Mello’s love of explosives he is such a guy who serves the Desolation. He is however also one of the chardacters most driven to isolate themselves, so the Lonely is a big contender. He doesn’t seem to care too much about catching Kira except for where it pertains to beating Near so no Hunt status for you buddy.

Near serves the web with aspects of the lonely. So many of Near’s tactics are around manipulation and not direct action, which fits the Web, and much like Mello, he doesn’t seem all that excited about catching Kira so it’s definitely not the hunt. He does lack the trademark curiosity of an Eye avatar, hence why I’m not counting it. And obviously the Lonely, because much as we see Near working with people, his whole thing about cordoning himself from people for fear of getting hurt is soooo lonely coded.

Wammy’s house probably either serves the Hunt or the Lonely.

[nonotnolan]

No Not Nolan's Year in Review

This worked out really well for me last year, so-- here’s the stories of 2022, ranked by the number of likes.  And since I can, here’s a link to 2021′s year in review.  I may not be the most prolific author... but limiting myself to one story a month helps me to be consistent, while the low expectations help me to avoid burnout.  This is one of my hobbies, and I’m not planning to try and make it into a career anytime soon.  I’d much rather keep things low stress for my sanity.

12) The Better Body - 116 notes - January 2022 I’m not surprised that this one didn’t do well, given the photos and the overall tone... but content wise, it’s still one of my favorites.  Deconstructing the fantasy can go in multiple directions, and in this case it does not go well for the protagonist.

11) SwapBnS: A Weekend Vacation - 188 notes - March 2022 This one was pretty ambitious, in that I made sure to get permission to use everyone’s likeness for this story.  At the time, I had an idea that it might be fun to turn this into a series, hence the prefix... but that would involve having more people in the community who are willing to post and share photos.  And as someone who doesn’t post my own photo... no judgment.

10) Cooperation - 214 notes - December 2022 The story of a man who is seduced out of his own body... and decides that he’s fine with this outcome, actually.

9) Cuerpo Inc: The Internship - 225 notes - April 2022 I haven’t had the right story idea for this series in several months, but I do really love the concept.  It’s intern season at the premiere bodyswap technology firm, and they do things a bit differently.

8) Fiverr Warlock: Saturdays are for Recovery - 233 notes - October 2022 It’s been awhile since I’ve had a Fiverr Warlock story, and I really enjoy the idea of a world where magic is benign and regulated for sale.  Gus wakes up in his roommate’s body, and the two men just decide to roll with it.  It turns out there’s a reason the swap occurred...

7) All-Staff Meeting - 269 notes - July 2022 I find this one to be pretty adorable.  Two guys who have nothing in common with each other end up swapping bodies, and they decide to live life as each other while they figure out what happened.  Although, it turns out that there’s a third person involved...

6) Cuerpo Inc: Water Cooler Talk - 297 notes - June 2022 It’s the flipside of the Internship story-- a handful of young men find themselves in bodies that are 20+ years older than their original bodies.  They may not think of themselves as sexy, but their coworkers disagree.

5) The Best of Both - 338 notes - February 2022 Here’s the story I wrote for my boyfriend, @mergeman.  Bennett’s been going to the gym for a few weeks, but one of the local muscle studs reminds him a lot of one of his former geeky friends.  But they couldn’t possibly be the same person... could they?

4) Our Deal - 340 notes - November 2022 Two roommates have fallen into a routine that involves swapping bodies to handle chores, and each person is convinced that they have the better end of the deal.

3) Overbearing - 424 notes - May 2022 I don’t really like writing family body swaps, so this is about as close as I might ever get to the concept.  Brandon’s stepfather keeps trying to use bodyswapping as a form of punishment, but it’s not quite working out like he might have hoped.

2) Gym Merchandise - 436 notes - September 2022 It turns out that there is a very good reason everyone that Wyatt talked to recommended Friday’s Gym to him.  The merchandise that they sell on the side is absolutely worth it.

1) Soulmate Swap - 539 notes - August 2022 By far the most successful story I’ve written thus far-- the notes for this piece skyrocketed compared to any other story I’ve written.  It wasn’t my first story to break 500 notes-- it was at 498 when Finals Week broke that barrier-- but given that it needed 14 fewer months... “skyrocketed” might even be an understatement.  Pedro had planned to console his friend Roy after a rough breakup, but instead he finds himself helping out with an odd scheme to find Roy’s soulmate.

Special Mentions-

A Warlock Tale - 83 notes - February 2022 Here’s the story that my boyfriend @mergeman wrote in exchange, which takes place in the Fiverr Warlock universe.  I enjoy it, but I’m quite biased. ;)  He writes merging stories rather than swapping stories, but I feel like most people in our community have a wide net of transformational interests.

