#how to cut a vtuber

[kyuuppi]

private server (1/?)

Pairing: Kenma x reader (she/her)

Tags: slow burn (?), internet friends to lovers, reader is a corporate slave with social anxiety, Kenma is a bit sassy and bad with feelings, lots of game references (Minecraft, DBD, Marvel Rivals, etc.), vtuber stereotypes, modern au

Words: 2.7k

Every 7pm after work, you boot up your old laptop and log onto Discord, where you begin a voice call in the private server only the two of you share. Kenma seems to have a natural sense for what you want to play just by hearing your tone when you greet him.

On your good nights, he allows you to practice duoing in the FPS games he’s known for playing. He takes on the role of support without a single complaint while you play DPS, regardless of how badly you feed. If anyone on the enemy team calls out your poor performance, Kenma makes it a point to repeatedly kill them in the most triggering ways.

On the nights you come on exhausted from a rough day at work, Kenma wordlessly boots up Stardew Valley or Minecraft, allowing the two of you to relax to the soundtrack in a comfortable silence.

Something about his quiet presence always eases your mind, and more often than not, you find yourself rambling about the things on your mind while the two of you play. The annoying habits of your coworkers, your biggest fears, the new dressing you tried on your salad at lunch–you end up eventually spilling everything to him while he quietly listens, occasionally making a soft hum or comment that lets you know he’s still there. 

In the beginning, you always worried that you were talking too much and boring this famous internet celebrity with the inconsequential details of your boring life. The moment you realized you were ranting, you’d suddenly cut yourself off with an embarrassed apology.

But that’s when Kenma would surprise you the most–rather than allowing the call to fall into the silence he seemed so comfortable with, he would ask a question so specific, and often related to a past bit of information you forgot you even told him, that it becomes clear he was listening to every word from the beginning. 

It was one of the things that made you realize you liked him more than you should. 

Kenma’s calm disposition had you confiding in him about thoughts you hadn’t even told your best friends, and he never made you feel judged or insignificant for them. Although he almost never started conversations, he always answered any questions you asked with a level of openness that surprised you, like he trusted you just as much as you trusted him. 

Even if–per the extensive searches you did on Twitter, Reddit, and even 4chan–you were 97% sure Kenma was single, you doubted he was interested in dating anyone, let alone dating someone like you who seemed to live in a completely different reality from him.

As your feelings developed, you spent more time than you’d like to admit imagining what type of partner would suit Kenma.

Of course, they would have to be someone with extensive video game knowledge who could match his own. Probably a professional gamer or maybe someone who worked in the industry. The long-haired gamer girls with high-pitched voices and hyper-pink bedrooms who frequently appear in your feed came to mind. All of them had dedicated fan bases full of men and women alike praising their good looks and fun personalities. Many were more than just pretty faces but also great gamers–certainly much better than you in nearly every metric. 

But somehow you struggled to picture Kenma–who spoke in soft low tones and wore the same black hoodie nearly every stream–dating any of them. 

You had considered some VTubers as well – you knew Kenma was mutuals with several big names and occasionally retweeted their merch drops. But that theory died after one particular conversation you had with Kenma over a casual Minecraft session. Feeling particularly insecure, you asked him about his thoughts on a trending busty bunny VTuber all your male coworkers had been chattering about over lunch, to which he responded with a deadpan, “she’s probably just another middle-aged man catfishing simps like most of them are.”  

The only remaining option you could see was some mystery person he knew in real life–perhaps a childhood friend or another streamer who mutually agreed to keep the relationship private.

In one of the rare times Kenma spoke to you about the people he knows in real life, he mentioned an “annoying” childhood friend who is always coming over to his house uninvited and an old rival from high school who now plays professional volleyball in Brazil. While you questioned the likeliness of such a long distance relationship between a professional athlete and a famous streamer, the fondness with which Kenma spoke of him made your chest feel hot with envy. For your own sake, you stopped contemplating Kenma’s romantic life after that and resigned yourself to just savoring the few hours of his time you get every night. 

The first shift in your friendship began in late April.

As a result of one of your coworkers falling sick with the flu, your supervisor assigned you to a cross-country business trip at the last minute. The abrupt shift in responsibilities from you background role in information management to direct client contact overwhelmed you and your usual routine with your internet crush was the last thing on your mind as you raced to pack an overnight suitcase and research clients you had never dealt with before. 

For the first time since you began talking to Kenma three months ago, you missed a gaming session without so much as a message. 

The trip ended up being busier than you had expected even with the support of your coworker who patiently led you through some of the more complicated business etiquette.

By the time you reached your hotel room late that first night, you were exhausted. Still, you had attempted to install the Discord app on your phone to at least give Kenma an apology for your absence. Discord was the only way contact information the two of you had of each other and up until now you had even preferred it that way, You were very intentional in keeping your Twitter where you retweet rather spicy anime fanart and K-pop idol abs top secret from him–not that his verified account with 300k followers would ever follow you back in the first place. 

However, the spotty hotel WiFi proved incompatible with Discord’s large file size, and you gave up after half an hour, stuck at 3% downloaded.  As you closed your heavy eyelids for the night, you mentally assured yourself that Kenma would understand your sudden absence–he is incredibly busy most of the day with his own business and recently complained about an upcoming collaboration with a famous clothing brand that has been demanding a large chunk of his time. He might be so busy himself that he doesn’t even notice you’re gone.

With that thought in mind, you drift out of consciousness to get a few hours of rest before your morning meetings. 

Three days later–two days longer than planned due to a misplaced thumbdrive and storm weather delaying flights–you find yourself finally on the familiar last train back to your apartment.

You twist your ankle restlessly in your work shoes, heels aching from being on your feet for the better part of the week. You utilize the half hour of freetime to finally check your socials. Several unopened emails from online shop subscriptions sat at the top of your personal email inbox, a few life updates from your friends in your texts, and an upcoming world tour from your favorite idols on Twitter. You make a mental note to respond to a group chat about everyone’s availability for the next “charcuterie board night” tomorrow morning. 

The last app you check is Instagram, expecting the usual posts from your college friends on vacations abroad or getting engaged that usually fill you with a sense of envy you don’t like to dwell on. You’re slightly surprised to see the note of a follow request and subsequent new message request in your DMs. You expect the usual influencer scam or sugar daddy bot expressing “interest in your page”. Instead, you see a very brief set of messages from a profile with no picture.

19:42 @ kodzu_ken2: hey this is kenma from discord

Your heart flutters despite yourself as you keep reading.

19:43 @ kodzu_ken2: u havent been online in a while…r u ok?

20:01 @ kodzu_ken2: we dont have to play ofc, we can just talk if ur tired

20:06 @ kodzu_ken2: or if u dnt wanna talk we can just b quiet in call

Kodzuken does not have an official Instagram–you know that for a fact because it was one of the first places you tried to follow him when a clip of his streams first came across your feed. And even if he did, you never shared your own Instagram handle with him so there was no way for him to follow you as your Discord name was completely different.

You tap on the default grey profile picture to his page and it is empty as expected. His bio and name are both left blank with 0 posts, 0 followers, and 0 following–evidence of a brand new profile.

In any other circumstance you would think it was a scam–perhaps one of the thousands of unofficial “kodzuken” pages on Instagram posting fanart and meme edits of the man. But the way of typing–from the shorthand to the word choice are so clearly the Kenma you’ve spent the past 3 months talking to. Moreover, your absence from your regular game sessions is something only Kenma would know about–not even your closest friends know that you’ve secretly been hanging out with a famous steamer. 

You’re typing back a reply before you realize it. 

22:46 @ yn_tofu: Hi Ken!! Sorry I didn’t message you sooner, I got forced into a business trip last minute at work 😵‍💫 I just got back to Tokyo a few hours ago

You nearly drop your phone when the message status immediately changes to “Read.”

@ kodzu_ken2 is typing…

22:47 @ kodzu_ken2: its ok 

You chuckle quietly at how Kenma his brief response is. An elderly man seated across from you shoots you an odd look before going back to his novel. 

22:47 @ kodzu_ken2: do u wanna play tonight?

