#i actually thought he would be a cunning trickster

[sexysilverstrider]

omg i was scrolling through the virche tag (this game. i will never recover) and saw your username, i thought i recognised it from somewhere AND!! fafar your pokemon fanfics were THE SHIT for me 10 or so years ago, i read them alllll the time back in the day they were such a joy

so i just wanted to say im super glad to see you still around and that we are both seemingly still into the same stuff HAHA. hope you enjoy ankou he is so <3

omg aaaaaa hahahaha im happy you still remember my old fics!!! what a small world an interest can connect people 💕

also yea hahaha......im still at yves' route and ill try to finish that so tht at least i can do la salut next weekend. playing that game has been A Blast like. its all i ever ask for since piofiore. too much is happening in this game and i love it

[comicaurora]

Hey Red, sorry if this was asked already, but do you have any advice on writing a trickster hero? And do you have any favorites yourself?

Huh! This is something I've never really thought too hard about before, but I do have some loose and unformed thoughts!

So the trickster archetype is, broadly, a character who wins by being cunning and tricking the people around them. Typically this is because they are an underdog facing a powerful opponent, and if they face that opponent on the terms that opponent defines, they'll lose. For instance, a physically strong opponent might want to make everything into a contest of raw force; a politically powerful opponent might want to make things a legal battle; a commander of a large army might want to battle on a flat terrain-less battlefield and overpower the smaller enemy force through raw numbers; etc etc.

A trickster doesn't have the raw power to make a scenario happen. Instead, they achieve that scenario by making other characters make it happen, usually by misleading them into thinking it'll have some other outcome they want.

A classic example of this is found in a Brer Rabbit story where Brer Rabbit has been snatched by Brer Fox, and Brer Rabbit begs and pleads with him to not throw him into that briar patch, oh the torment he would experience in that briar patch would be unimaginable, drowning or burning would be bad but still better than that briar patch. Brer Fox naturally throws him into the briar patch, at which point Brer Rabbit vanishes into the underbrush and helpfully clarifies that he was born and bred in a briar patch. He was unable to escape through his own power, so instead he convinced Brer Fox that yeeting him into the briar patch would give Brer Fox something he wanted (Brer Rabbit's unimaginable torment) when in actuality it gave Brer Rabbit exactly the cover he needed to escape. It only worked because Brer Rabbit understood that Brer Fox was fundamentally not just hungry, he was cruel.

Tricksters usually achieve victory through lying, stealing, sneaking around and generally being dishonest. These are usually not seen as heroic traits, but the trickster hero is an archetype of character who is broadly heroic - and uses trickster tactics to win. It's an interesting suite of character traits to balance. In order to make a trickster heroic, them being the underdog usually needs to be played up. It's not really easy to root for someone with power to manipulate people for their own ends, but it's easy to root for someone scrappy and underleveled to manage to gumption their way to a victory over a broadly superior opponent.

A sympathetic trickster usually isn't someone who picks fights. Trouble comes to them, and then they need to find a way to escape or stop it. This is the paradigm that makes Bugs Bunny work as a trickster hero - he starts off basically every adventure minding his own business, and when someone comes around with a blunderbuss and a hankering for rabbit stew, their actions are what prompts him to unleash absolute hell on them by using toon physics and trapping them in ironclad social conventions to completely unbalance them until they're eventually defeated.

If we see a big, loud, powerful jerk try to stomp on someone small and innocuous, we're inclined to root for the small and innocuous person. This setup makes us very eager to see the small and innocuous person use tricks and shenanigans to make a fool of the powerful jerk, and it automatically makes us more okay with the sympathetic character doing on-paper unheroic things like lies and manipulation as long as they're doing them to someone we're primed to dislike.

So trickster heroes are usually fundamentally reactive characters. Something bad happens and they respond by unleashing hell. Another easy way to make a character instantly more heroic is to give them an even weaker, even more sympathetic character to protect or assist. Thus, many trickster heroes have a suite of supporting characters they're protecting who are not tricksters by nature, and are instead just there to be endangered or bullied by Nasty Mean Powerful People. Our trickster heroes stepping in to aid and protect other people thus gives their actions an even more heroic cast, because not only are they reactive to an outside threat, they're selflessly reactive.

This is the framing that's used in Leverage, where every episode has a victim of the week being cruelly taken advantage of by a jerkass of the week, at which point our team of liars, grifters and thieves roll up to ply their trade on the jerkass and award the spoils of war to the victim of the week. Because the person they're tricking is proven unequivocally to be truly awful and completely insulated from legal consequence a solid 98% of the time, we don't feel particularly bad seeing our team of heroes manipulate, gaslight and eventually absolutely destroy them over the course of a crisp 40 minutes. The vileness of the villain combos with the innocent powerlessness of the person they're advocating for, and thus their assorted unheroic qualities become reframed as absolutely heroic due to the circumstances under which they use them.

Crucial to the formula is the horrendous nastiness of the villain of the week, because if we were even kind of sympathetic to them, the schemes of the protagonists would be kinda scary. They are very good at quickly getting the bad guy to trust them and then taking apart everything they've built, and that's only fun to watch if the audience is 100% sure the villain deserves it and is not going to spend too much time thinking "wow, it would be terrifying if that happened to me." The fact that our heroes almost always take them down simply by leveraging (heh) the bad guy's badness is a big part of what makes the formula work. Almost every episode is functionally similar to a Briar Patch scenario - "oh gosh I sure hope no SOULLESS CAPITALIST VAMPIRES take advantage of how MANIPULABLE I am to try and get my MONEY and/or VALUABLES", and then the villain's own established cruelty cascades into their downfall when it runs into the dominos our heroes have set up to expose them. And that does a lot to make the audience sympathize with a crew of four self-admitted terrible people (and Hardison, who's an angel and we're delighted to have him)

Another way to get the audience to root for a potentially nonstandard protagonist is to set them up against a villain who is smug. Smugness is a very dangerous trait for any character to have, because it primes the audience to want to see them break. A villain who thinks they are too powerful or too strong or too smart to be defeated has the audience immediately rooting for them to be proven wrong just so they can watch the expression on their face. This is the strat they use in Columbo.

Every Columbo villain is rich and powerful and very insulated from legal consequences, and we start every episode seeing them arrange and execute an attempt at a perfect murder. We know from the start how they did it and usually why, and because they are smug - they are almost never regretful or reluctant - we become invested in seeing how Columbo figures out what they did, how they did it, and how he can prove it and get them arrested. Columbo is a nonstandard kind of trickster hero, because he is deeply and fundamentally a Lawful Good archetype, but he is also a very casual liar. The only time the audience sees Columbo almost certainly telling the truth is when he's dealing with background characters, his fellow policemen or his dog, or when he's by himself silently putting the pieces together; at all other points in the episode he will typically conceal how much he knows, how he knows what he knows and why he's asking specific probing questions. The audience has a tremendous amount of dramatic irony in terms of information about the perfect murder Columbo has to disassemble; we'll see Columbo zero in on exactly the one small detail that pokes a hole in the supposed airtight alibi, but instead of saying "I think you killed them and I am determined to prove it" he'll dance around why he's focusing on those details - just curiosity, just a desire for completeness, his superiors told him to continue the case and he doesn't know why, his wife is just such a big fan of their work, etc etc.

