#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.

[thesensteawitch]

Planets In Aries 🐏

{Astrology Observation}

Hello, beautiful souls!

This is the first time I am sharing my personal observations on astrology. Let me know if you can relate. 🕯️💜

Sun in Aries:

They set your soul on fire while keeping their own desires under control. They know their fire can burn them if they try to light up every flame and lead all the parades. They can be calculative and quiet about their ambitions. Sun is a leader, a king. He knows the game, so he commands. The army is ablaze with aggression and passion by the king's words, but the king remains grounded and stands protected. He comes to the battlefield when only his sword can help win the battle. This person has once been the knight and head of the army. Such people know how the war is supposed to be won.If not evolved: Burnouts, taking responsibility more than one can handle & finding it difficult to follow through on one's soul purpose.

Moon in Aries:

A sudden spark lights within that sheds light on the truth. Before they process it, they end up taking an action on it. Their emotions keep on fluctuating from one intensity to another. The challenge is to alchemize the opposing forces with the Moon representing water and the Aries representing fire. Their blood boils when someone triggers them, but if they make use of the moon to calm themselves down and take a moment before acting, something beautiful will emerge out of their passion & emotions. Such are the painters whose quick & aggressive strokes on the canvas can bring a wave of inspiration to the mind of the viewer. If not with colors, you're still painting your life with actions based on emotions.

Mars in Aries:

They are the rebel with a cause, the soldier who stands at the front and takes the lead. For them, the rule is simple—‘chaos kills chaos.’. Don't take it the wrong way! This doesn't necessarily mean that such people must go brutal against the one bringing trouble. Their challenge is to channel the chaos into their ambition or something productive. Not slowly, but passionately. Their every strike speaks of rawness, of coming undone. The hesitance takes a back seat, and confidence drives their life. It's necessary that they remember their limitations, as they may end up bringing destruction for themselves and for others. Otherwise, if they are in control, nothing can stop them from achieving their goal.

Saturn in Aries:

Saturn loves to take its time, while Aries does not have so much patience. Saturn debilitates in Aries because it's all about discipline, which an Aries person may lack. Such people have a karmic lesson around taking a project till the end and not leaving it midway or half done. Saturn is strict. Aries is the first zodiac sign, and hence such a person needs more guidance than others to understand the cycle of life. Saturn talks about being humble while an Aries person speaks impulsively. Such people are more often than not going through a tug of war. Internally, they are quite diplomatic but may struggle to show it externally.

Venus in Aries:

Such people can burn for what they desire, be it for love or luxuries. For them, love is red. The fire burning within them is uncontrollable. So they might find it difficult to not splurge. The cracks of their heart hold shadows that reveal themselves once they fall in love. As the fire burns, it reveals all that was once hidden. Love transforms them if they are willing to act as a protector. Their touch holds magic. It burns at first and heals later. If they perform on a stage, they'll first recklessly burn and break your heart into ashes only to bring forward a transformative message that rises like a phoenix in the end. They are a witness to the boon & doom of comfort, love, and luxuries. After the burning, are there ashes left or gems? It is a question of intention & the cause behind the act.

Mercury in Aries:

They are too blunt for their own good. Like dragons, they witness everything, but when they speak, others stand cautious and afraid of being burned. They do not even know where the fire is coming from, but it burns their head and stresses their nerves. So they let it all out and yet feel unsatisfied. Such people need to remember that teeth guard the tongue. But if the tongue is uncontrolled, they may end up biting their own tongue. Hence, endurance must be practiced. Remember the lessons of Saturn (rules bones, including teeth) because Mercury is a kid with such a high temper that it can lead to self-destructive speech. Out of curiosity, they may end up saying things they may regret later. If one deals with this energy the right way, such people can be great debaters and spontaneous speakers. They are so confident and loud that at times they may not have facts correct, yet it will seem otherwise.

Jupiter in Aries:

Jupiter expands. Jupiter gives more space to take the lead with confidence. Such a person is always excited to learn about different subjects and enhance his/her wisdom. They are always ready to go on a new adventure and learn something that can only be learned through experience. Once they get their hands on an ancient wisdom, they'll be the first one to apply it in their lives and share it with others. They can make anything huge or large-scale with their determination and passion.

[bossthebicon]

off's BD gathering 2025

hi hi! so I thought I'd gather my personal thoughts as well as the important talking points off talked about during the gathering!

first of all, I was super surprised to be able to get a seat to the gathering this year. last year I didn't get a seat at all & I was super sad so this year felt unreal, hence why I didn't talk about it online until it happened by fear of jinxing it (I tend to have random bad luck sometimes so now I keept cards close to my chest lol).