Startled, you glance up at the information panel above the train door.  Five more stops until your station–then the trek to your apartment with a suitcase–even if you speed walk it’ll take at least another half hour until you’re seated in front of your computer. Your sessions with Kenma are usually well over by then–you finishing your night routine to prepare for bed then work the next day and Kenma starting his regular nighttime streaming session. Your chest clenches in preemptive disappointment.

22:49 @ yn_tofu: I would love to but I won’t be home for another 30 min 😭 

22:49 @ kodzu_ken2: thats ok. ill wait for u

You barely muffle a frustrated screech at how your heart skips a beat over the last sentence. The old man pointedly shoots you a glare before standing as the train comes to a stop. He shuffles off and the train doors shutter closed behind him as you clumsily type your reply. 

22:50 @ yn_tofu: Are you sure??? Don’t you start streaming around that time? I don’t wanna make you late or anything… ;;

22:51 @ kodzu_ken2: my stream is cancelled today

Cancelled? You feel your brows knit in concern as the train jolts to a start. It is rare that Kodzuken cancels a stream–in fact you can’t recall a single instance since you’ve known him. He generally plans his schedules several weeks in advance, posting the upcoming month’s schedule on the last Friday of the month without fail. When he takes vacations–like the time he told you he was going to Brazil to see his friend’s volleyball tournament, your brain mercilessly reminds you–he still streams for at least an hour from his temporary lodging.

22:51 @ yn_tofu: Oh no, did something happen? :( 

22:52 @ yn_tofu: I thought this week you’re playing that new Marvel Rivals game everyone requested…

As the train rolls to another stop you absently realize he’s taking a little longer to reply now. That’s fine of course–you’re just one of his many fans, maybe a casual Discord friend at best. He’s under no obligation to reply right away. 

22:56 @ kodzu_ken2: no, just dnt feel like it today. ill make up for it tomorrow

22:57 @ yn_tofu: Oh yeah? How do you plan to do that?

22:57 @ yn_tofu: Are you gonna finally do that Nagi from Blue Lock cosplay all your fans have been begging for? :p 

22:57 @ kodzu_ken2: ew no way in hell

22:58 @ kodzu_ken2: ill just spam that venom twerking emote in lobby. pretty sure thts the only reason ppl wanted me to stream tht game anyway 😐

You laugh out loud at both Kenma’s rare use of emoji and the mental image of him, blank-faced, spamming the infamous twerking emote in a stream while his chat goes crazy. 

22:58 @ yn_tofu: Idk kinda sus that was your first thought, Ken 🤨

22:58 @ yn_tofu: Its okay to admit you like Venom’s ass, this is a safe space 🫶

22:59 @ kodzu_ken2: i just gagged

22:59 @ kodzu_ken2: im not like u, i dont buy dlc just to stare at charas asses all game

23:00 @ yn_tofu: Omg I told you I did NOT buy Pyramid Head for his ass!! He is actually a really good killer…

23:00 @ kodzu_ken2: idk kinda sus that he was your first thought 🤨

23:00 @ yn_tofu: I hope you remember this convo when I’m kicking your ass in Smash in 20 min >:(

“Now arriving at Asakusabashi Station. The doors on the right side will open.”

The call of your station on the speakers jolts you out of your conversation and you scramble to gather your bags as the train doors open. 

Even rolling a stuffed suitcase and wearing heels you reach your apartment in record time, eager to hear Kenma’s voice for the first time in three days. Stripping off the top layers of your business suit, you don’t bother unpacking anything and just leave your bags, blazer, and shoes in a pile at the front door before taking the three steps to get to the desk next to your bed. 

You tap your bare foot impatiently while the fans of your ancient laptop loudly whirl to life. For once Discord seems not to require an update to open and you click the call button next to Kenma’s name without hesitation. 

He picks up in the first ring. 

“Hi,” you greet into your headset. You aren’t sure if it's from the excitement of talking to Kenma or the three flights of stairs you just hiked up but your voice sounds embarrassingly breathy to your own ears. 

“Hey,” he replies as coolly as usual. The familiar sounds of buttons click faintly in his background. Your chest feels warm and a tension you didn’t know you had leaves your shoulders as you relax into your swivel chair. 

“On my trip I saw some really cool architecture–Kyushu kinda looks like how I imagine Germany–anyway, I was thinking we can make a little cathedral for that empty space in our minecraft world we were talking about last week–”

“We can do that later.”

You bite your tongue, caught off guard by the abrupt dismissal. Wasn’t he the one who asked you to play with him tonight? Did you misunderstand something?

“Is your Switch charged?” He asks.

Said device sits conveniently plugged in at the corner of your desk when you glance over. 

“Uh, yeah.”

“Hurry up and log on then. I heard someone is planning to ‘kick my ass in Smash’ tonight and there’s a new Robin combo I’ve been wanting to test out,” Kenma drawls.

You can practically feel the smirk in his voice and you loudly groan as you reach for your Switch and mentally prepare for the inevitable slaughter.

a/n: Thank you for reading!! This is the first thing I've written in like a year ?? so ik its prob not great. :,,) When I start writing I usually just start with one scene and see where it goes then think of what character would fit the writing best but it almost always ends up being Kenma LOL. I fear he is truly my default.

[worlds-worst-ships]

Do you seriously, actually ship it?

Okay. Lets talk. Because apparently some of you are defending... well... "that" (under the cut)

"He's autistic! It was a stim!"

If you genuinely think that this has ANYTHING to do with autism, you are an objectively stupid person. Like, your brain is so fucking smooth, it puts the surface of freshly tempered glass to shame. You're a barely functional reprobate with subhuman intelligence who has no idea how to form thoughts so you let a 50 year old billionaire who spends too much time on his phone decide your thought process for you.

"He was throwing his heart out to the crowd!"

Now, I don't really play baseball, basketball, netball, or any sport where you throw anything other than sometimes darts, but... is that how you throw? You perfectly extend your arm at that angle? Twice? After spending years posting tweets that very much align with Nazi viewpoints? Do you throw a pitch in baseball and scream SIEG HEIL as the ball hurtles towards your opponent? No. Stop being a fucking idiot. This was deliberate. He did it twice.

"He's autistic! He doesn't know better!"

Please comment if you actually think this so I can personally call you a stupid cunt and block you. We absolutely do know better. Autism and Nazism aren't mutually exclusive.

"You're inhibiting his free speech!"

1st amendment only applies to censorship from government positions of power, which I am not, as should be obvious from the fact that I have no power to censor him. Though I shouldn't have to explain that.

"Well, he's gonna get away with it so stop being so sensitive!"

Yes. He is. But that's not a flex, that's A FUCKING MASSIVE PROBLEM. Call me sensitive if you want, but absolutely every single one of you should be offended by this. Did you pay attention in history class, or were you too tired after a long night of being fucking railed raw and bone dry by propaganda on Twitter? Moron.

"Well, he's rich and you're not, so there!"

Yep. Got me there. He's rich, and I'm not. Yknow, Hitler and a lot of Nazi officers were pretty minted too. So was Epstein, King Leopold, Stalin, Jimmy Saville, every MP currently serving in parliament... but sure, they're great people because they're rich, right?

"You're just a stupid offended libtard!"

Google "The Holocaust".

"Well, you're still using his app!"

His app? You mean the one he bought, then fucking ruined because he has no idea how to run it, right? And you because its basically impossible to find mutuals as a vtuber without it, you knew that, right? "His" app, please, you probably think Ronald McDonald makes your burger when you order McDonalds, you moron.

"If we punish Elon for this, then that's a violation of the first amendment!"

You mean like banning tiktok, removing any and all talk of election rigging, then putting it back up the next day? Or maybe like deleting any criticisms of you and your nazi salutes under your recent tweets despite it blowing up everywhere else? Or does that not count because its something you agree with? Yeah. You've been cucked harder than Sneako and you don't even realize it. Elon and his government buddies are leaving your free speech rights looking like this

Aaaaanyway

I find it well and truly laughable that so many people like Elon will say all this insane shit and do all these fucking heinous things and people will defend them. Like how that gun woman who shit herself says stuff like "I'm not homophobic, I just think gay people are disgusting and that they should die" or that comedian nobody finds funny anymore spends hours whining about trans people but says he's not transphobic.