As a rule, the first time in any given episode that Columbo admits he's suspicious of the villain is the beginning of the last scene of the episode when he proves that they did it and they subsequently surrender. When Columbo is dealing with the villain, absolutely nothing he says can be trusted until that final scene - and it's a rare treat to get a glimpse of Columbo showing an honest emotion, especially something like genuine fury. Most of the time he maintains a very harmless and affable attitude, but sometimes when the villains are very smug and they know he's suspicious of them but can't prove anything yet, his righteous anger peeks through and we see why he does this.

He's a trickster hero because he can't unravel the case, the villain's motivation and the shape of the crime if the villain knows everything he knows and can correspondingly keep up with him. But he is 100% committed to exposing the truth of the situation and making the murderer face justice. Their perfect alibi is supposed to protect them from everything, but it's their confidence and certainty that they could never be caught that Columbo leverages to win. They never know entirely what to make of him, and he's never wholly honest with them - and with the audience - until the very end of the episode. It's good, cathartic payoff to an episode's worth of lies and manipulation from both main players, and it's always fun to see the non-smug party on the side of justice come out on top.

Some trickster heroes are more like standard heroes with trickster tendencies that occasionally surface. These guys are usually pretty straightforward, but in a pinch they can bust out a surprisingly cunning scheme or two - one such moment hits at the climax of Across the Spider-Verse, and it's a great moment of characterization for Miles, who has thus far been a pretty typically heroic guy who has unfortunately spent the entire movie thus far being lied to by people he trusted. It kicks off an enormously long and complicated chase sequence that takes the entire spider-community out of the home base chasing him through an absolutely massive complex and eventually onto a space elevator. It's such a fluid scene, you kind of just accept that it's a desperate chase sequence - Miles is just running. It doesn't occur to the other spider-people that Miles might have a plan beyond running until he basically tells Miguel that, hey, he did just get every other spider-person out of the facility that has the portal to get him home. He wasn't just running away, he was luring everybody away so he can leave.

And this moment is fantastic on a meta-level, because Spider-Man is traditionally a bit of a trickster hero. Most of his enemies are able to physically outpace him, and he needs to use mobility and strategy to take them down, often luring them into environments that work against them - like a fun moment in Spectacular Spider-Man where Spidey defeats the Rhino by luring him into a steam tunnel and basically giving him heatstroke through his armor plating. But because the entire core theme of this movie is "Miles isn't a real Spider-Man," it literally doesn't seem to occur to the other spider-people that Miles's seemingly panicked running might be him pulling a Spider-Man on them. We're so used to being in Miles's head and knowing when he's got a plan or a ploy that this is a very fun moment to watch. He's successfully deceived an entire army of spider-people, and the audience is just as blindsided as Miguel - and a little less electrocuted, so it's a lot more fun for us.

So yea, trickster heroes are a fun little space of character, but you gotta be careful to put them in the right kind of situation, lest their fundamental dishonesty come across as alarming rather than extremely rad.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #341: Mary Anning

hey y’all! would you like-a talk-a dino? no? too bad, here’s Mary Anning anyway. she’s an arcane trickster rogue to sell literal rocks to people at a profit (and get a cool dog), plus a primeval druid to summon a lightning-spitting plesiosaur. and i thought jurassic park was taking liberties…

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: shouldn’t he be istanbullos by now?

Ancestry & Background

despite having nautiluses for hair, Mary is still a Human, so she gets +1 Dexterity & Intelligence, as well as proficiency in Nature (old nature sure, but still nature) and the Tough feat for an extra 2 HP per level. she also used to be a sickly child before being nursed to health by a literal bolt of lightning yes that’s a thing that happened so she’s definitely being Rewarded by something. that gives her Insight and Persuasion proficiency, as well as the Skilled background for more proficiency in Mason’s Tools, Athletics, and History.

Ability Scores

your Intelligence should be as high as it can go. we don’t actually need it here, but you were the first person to figure out what an Ichthyosaur is (not a dinosaur) and what coprolites are (not something you want to touch bare-handed). second is Wisdom. half the difficulty of paleontology is finding the damn things. the other half is dodging the rockslides, which is why your Dexterity is also pretty high. this does mean your Charisma is lower than I’d like. you’re a fine saleswoman, but you didn’t get a lot of credit for the work you did. this means your Constitution is middling, and your Strength is as low as it gets. thankfully you can just reanimate the fossils now, so carrying them’s a lot easier.

Class Levels

1. Rogue 1: if we want to find fossils, you need to be damn good with a chisel first. also I’m not making the same mistake I made with Galatea, I’m not going to figure out how to have you wield a hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other officially, sorry. on the plus side, no matter how you use that chisel you can still Sneak Attack with it, adding 1d6 to the damage done as long as you have advantage on the attack or another friend next to them. all fossils are restrained (by rock), so you shouldn’t have any issue getting advantage. you also learn Thieves’ Cant, which is really just Cockney. finally, your Expertise in Nature and History will double your proficiency bonus when you make checks about old animals or natural history. suck it, publications!

also as a rogue you get proficiency in Dexterity and Intelligence saves, as well as Deception, Investigation, Perception, and Sleight of Hand, bc god knows you didn’t have enough skills just yet.

2. Rogue 2: second level rogues get a Cunning Action each turn, letting you dash, disengage, or hide as a bonus action. the early paleontologist gets the bone, as the assuredly real saying goes.

3. Rogue 3: we haven’t picked up all your fossil-hunting gear just yet- we still need some explosives, and a dog. thankfully, we can get both of those from being an Arcane Trickster! now you can cast spells using your Intelligence! okay I guess we actually did need that. anyway, your spell list is pretty restrictive, with only one spell that can be freely picked from the wizard spell list. the rest all have to be enchantment or illusion spells.

but before we talk spells, let’s talk Cantrips! Thunderclap will help remove solid rock, while Mold Earth will dig through loose dirt real fast. you also get Mage Hand which comes with its own Legerdemain, and that’s going to be Tray for this build! just have it do the dog shadow puppet thing to really sell the flavor. the original mage hand lasts a minute and is a floating ghost hand/dog that sticks near you, and you can use your action to move it and have it pick up objects, open doors, grab stuff from containers, or pour out liquids. you know, basic dog tricks. the legerdemain makes your dog a little more special, letting it pickpocket people, pick locks, and turn invisible. those are less doglike, but you can do all of those plus the og stuff as a bonus action now too.

as for your spells, Mage Armor will help you not die, Distort Value will help you sell rocks for enough money to live on, and Illusory Script will help you get out of whatever shitty contract super bunyan tried to force on you.

one last thing- you can use Steady Aim to give yourself advantage as a bonus action, so long as you haven’t moved yet and don’t plan on doing so this turn. the rocks are generally stationary, so it should be fine.

okay, okay, the real last thing- your sneak attack deals 2d6 extra damage now. this is what happens when you can afford the good chisels.

4. Rogue 4: fourth level rogues get their first Ability Score Improvement, so improve that Dexterity while you’re here. yes the rocks don’t move much, but you still have to worry about your AC. in the same “not getting hit” vein, you get Color Spray this level. this one’s just pocket sand. blast it in peoples’ faces and they go blind for a round.

5. Rogue 5: fifth level rogues have an Uncanny Dodge. whenever you’d take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to take half damage instead. ideally you wouldn’t get hit at all, but it’s not like you can afford platemail. speaking of damage though, your sneak attack deals 3d6 damage now.