I didn't know at all how the gathering would go since it was my first one, but it was pretty casual & quite short which was good bc I was there on 4 hours of sleep due to the excitement for this event (I can never sleep before any off/offgun event I go to lol)

I ended up sat next to a quite famous twitter account & she was super nice, she first talked to me in english but by the end she saw that I was laughing at the jokes, etc. and asked me if I spoke thai so I said yes and it led to a funny moment lol. her & the woman on my left both complimented my thai so that's always pleasant 🥹

now the man of the hour, p'off! I loved his denim look today with the eyes all over his shirt, and obviously I won't bore you by repeating how amazing he is & how much I love him. he offered every fan a red enveloppe after the gathering which was so fucking sweet, imagine doing that for the 700 people who came!

his mom, sibling & niece and nephew niring & akin came to support him and it was super sweet! of course his ride or dies, gun, tay, new and arm came to celebrate his birthday as well! now onto the contents of the gathering:

burnout syndrome:

p'off revealed that burnout syndrome has started its workshops already!!! that's so exciting!!! I really didn't have hope to get this show in 2025 but maybe there's hope this time around!!!

he talked about dewgun's chemistry and when asked about offdew, he seemed to not want to push it further. I didn'tg understand 100% of what he said so let's wait for other translations but he DID mention the idea of a offgundew three-way ship!!! soooooo... let's see 👀

off talked in length about him getting fit, and mentionned again that p'nuchie kinda bullies him ngl 😭 like she legit called him and said "if you don't get a six pack for this project, you better quit. you're old, people are gonna get bored if you don't change" which... idk how to feel about ngl hahaha

not really burnout syndrome related but off talked briefly about not me & how challenging the workshops for it were, mentioning the workshops for burnout that are apparently also difficult. he says he will bring something new & better to his acting for this role.

break up service:

sadly off said that he has no idea when the show will air but it should be soonish? I feel like the show is gonna get pushed by gmmtv giving priorities to other shows first :((((( me who was thinking we'd get the show in 2 to 3 weeks lol... I need off on my screen asap!

fans:

speaking of break up service & his ship with jorin, off said he is very glad that babiis never harass or treat his female co-stars badly. he mentioned mild, pat and jorin, and how all three were glad to not be bullied by the fandom lol... thank goodness babiis are healthy & supportive for the most part 💚

before that, out of nowhere, off went on a tangent talking about certain toxic fans and how much he doesn't like them and is glad babiis are kind & supportive. he said he used to be more aggressive with fans in the past if they crossed a line, but babiis have behaved better since then so he's appreciative for his healthy fandom. (this was really out of nowhere & I LOVED off mentioning that. I love how straight forward & how unwilling to walk on eggshells he is. a KING.)

offtay:

before tay even showed up, off mentioned tay at least 4 times in random convos lol. you can tell he LOVES and is obsessed with his bestie, it's so cute!

tay hugged off after saying he loves him, something that they both recognized they never say bc while they know they love each other, off gets shy & doesn't like to say it out loud lol

oh also tay started his birthday wish to off by calling him "nong off" and ngl... that did something to me 🥵

offgun:

gun was, as always, very quiet & shy lol. off did say that he loved him while confessing his love to every friend present there, and... it was giving awkward idiots in a romcom lol (basically off was explaining how he doesn't say I love you to his friends and pointed to each of them while saying "I love you" but stumbled on his words when he got to gun diosuhgzqsijdiezo)

tay called gun off's "thirak" (darling) and tried to get gun to confess his love for off but gun had the definition of a gay panic and kept flailing his hands to refuse the mic, I was dead lmaoooooo

offnew:

offnew's chaotic energy is really slowly becoming my all time fave lmao, new called off old & they kept whispering to each other while tay did his speech, it was so funny!

offarm:

arm literally called off his brother and his family, sooooo... yeah. that's all. I adore them. besties for life ;_;

personal life:

off apologized a lot about not uploading a lot on social media these days. he said he is addicted to staying home and watching cartoons (anime), specifically attack on titans lol. he says he's gonna get back to posting more very soon.

off said his biggest dream as a kid was to have a house with a pool. now that he's building his house, he feels like his dream is coming to life 💚

he said he's not someone who loses sleep over things. he knows that he'll be better to solve a stressful problem the next day after getting some sleep rather than not sleeping & being too tired to solve the problem bc of it (I'm very jealous of him I could NEVER. once again I slept 4 hours bc I was so excited to see him lol.)

