#i didn't actually do all I wanted to with this but uh..

[jbird-the-manwich]

"pro-ai" people. I think you ought to unpack that a tad. I think their might be some assumptions in there doing an awful lot of heavy lifting that may not be all that valuable.

All of your examples require an internet connection, and for those services to be live on the web. Even templates, you either have to download them or the specialized software that runs them.

All of these require information access on remote servers, and they each require their own, individual process, and for those individual services to be maintained in a way that is free or affordable.

An llm is a generalist. that can do all of these, and a lot more things, in one installation, that can still be on your machine and run if your connection goes down. Should you take its medical advice? Probably not. Is error checking over? No. Is that still very handy to format an email when FormatAnEmail.com is down? uh. yeah.

The choice of whether or not to use AI should depend on the task and how good AI is at it and the other resources at your disposal.

this false "pro-ai" and "anti-ai" dichotomy is silly, and is predicated on an assumption that "AI" is always going to meet some criteria that is objectionable in all cases for all reasonable people that isn't true.

I see where this argument comes from, but the evils of "ai" are actually the evils of like 3 companies and I would argue its more useful as consumers to recall that, considering these companies are trying to sell it to you. But these evils aren't true because of the ai. They're true because of the companies trying to win an arms race.

"Ai is evil"

not even true of most llms or most llm research.

It applies with the most parity to the 2 or 3 models we see being advertised the most, and the companies attached in the public zeitgeist, but those models are fairly extreme outliers for their size, complexity, resource use, and the audacity of their holding companies. They don't really represent a representative sample of the qualities any LLM *must* have or will have. Most research in llms in the last several years has been about making them smaller and more resource efficient.

I would argue there is no useful "anti-ai" and "pro-ai" identity. There are consumers angry about specific models and generalizing those shortcomings to an entire paradigm of computing based on the first one or two things they've heard about "AI" and deciding they're all of the devil, and... people who didn't do that.

"Using ai" does not necessarilly mean chatgpt. We have language models that are open source. That are local. That are private. That do not put money directly in the hands of any company. One that's 260 something megabytes for the weights. a hundred or so million parameters in comparison to chatgpts estimated trillions. LLMs run all gamuts of size, resource use, "intelligence" and data provinance and once training is done the model itself is just basically a ROM image. There is very little you can say about the implementation of chatgpt that would apply to every llm, not now, not a year ago, and especially not moving forward.

It's a tool. Not a demon. And for things the tool is less good at, finetuning the tool is entirely possible and is accessible to anyone who can follow a basic python tutorial. we are not at the mercy of these companies or their doings to provide ourselves access to the tool nor are we necessarily culpable to any problem you can name in AI unless we specifically choose to be. And we can choose specifically not to be and still use AI by using more ethical ai models. Usage of an LLM does not preclude that foul play is being rewarded in some way with patronage to any specific dealer.

Deciding there's "Anti-AI" and "Pro-AI" is just pretend internet politics. It's two straw men jerking off while they hold eye contact to assert dominance. People who want to use AI in a more ethical way were already capable of doing that, for... literal years. and no one who's thinking very critically and is abreast of the options available is wearing either of those hats with their whole pussy because they just don't make any sense. You can't really hear "using ai" and be sure something that should be boycotted is happening. And I personally am not deciding to fight over how someone writes their grocery list. I literally just. could not be fucked to care about anything much less. "This nasty bitch wrote her grocery list with token generation" idgaf. I just... don't.

I think a lot of what pro-AI people are really wanting is stuff that already exists but they don't know it's out there like

can't format a work email? templates

don't know how to write a resume? templates

writing a thank you card or a condolences card or a wedding invitation? templates templates templates

not sure how to format your citations in MLA or whatever format? citationmachine.net

summary of something you're reading for school/work? cliffsnotes.com

recipe based on ingredients in your fridge? whatsintherefrigerator.com

there's a million more like, guys, we don't need AI, we never needed generative AI

[jsooly]

death in the family (5) / sully family x human!daughter/sister!reader

synopsis, you're plagued with an uneasy feeling that persists day in and day out.

tw. you throw up once, depictions of anxiety

(1) / . . . / (10) / (11* - ur here! ☆)

+ chapters with an * beside it means that it’s following atwow plot line as opposed to disconnected scenarios

a week and a half passed and you were still drawing up empty on ideas to snatch spider from the RDA's clutches. as far as you were concerned, he was constantly with the recom team, sometimes in areas you couldn't access.

"they're going to try and bond with ikran," spider whispered over the comm you slipped on his wrist.

you scoffed, pressing onto your new comm choker. "already?"

"they really want to go 'full na'vi.'"

"you think they'll be able to do it? complete the ritual?"