6. Rogue 6: sixth level rogues get another round of Expertise, so double down on Perception and Persuasion to find and sell fossils.

7. Rogue 7: seventh level rogues learn Evasion, which means every time you have to make a dexterity save you only take half damage on a failure and no damage on a success. your job consisted of going to rockslide mountain during rockslide season but you didn’t die until breast cancer took you out, there’s clearly something going on there.

also you learn Dragon’s Breath. it’s a secret tool that will help us later. for right now, your sneak attack deals 4d6 damage!

8. Druid 1: at level one, druids also learn Spells, which they use their Wisdom to cast. since we’re mixing spellcasters, you’ll have to check the PHB to figure out how many spell slots you have at any one time.

first, cantrips. Shillelagh lets you turn a club into a magical club that uses your wisdom to hit, so I guess if you really want to use a hammer, now you’ll be slightly better at it. you can also use Druidcraft to figure out the weather for today. I don’t know if rockslides count as “weather” exactly, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

as for your spells, druids can prepare spells from their whole list every day, so I highly recommend checking out whatever suits your fancy. the only spell I think is in-character right now though is Faerie Fire. sadly we can’t make it only work for women, but it’ll make it impossible for anyone hit by it to turn invisible, and attacks against them have advantage.

9. Druid 2: second level druids enter a circle, and the Circle of the Primeval was practically made for you! before we get into that we do need to mention your Wild Shape real fast, though you’re not using it if you’re staying in character- I’ll just say for now you could use it twice per short rest. more importantly, you can use those two per rest charges to summon a Primeval Companion instead! with this, you can summon a medium plesiosaurus that you can order around with your bonus action. it can’t swim just yet, but he’s just getting started! (this is where Dragon’s Breath comes back in, now you can have him shooting lightning right out the gate. or yourself, if you want.)

also, as a Keeper of Old, you can add a d4 to your history checks.

(and I will say now that yes, you could use wild shape charges to summon a Wild Companion if you want Tray to be a real dog, but that would mean he’d have an actual HP bar and I’m just not ready to deal with that.)

10. Druid 3: third level druids learn second level spells! Enhance Ability gives you advantage in one kind of ability check of your choice, while Locate Object can help you locate the nearest fossil. it’s kind of like cheating, but fuck it!

11. Druid 4: fourth level druids get a Wild Shape Improvement, so while plesi can’t swim yet, you can. somehow. also your Dexterity goes up again. also also you can cast Guidance now to give yourself or a friend a d4 to their next skill check, for when you really need to sell this next fossil.

12. Druid 5: fifth level druids learn third level spells! Conjure Animals is your go-to for your noble phantasm, letting you summon a bunch of smaller fossils all at one go, but you can also use Elemental Weapon if you want some electrical attacks for yourself too.

13. Druid 6: now that you’re a proper Prehistoric Conduit, you can cast spells as though they came from your plesiosaur. this means you can cast Dragon’s Breath on him without even having to touch him! given that he’s probably in the thick of battle, that’s most likely for the best. also, if he gets caught up in one of your spells, he gets advantage on his save against its damage and evasion for said spell, regardless of what kind of save it is.

14. Druid 7: seventh level druids get fourth level spells, like… actually there isn’t really any I want. maybe Elemental Bane if you can find a non-spell way to deal lightning damage? otherwise just upcast conjure animals.

15. Druid 8: eighth level druids get another WSI, so now you can fly if you want. also you can use your ASI to start improving your Charisma for better sales pitches.

16. Druid 9: ninth level druids get fifth level spells, and while Plessy doesn’t really talk much he’s probably a lot smarter than most dinosaurs, so I still think Awaken is a good pick for him. this’ll make the animal or plant you use it on sentient permanently, and it will be your friend for up to a month. past that point, how it feels about you is up to it.

17. Druid 10: let’s grab Mending real quick before we go into the level, I imagine your clothes probably get torn up pretty often in this line of work. also you now share a Titanic Bond with your living fossil, making it large enough to ride around on and it can finally swim! as a bonus, once per turn you can try and frighten a creature when you hit it with an attack or spell. everyone’s seen jurassic park by this point, they know not to stand near dinosaurs.

18. Druid 11: as we near the end, you can finally grab sixth level spells like Move Earth. for up to two hours after casting, you can reshape dirt, sand, or clay in a 40’ area that can be moved around, with each change taking ten minutes. also worth noting, this doesn’t work on stone or stone structures, so any rock formations might collapse if you use this too much. Make Sure Nothing You Love Is Under the Rocks.

19. Druid 12: use your last ASI to bump up your Charisma again! with a charisma score like that you could even make a 19th century englishman respect… well, literally anyone who isn’t also a 19th century englishman.

20. Druid 13: for our final level you gain access to seventh level spells, but again there aren’t really any I want. sorry to end it on a sour note, but now you can upcast your animal conjuring and lightning breath, so that’s neat!

Pros & Cons

Pros:

druids have access to some powerful aoe spells, and while we only really use Dragon’s Breath in this build, being able to shoot them out of a large creature means you can make those aoes even bigger, for free, and odds are Plesi’s gonna be just fine on top of all that.

as a rogue, you like having people around you. as a druid, you can make people around you. well, dinosaurs. still, everything goes with sneak attack, so you can pretty much guarantee that extra damage whenever you want.

rogues are always great at skill checks, and you take that to a whole new level. as long as you have anything to sell, your party will never have to worry about their budget. also, while we got a lot of skills for buying and selling, most of them are open-ended enough that they can be used for any skill check you want!

Cons:

it takes a while for this build to reach something I’d call a finished state. while it works fine for most of the game, riding around on a plesiosaurus is kind of the dream, and you can’t do that until level 17.

a lot of your spell list is spent on utility spells, and while they aren’t necessarily bad, it’s hard to think of when you’d really want the ability to dig for two hours over say, a fireball. they don’t even break rock, so good luck getting to actual fossils with Mold Earth.

both druid and rogue are pretty greedy classes- they both want you to focus on them as much as possible. because of this, we get neither a big sneak attack bonus nor druid’s busted capstone ability, which is rough. it’s not the end of the world since you’d probably never see any capstone ability used in regular D&D anyway, but still.

[neocrash1101]

the Noise (Pizza cadres)

This is how I designed Noise.

I thought about a mouse mask, but I thought a fox mask would be nice anyway...

𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄

Brief Profile

He is a framer like Peppino,And he is also a street artist.

He likes to travel in the world of picture frames.

He is social, earnest and very patient.

And he has a reasonable personality.

He rejects the shadow personality, forcing it down after a conflict.

Basically, he wears an orange hoodie in the framed world.

Noise mask is a yellow fox half-mask with a pattern of curled beard.

The shape of his eyes seems to change often.

He is from the same world as Peppino, but they have never actually met face-to-face until they bump into each other in the main story.

𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄

In his former world, he is a wanderer, forced to live on the run for one reason or another.

Along with his art activities, he is also trying to make people aware of the existence of the framed world.

Noisette is his girlfriend and assistant.

𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄

Noise's masked ability "cunning."

It's the ability to achieve some of the things we want to do. This ability is extremely versatile.

To give some of the examples,

Temporarily enhanced the body, collecting items, unlocking, generating tools by using shadows, etc...

However, the true essence of his ability lies in the "Snatch".