he also said his goal for 2025 is to travel to the US, either for a trip or for work. he talked specifically about new york & miami (I was cringing internally bc I'd rather not he goes to the US rn lol, but NYC do be that bitch imo)

alice said off is trying to get better at english for his interfans but he refused to speak on stage bc he was too shy hahaha (but he spoke english to me tho 🥹)

off also said he almost never smiles with teeth (except when a client requests it) bc he thinks he looks weird & is insecure about his smile ;_; (first time I heard this omg I felt so bad his smile with teeth is literally my fave!!!)

off also talked about how straightforward he is, and how that used to cause him problems in the past and how gmmtv crew asked him to tone it down lol. but alice rightfully said that that's what we love about him, he doesn't have a filter & that's why we stan! it's so rare to get an honest celebrity these days lol

events:

off talked about the babii 24/7 concert, and especially the part when he cried. he said it was mostly due to tiredness, bc he was doing so much at the time (and yes at the time of the concert he'd been working & traveling non-stop for over 2 months while grieving his dad's super recent passing...)

he also talked about going to paris for the fashion week, and how big of an achievement it was. he said it was crazy to meet pharrell williams, his idol since he was young, and he was happy to hang out with baifern even if it was short. he also said he was so shocked that the crowd in front of the venue was waiting for him and calling his name 🥹 he said he stayed under the rain to sign the autographs and was soaked, but it was an amazing experience. he also said he wishes tay had been with him so they could explore the city together ;_; (as previously said he mentionned tay a LOT)

he talked about the recent fanmeet in rome, and how certain fans flew from all over the world to meet him there. he compared rome to ayutthaya due to their ancient monuments (which made me chuckle but actually the comparison is not that far off I guess HAHAHA)

he talked about the pebaca concert and said we should all dress up to come to the concert (not sure what that fully entails lol). he also said he can't say too much but there will be some special thing there (which he said is best bc he said he can't carry a show with his poor singing and dancing, and... sir we disagree. at least about the singing lol.)

anyways that's it! it was an amazing experience & I always feel so grateful to be able to partake in fandom experiences here in bkk 🥹 this is the kind of shit I always dreamed about when living in paris & I legit never thought it'd be possible to be this close to my favorite guy ;_; happy birthday to him again & I can't wait for this upcoming year of loving him more & more 💚

[fistfuloflightning]

Idk if you're still interested in BingFan, but I'm curious what trope do you think has more potential for them: fake amnesia or actual amnesia? 🤔

Ooooh I am ALWAYS for some BingFan! Unfortunately I go through fandom burnout quite frequently (hence why a lot less Jiuyuan content from me recently)

I never liked the fake amnesia trope, mostly bc I just don’t like relationships built on lies, which is what that is. Faking changes to yourself and your relationships with others. I mean… unless it’s meant to be funny? Like a ‘you’re mute and I can’t speak English’ situation? Idk.

True amnesia gives the amnesiac a chance to genuinely change and gives the other person the opportunity to see them how they might be if all the emotional baggage is stripped away, or like their most genuine self. So I’m definitely going for the latter for those two idiots. Though the question begs who is the amnesiac?

My bet would be Ming Fan, since he’s the one with a history of bullying and if he didn’t have memories of his family trauma or Shen Qingqiu’s *waves vaguely* Issues, then he might grow into a protector of LBH, but Binghe also has a lot of pent-up resentment towards him. So that could be fun 😐 Otherwise if Binghe was the amnesiac then I’m guessing Ming Fan might either a) take advantage of the situation b) bully him even further c) back tf up and avoid the little bugger and wonder why LBH is suddenly so clingy to his ‘da-shixiong’

Either way, Ning Yingying takes advantage of the situation no matter who it is who has amnesia and pretty much blows up the non-amnesiac to be the best thing since sliced bread, and trying to build a better relationship between the two.

I am curious what you had in mind tho @pr0cyon-lotor 👀 knowing how your brain works, who knows…

[charrfie]

I originally had only planned on posting a message pertaining to new years on my sideblog, where I've been residing for quite a few months now. But I decided it'd only be right to post something here too... to be more transparent and sentimental with you all. Truthfully, these past few months have not been kind to me. I have experienced repeated struggles with my physical and mental health, [art] burnout, and more private matters. Hence my sparse interactions online. But tumblr and the folks on it have been such a gift for me through all of this; I hold a lot of affection for it. For the first time in many many years of my social media experience, I have found a place that allows for me to feel very minimal amounts of pressure in having any sort of online presence as well as allows me to meet so many kind souls.... both through repeated and singular interactions alike :^) I hope we have many more years ahead of us! Thank you all for the comforting sentiments you've sent my way over the years, and this year in particular. You all have made it much more bearable during tough times, and I hope I've been able to provide a comforting space for you all as well.