Lets all be on the same page for once and have the balls to say what we actually think. Elon got so close, but being a spineless edgelord who doesn't have the balls to just say what he thinks out loud is quite the weakness.

[midnight1nk]

So, this week's episode...

[spoilers below cut]

Man I tell you, another heavy day in my production job. And on top of that, pollen season. There goes my allergies smh. Well, at least I get bit of a break, have some food with me, and I can finally watch today's episode. Let's see what we got! *sees thumbnail* 😶 .....I haven't even pressed on the video and my theorist senses are tingling already

"wait what?"

Alright, so I'm going to need you to follow along with me here, cool? Now, doesn't 4's pose seem familiar to you? Well, it should because that's exactly the same pose as the ringmaster 4 render from the early version of the WOTFI website. We all know it was really Mr Puzzles behind it all.

And now look at the ads! It certainly feels very similar to what happened in the "Mario PC Virus" episode, and y'know how I already pointed out how it could connect to the goop!4 theory. BUT y'know what other video had ads?

That's suspicious. That's sus. 💅 /ref

"Don't you think it's Ben trolling again? Or just taking creative liberties?"

No bc the thing is, it's the thumbnail and it's the Team who gave him the prompt in the first place. Ofc Ben can take creative liberties, but essentially it has to follow the prompt. How have I not started the episode yet?! *turns to the Team* I'm watching you.... /silly

(the following is my live reaction:)

and there's our beloved intro *claps like an excited lil kid*

A convention? oooooh

LOOK AT THEM AAAAA

ofc 3 talking about his villain self 😌↕️

Clench being a VTuber was not on my bingo card but honestly, good for him (and I do love Tari sticking out from the table hehe)

and MELONY! you got what Axol's been working on, Two Piece. Gotta love the continuity, dude. The cover looks great!

Melony: "At least, I hope so..." 🥺 Oh honey, Axol would've been so proud of you and what you've done. I can already imagine him singing praises to it and say "look at what my girlfriend and I have done! :D"

YES, let's spread the word!! ofc Mario and 4 would help, they care so much about their friends

ngl Mario's got a good tactic.

and there goes 3's eye lol (don't think about goop!4 don't think about goop!4 don't think about goop!4)

*wii sports theme plays*

YES YES YES oh I'm so here for it

look at them go :D

nahnahnah, Team. You think you can do a speed-up moment and for me not to pause it frame by frame? smh /silly

luckily for the rest of yall, I got you:

and yes, it did have some repeats that I think they're very interesting: "turns you muscular SUPER chad", "makes you rich", "become SWAG", "get your a bunch of friends", "become a member of society", "become a SIGMA", get a romantic partner ("girlfriend" (the one with Mario) or "boyfriend", "you WON'T NEED SLEEP", "become AWESOME"/"RESPECTED"

Ofc it could just be how much 4 wants to emphasize the benefits of getting the manga. But it certainly feels strange, doesn't it? *writing notes down like a madman*

also a win for the skittle squad

and ay, it's got 4's stamp of approval!! (curious that the Team used the old model instead of current one 🤔)

hehe look at 4 pouting while he sits 💙

SMG4: "This is how it works!" 4, bud, are you ok?

ok first off, WE GOT THE OG 4 MODEL BACK?! WHAT? and two, Mario has a point. 4 is taking things too far and really needs a wake-up call. I have a feeling as to why 4 may be acting this way....

oh. oh okay.

So they decided to bring parallels to show how much 4 and Mario's fighting is affecting her/reminding her of her family separating. Hmm. Alright, Team, which one of you decided to strike that dagger into my heart? 😭 /lh

And Mario walked away just like Melony's mom did *head in hands*

and that's 4 alright. He would say that "everything's fine" when it's clearly not smh

4, buddy no :(

SMG3: "The real villain is society..." Well you ain't wrong, 3

Wait a second. Enhance..... enhance.....

I see what you did there, Shadow 😌↕️

love that Toad's like right here too

OMG was that 4's "date" from the "Find Luigi" episode? IT IS.

I'm tell yall, 4 has a secret art account and is selling his work as merch/prints. I mean, c'mon

NO 4, people were waiting for Silksong for decades naurrrr

oh Melony, my girl :(

*pauses episode* ........they did not just do that. I'm rewinding that moment 2/3 times now, what do you mean I was right about my suspicions? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY JUST BROUGHT BACK IGBP?!

I need to walk away. I need to leave the room, do a cartwheel and dive into a lake, bc HUH?!

okok, let's breathe. goop!4 is gonna happen, and this is not just a "haha Ink is a crazy lil theorist wishing for this to happen". The fact that he said "nowadays" means that the situation is affecting him too. Ofc it would, that's his livelihood, his WHOLE PURPOSE as a meme guardian. But, other than that, it makes sense why he's doing this (I'll talk about it soon)

Mario: "SMG4, you're better than this! You've done enough damage." 😨 holy shit. it's like I got shot through the heart WTF. I might just cry in this episode

who keeps punching me in the FEELSSSSS 😭 poor Melony, those guys were absolute jerks smh (desperate times do call for desperate measures *ready to make swiss cheese*)

*head in hands* :(

at least they can apologise

*points at screen* hehe that's me :) I'm just a reporter

did I hear the peanut gallery audio from ace attorney? 👀 (<- ace attorney fan, don't mind Ink)

The Crew came? 🥹

EVEN SHROOMY?

OUGH that got to me, dude. They all came to support her and enjoyed the manga. I'm tearing up, dude.....

what did I say? Melony may have not had both parents as they were separating, lost Axol to the events of the Genesis/Revelations arc, was betrayed by who she thought was a friend who understood her, and despite it all, she's been so strong. Having friends, her found family...

man, this hit me hard and it's not even from the allergies, I tell you that

the truest supporters are the ones who care

this episode wants me dead /very pos

what's the lesson, Mario?

SMG4: "Is that we shouldn't care so much about fame and profit and instead be proud of our friend's work? No matter how successful it is?" yeah pretty much... "No"? wdym "no"?

....nahnahnah, you can't end the episode there, what the hell do you mean by that?

You can't close it off like that! What about my suspicions!? You can't just move on like that in front of my theorist self, c'mon!!

sitcom laugh track and everything, smh /silly

Congrats to SteveAlexAri12 for your art being featured in the end credits for this episode 🎉 cool art of WPNZ

um. Team, any particular why? just asking /j

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Wow, this. This was absolutely fantastic omg. The writing in this was so good and I loved the tidbits of animation we got, like when Mario and 4 were picking up the pages to clean! This was somehow brilliant, and this is coming from a long-time viewer.

It' crazy's awesome that they brought Wolfychu back to do some lines this episode, and I was right about the Waggy cameo from Shadow (YES!). Also, EVAN! You make the cover of the manga? It looks SO GOOD, dude!! As always, great work with the writing on your end 👏

I've already mentioned Melony but we have to talk about the boys. Both Mario and 4 had good intentions to help their friend out. "I would do anything to not lose my friends" and that's exactly what 4 did. The algorithm has been affecting him so much that he didn't want Melony to go through it either. So, he went overboard with the crazy advertising and such, but he still cared for his friend. And a touch of self-doubt and insecurity from IGBP is back because he thought he wasn't doing enough. What good of a friend is he if he can't help out? The savior complex in him would say that he isn't good enough to help Melony, to "save" her from the low viewer retention. That he isn't enough, so he went desperate to have anyone take a copy of the manga. This isn't just about selling a book, it's that he's worth the friendships he has and they can always come to him if they need anything.

He doesn't want to lose them.

Ofc Mario cares so much about 4, they've known each other for years. Best of friends. If anything, Mario would know everything's not fine with 4's actions and thoughts in general. It's why the line, "SMG4, you're better than this! You've done enough damage" from Mario to 4 hits so hard. 4 was back to the "None of you understand the work I do" moment from Mar10, relapsing, and Mario needed to remind 4 of his true self, the one that cared for his friends without perfections. That instead of helping as 4 sees it, 4 was hurting Melony unintentionally, and he has to open his eyes to see that. Two sides, indeed.