Cuerpo Inc: Maintenance - 172 notes - June 2022 The third part of the Internship experience-- the people working behind the scenes to make sure that everything goes smoothly.  Written by @deviantknight25, who is currently on hiatus, but still lurks around the community.  He’s a great writer, and I encourage you explore his archive if you’ve not done so before.

Finals Week - 520 notes - May 2021 Okay, so this one is cheating... but until Soulmate Swap, this was my flagship story.  I can sort of justify putting it here, since it was my first story to hit 500 notes, which happened in September 2022.  Soulmate Swap hit that mark not even a day later, and has since overtaken the “most notes” category.  Anyway, if you’ve not read this one before, I highly recommend it.  In a world where people can easily switch bodies for short periods of time, teachers have it rough. Coach Phillips tries to make it through his day without losing his sanity.

[wyrdle]

👀👀👀 a Geeta fan? Hell ya. I can't think of a specific ask, but I do wanna say that despite it being an "easy fight" I looove how much of her character is in her team like genuinely it's so damn interesting. I'd kill for a fic of her meeting and raising this team of hot headed leader pokemon.

(also, I don't think I've struggled with a champion fight since like...Cynthia. which is fine! But omg lay off Geeta like damn)

Ok I'm currently working on a Geeta Centric comic, purely about Glimmora tho, and it'll be a while till I finish it buuuuut. Here is a snippet :D

Spoiling things a bit, the comic is about Geeta losing her glimmer as Top Champion. I was thinking the grand reveal of the Profs' endangerment of Paldea didn't affect Geeta too much, mostly just the 4 kids + some hints of Clavell.

The rough premise of the comic will be exploring Geeta's initial meeting with the professors upon her new appointment as chairwoman, just 10 years ago and right around Tera orb discoveries. Despite not being able to approve funding and manpower to the profs further Area Zero research, she approves their proposal to continue researching the area, likely being duped about what the research is about. The professors gift her a Glimmora from Area Zero to celebrate her appointment, and Geeta uses it on her team as a Paldean symbol of the region's researcher's achievements. Hence why it's such a distinctly different pokemon from the rest of her team. She even plans out her fashion around it! PR people!!

Fast forward to present day, I plan to have Clavell and her actually discuss the fallout together, + the emotions swirling about over both of their oversight on the professors. Geeta asks after the kids wellbeing, and has to make tricky decisions to cover up the circumstances surrounding the professor's death (Eg. maybe Paldea discovering their most beloved profs were going to sacrifice them all would be terrible for moral in addition to ramifications as to new students not wanting to attend the Academy out of safety concerns etc. I've not thought too far just yet XD)

Anyway, Geeta regrets deeply about all of this. Being the detail oriented/ potentially over controlling leader she is, oversight on the Area Zero research weighs heavily on her conscience. TLDR I just like the thought of her being very stressed/stretched thin, flawed in her leadership despite good/kind intentions. Maybe the E4 will step in and support her, I like to think she's quite self-sacrificial, lonely etc. in her work as a leader. Giving Larry a run for his money in burnout, overworking + keeping up appearances haha.

Maybe that's just me, wanting to see Geeta's potential complexity as a flawed leader (but human, very much human).

(Also oops, rambled on and on XD)

[deeper-x-deeper]

Hey, guess what? This is Tumblr. There is no algorithm to appease. There is no real monetization. You are free to doll out posts at whatever pace they come out. You make good shit.

Take all the time you need to handle the adhd burnout.

thank you, but I think I may have been a bit too vague in that post lmao

I appreciate the kind words, but it seems the root of my stress got misinterpreted and that's likely my bad, so I'll explain slightly more under the break

the issue isn't that I feel guilty for lack of content, it's that I quite literally need to continue being active both here and on more monetizable sites due to circumstances in my real life that have made it difficult to pursue the kind of work I'm currently qualified for (which isn't much)

I'm handling the burnout, and I've been doing really well on the mental health front for a change. but I actually do need to be doing something soon if I want to support myself in any kind of career regardless of it relating to hypnosis.

a lot of my stress and burnout has been from losing my job and suddenly lacking structure and income but gaining a small amount of energy for creative projects, and there's a lot more to it that I don't care to get into

regardless, this is NOT me dismissing the positivity, as I do still appreciate your kind words. but knowing tumblr isn't monetizable isn't exactly comforting to me at this moment, and you had no way of knowing that before sending your message, hence. small explanation