I am too unwell to give a very grand speech here, now, of all places. But I did want to express my earnest wish that 2025 be good to each and every one of you. May all of you be gentle to yourselves; may all of you be gentle to others. I do hope you love the world and in turn, it loves you.

Happy new year everyone! 💖

[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

[gizmos-n-gadgets]

Wisper Ref Sheet!!

I’ve finally finished the ref sheet for my beloved tadc oc, Wisper! Hope y’all like them, I put an ungodly amount of work into this. Pop, the car character, is the tadc oc of my friend Star (link to their Unvale here). And without further ado, here are some other random bits of information about Wisper that I couldn’t fit on the ref sheet.

Wisper has a Northern British English Accent. Wisper worked at a daycare in it’s human life, but after the death of one of the children in a freak accident, they spiraled, quit their job, and began living in their apartment’s bedroom. It blames themself for the death, even though it was only partially responsible for one small factor out of several in this accidental and unpreventable fatality. I have a playlist for Wisper on my Spotify, link to that here. The line up at the bottom of the ref sheet serves as both a height comparison, but also displays the order in which the characters (other than Caine and Bubble) appeared in the circus, Wisper appeared after Jax and before Gangle (also before Pop since I included them in this). The best way I can describe their personality is neutral. They’re not super dramatic or anxious or happy, they’re just kind of there. They don’t have the most energy and are generally very mellow. Wisper is the mom friend of the group along with Ragatha, acting as a voice of reason, common sense, and self preservation. Despite it’s generally calm demeanor, Wisper is also prone to panic attacks, burnout, depression kicking it’s ass, and more, because Wisper, like all the other characters here, is mentally ill/disabled, imbued with trauma, and very much in need of a therapist. When Wisper holds their breath, their cloud wool evaporates. It’s Myers Briggs Personality Type is ESFJ-T.

Under the cut there’s essentially a transcript of everything written because the text is small and my handwriting could be better:

Text to the top left of main Wisper art: Ribbon is highly iridescent, shiny, and reflective. It is decorated with glitter, too.

Text to the left of main Wisper art: Movement of the main blanket body is similar to that of an octopus.

Text to the right of main Wisper art: Can float as fast and as high as it pleases.

Text below main Wisper art: Name: Wisper Age: 28 Gender: Non-binary Pronouns: They/It Sexual Orientation: Neptunic and Ace Alignment: True Neutral

Text in red box: Hobbies: - Singing - Sleeping - Reading - Listening to Music - Cuddling - Making Puns

Text below red box: Arm underneath “sleeves”.

Text above Wisper facial expressions: Cloud undulates and changes often, sometimes even reflecting emotions.

Text below Kaufmo photo: It wasn’t super close with Kaufmo, but they’d trade stun toys and puns.

Text above room layout: Their door is across from Kinger’s

Text in yellow box: Inspo: - Teru Teru Bōzu - Sheet Ghost - Cloud - Security Blanket - Sacrifical Lamb

Text in green box: It's head is only attached to the main body via the ribbon around it's neck, hence why it's head is often lopsided. However, this means their head is prone to falling off, but they will remain unharmed it this occurs. Additionally, when the ribbon loosens & falls away, it will turn bright crimson from the middle outward, and will stay as such until reattached.

Text in blue box: Voice Claims: Aziraphale - Michael Sheen Cardamom-Alexander James Rodriguez Alfur-Rasmus Hardiker

Text above Caine: He acts a lot like a child, so Wisper generally knows how to handle him. Wisper is the most tolerant of Caine out of everyone (other than maybe Kinger).

Text above Kinger: Relatively friendly. Wisper will let Kinger info dump about arthropods. 

Text above Ragatha: Very close friends. They often give each other hugs. And are both constantly trying to keep everyone out of trouble. 

Text above Jax: He’s an asshole and Wisper is constantly done with him. But this doesn’t stop Jax from going out of his way to harass it.

Text above Wisper: ✨DEPRESSION✨

Text above Pop: It finds Pop a bit too overwhelming but when he calms down they like making music together. 