Curious that the episode ended with the not "go cuckoo crazy" lesson instead of what 4 said. Goop!4 would eventually happen, bc at this point, yes. But what Mario said is exactly what 4's mindset is rn. 4 is bottling up his emotions and trauma and as long as he doesn't think about it for too long, everything's fine. As long as he doesn't reach that breakpoint, he's fine. In some way, he learned his lesson after IGBP but not quite. For one, he still doubts himself with the guilt of IGBP on top of it. And two, nothing is letting him move on from his trauma. His in-universe audience isn't letting him, Puzzles during WOTFI wasn't letting him, the memories he's been suppressing wasn't enough.

Why does he go through the extreme? Bc he thinks that it would solve everything for him. Like how he locked Puzzles in prison, thinking that Puzzles would remain there when we all know a prison escape is bound to happen. Like the Meme Factory itself was an elaborate trap. Whatever it takes to protect himself emotionally, as he's under the line from having a meltdown, he's fine. But what is that line? What is his breaking point? The thing is he wouldn't known, as shown in this episode, thinking he would still fix it. Everything's fine, he's fine.

And y'know what the cherry on top is? That, other than 4 and Mario enjoying the manga, Boopkins and Luigi were the first to be interested in Melony's creation, regardless of popularity. Very representative of Kevin irl and the deeper significance of IGBP.

....whoops sorry, I went on rambling for too long. I mean, c'mon, you should know the drill by now *points at bio*. If anything, this episode is the biggest piece of evidence for the goop!4 theory, I'm sure our local co-CEO of the theory Funkii (hey moot!) and other goop!4 enthusiasts would agree, YESSIR. Overall, this was such a sweet episode and I can't wait for more. That's all from me, and remember: numbers always go first!

*taps mic* ...well chat, how do we feel knowing that the star trio all canonically wore maid outfits? (well technically Madoka outfits from 4 & Mario but still)

[plounce]

the vast majority the early mentions and depictions of radz-at-han and its people were as sneaky alchemists and traders who would cut duplicitous deals to get ahead and will betray and use people for their own scheming ends (for example, the hvw alchemist quest, stormblood hildibrand, other little mentions here and there in sidequests & levequests). or as Sexy Dancers. (both are orientalist, which sucks)

and then in endwalker we go there and actually it's a beautiful prosperous utopian pluralistic multicultural society full of kind and lovely people protected and guided by the world's most wonderful dragon who is a vtuber but more importantly Your Friend. i know the reason is that the aims and themes of the writing changed from ARR being like very thoughtless fantasy genre grittiness to SHB/EDW being very hopeful and compassionate about humanity, and more thoughtful about how different cultures are represented. but maybe also vrtra picked up all the assholes and dropped them on different continents so they wouldn't harsh the vibe of thavnair

[moodyjazzyblues]

ob jeez... its been a HOT minute since i posted here (sorry) holy shit the marvel rivals brainrot got to me and now its all I wanna do :')

anyway new hyperfixation means new batch of artwork for me to post here :) once a stevebucky truther always a stevebucky truther :)))))))

i really love them a lot also heres tiny tony (under the cut) i think hes hilarious

also can we talk about how up each others ass steve and bucky are in the rivals lore??? like bucky's steve died in his universe but steve 2099 is basically the same guy and every single interaction they have in the game is SO CHARGED.

also.. their teamup is called 'stars aligned' which i know is about the red star on buckys arm and steves shield but like. could they have tried anything else before settling on the MOST 'STAR CROSSED DOOMED BUT NOT' YAOI OPTION POSSIBLE 😭 😭

also. im mad at avengers endgame doing steve dirty again. i wrote an essay on it for my english prof.

so many opinions maybe ill make a youtube video out of it.... once i finish my next vtuber model because im working on that too

[aihoshiino]

Always love reading your Ai posts! I lost interest in OnK somewhere in the movie arc but I still keep up with your posts haha <3

Can I ask about the Secretly Ai characters you mentioned in the recent Aikane ask? Pls and ty professor 🙇‍♂️

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!! Sorry in advance that this is going to be majorly rambly lol this is one of those topics I have always sort of rolled around in my head purely as A Vibe and never had to rly articulate at length. but lbr you guys are here to read me post 50k word screeds about hoshino ai.....................

So when I talk about the Secretly Ai Characters in OnK, I'm talking about a little something I mentioned in an older ask, in which the story uses certain side characters and deliberately and obviously parallels them with Ai in ways that are intended to sort of, indirectly communicate things to us about her. Obviously they are still characters in their own right with their own individual role in the story separate from this - but those pointed similarities are very much intended to make you hear information about them and go "oh, so Ai must also..."

These characters are, imo, Yuki, Abiko and Mimi.

Of the three, Abiko is the most in-your-face and deliberate about it. Her colour palette is very similar to Ai's and the anime even adds a really explicit and clearly intentional parallel to one of Ai's most iconic frames from episode 1 - and this was so important, apparently, that it was basically the first thing we saw of her in the anime continuity when season 2 previews were being released.

Abiko's similarities to Ai are mostly about making the viewer understand their shared communication issues and how this impacts their social health - the way it contributes to isolation and a snowballing fear of trying to connect with other people.

I think there's also a vibe to Abiko being hyped up as being a "genius" and "supernaturally talented" in her field in a way that both obfuscates the obscene and frankly unhealthy amount of work she puts into meeting those expectations and heaps additional pressure on her to live up to the role of a "genius", without anyone else taking into account the fact that she's just a person doing her best. I, uh, probably don't need to elaborate on why that's particularly Aicore...

Yuki and Mimi are less clear cut, but for Yuki specifically, Akane's 'Aikane' performance cribs quite a lot from Yuki's persona on LoveNow in the same way it does from Ai herself. In fact, here's another one I just caught lol:

We can tell by these parallels that Yuki and Ai are similar sorts of people, then - or at the very least, similar sorts of performers. I think Mem puts it best here (DOESN'T SHE LOOK BALD HERE WITHOUT HER HORNS BTW) when she says it's "not lying, just exaggerating". This lines up with how Rie Takahashi (and, implicitly through her, Aka Akasaka) describe the difference between 'Ai Hoshino' and 'Ai of B-Komachi' - that the latter is not a wholly distinct fabrication but just a different side of the real Ai that comes out depending on the situation. In other words, an exaggeration.

As for Mimi, this one kind of speaks for itself I think LOL. She's definitely the most undercooked of the three... I think everyone in the fandom kind of like, implicitly agrees that Mimi and her brother were supposed to have larger roles in the narrative and that Akasaka just kind of dropped whatever he was setting up with them. So I'll start with the parallels that actually exist in-story and then I'll go onto what my current theory is for the role Mimi was supposed to play.

First off, I think it kind of speaks for itself that Mimi just... looks a lot like Ai? It's a bit less clear when she's in her big snuggly hoodie but when she has her hair loose for her Dig Deep cosplay, it's kind of uncanny.

and those eyes sure do look, uh. coughs. familiar.

Mimi's role in the industry is also very similar to Ai's. She's an indie VTuber seeing a lot of success without association with a major agency which neatly parallels B-Komachi's success as an underground group backed by a small agency managing to see major success even while fighting mainstream groups. A lot of Vtuber culture has its roots in idol culture and Miyako even points out in volume 3 that present day idol culture (in the world of OnK, anyway) is primarily online. So Mimi can be understood as a sort of 'modern day' Ai.

In fact, the more I went over Mimi's intro for this post, the more parallels I found...? Some of this is certainly accidental, but Mimi is managed by a family member just like Ai was and the reason she becomes a VTuber is because she has communication and mental health issues that make an 'ordinary' job difficult for her. She even dropped out of the education pipeline just like Ai did.

All this combined (the idea of those eyes being accidental is very hard for me to believe lol) makes me wonder if Mimi isn't supposed to read as a sort of 'failed' Ai or at least an exaggerated one. Both of them have (as mentioned above) communication and mental health issues that make living 'ordinary' life difficult for them and so they both commit themselves to strands of the entertainment industry that are maybe not necessarily good for them but because of their individual pathologies, they are uniquely suited to find success.

Heading into what is straightforwardly speculation territory (so take this with a huge glacier of salt), I actually wonder if Mimi was being set up to join B-Komachi as the catalyst for the Kana-Nino parallels and rather than Ruby being the Ai in that equation, Mimi would've been our Ai.