"honestly..." you heard him sigh softly, his tone begrudging. "as much as i hate to admit it, yeah. they could probably manage it."

you dropped your head into your hands. with each passing day, the situation spiraled just a little further out of your control. sometimes you laid awake in bed staring at the ceiling, a war raging in your mind on what you could handle. this was quaritch you were talking about—the man who hunted and almost succeeded in killing your father once before.

the only thing that pushed you to get up in the morning was the fire burning in your heart. his entire team was dead set on killing your family and regardless of how anxious you were, under no circumstances were you going to let them catch the faintest whiff of the sully's new refuge—even if you didn't know how you'd do so.

"okay, i'll..." i don't know what i'll do, you wanted to scream. "i'll be in touch. stay safe, okay?"

"yeah, i will." spider said hurriedly before the line dropped.

as if your doubts weren't enough to paralyze you, a sinking sensation constantly weighed you down. like a lead ball rooted in your stomach, your gut was trying to tell you that something bad was going to happen. but every situation around you had the potential to crash and burn, you couldn't pinpoint what your premonition was trying to warn you about.

"y/n!" norm exclaimed when you wandered into the break room for a glass of water. he launched from his seat and studied your face carefully. "are you getting enough sleep?" he flattened the back of his hand against your forehead. "you look sick!"

you smiled, trying to reassure his nervous assessment of your state. "i haven't been sleeping well, lately. that's all."

he frowned. "lately? how long has this been going on?"

"uh..." you pursed your lips, pouring some water into your glass. "since they left, actually. it's only gotten worse now."

"i think we should take a medical assessment, just to be safe." he pulled out his tablet and tapped away on the transparent blue screen. "you've been avoiding all the poisonous flora while you're out, right?"

you rolled your eyes, shaking your head. "yes, i have. and i don't need an assessment, norm, i'm just adjusting."

his hands stilled and he slowly pocketed his tablet. he eyed you suspiciously but settled for trusting your word. "...if you say so."

/

afterwards, you retreated to your room. your thoughts trailed back to spider once again. could you switch out his exo-pack somehow? if the tracker was the problem, a simple switch of the mask could give him the freedom to slip away the minute he sees an opportunity.

you weren't naive, however. a trained solider like quaritch would definitely be able to identify the switch if he were to look hard enough. the exo-packs the research department had were old and weathered, nothing near as spanking new as the RDA's updated model.

you pursed your lips as you ruminated in your thoughts. your eyes caught on the faint silvery glow outside your window, even in the bright daylight.

eywa.

respectfully, she was annoying you. she was teasing you with wonder, with a message that you were clearly oblivious to. even worse, you had no way to communicate with her except stare at her spirits dumbly.

this was probably the fifteenth time her sprites popped up, hung around your person, and then disappeared into the forest. it was clockwork. you couldn't go a day without seeing those majestic tendrils floating in your vicinity. you were confused the first time she showed herself up in high camp, and you remained just as confused now.

you appreciated her presence as much as you could before it fluttered off. you sighed and shook your head slightly.

your comm buzzed to life. your fingers automatically raised to accept the call, a habit fostered over the years. "yeah?" you answered.

"they're gonna scale the hallelujah mountains around midday tomorrow. the mountains above that watering hole we used to go to."

you pursed your lips. "if you guys are going to be in close quarters with each other and the ikran, it's too much of a risk for me to try and follow behind you."

"no, you're totally right. i'm just letting you know so you know you have free reign on the ground if needed. their temporary base is near the watering hole, too."

oh? "that's great, spidey. thanks for letting me know." you hummed, the gears in your head turning. "they got backup masks for you? do you know?"

"they got a whole trunk of stuff, m'not sure what's in it, though. i would assume yes?"

"i'll snoop around tomorrow. how long can you hold your breath?"

"huh?"

you smiled to yourself as the pieces fell into place. "just be prepared to break your mask."

/

for the next few hours, you worked to modify one of the exo-packs to match the newer RDA versions. truthfully, they were just darker and thinner, ultimately covering less of the face.

you groaned as you gave up on your endeavor. there was no way the recoms would fall for some half-assed switcheroo like the one you were planning. you needed their model, one that was untouched by the military without any trackers of any sort.

am i really doing this? you asked yourself as you slung your bow and arrow over your chest and slipped out your bedroom window. yes, i am. you sighed in defeat as you rushed towards the RDA base again.

/

night was falling fast over awa'atlu and jake sully was counting heads for the night.

"four," he mumbled to himself as he ruffled lo'ak's head and gently pushed him inside the marui. "good job today, everyone. didn't hear about any trouble."

lo'ak grumbled under his breath as he crouched next to his mother, who caressed his cheek lovingly.

"why are you so upset, lo'ak?" she probed gently. "you had fun today. i saw you."