Text above Gangle: Good friends (or dating depending on how I’m feeling). Gangle likes to listen to it sing, Wisper likes to see her art, and they both enjoy reading together. Lots of hugs, too.

Text above Zooble: They can relate to each other. They’ve both mastered gender-fuckery and are tired of everyone’s bullshit.

Text above Pomni: Relatively neutral. But every now and then they’ll make small talk or pair up on an adventure or something.

Text above Bubble: That is indeed a bubble.

[thinkingofausername]

I think the beautiful thing abt Mouthwashing is that the plot is literally just “I tried, but I still failed”

Curly — he tried his best to be the captain (he is a great captain, according to prior the current plot), he obediently followed orders from the pony express (I think I seen a line where they compared him to a dog; loyal as a dog yk) he got his rewards for being faithful, but felt dissatisfaction, possibly burnouts, unsure of his current life when he reached the highest. he tried to be a good friend to jimmy, helping him improve his life, he tried to help Anya but it wasn’t enough. He said it himself in the fish game.

Jimmy — he tried to improve his life; with Curly’s help, he didn’t have the best life before meeting Curly. Hence why he’s so elated “I like it. we’re in control here” he felt like his life is turning for him, he felt like he has control for once in his life. But he wasn’t a good friend to Curly; he couldn’t see past thru his ego; pride; jealousy which led him unable to actually improve. And he’s a terrible person to every single one of the crew.

Swansea — he didn’t cared abt his own life anymore, nor for anyone else except Daisuke. He tried his best to stop drinking (he did successfully; for 15 years) but ended up drinking again to cope. Although he’s married, have kids; he felt dissatisfied with his life still. He tried his best to guard the cryopod with his everything; bc he knew only Daisuke has the highest chance of having a bette future than all of them combined. But got betrayed by the person he’s trying to protect.

Anya — she tried to be optimistic even when everything is falling apart, to keep herself from spiralling. “I have to believe our worse moments don’t make us monsters” (I like to think she was referring that line to Curly; when they believed curly was the one who crashed the ship; idk where it came from but it FITS) she tried her best to keep Curly alive; despite limited medical knowledge. She failed her exams eight times but she never gave up; she tried over and over again. Until she snapped.

Daisuke — he wants to prove himself to his parents, to everyone that he isn’t useless, he tried his best, sometimes a little too much (referring to when he accidentally triggered emergency foam bc he simply wanted to help), he wants to help, and that led him to he an easy target for jimmy to manipulate and brainwash him. Daisuke is willing to help Jimmy drugged Swansea. To go in the vent, even when he was unsure bc he knows it’s dangerous. He was scared but puts on a brave face, he’s an easy target for authority figures to take advantage of his eagerness to please.

This game is just 👏👏👌 this game needs to win the game of 2024, every character just feels so HUMAN, which is kinda weird to say since they are humans but yk 🤷‍♀️, anyways sorry for yapping so much 😭

— 🐚

Oh don't ever be sorry for yapping, I love yapping about hyperfixations

I love your take, I didn't think of it that way, but yeah - Curly tried keeping things calm and in order, Anya tried remaining optimistic, Daisuke tried doing something with his life like his mother wanted him to, Swansea tried to quit drinking and clean up...

It's a tragic story in the best way

[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 :)

[utilitycaster]

In hindsight, do you think that TLOVM season 3 gave more insight or perspective to how Bell's Hells/Campaign 3 handled the gods discussion? And what implications do you think this has on both the future of any campaigns and future adaptations (ie M9 animated, and BH animated if we get that far)?

Because I am just now getting around to watching TLOVM3, and they've pretty clearly set up the idea that "going against your deity" is a decision that can be made for a good cause and while there are some consequences (the darkness on Vax after Percy's resurrection), it doesn't exactly have any effects on their power. Pike's storyline this season was once again about her faith being tested, but this time we see her rely on herself and implied innate power rather than the Everlight. We also see Zerxus plant the idea that she is bestowed power because of her bloodline, not the Everlight (although it's Zerxus, famously following Asmodeus god of lies so it's debatable how true this is). Vax while in Orthax's domain is specifically baited with the idea that he was forced into the pact with the Matron and that she will punish him if he refuses service, and that she is goading him by showing him undead versions of himself (again, Orthax famously quite evil, so unclear if it was the villain speaking POV or stating the perspective of the show), a hotly debated topic regarding how much Vax was able to agree to service for the Matron. It seems to me that the gods debate was having an effect both ways, for the campaign and then onto the show and then back again.