He covers his hands with a black viscous substance, and when he touches something he wants to obtain, he can get it,

He can also copy and acquire magic and abilities.

His mask is nothing special, but it has enough potential to make him a trickster if he masters his abilities.

𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄

Eroded level = 3.7

He is truly terminally ill, so even when he takes off his mask, black tears are constant and sometimes drip from his mouth. and, he also often moans about his mental distress.

𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄 𓐄

back story

He wanders in a world that has become a distorted labyrinth, trying to fix the frames that have gone wrong.

He travels the same way as Peppino, but takes a completely different route than Peppino.

When they do battle... it will be in the form of a mutual encounter.,Faceless comes to check on them and says, "If you show interesting results, I'll lead yours to my place."and would pit the two against each other.

Noise is also interested in Peppino, who does not wear a mask, and tries to test his skills.

He sometimes creates a simple picture frame for a break and temporarily pries open an exit.

However, it is unclear where that exit leads,maybe the exit often leads to other AU.

[angeart]

grian w shadow magics could totally be fun for him as an assassin - maybe tying it back to the void since people stick the watchers in there, maybe the watchers are a group of assassins who typically specialize in shadow magic to sneak around, or something

(grian with shadow magic as an assassin and scar with light magic because sunflowers in secret life? could also give scar illusions through this because bending light to create images maybe? give them both sneaky sides to their magic could be fun)

and shapeshifting is always fun! yeah it wasnt my original idea but like. i love magic stuff. shapeshifting is always fun to explore! do they shift between full animal and full human? is there an inbetween state? can they do multiple animals or just the one? grian of course is a birb but what about scar?

(....i could always draw the dragon for you for that sorcerer scar who has a dragon idea i love to draw dragons)

-burny anon

oooooh i LOVE this!! the fact that their magics are the opposite in terms of light/dark, and the way scar's magic translates to illusions! they're both tricksters in their own way, it's only right :3c

the shapeshifting can be a completely separate idea. i just like grian spying on people as a birb (watcher vibes) or potentially getting hurt and being saved in his birb form without the other person (scar) knowing!

so i think grian would have three shapes - human, avian, and a complete birb.

as for scar... hmmmm.

first thought ofc is a cat. he could switch between human, then a version with cat ears, tail, fangs, and retractable claws, and a full on cat. (i have actually drawn cat scar before! for an au with sima <3)

another thought is something with antlers, like a deer or a moose? but that thought just crumbled into me having flashbacks of them playing oh deer... i think that's been enough of that pff.

i consulted Stiff as the Scar Creaturification Expert, and an idea of lemur was thrown into the mix. just because they're silly. bUT!!!

i think we cracked it.

consider this: a fox scar.

(please imagine a fox with a birb perched on its head. please please imagine.)

a sly cunning fox scar. but actually just silly and derpy. absolutely adorable. i love him.

i mean, look:

... do you see the vision? :3c

(and and i would love to see your drawings of dragons!! 👉👈)

[carpe-duem]

He's gone from Sisyphus to Lazarus

"He's gone from Sisyphus to Lazarus" is the phrase Wendy utters in Don't Starve together if Maxwell aka William Carter resurrects someone. And as soon as I found out about it, I just couldn't get it out of my head, it's like this... it's an amazing thing, so unlike the quotes of other characters, that I think about it too much. And I'll make you too.

Wendy, a girl with very dubious views for a twelve-year-old or-whatever-her-age-is and a predilection for quoting various kinds of literature. We are interested in the latter today. And she says about Maxwell "He's gone from Sisyphus to Lazarus" when he gets a resurrecting heart for the player. And what struck me so deeply in this phrase that I have not been able to get it out of my head for the third month? Well, first of all, she compares Maxwell's past with Sisyphus, and Maxwell is actually very, VERY mephistopheles-coded. Judge for yourself - in the text of the game itself, he is called a "demon". We have art with him and Wilson, where he hands the exhausted hero an apple - what is it if not an allusion to original sin? Several characters turn to him, although he still appears to the player as an NPC, as a "demon". Wigfried in one of the quotes (the attacker) says "I sense Loki's influence in ...(nickname)" and Loki is a character kinda related to Mephistopheles, they basically qualitatively similar, and Wortox, literally a demon, tells Maxwell "You have no power over me" (although, this, of course, is already far-fetched), and in the end, even his name is a reference to a thought experiment called "Maxwell's demon".

However, they say that outwardly he is based on Woland from the master and Margarita, although our antagonist also has the most obvious features of Mephistopheles - both a charismatic grin and sharp, angular facial features. "....growth was <...> high <..> he was wearing an expensive gray suit, foreign shoes in the color of the suit. Looks like he's in his forties. The mouth is kind of crooked. Clean-shaven. The eyebrows are black, but one is higher than the other. In a word, a foreigner." – there is some similarity, you must agree, even a part about a foreigner, given the fact that William is an immigrant from England, and among the hypotheses of Ivan Bezdomny (his pen name means "homeless") and Berlioz about the origin of Woland, there was also "An Englishman," Bezdomny thought, "look, and it's not hot for him in gloves" - but Woland in turn is also the image of Mephistopheles, which Bulgakov does not even hide, only a black poodle on the head of a cane is worth something, so we find ourselves at this point anyway. Yes, a trickster, yes, "part of that pover which eternally wills evil and eternally works good," but still, a demon is an image with a clearly negative connotation. And it is all the more surprising to see a comparison of his past with Sisyphus. Sisyphus is a character in Greek mythology, certainly not a positive one - a sinner who is forced to roll a stone uphill forever as punishment for his actions - he, according to one of the most common versions, chained the god of death Thanatos(or even Hades), thus defeating death itself, and stopping the death of people all over the globe for some time, and after his own death, with the help of cunning and deception, he returned back from the kingdom of Hades to earth, for which he eventually paid. And yet, remembering Sisyphus, we do not remember his actions during his lifetime - because, strictly speaking, the version of the myth that I have given is only one of several, there are several more where the actions of Sisyphus are described much more... cruel and socially unacceptable, I would say - for example, in another, less popular version, Sisyphus received his punishment for committing rape, but somehow Sisyphus in culture is primarily a symbol of hard, endless, fruitless work and cruel torment - there is a stable expression "Sisyphean labor" existing for a reason. Comparing someone with Sisyphus, we almost say what we feel for this person... pity? sympathy? And it's somehow very beautiful and touching, in my opinion. As you can see, such a character as Sisyphus is surprisingly far from the already familiar Maxwell-demon-Mephistopheles bundle, mentioned by other characters every now and then, which is simply amazing if you think about it a little longer. We see that Wendy characterized Maxwell, the Maxwell who was on the throne of shadows - if we consider this phrase of hers as a metaphor for all his being in the Constant- in a very peculiar way. In general, I must say, Wendy is an amazingly astute child - for example, her phrase about chess pieces, where she says about the queen "She holds the true power, here", and about the king "Alas, the king is but a figurehead, at best", very well reflects the situation with the rulers of the Constant, and such there are many examples.