From what we're told about gen 1 in the Movie Arc, Nino was originally the group's center and basically the entire reason they got off the ground to begin with but she was ousted in both position and popularity when Ai joined and completely eclipsed her. Part of this was due to Ai's natural talent as an idol but it's also pointed out that Ai and Nino both had very similar personas as idols and were thus competing for the same fans.

This is exactly the conflict between Kana and Mimi set up in the lead in to Scandal...

... which is very much not the case for Ruby and Kana, which makes the attempts to force that parallel in the Movie Arc (as the manga later does) a little hamfisted.

As such, I really wonder if Mimi joining B-Komachi would've lead to a long-term rivalry between her and Kana that more explicitly paralleled the one between Ai and Nino. I really do feel like that would've been a much more natural way to play with echoing that dynamic than what we get between Kana and Ruby - I've criticized this before but it really is kind of insane that Ruby treats Mem and Kana like shit all during her BH era, never apologizes or has to make any amends for it and when Kana is finally able to express discontent over this, not only is this framed as being something she's doing for Ruby's sake but also something Kana is at fault for, all so Ruby can graciously forgive her. Insane!!!!

As for why it never came to fruition if that was indeed the plan... who knows! The manga following the Scandal arc is littered with so many nonstarters and dropped threads that I really could not tell you what was going on in Akasaka's brain. It could just be that he recognized he didn't have the time for it and decided it wasn't worth taking up page time for. But again, the inner machinations of his mind are inscrutable to me so it's anybody's guess, really.

[renard-dartigue]

Reference sheet for my oc Salnave. I'm going to learn how to cut this for vtuber rigging.

I might make some alterations for convenience. It may take more time, given that I'm going to be participating in a training course for irl work (im not looking forward to going back to school bro 😫)). Pray I don't crash out lmao.

[indig0trollsinspo]

Teensy Tinies - The Aquarium

MerMay may be technically over (thanks to my soft and shitty hands) But! That doesn't mean we can't have a lovely day at the Aquarium!

TOS and Purchase Links Under cut! I will not be updating these to reflect their sold status, you’ll just have to check the link. They’ll show as sold out if they’re sold out, I do NOT do holds on these!

REMINDER. FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS, YOU MAY NOT PURCHASE MORE THAN 2 DESIGNS TOTAL. That includes for yourself AND others. Other people may not buy you designs to gift to you if you’re buying for yourself either!! Time posting: 6/3/2025 at 6:30 PM EDT. You can come back for more if you want tomorrow (6/4) after 6:30 PM EDT!

TOS

By purchasing you will be agreeing to follow these terms as follows. PLEASE make sure you read them in full to understand them.

In the interest of fairness, given how fast these go sometimes: FOR THE FIRST 24 HOURS, YOU MAY NOT PURCHASE MORE THAN 2 DESIGNS TOTAL. That includes for yourself AND others. Other people may not buy you designs to gift to you if you’re buying for yourself either!! Time posting: Time posting: 6/3/2025 at 6:30 PM EDT. You can come back for more if you want tomorrow!

You MAY change the design/species of any design i’ve made after you've bought it, but you must leave credit with INDIG0TEA for the design, and the design itself must be recognizable.

Gender/sex/etc is ultimately up to the buyer.

You may NOT resell the design for more than you paid for it, unless it comes with extra art either made by you (listed for your current or historical commission rates), or commissioned by you. Gifs art/free art does not count towards the value of any design I make, ever. Additionally: You may not ever ask for, recieve, or offer full resale plus non-currency add ons (such as, but not limited to: art, characters, merchandise, games, game currency, etc.). Yes, even if the offer as couched as “free art/commission/character”. Partial resale may be negotiated only for designs whose original buying price was 30 or more dollars USD, and split dollar amount may be for no less than 2/3 of the list price to prevent people trying to workaround this TOS to encourage other people to accept their offers. (For example: Partial resale on a 30$ design may be a maximum of 20$ partial + non-currency add on.) This is to prevent overoffering/artificially inflating resale value. I am willing to make exceptions to this clause, but you will have to speak to me directly to ensure my TOS is being respected.

If the design is gifted/traded at any point, all financial value up to that point is lost and it may not be resold until further art is made/commissioned for it.

You may not include my designs in resale bundles. Period.

You may not EVER feed ANY of my art into an AI interface of ANY kind.​​​​​​​​

If you resell, trade, or gift this design, please inform me that it has been traded/resold/gifted so that I may update the TOS to reflect that and so future buyers cannot be scammed.

You may not resell, gift, or trade this design (or any of my designs) to anyone on my blacklist, which is linked below for your convenience. Doing so will result in immediate blacklisting/blocking of your accounts.

You may not ever edit the original artwork(s).

You may not repost the original artwork to deviantart, instagram, or other social media/portfolio sites.

You may not use this design for the creation of license-able media such as (but is not limited to): books, animated shorts/shows, Vtuber/twitch streamer sonas, comics/webcomics, and video games (free or otherwise). If you would like to use this design in anything like this, we can negotiate a one time licensing fee which covers use in all of the above. This can be anywhere form an additional 150-500$ depending on your intended use.

You MAY use your design for any other purpose, so long as you are not profiting financially off of my work nor passing it off as your own.

You are allowed to store it in your deviantart sta.sh, post it to tumblr profiles, or upload it to websites like toyhou.se with proper credit.

However, you may not reupload to toyhou.se, to keep the ownership log intact, and to keep the original tos consistent.

For my personal comfort, you may not delete original listings from toyhou.se and resell it separately. This is again to keep the ownership log intact, and to keep the original tos consistent. If the person you wish to resell it to does not have a toyhou.se, I have plenty of invite codes I can give out as necessary.

Please credit to INDIG0TEA the first time you post art of them to websites other than toyhou.se

Violation of many of these terms will result in permanent blacklisting/banning from buying or owning designs by me in the future.

BLACKLIST

[R1 Link]

[R2 Link]

[R3 Link]

[B1 Link]

[B2 Link]

[B3 Link]

[Y1 Link]

[Y2 Link]

[Y3 Link]

[L1 Link]

[L2 Link]

[L3 Link]

[O1 Link]

[O2 Link]

[O3 Link]

[J1 Link]

[J2 Link]

[J3 Link]

[T1 Link]

[T2 Link]

[T3 Link]

[C1 Link]

[C2 Link]

[C3 Link]

[I1 Link]

[I2 Link]

[I3 Link]

[P1 Link]

[P2 Link]

[P3 Link]

[V1 Link]

[V2 Link]

[V3 Link]

[F1 Link]

[F2 Link]

[F3 Link]

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for calling a (now ex-) mutual a stingy asshole?