So I always interpreted the darkness on Vax as akin to the scar he developed following his resurrection from the kraken, which seemed to be something of an indication that this was not an endless grace or denial of the natural pace of death, but rather an acknowledgement he still had work to do (which. whether that is undercut by C3 is a long discussion and I have to leave for work soon). Less a punishment or even going against anything, more an acknowledgement that this is a finite resource. As for the rest, it was also pretty clear from the existing campaigns that the interpretation of a will of a god allowed for quite a lot of wiggle-room; I think TLOVM simply had to convey that very quickly in the space they had hence what feels like a bolder stance.

However, I do suspect all the work on multiple campaigns simultaneously via the animated shows was an influence of Campaign 3. I am hoping the issues of Campaign 3 don't particularly influence the Nein animated series, and I'll just lay it out there but I have zero investment in a Bells Hells animated series getting a pickup - I'll watch it if it happens, I won't care or mind if it doesn't.

As for future campaigns, I really think that if there is a Campaign 4 it should be after an extended break irl and should not be in Exandria. I think a lot of the issues with Campaign 3 feel like a combination of burnout and sentimentality, particularly after the fireside, and so while obviously I expect to return to the setting not just for planned live shows but various one-shots and EXUs over the years, I think it would be beneficial for CR and for the fandom to explore someplace new. I think that will also be helpful for any animated series seasons they have, to no longer feel like they have to be holding up Exandria by both ends.

[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.)

[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

[velvvetcat09]

it’s been a while since i just pour out my personal stuff so imma ramble for a bit

my way of coping with irl stuff has always been to indulge in side activities. either playing games, drawing, writing, going online, or watching vids/shows. it’s text book definition of having hobbies.

my creative hobbies need, surprise surprise, my creative drive; something that fluctuates between periods of time. my main source of creative drive is media obsession, i can’t really just draw something out of nowhere, which is why i’m not really into doing original art. while my hoarding mentality will never let me thrash any obsession that i’ve ever acquired, eventually it’ll simmer down. i guess to point out the process of me acquiring an obsession is: 1) consume a new media, 2) enjoy it to the point of consuming the fandom side, 3) create fanworks 4) buy merchs (official or not)

step 4 is not a necessity but step 3 is a pivotal point for me as a creative person. the moment i create something for it, that kind of seals the deal in a way. it becomes personal for me to the point of wanting to create for it. this fire, varies in sizes, whill eventually simmer down to step 2. at that point i return to lurking while focusing on my main tasks. the main thing that p much push me to this burnout is irls, at the end of the day, that’s still my main priority, and it definitely supersedes over my online presence. my sense of responsibility will always make me sacrifice my personal time, i’m not the kind of person who can selfishly enjoy my own things when there’s more important things to do, my own body won’t allow it, in a sense.

hence my sudden absence and then return on the internet. i try to maintain presense (mainly twitter bc for the past years, i’ve gained quite a significant amount of followers from the gintama fandom and kind of still have to maintain my status there), but to be honest, i’m mostly in my step 2 level of fandom engagement these days, i only have enough energy to lurk, i barely have enough braincells to come up with an answer of an ask.

my main comfort during this time is playing games while watching videos. i think multitasking is both a blessing and curse. it’s great being able to do multiple things at the same time but that also pushes your brain to not be satisfied doing one task alone. (though as i’m typing this, thinking maybe the culprit is my commitment issue, i think the main reason is my deep down feeling of not enough time, i cannot waste my time only doing one thing when i can do two things at the same time, i have to make the most of my leisure time; this is probably an unhealthy way of thinking but that’s another can of worm for another day)

this is a long ramble on how i haven’t been able to draw anything lately. not an excuse, but a way inside my mind and how it operates.

rambling like this is my form of therapy. this is p much my personal diary, in a lot of ways. tumblr really is a special place for me. i feel like i can truly be anonymous here, no ties to irls whatsoever. i can truly be open with my mind and heart. writing in here helps me sort out my tangled mess of a brain. i think writing out your ideas, thoughts, feelings, is always beneficial to anyone. you realize a lot of things with writing since for your writing to be able to be read by other, you need to make it presentable, cohesive enough as an essay for anyone to read out in the open. in the process you will have to correct your writing on the fly, you will definitely realize more things along the way. sometimes finding the answer to the question you didn’t even realize asking. this is a good exercise regardless.

anyway if you guys have any fuel to reignite my obsession back, feel free to send me those