[marine-indie-gal]

Yesterday I watched The Super Mario Bros Movie and it was a real blast (both the Animation and even the Storyline), I also loved on how the Movie brought in the more aspects to the Original Franchise. So far, As to someone who watches a Parody Mario Webseries that is filled with Memes, I've decided to create my very own interpertation of a Rumoured Character from a Nintendo Magazine, Clawdia Koopa. For those who don't know about the Clawdia Koopa rumor, there was a character mentioned somewhere in the Nintendo comics which sparked many fans to create a Fan Theory for an Unofficial Character that the Main Antagonist (Bowser) supossedly had a wife who's also supposed to be Junior's Mother but the Writers confirmied that she was actually a Unofficial Nintendo Character. However, that Old Rumour didn't stop fans from coming since many Mario fans attempted to their own personal interpertations of the Bowser Wife theory. So here is my very own late submission to that theory, that is my very own version of Clawdia Koopa, the Late Wife of Bowser Sr. and even the Biological Mother of Bowser Jr. Long before that the Tyrant Koopa King fell in love with the Mushroom Princess, Bowser had someone else before capturing the Beautiful Gentle Princess. Of course, this Koopa Queen was not ordinary nor was she all Girly-Girl like Other Girls, she was someone special to the Koopa King, Clawdia (The Rebel Koopa Woman who always had her own ways). Clawdia was the Daughter of a Late Koopa Baron and Koopa Baroness but since she was kidnapped at a younger age, she never really saw her Parents ever again as she was captured but was then took in by some Bandits who were Robbers, although it didn't seem pleasent at first, Clawdia grew up in her own Foster Family as she was often a Mischevious Cunning Trickster who would often rob People blind just for their Money (makes you think and wonder as to why Jr is mischevious). But that all changed until One Day, Clawdia was caught red-handed by the Koopa Troopas when the Robbers were trying to steal the Koopa King's Treasures the Robbers were senteced to death but Clawdia on the other hand managed to escape for she had to spent the Night alone in the Woods until when she was taken care of in a cottage by a Mushroom Eldery Couple who took her in for shelter. After a few weeks living in a small cottage, the Koopa Troopas found the Last Bandit as they brought her in to the Koopa King since the Koopa General knew that there was one robber left that managed to escape, but this Female Koopa struck Bowser through a personal interest as he managed to keep the Koopa Lady in since Clawdia already charmed Bowser by her own looks. At first, Clawdia didn't seem to like Bowser (not because of how that he was the Ruthless King) but because on how he send her old crew a punishment. However, where's Clawdia saw that there was more to Bowser since their relationship began to flow after it started out being rocky, she started to grew fond of him ever since Bowser thought that maybe he could have Clawdia for a Wife since the Koopa Kingdom had not been having a Queen for a very long time as Bowser earned her own kindness and trust, the Koopa King began to fall in love with her. Because of the Evil Wonders that they did together and how Clawdia even manage to help Bowser out on his own ways into getting on what he wanted like treasures and more power. After all, Clawdia was a smart mischevious genius for she would often trick and blind the good people for her one true love. Bowser and Clawdia were married for the once Robber Koopa was no longer a bandit but become more of that, a Koopa Queen. Soon, after One Year of Marriage, Clawdia became pregnant with her Husband's Child for Bowser was exicited to have an Heir to the Koopa Throne on his own as when Bowser Jr. came to the World, the Couple were happy for they were expecting to have a bright future of their own. Unfortunately however, a Group of Assistants wanted to steal Bowser's treasure but the Other Koopas were assistanted and posioned as the Entire Koopa Army attacked them but one of the Assisants managed to assisanted the Queen with Posion Smoke. Lucikly, Junior on the other hand managed to survive since Clawdia tossed her Child towards Kamek for the Rest of the Koopas escaped the Assisants and the Fire that they caused in the Old Koopa Kingdom as it was instantly destoryed and burned down. Bowser was even heartbroken for the First Woman he loved was now gone for the Koopa King and his Troops headed out somewhere near away the Mushroom Lands to go look for a New Koopa Kingdom. To avenge the Tragic Death of a First Wife, Bowser decided that for now on, he would only have to take care of their one and only child and even keep the Koopa Kingdom ongoing with a New Land for the Koopas. Super Mario Bros. and Clawdia Koopa (c) Nintendo Personal Interpertation of Clawdia (c) Me

[drzootsuit]

Couldn't help but notice the Porate still doesn't have a Mod Eater counterpart

Does it help you at all to know that Canon Pirate apparently sees the Angler as an apprentice of sorts for pirate hood?

Or that one of his possible names is James T. Beard, referencing Kirk from Star Trek?

The pirate has been driving me crazy, and I'm going to use this as an opportunity to wax about it!

The Hyperlight Alice was concocted because I wanted the characters to have a home base that could move from place to place, going to different mod worlds so that I could possibly explain all of the crazy stuff in mods as all being in one setting. The original idea behind making it a cruise ship was the thought that perhaps certain mod NPC's could even come with, becoming recurring cast members.

That idea probably won't happen, A. because there are a lot of modded NPC's, and B. because there are a ton of base-game Terraria NPC's!

Seriously, I hadn't processed how many there were until I started designing them all! There's almost thirty! And trying to make all of them characters is tough.

The Pirate has been kicking my ass, because at every step, I keep asking what his point is. My first thought was to have him be a space-pirate who, when defeated, books his ghostly ass a room on the alice in order to play trickster mentor and drink all the booze.

Sounds good! I even started sketching a sexy ganondorf looking guy in a pirate hat!

But wait: a sexy older guy with ghost powers who acts jolly but has a tempered darkness he uses to guide the heroes in his own weird way?

Oops! that's literally just the way I already wrote the clothier!

Once I realized that, things spun out of control. Making him a cunning bastard in general started to feel off, because there are so many cunning bastards on the ship. Captain velacruz, the party girl, the clothier, the dye trader, the merchant, and truffle cover most of that spectrum.

And most of their potential bones, I feel like I've used. The Merchant being the angler's uncle. The party girl being a master manipulator. the clothier's ghost curse. All the bits that would have made up the pirate got divided up and split across the cast.

Other ideas have flown furiously in my head. Maybe he's a retired naval officer instead of a pirate. Maybe he's a mashup of beetlejuice and Ramsey from epithet erased. Spooky did a fantastic design where the pirate is a beachside amusement fortune teller that Vix broke, who's ghost is now haunting her... but even though he did such a great job with the design (I should see if I can find it and post it) it still struck me with "what potential story can I weave with this? How does it help things?"

Other ideas have occurred as well, and they've been getting very esoteric: making the pirate the face of the haunting that pervades the Alice. Making them a mysterious wanted space pirate that I can introduce when the story actually requires them. Making them a deliberate imposter from outside the story who has put on a pirate hat in order to steal their spot.

Making the mod eater versions of the NPC's has been a blast, but in doing so, I've learned a little bit about asking yourself what role a character fills in your story. And I do think I can beat this. the tavernkeep also stumped me in the same way until I found a story role I liked: put-upon neurotic normal, and now she adds a good dimension of emotion that was missing before.

So I'm sure the pirate has a niche. I just haven't figured out what it is yet. Who knows? Maybe it will end up being that invader from outside the plot (she's a character who I made a vow to try to include in every project I work on, long story. Ask me about it sometime!). Maybe it will even be an existing mod character! The spirit mod's gambler would look good in a pirate coat.

Overall though, I think this is proof of how creative we can truly get with the things we work on. There are endless possibilities when interpreting and playing with tropes and ideas, no matter simple they may seem. Where even something as simple s a little sprite of a pirate captain can drive an artist crazy trying to think of all the infinite possibilities of who he could be as a character.