So to start, I (NB20) am in a pretty rough situation, I'm facing homelessness soon, transphobia at home and work and my hours have been getting cut resulting in me making even less money that can sustain me. I have a toyhou.se forum post up stating I have emergency commissions open to help me out and to please support me if you can. This is where the situation begins. I have a mutual on toyhou.se who I'll call Apple (MTF22) I talk to sometimes to the point I'd say we are friends, not super close but friends nonetheless. She made a bulletin telling people about my commissions and to please comm me if they could which I'm very grateful for since I did get a few customers from her because of that. The thing is, a few weeks later, she made a bulletin talking about how happy she was so many commissions she bought were finished around the same time and posted all of them with the artists tagged in the post. It was honestly... quite a few, I'm talking like 9 pieces of art of her fursona and even a custom vtuber model she got of her sona. I was going to reply all happy for her, but it made me think... how much did she spend on those commissions?? So I went through all the artists socials to find their commission prices and came to a total of fucking $385!!! More than half of my current goal I'm trying to make through commissions to stay out of homelessness!! So I messaged Apple saying since I saw she bought a few commissions if she was interested in buying a comm from me. She replies saying "Ohh! I'd love to <333 but im just not in a place to buy any more comms right now :< sorry >.<!!" So I casually reply really? because it seems like your in the perfect place to help me out after already spending over $300 in commissions. She tells me she's sorry and really wishes someone would be able to help me out but she just wasn't that interested in my art or a custom to which I tell her she could've easily donated to my ko-fi which I have always had since she clearly has money to spend? To this, she straight up IP blocks me. So still fucking annoyed, I vented in a discord server I share with a few friends from being in a few shared CS together, saying how annoying it is rich assholes like her would drop half a thousand for a picture of their fursona but don't even blink twice at their so called friends. anyway, one of my friends takes a look at Apples th profile and notices she has a new bulletin up and sends me a screenshot, but anways the bulletin reads like "hey!! just saying, but please dont come into my dms acting like you know my financial situation better than i do, just because i buy a lot of commissions doesnt mean im made of money! and please dont think that me commisioning artist 1 means i hate artist 2? thats so weird, thanks!!!!!" and seeing all their subscribers just kissing her ass pissed me off so i made my own bulletin that just stated "i thought it was pretty fucking weird to know how bad ur friend's situation was and to go buy a bunch of comms instead of buying a comm from or even throwing a buck to help me out? like yeah im gonna think i know ur situation better than u, you stingy fuck!!!" Anyway, she mustve been block evading (which I reported her for) since she unblocked me, took a screenshot of my bulletin, then went on about how she lived in an abusive household; her dad had thrown her into a sink and chipped her tooth, bruised half her face and scarred it pretty badly. She bought a bunch of commissions immediately afterwards in a panic to make herself feel better, paying everything with her savings. Which to me.. isn't an excuse. Ive been hit and abused and still found scraps of money to pull together to give to mutuals who need it and Ive been bumping my own post like crazy and she had literal weeks to donate or comm me. Not to mention Ive had exmutuals of hers come to me saying that shes never donated anything to them either despite advertising their posts but always had money for plushies, comms and other crap, meaning Im not alone in thinking shes a stingy asshole. This is getting long, so here, tumblr AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[ijichi-nijika]

i never talk about vtubers on here and especially not corporate vtubers, but good on gura for getting out!

as a girl who has seen the outright misogyny and racism and ableism in the vtuber sphere for so long, affect the talents for so long, it’s kind of cathartic to have hololive, a company that lost my support of past the talents a long time ago, hemorrhaging talents for a large variety of reasons.

ever since coco’s graduation, and especially since Sana’s graduation, i have felt at odds with enjoying watching corporate vtubers. like yes, the talent, as always is usually amazing. ina, kiara, kronii, all of advent and justice in the En sphere, to Marine, Suisei, Lui, Flare, Choco, in HoloJp and every single member of HoloId are amazing. i will always support these talents, as long as they remain within the company (not monetarily, i am extremely poor, but at least from the sidelines i can root for each of them). But Cover corporation? fuck that entire company. they actively didn’t support talents who were under performing or came under fire for years. when Council debuted four years ago, and all of them got their subs cut in half by youtube, Sana never got her numbers back. She never grew to the same level of the rest of council, even when she at debut was on equal terms with them. And since sana, we have never had a single hololive talent debut who has any non-white non-japanese passing skin tones. Sana had rampant racism slung at her from so many people. seeing in real time how people would make fun of her for just her skin, or how she was a little autistic, it made me fucking sick. and cover? never did a single thing about it. hell they changed flare’s design to be slightly lighter skinned instead of calling out all this awful shit. and hell, the rebranding of council into promise with that transmisogynist Irys included, and pretty much spitting on Sana’s entire history? disgusting behavior.

fuck i’m glad Sana paved the way for En graduations within the company. I’m glad she got out when she did and continues to make her own life happy working on what she does now. I’m glad that Dooby, or Nimi, or he’ll even outside of the hololive sphere, Doki or Mint or Matara have moved on and are so much happier than the corporate life. Or any of the fucking many other corporations that have fallen and been completely destroyed in the past two years. Fuck, look at Kson specifically if you want to see a girl who is so free now that she’s out of it.

what i’m saying is that, yes, Gura graduating is scary for a lot of weird little freaks who are extremely attached to a Live2D model instead of the person behind it. but you know she’s gonna be happier outside of that corporation. and she will 100% still be around are you kidding me, she’s extremely popular, of course she’s gonna be around. i might have not been the biggest gura fan ever, just cause she’s not my vibe, but fuck congratulations to her on leaving the hole that is cover corporation.

[kurturjur]

hi i really like bvz and vtubers and i probably have thought way too much about this so i concocted a way to connect the two (also inspiration for my user karmor: kur to: tur jurard: jur)

Basic gist of it: Jurard T. Rexford (a holostars talent) gets renamed as Karmor upon getting transported Maya

endless rant below cut

how this came to be:

I normally mix two medias together when i get into one ex: danganronpa undertale au. But really, I was listening to Bloodhounds by holoARMIS and since Armis is a bounty hunter group I connected it to the bvz boys. Then I started to think about it, they are an awful lot like each other. (according to my own headcanon regarding armis/holostars mentioned and karmor within the bvz series)

First thought: Octavio and Mahatma/Atila. This came to me first because they play a medical role in their groups and also their voices. Also. Octavio and Atila are unsettling to me.

Second thought: Ruze and Albus. Ruze is hinted at to be a demon (although not canon within his lore im going off headcanon anyway whatever man). They're both pretty brash and say a lot of scary curse words like bitch.

Third thought: Goldbullet and Hipswitch. They both handle guns. This is purely on vibes tbh.

Generally, Armis is a bounty hunter group, whatever Hipswitch, Albus, and Mahatma(and atila) had going on is a bounty hunter group. They all have similar dynamics. Perfect. Only thing is that the BVZ trio have Karmor and Armis had Jurard. And Karmor is this like listener interpretation guy so its okay to have Jurard as both at once

~-~

We're calling whenever Hipswitch found Karmor his 'transportation' to Maya because we don't know the full lore

pre-transportation:

Jurard gets abducted by Tempus while on a mission. He then gets tested on by its members with the Hollow Tree's magic or whatever. Altare also is really mean to Jurard and taunts him about Armis, trying to fight back, etc. Ends up making the executive decision to send him to a different universe. This universe is where BVZ takes place.

in universe:

Jurard/Karmor gets stripped of whatever magical powers he had beforehand with the timeline changing powers he has. He also is just largely debuffed, no voice, his battle capabilities decreased (like aim), he basically retains all information in his head but can't act upon it like some code that has been overridden but you were told it performs the same action.

~-~

this is just the basic stuff and i have a LOT more written down in a google doc thats over 7000 words long, mainly because I wrote about how they would react upon being transported to each other's worlds. but yeah. Just a thought.

one more thing that crowley looking guy would be altare

these are Jurard/Karmor's affirmations every day (altare being the evil twink) v

[worlds-worst-ships]

Do you ship it? (I'm back)

"Hey Jack, where have you been?"

Click under the cut if you actually give a shit; (if you're just here for polls and don't care what I've been up to, do something else)

For some of the time, I've been working on my YouTube channel which you can click here to have a look at, if you care. I'd appreciate a sub or two.

And for the rest of it... honestly? I've not been up to much. My eating habits have become disordered again so I've been trying to work on that, my life is in the absolute shit and the only thing I can really do is hope and pray I find something to keep a roof over my head up until I die while dealing with the fairly regular realization that the only reason people have magically started being nice to me these last few months is because my avatar is fucking gorgeous. Don't worry, I don't really care, I came into this knowing that would be the case.

I want to sort my eating out and I wanna pick somewhere to end up, but when you don't really give much of a shit whether you live or die, that's something that you can't exactly just do, yknow? I mean, go ahead, leave a half-assed comment telling me it's gonna be ok, tell me its all in my head, tell me whatever you want, but unlike you, some of us have to just fucking deal with it. No matter what you have to say, its too little too late. The reality is that for some people, like myself, that picket-fence life where you're surrounded by people who love you, or anything close to that, is a fucking pipe dream and trying to build a life around that despite having it promised to you for as long as you can remember is gonna pull me away from other things that I do, the blog included. Even getting up in the morning is a massive eyeroll, because what am I gonna even get up for? The fuck am I gonna do today? Nothing valuable, that's what.

So sorry, every now and then, I might have a few days to a week off. I try and be active in other online spaces, but fucking hell, do they make it difficult, especially since I'm a vtuber. You'd think other vtubers would be open to me being there, but as you can see from my total follower account, I'm worth fuck all to them. Hell, there's no point in me getting buddy-buddy with them anyway. Do you have any idea how insanely powerful these people are? They could fucking wreck my life with one word, one jiggle of their tits, one pout, and they know it. People will break their arms to help a vtuber who couldn't give two shits they exist, and that's a type of power I don't wanna deal with again. Not worth it.