I do wanna try to finish the set before new years tho so I do have a bit of a deadline.

[mixedupmojo]

Well, i discovered your account through the post of the monkie king x reader and..

Boy, he became my comfort character, and also, it made me kinda think about how some in the fandom of jca used to make funny scenarios of him interacting with the eight demon sorcerers or the chans, and it made me wonder

Since in the monkie kid lego, like.. i don't really remember much the name, where there has a twisted version of monkie king, it made me think of how it would be like if the monkie king had a sibling who was like him but kinda more mature or have slight more sense (or just maybe a complete maniac) which also made me laugh as i thought of a scenario of the sibling of monkie king just jokingly flirting with hsi wu with zero expectations of a flirt back

But in the end get flustered when hsi wu actually does flirt back and makes the sibling just stay still and frozen like "..uh..did you flirt back??" XD

(Also, i love your posts)

thank you i glad you like my stuff ^_^

also are you perhaps thinking of the six eared macaque (liu er mihou)? in the original story of jttw he was basically the monkey kings evil twin.

and now i'm thinking of what macaque would be like in jca. like i could imagine him being less silly trickster more cunning master mind but still somehow twice as bad as monkey king. just imagine the rivalry, i could see it being similar to the dynamic between daffy duck and bugs bunny.

i am very much enjoying the image of monkey kings s/o teasingly flirting with the sibling and sibling ex. has stopped working, but can you imagine how jealous monkey king would get though. i can just imagine him being extremely melodramatic over the entire situation before inevitably pulling some over the top stunt to not only show up his sibling by subtly putting him in his place but also remind his s/o who they belong to.

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Back-Handed Proposals.

Pairing: Yandere!Ayato x Reader (Genshin).

Word Count: 1.1k.

TW: Unbalanced Power Dynamics and Attempted Manipulation.

[Part Two]

You hated being alone with Ayato.

Most of the time, you could avoid it. There was always something to do in the Kamisato Estate, always a reason to be in the other room, always an excuse to make yourself scarce whenever Ayato mentioned wanting to have a word with you, and if you were lucky, your duties would carry you to another island entirely, another city or another village where Ayato’s influence dwindled and reminders of him were few and far between. Sometimes, you could go hours without so much as seeing him, without feeling his burning stare or having to avoid his wandering hands. Those were the days you enjoyed most. You could so rarely afford to relax as a servant of the Yashiro Commission, even more so as the vassal of such an… affectionate Commissioner, and as reluctant as you would’ve been to admit it aloud, you savored any chance you got to put that much more distance between you and your dear lord.

You’d hoped, foolishly, that today would be one of those days.

Tragically, unsurprisingly, it was not.

At least he was quiet, too preoccupied to hold a steady conversation. From your place on the opposite side of his low chabudai, you could see a few lines of the letter he was reading, the one you’d delivered to him with the tea he had yet to touch. It’d been Thoma’s task, initially, but he'd been busy and you’d made the mistake of mentioning there was a gap in your schedule, if only one a few minutes wide. You’d tried to leave, but Ayato stopped you, asked you to stay, just in case he required a second opinion. As if he ever listened to any voice other than his own. As if he had any interest in attempting to.

After a few minutes, he put the letter down and began to drum his fingertips against the wooden tabletop, mocking thoughtfulness. He waited for you to break the silence, and you oblidged, hissing a polite question out through grit teeth. “Is something wrong, Lord Kamisato?”

“Oh, only the usual matters. Two of the representatives of minor clans within the Tenryou Commission announced their engagement, and unfortunately, we all must pay the price for the couple's happiness.” A slight pause, an absentminded glance in your direction. All of it so clearly calculated, you couldn’t help but fantasize about gauging out his eyes and being done with it altogether. “Have you ever thought about marriage, (Y/n)?”

“Whose would I think about?”

“Your own, preferably.”

Damn him.

“That’s… It’s hard to say, actually.” Ayato liked to present himself as a diplomat, to act as if his tongue was a more effective weapon than any blade or arrow. He treated each exchange as a game to be won, and in your experience, the only way to beat him was to say as little as possible, confess nothing, and escape as soon as you could. Or, better yet, not to play at all. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a reason to.”

He hummed, as if you’d said anything of value. “You should consider it. If not for sentimental purposes, then to tie yourself more closely to the Tri-Commission. There are—” He leaned forward, resting his arms on the chabudai, attempting to catch your eye and biting back a grin when you cast your gaze pointedly downward. “—many eligible partners available within the Kamisato Clan, if you’d like to make our bond more official.”

You took a moment to think, to lower your head and pretend to mull it over. You did your best to put on a small smile, as nervous as it was sincere. If he could present himself as some cunning, aloof trickster, then you could mock innocence, play doe-eyed and sincere until the sweetness turned sickening and he sent you away himself. “I mean, Thoma is very nice,” You started, folding your hands in your lap. “And handsome, too, but that goes unsaid. We do work well together, and I’m sure he’d be very dutiful as a husband, especially when it comes to—”

“Thoma is already very busy. I don’t think he’d have time to attend a wedding right now, as the groom or otherwise.” A forced smile, a tilt of his head. “I was actually thinking of someone a little closer to the heart of the clan. Someone with an established title, and enough status to share.”

You blinked once, twice. “I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.”

“I just thought that, if we’re going to bother with a wedding,” He said, his tone lilting into something slow, something conspiratorial. “We might as well go through the trouble of getting you married to an actual Kamisato, too.”

You bit the side of your tongue, pursing your lips. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Of course.” An airy chuckle, a new quirk to his smile. “Why would I propose something that did suit my best interests?”

“Well,” You could speak slowly, too. Your smile could be just as unbearble, just as infurating as his. “I suppose I didn’t expect you to give away your sister so easily.”

His amused expression dropped in an instant. He moved to say something, but it was your turn to talk over him, to gush and bubble as your voice turned light and dreamy. “Not that I’m opposed! If I’m being honest, I’ve always been fond of Lady Ayaka. She has such a kind soul, and she’s so brave, too, and her talent with the blade – to be completely honest, my lord, the first time I saw how she handled her sword, I couldn’t help but imagine what her hand might look like wrapped around my—” He went stiff, started to lurched forward, and you paused, letting out a breathy sigh before you went on. “wrapped around my own. I know I shouldn’t have such intimate thoughts concerning my lady, but—”

“I think,” Ayato cut you off, his grin now visibly strained. “that you should take some time to consider our proposal. Perhaps while you finish the rest of your duties, for today.”

You nodded, pushing yourself to your feet and bowing shallowly. Before turning to leave, you took a moment to linger, to clasp your hands together in front of you and meet his eyes, his poorly-hidden glare. “Shall I inform Lady Kamisato of our engagement?”

“You shall not—”

[tenten18282]

What if? Hyrule x Four sword AU Recently, someone asked me if I would ever try re-designing Hyrule.... I thought of a creative way to do so, and decided to do four concepts about Hyrule being the wielder of the Four Sword, with each iteration inspired off a specific media relating to Hyrule Instead of them being the same design but color coded, they all wear outfits based on their preference. ⬇⬇⬇ More info below ⬇⬇⬇

Hero: -Hyrule's courage -The element of fire -Endlessly heroic to the point of having a "tough guy" persona -Confident in his abilities, but still has humility -Somewhat brash and strong spirited, doesn't often think things through -Obsessed with the idea of chivalry King: -Hyrule's ruthlessness -The element of water -Stoic and has tactical intelligence, but incredibly blunt -Devoted to Hyrule's people (self sacrificing) -Battle hardened, fights like a beast -Weighs the pros and cons of every situation but is not afraid to brute force it if necessary Traveler: -Hyrule's cunning -Element of air -The personification of Hyrule's survival instinct, but enjoys the thrill of exploration regardless (can't stay still for long) -Carefree and a jokester, uses it as a front to hide his actual intentions, incredibly clever -Massive trust issues, the only one of the four with self preservation and values his life above others, clashes with king as a result -Trickster, will fight dirty if the situation calls for it Medic: -Hyrule's heart -Element of earth -Will always place others above himself -The most self conscious and self aware in their flaws -Will always remain kind, results in being too trusting, and is aware of this -The designated damage controller of the chaos the others create (he is very tired)

[schadenfredde]

And he isn't just all about those traits either! People who say he's dull just don't care enough to look closer at his character.

One of my favourite things about Jonathan is how much he actually subverts typical heroes. Wait, hear me out here.

He isn't well liked by anyone aside from like a small group of friends, and Dio remained popular even until the end. Most heroes are well liked, or if they're not, they gain public admiration eventually, even if they weren't doing good deeds to earn that. Jonathan never got that recognition. He's outperformed by Dio every step of their lives before everything went to hell, and never really escaped living in his shadow even as an adult. He's ignored by his schoolmates and fellow rugby teammates despite having playing a very important part in their victory. Most notably, no one visited Jonathan at the hospital except for this random thug who tried to mug him literally a few days back. His accomplishments remained unknown to the world at large, only passed down through generations of his family thanks to Speedwagon and Erina.

Then there's his colour theme. Despite being a hero, his colour theme is dull and dark, contrasting Dio's brilliant reds and golds. I think that was a really cool subversion of many common good vs evil colour contrasts. Like Mufasa and Scar. Or Thor and Loki.

And speaking of good vs evil, another thing that stuck out to me the most was his fascination with the macabre. Dio may have been the one to use the Stone Mask to turn himself into a vampire, but Jonathan was the one who dedicated his life to studying artifacts like this as an archeologist! Most hero protagonists would actively avoid/destroy dark stuff, or have no idea of their true nature. Not only does Jonathan know feeding blood to the mask activates the spines, he understands it was most likely used to kill (before he discovered its actual purpose), and yet he's genuinely charmed by it. I mean look at him!

That is the face of a man who has fed his own blood to the mask countless times already and still thinks it's super neat to watch it do the thing. What a dork.

If he'd lived I could imagine a really fun series where he'd go on archeological trips with Erina and Speedwagon, hunting for Stone Masks and studying and trying to understand cursed artifacts. Maybe he could even be the one who uncovers the Pillar Men's location. There's so much he could have done and it kills me to know he'd never get the opportunity to do them.

He can be a trickster at times too. Remember when he tricked Dio into basically confessing he'd killed Dario and was planning to do the same to George? Or countering Dio's freezing ability by subtly maneuvering him towards a lit brazier? He even thought about diving deeper into a lake to get to a pocket of air while DROWNING, just to gain an advantage over a zombie. He's actually really intelligent and even cunning at times. The story just does not give him many opportunities to show it like it does for Joseph.

It's actually scary how easily Jonathan could have been the villain, and yet, he just wants to do good, because that's just the kind of person he is. He doesn't want to hurt anyone, and strives to be kind no matter the circumstances.

In conclusion, Jonathan is a really fascinating and nuanced character who goes beyond the typical goody goody hero trope, I can't stop anyone who still doesn't like him but I am begging for you to give him the credit he deserves.

ppl hate jonathan the same way ppl hate superman. ppl just hate hope, bravery and goodness

[theparanormalperiodical]

A few weeks back, Japan’s ‘killing stone’ split open. Let’s talk about that.

Japanese horror films are world renowned for their artistic prowess, intricate stories and folkloric-inspiration. But no one really talks about the latter. From my research for previous blogposts, I’ve fallen down many a rabbit hole and gotten lost in ancient stories that inspired our favourite scary movies, like The Ring and The Grudge.

So, when I saw that a paranormal Japanese legend had hit the press, last week, I knew what today’s blog would be about.

Turns out, the ‘killing stone’ - or Sessho-seki - has split in half, releasing the demon spirit of Tamamo-no-Mae after 1000 years.

dun dun duuh

Of course, what’s really happened here is that the volanic rock has been splitting over several years due to weathering. And its lethal name? Probably because of the poisonous gases it emits.  

And science, yeah, is cool, right. But today we’re talking about some spooky shizz.

Let’s get started.

*snaps latex glove*

The legend of Tamamo-no-Mae

I was about to say that our story starts sometime between the 14th or 16th century - with the Muromachi period, where Tamamo gets her first mention. But we actually need to go all the way back about 3400 years (*m3nt4l m4th5*) to the Shang dynasty in China. Well, right to the end of it: when the last king, King Zhou, shacked up with a woman named Daji. But according to legend, a fox spirit killed and impersonated her.

Fox spirits are entities from Chinese (and East Asian) mythology. These foxes are mischievous tricksters with magical powers. And most of the time, they can disguise themselves as beautiful women. Transforming into Daji, therefore, wasn’t too much of a challenge.

But this fox spirit caused hell of a lot of trouble when it brought on a ‘reign of terror’, resulting in a rebellion that ended the Shang dynasty. After this, it hot-footed it to ancient India to become another partner of a royal figure, influencing him to execute thousands of men. After its second defeat, it returned to China (8th century BC) to play out the same pattern of impersonate, marry and create chaos.

Now we’re in the 14th century AD. 2200 years later (?), the fox heads on over to Japan for the first time, appearing as Tamamo-no-Mae. She was clever, beautiful and Emperor Toba’s favourite partner. But after he became ill, an astrologer was brought in to diagnose the problem. The astrologer sniffed the fox out pretty easily. So, the emperor asked some warriors to kill the fox in the town of Nasu.

When the deed was done, the spirit embedded itself in a nearby rock, becoming Sessho-seki.

A Buddhist monk visited the rock a few hundred years later, exorcising the spirit and claiming it was now at peace.

So, what is it about magical foxes?

Turns out, foxes and humans used to live quite close together, back in ancient Japan. They used to believe that any fox - or kitsune - can shapeshift into human form, and that they possess paranormal abilities that increase as they age.

Kitsune liked to possess young women by entering them beneath their fingernails on through their breasts (yeah, no idea how, either). Much like spirit possession in other cultures, you could be exorcised by a priest.

Today, people can suffer from kitsunetsuki, where they believe they are possessed by a fox. They crave rice, sweet beans, aren’t interested in anything, are restless and can’t keep eye contact.

But its not just in Japan or East Asia that foxes are associated with supernatural powers.

According to Native American legends, foxes are born tricksters that were able to remove their fur and become women. The Celts thought they were cunning, sly creatures. In Scandinavian mythology it is even believed that foxes created the Northern Lights.  

If you liked this post, let me know by liking, reblogging or following this blog!

[demonfamilytherapist]

So I was listening to Karliene's Dark Ones which gives me major Unseelie/Wicked Fae vibes. Which inspired the idea of a trickster, maybe a little cruel, fae!mc. Demons are so much more study then the humans they normally would bother. Who are they to deny a summon if someone so greatly desires their presence?