So yeah. Life is in the shit. Now I just have to find a way to anchor down until I really just can't be fucked anymore and give up altogether.

[notreallysorryxx]

#"King"

You're being good for your king.

Characters: RiiKami (vtuber)

Warnings: suggestive themes, implied sexual content, um... yandere-ish (it's riikami so duh-), not proofread (didn't wanna bother my friend this time 😭)

Notes: This is from before I started actually getting into RiiKami. Even now, I'm still fairly new to this. :/ Also this was very much inspired by his song "Worshipping Desires". It's literally my favourite song and AH. If you didn't know, at one point you hear "here" and "good", so I took that and wrote something for my friend from it. I guess this is kind of a more modern royal au(?)

Words: 1.3k

With a flick of his wrist or a snap of his fingers, you were at Kami's beck and call. Though he never forced you to do anything you didn't want to. He was respectful in that sense. But somewhere, deep inside your mind, you wanted him to use his power to do... anything really. There wasn't a thing you wouldn't do for that man, honestly.

Ever since you had met him and pledged your life to him, you'd felt a magnetic pull. It reminded you of the books you used to read about soulmates. Unrealistic scenarios, you thought. But what if- You pause in what you're doing, almost falling over the person in front of you like dominoes. As you look up to see the person you ran into, your heart skips a beat. Without even seeing his face, you can tell. It's Kami.

"I'm so sorry, you're majesty-!"

Kami tilts his head, smiling, "It's fine. You didn't purposely run into me, right?"

You blink. Is he... oh, he's teasing you. Wait. Teasing you?!

"Ah- I... um no. It was an accident. I swear," you place your hand over your heart.

Whether I was to calm your racing heart or to show your sincerity, you're not sure. Kami stares at you for a moment more before he turns and walks away. You let out a sigh of relief, slouching.

=☆=

Later that day, you relax in your bedroom. Your own bedroom. Unlike the rumours about the King, he was benevolent. Especially to you. Well, according to the other staff. In your opinion, he treated you the same as anyone else. You frown as you look at the letter on your nightstand. It's addressed to you from your parents. Earlier, you had read the contents. They were expressing their disappointment at how your life had gone. At a young age you had refused to be married off. This wasn't medieval times, you had argued. It was modern day. And it wasn't like marrying you off to anyone would help your family financially.

They were in debt, deep debt. Nothing could possibly help them now.

But you were wrong.

Kami had made an offer. You work for him, he paid you generously. And who were you to deny such a beautiful man.

Originally your parents tried to dissuade you, claiming he was too dangerous. That he'd surely kill you or something worse. But he hadn't. No, he had been nothing but kind.

A smile forms on your face as you think of it. The smile quickly vanishes as you blush at the memory of something he had said to you.

His obsession, he had called you. What did that mean? Were you delusional or was he-

You shake your head. There was no time to think of that, you needed to rest for that night's ball.

Getting dressed into a classy yet simple outfit, you take your first step up the stairs from the staff quarters.The first thing you see is the king himself.

"Your majesty, what are you-?"

"I was waiting for you," he cuts you off abruptly.

"For me?"

Kami nods, offering his hand. He raises his eyebrow.

"Well...?"

How can you refuse him? As he grasps your hand, you can feel the warmth seep through his gloves. It makes you feel giddy, but also nervous. It's embarrassing. Not because you're with Kami. But because Kami is with you, a simple servant.

The both of you step into the ballroom and all you can think about is how strange it is that he chose you to accompany him tonight. Isn't he ashamed of you. His servant. But he called you his obsession..."Are you feeling okay?" he questions, walking towards what you assume is his assigned seat.

"You don't have to be here if you don't want to."

You're quick to reassure him, "No no! I'm alright. I can tend to you, your majesty.

"Kami struggles to stifle a laugh, "Tend to me? In what way?"You swear his voice dropped an octave.

"A-Any way..." you manage to choke out.

He smirks, "Then maybe you can tend to me privately from now on... after the ball, yes? Don't feel pressured. I won't make you do anything weird. You can just change my sheets and stuff like that if you want to."

"I said anything- I'm not against anything."

Kami makes a sound of acknowledgement, looking away. He spots a few familiar faces, telling you to stay put as he goes to greet them.

However, staying still was not your strong suit. You wander around the room, eventually spotting people that you recognise. But they're not people you want to talk to, they're just old bullies. As fate would have it though, they call you out.

"Over here!" one calls. He's grinning as if he's found a new toy.

You're not a child anymore, but you still can't help but be scared of them. And so you comply with them.

They're quick to start jabbing you, both physically and verbally. They joke about your family's financial situation and how you're probably miserable working for Kami. The entire time, you're silent, spacing out.

You're snapped out of your trance when you hear a booming, but comforting, voice call out for you. It's Kami, once again saving you. At this point you might as well give up your life to pay for all of his help.

Kami grabs your arm, pulling you back into his chest. He glares at the group of bullies.

"Scram. I won't have you insulting a future monarch-"

You're speechless. A future monarch. A monarch... that's only possible through heredity. But you're not of the royal bloodline so what does this mean.

While you're thinking back on everything, the troublemakers sprint out of the ballroom. Shocked faces and gasps are heard around you as you're pulled away from the crowds. When you don't fully comply, Kami throws you over his shoulder. You offer no resistance, laying slack in his arms.

He opens the door to an unfamiliar room. The rooms lavish, adorned with tons of purple accents and fabrics.

Kami let's you down, steadying you before he speaks."Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine..." you mumble.

He sighs, sitting down on his bed. "Did I say something that bothered you? I assumed you wouldn't be opposed to marrying me. You gave me no reason to believe you weren't infatuated with me."

You feel your face heat up, "Your majesty-"

"Just call me Kami, please."

"Kami," you start again, "That's unprofessional. We're two worlds apart. You're a king and I'm just someone who's working in a castle to pay of my parents' debts."

"Who cares about that? What does it matter? I see the way you look at me. Surely this love isn't one-sided."

"Is it not? I thought my feelings for you were unrequited-"

"They're not. I feel as much love for you as you do for me. Maybe more. But I'm not about to make a contest out of it," Kami laughs. "I thought you had picked up on it. Haven't you heard me call you my obsession at least a hundred times?"

You reluctantly nod.

"So? Nothing to say in return?"

"In return for what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe something to say about the fact that I just confessed my love for you. And the fact that you feel the same?" he teases you, a hand languidly stroking your cheek.

"What is there to say if you already know how I feel?"

Kami grins, cooing at you,

"Oh, darling. My obsession."

He pulls away, eyes tracing over your every movement.He pats his lap, voice dropping an octave once more.

"Here."

You're quick to obey. He holds power over you. You wanted this and you're finally getting it.As you plop down in his lap he smiles. It's a Cheshire like smile.

"Good. You said you'd do anything to tend to me, right? Make good on your promise, yes?"

You know you're in for a long night.

[hexgaywire]

hello! (◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉI hope you're having a great day! i wanted to ask if it's okay to make a request (⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

I'd like to request where reader is also a streamer and whenever a collab horror stream with vox and hex and (separately), reader's heart beat always speeds up at the start (the game is not on yet and chat can see since she's already set up her heart beat monitor) like at some point chat notices it's a recurring thing that only happens during horror collabs with vox or hex and the chat kinda outs reader to them, and their reaction to that information.

i dunno if that makes sense exactly 😭🥹 (also please do not mind the request it if you're not up to writing 🥹 it's just me projecting how how my heart beats absolutely fast when i hear these two 😞)

I'm here to deliver Hex and Vox brain rot! One thing about me I will always write for Hex if given the opportunity. To preface I have not watched a Vox stream in a moment so I apologize if he seems a little OOC. Mentally I'm still in his ASMR era. Also shout out to Hex Haywire for currently, as of writing this, unable to go live on YouTube bc he posted horny on main.

»»————-　☾　————-««

Heart Monitor Shenanigans with Vox and Hex

Rating: SFW

Pairing: Streamer/Vtuber Reader / Vox, Hex (separate)

Warnings: Implied hidden crush. That's it that's the intro.