Maybe Diavolo and Lucifer don't realize they've summoned a fae. It's not like they ever actually ask if Fae!MC is a human. This whole 'demon' school should be rather entertaining for a little while at least. There's so much trouble a fae!mc could get into and cause. Much like the demons maybe fae!mc is able to make pacts - however they don't quite function the same. It's more like a boon, or a gift - that you can call upon the fae to aide you, if they feel like it. Fae do always try to repay a debt owed.

Belphie would stop trying to kill fae!mc once he realized they aren't even human to begin with. This doesn't mean fae!mc has forgotten about his attempts. They most certainly are going to get him back. Fae are incredibly petty and spiteful and they never forget.

The other way to go with this is an almost reverse!isekai with the fae!mc originally being from twisted wonderland and is summoned into a world that is def. not home. Crow Fae!MC who is so very good at hoisting their responsibilities onto someone else. The Courts of the Valley of Thorns were getting so dreadfully boring and this is a whole new place to explore.

Diavolo and RAD get a literal exchange student. Belphie trying to get them to release him from the attic but they don't actually fall for it. At least at first. It'd be hilarious if they refuse to help him until he offers something worthwhile. Can you imagine him getting desperate to be freed because his lies and cunning aren't fooling the fae? MC considers requiring him to sing a duet with them. Once Upon A Dream would be so ironic.

If Lucifer thought he had a headache now he's never dealt with the trouble a bored fae can cause.

I just really like the idea of a raven/crow themed Bird!Fae messing with demons. Though Mammon and his ravens/crows might be a little more successful at courting a fae over his brothers. No fae folk was ever won over easily. So demon courting rituals or not fae!mc is going to make them work for it.

But also you should try Karliene's Dark Ones it's a lovely song.

Just had a listen!Thanks for the rec, Anon! It's a gorgeous song.

I haven't gotten super far with TWST just yet, so I can't say I know much about their Fae... but I do have an affection for stories about the fair folk/the Unseelie.

I wonder how long they'll be able to hide for? They may look alike (unless the Fae reveals themselves) but humans and Fae have very different cultures and Fae follow their own set of rules. Though perhaps MC only appears as an odd, if overly honest and honourable, human. They always keep their word and Diavolo can never sense them lying - though they will call up a favour if needed. I imagine Mammon learns that the hard way...

But the pacts are interesting. Maybe they make them like normal, but it's a bit more two-directional than they're used to. Asmo is the only one who can really tell the difference, but he's only ever had a pact with Solomon, so maybe it just varies human to human? You could give a unique boon for each of them, or perhaps a general one based on you - how annoyed would Mammon be if your boon was like 'kinship with crows' though. He already had that and now his brothers can do it too?????

Belphie living in fear of the day MC decides to get their revenge for his murder attempt. He tries to apologise and placate them with little gifts, is willing to cut very one-sided deals, anything to avoid their ire. Belphie, aside from maybe Satan, is probably most familiar with human legends regarding the Fae. He knew he fucked up the moment he realised what MC was.

Mammon who has hyped up and encouraged hundreds of his crows to make a move on their crow crushes over the years suddenly asking their advice on how to court someone. The crows give him so many shiny lil trinkets to give you because they want their master to get a partner finally.

Also, a crow Fae mc having an interesting relationship with the concept of 'property'. What do you mean this necklace belongs to someone? It's literally just lying around, in a castle? No one's wearing it? It's not in an iron vault? Finders keepers!

[aeternallis]

Hmmm, it's an interesting question to mull over, but for me personally, I don't think it's that it would have been less painful, but more like the audience would have dealt with a different sort of pain? Filmania!Kim’s characterization was more loyal to the book, and in the book, Kim and Chay’s issues were different compared to what they dealt with in BOC’s adaptation. Believe it or not, despite Filmania!Kim’s fuckboi appearance and from the crumbs we saw of him in the OG 9-min trailer, Kim remains pretty steadfast throughout the time we see him in the novel, a lot more than Kinn is at least. 

In fact, when Kinn finds out that Kim and Chay are becoming close, he's hella nervous, not necessarily because they’re becoming close, but because he’s afraid of getting in trouble with Porsche. He describes that Kim “is a good person, but he flirts to death!” The one time Chay suspects him of cheating, it’s only because Chay dreamt about it and got all paranoid, not because Kim actually did. Lol

If I were to describe book!Kim, he’s almost an amalgamation of WWX and HC as San Lang from MXTX’s works, if you’re familiar with them. He’s sly, cunning, a bit of a trickster, but also quite playful and accommodating of Chay’s needs when the latter moves into the compound. Filmania!Kim’s appearance tends to be misleading, so a lot of people in turn tend to think his character would have been more unhinged/problematic than BOC!Kim, whereas I think it’s actually the other way around.  

But in the book, they’re more cutesy than anything else, which I think was what Filmania was going for when they did the promo for their series:

But as you said, It’s conjecture because Filmania!KinnPorsche was scrapped, alas. Still, it’s a fun little thought experiment~

Would it have hurt less if we got Filmania's Kimhan instead?

I just feel like Filmania's Kimhan would have gone through an extensive character redemption arc before I could accept him as Chay's love interest. BOC's Kimhant never really felt malicious. He is rough around the edges but his heart is in the right place. His flaws just reveals how young he is and how much he loves his family that he is willing to sacrifice everything he has even if it were his only solace.

This is all conjecture of course since we never got to know Filmania's Kimhan but BOC's Kimhan just really made me feel like I want punched in the throat every time I am reminded that in the end, he lost the only thing that truly loved him, not the Mafia prince, not WIK, but as Kim.

[kirstenonic05]

For the blorbo thing I'm hitting you with an uno reverse card. Joseph. Ooughts and thpinions?

He's just... spiritually... a little guy... and an idiot

Thoughts on Mr. Joestar. Many. Tbh I feel like the Joseph I use in find has kind of derived from the canon Joseph a bit but um. Go himbo go!

He has one(1) braincell and it only activates when his adrenaline kicks in. Said single braincell either creates the best plan known to man or some very, very stupid prank. Doesn't run away from anything, unless running away is a part of the Plan™

Looks intimidating at first until you get to know him. Actually super chill... ok, not chill, more like, an absolute trickster. The kind of person who's hard to hate (even if you're a god knows how old pillarman)

Love his chaotic yet soft energy and would also punch him in the face. And also also give him a blanket and a hot chocolate. He probably hides negative emotions under a facade.

Also I think abt his family situation and how he probably feels the need to fill in the shoes of his grandpa Jonathan so instead he tries his best to do everything opposite of him... but still has that Joestar spark that, in the end, makes him more similar to his oldman then he realises. And, despite the tough guy facade, he tends to emphasise with the enemy and just hates the concept of death in general.

Probably got his cunning from his mother and his heart from his father. Also, his love of detective content like Sherlock Holmes probably came from his father, Jorge, and his adventures as a detective for a while. Probably can also get quite shy over certain topics, much like Jorge, but it's rare. Again, Joseph doesn't realise any of this.

He ends up in most of my fics because he's just a fun character to have in a story, even if he's not the main character. Shares similar energy to Sonic. I have way, WAY too many AU versions of Joseph (to the point of having a chart that is all over the place)

I have a lot more to say but I think he. A lot.