»»————-　☾　————-««

"Are you excited chat?" Vox entertains your combined chats as you struggle to set up your heartbeat monitor; horror game menu lopping every couple minutes that ticks by. "I'm so sorry guys, this happens every time. I even tested it out a couple hours before the stream so we would have this issue." You sheepishly say. " That's quite alright, Y/N, your chat is lovely and so are my Kindred. They get a Zatsu, a collab and a heartbeat monitor all in one stream." He chuckles. Finally after restarting the program and refreshing it on OBS your heartbeat monitor springs to life. " Thank God!" You exclaim. "Thanks for your patience everyone!" "We are finally ready? Let's gooooo! No 'Shupport' needed, nice work Y/N!" Vox praises you. Your heart jumps in your chest at the praise.

> Ayo why is Y/N BPM so high lololol

>Y/N!!!! You do this every collab with Vox

> That's kinda high....

You watch in horror as your chat blatantly drags you under the bus. You cough awkwardly and quickly try to divert the conversation. "With the scuff out of the way, why don't we get started?" You glance over at Vox's POV and his chat and man the Kindred's are also throwing you under the bus.

> Y'all are seeing what I'm seeing right?

> Love how the game hasn't even started yet and their heart rate is off they hearts HAHA

> My tsundere oshi and oblivious oshi

Vox, you can tell, is trying his best not to tease you you can tell by the tone in his voice. "Thank you for the Supa, remember to follow rules chat, this is a collab Y/N is a guest." Vox starts the game and also tries to take the attention of you, which makes your heart rate spike again. The chat goes nuts. Both you and Vox continue as normal though and begin the game.

-

"Thank you all for watching and thank you to Vox for the collab! I can't wait for the next one!! Say bye chat!!!" You say enthusiastic as you both prepare to end your streams. Once you end stream Vox immediately starts to haze you. "So are we gunna talk about the high BPM or was it just the anxiety of the monitor not working?" He asks smugly. "It's uh gotta be the anxiety thing..." You mumble. "Yeah, I think Kyle said the same thing last time though, Y/N... " " Vox I-" " I'm teasing you, it's fine. Honestly I find it flattering." You roll your eyes but the heat rises to your cheeks. " Thanks for the collab today, we'll definitely have to do this again soon." " Hey maybe next time we can do an off collab? " Vox suggests. A million thoughts run through your head and before you can respond Vox cuts in. "Think about it. I'd love to do it sometime. Have a good one Y/N! " Vox leaves the call. You sit there staring at your monitor which once again, spikes.... You don't know if your heart can handle an off collab.

»»————-　☾　————-««

"Chat I think Hex forgot about us." You sigh dramatically. You frantically message him over Discord for the third time asking him if he's awake. Hex wasn't streaming his POV and did warn you he might be a few minutes later but as you sit here, dedicated sicklings and your own chat, anxiously waiting.

"I'm giving him 5 more minutes then we are jumping in without him." You huff. You hear the discord " join" noise and you don't register it until you hear his voice. "You'd really start without me?" His voice as raspy as ever cuts in. Your heart pounds in your chest, partly because you weren't expecting him to join so suddenly. "H.. hex Haywire everyone!"

> Hexy!!!! Welcome

> Hi Hex!

> Woah morning voice TSKR

"Sorry for the wait... I over slept..." He admits. "You're stupid." You giggle. "You leave your collab partner and your chat, alone, unsupervised, we could've been planning to overthrow you." You joke. " You wouldn't do that, you're too sweet." He yawns. " Right chat? Aren't they the sweetest." You can see your heart rate monitor skyrocket.

> They are the sweetest!!! So true Hex

> Sus monitor

> Y/N Did you forget you have a monitor on? Www

Man the sicklings don't let anything slide. "Let's uh... Start the game." You cough awkwardly.

-

"Sicklings please remember to thank y/n for streaming their POV today." Hex hums out. " And thank you to Hex for coming on! Everyone say bye to Hex!!! Thank you all for coming to today's stream and I'll be back tomorrow with some more Stardew Valley! Byee!!" You say as you mute your OBS and change to your ending scene. "You're resting heart rate is concerning Y/N." Hex comments nonchalantly. "I.... pump blood really fast?" You try to avoid this topic like the plague. "Listen thanks again for breaking your sleep schedule for me, next time we'll stream in your time zone." You say. "Next time huh? Already excited for the next one." You can hear the smugness in his voice. "So what." You huff. He chuckles. "Just let me know, you know I love collabing with you. Good night Y/N" Hex hangs up and you're left with a huge grin on your face.

»»————-　☾　————-««

Psst down here... My requests are open 🗣️

[agenericfae]

OH my GOD

alright the lore is starting to lore harder than it already WAS (somehow?!)

long-ish martyn vtuber lore post under the cut regarding something that happened during todays (1/19/25) stream

okay 2:10:55 of martyns rats stream (on 1/19/25)

there are crystals are growing out of the walls in 4c's cave in his house.

👀

uhh... transcript! i write them all down might as well share it lmao

[there were a few rats around, lore was kinda getting interrupted because many rats]

Martyn: 4c... what's... where did these come from?

4c: huh?

Martyn: where did these... where did these shards come from?

Martyn: 4c where did these come from?

4c: they grew in the cave.

Martyn: this cave? or a different cave?

4c: this cave.

Martyn: okay...

Martyn: the hell? did they just start growing out the wall? i'm gonna have to keep an eye on that cause... that can get out of control.

now this alone is intriguing but it gets better. (or worse, depending on how you view this lmao)

23:16 Owen's Ratlymics Stream on 1/11/25

crystals growing out of the walls. (and the floor it seems)

okay you might be like, generic. why are you freaking out about this? okay the answer is that LOOT SHARDS ARE CORRELATED WITH AMYTHEST. in both rats1 and pirates smp the shard had amethyst around it.

given the fact that like things are going wrong in general lore-wise (c!martyn not going into the datastream between pirates and rats2, wearing the same clothing he was wearing in pirates, being BACK in the rats game world in general, and that freaking eyepatch)

(and martyns comment of needing to keep an eye on the shards in 4c's place, since apperently it can get out of hand)

something bad is probably happening, and i am concered :D

i'm unsure about what all of this could mean, i mean i am NOT a theorist, i just like documenting everything and connecting stuff together :3

also i am working on a very long post with all of the lore moments from rats2!! (mainly just for me, since my lore document is very chaotic...)

i'll probably post it when i get caught up and then edit it as we get more lore

[3liza]

the live2d commission market is about to crash. if that's your main area of income rn start diversifying because the lowest rungs of AI models are capable of generating a perfect model sheet about one in six throws already and it will be a matter of months before you can get a fully cut-up and ready-to-rig model in fifteen seconds for free, and it won't look like How to Draw Anime as a bonus. guaranteed there are already models being run privately that are doing this already. guaranteed there are multiple high end artists and vtubers already using mostly- or entirely-AI rigs already.

the subculture is completely unprepared to deal with this, I watched a bunch of "this artist SCAMMED their clients with AI!" videos by someone claiming to be an expert this weekend and without exception every "tell" she used to "prove" the drawing was AI generated (such as earlobes being unrealistic and not matching each other) was normal fuckups and bad drawing techniques I've been seeing in anime art both Western and Japanese for twenty years (because the medium doesn't prioritize anatomy or realism and never has). the dumbest arguments and cancellations imaginable are going to happen continuously for however long it takes for generic animu drawings to settle into lowest common denominator robot-replicable status in the public consciousness

to be clear I think it's unethical to tell someone you drew something by hand when you didn't and I personally would not sell commissions or any other art that way and don't approve of people scamming with free pictures they got from Bing AI. but we're going to have to face up to "world's most popular pulp art forms are the ones most correctly generated by the AI models because they have the most plentiful training data and especially when it almost all looks the same even when humans are doing it".

girl with very few exceptions for a very few particular artists with very distinct styles (Bing AI couldn't give me a decent Kaneoya Sachiko today) you do not actually care who drew the half nude 14 year old on that body pillow. be honest. you pretended to start caring about it for the first time this year and you will stop caring about it again soon