"he had fun with tsireya!" tuk teased, a wide grin on her face. "oooo, you liiike her!"

lo'ak's head snapped up, his golden eyes glaring. "shut up, tuk."

"hey." jake scolded him, a disapproving look on his face. "that's no way to talk to your sister."

lo'ak rolled his eyes and stormed off to his corner. neytiri sighed and threw more ingredients into the fire, the aromas spilling over into the air.

"why is your brother so upset, neteyam?" neytiri asked tiredly. it was always something with these children.

neteyam pursed his lips. "i think he's just missing y/n."

"we all are," kiri cut in, her tone clipped. "doesn't mean he can be an ass about it."

neteyam shrugged. lo'ak wasn't likely to hear anyone out. he'd probably sort through it himself, if anything. he was probably also at his limit of hearing him lecture his ear off.

"it's been weeks. the longest we've been without her." neteyam, ever the diplomat, reasoned. "we all process differently. you haven't been perfect either."

kiri sat up straighter, indignation written all over her face. "what is that supposed to—"

"okay, okay." jake cut in swiftly. "it's been a good day. let's not end on a bad note, yeah?"

the kids grumbled as they reluctantly bit their tongues.

"dad." lo'ak spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to the boundary of the marui. "your computer's buzzing."

/

for all the pride the RDA possessed, their base was sure easy to infiltrate. it helped that you were one person, already familiar with the layout and camera blind spots, and had a few sedatives at your disposal. gaining an access card was a piece of cake.

you buzzed into the research department, the halls empty and dark. surprisingly, all the scientists were sleeping. you assumed they had dorms, though you did stumbled upon the odd person slumped over their desk.

along the wall there were rows upon rows of exo-packs. you smiled to yourself, swiping one kit with ease and attaching it to your person. getting out was as easy as getting in, and you held onto that access card.

for this to work, you'd need to eliminate all suspicion that the new mask would be tampered with. if the recoms did have spare masks for spider, undoubtedly with trackers in them, you'd have to deactivate them and hide them away somewhere, and give spider a handheld tracker so that the recoms would still be able to see his movement, but could be discarded when he decided to make a run for it.

what if this was all for nothing? you suddenly asked yourself. your stomach sunk, twisted, and flipped all at once. what if you were just as helpless as they thought you were, and you couldn't protect those who mattered most to you?

you felt sick.

you slinked into your room, promptly dropping the new exo-pack on the bed along with your weapons. you stumbled out the door to grab some water.

shut up, you told yourself, aiming to console your raging sense of impending doom. nothing bad is going to happen, i'll make sure of it.

you didn't even believe yourself. your hands shook as you poured your glass. something bad is going to happen. something bad is going to happen.

you were convinced. despite your family safely tucked away in the refuge of the island clans and spider cooperating with quaritch himself, you were on the verge of snapping. you didn't feel something bad was going to happen, you knew it. something was about to go terribly wrong and you knew no matter what you did, it was going to occur anyways.

is this all for nothing?

you set your glass down and tripped over yourself racing to the bathroom. you didn't bother to put the lights on before you keeled over the toilet and threw up.

"y/n?" the light flickered on with a click! and norm stood in the doorway. his brows furrowed in concern. "are you okay?"

you gave him a deadpan look. do i look okay? you wanted to retort.

he smoothed the hair away from your face and really studied you. "okay, i'm not taking any chances." he gives you a stern look. "i need to give you a medical checkup."

you shook your head, drawing yourself to your feet and rinsing your mouth. "m'fine. just... tired." you mumbled before grabbing your toothbrush and cleansing the panic from your mouth.

"you're not fine. this is unorthodox, especially for you. just an hour of your time, if so much. what's your medical history?"

you blinked. growing up on hometree, nothing of the sort was recorded. you were treated as symptoms were presented, going about your day as normal once you were treated. "i don't think i have one?" you spit out the minty foam and packed away your toothbrush again.

norm slaps his forehead in realization. "oh, yes. okay, i'll call your dad to see—"

"no!" you whipped around and latched onto his wrist, your eyes wide. you gave norm an incredulous look. "you can't contact them in any way. what if the RDA picks up on the signal?"

norm paused, his mouth shutting as he pondered your words. his eyes narrowed, and you could see his mind searching for answers. then, "don't worry, bug, i'll encrypt and mask our frequency."

you shook your head, "they'll find them."

"you're being paranoid, y/n."

"they could."

norm's firm hand squeezed your shoulder. "they won't pick up on our conversation. i swear on my life, y/n, okay?"

you stared at him for a moment before relenting, momentarily shocked by your own outburst.

"besides, won't it be nice to see your dad, mom, and the kids again?" norm attempted to lighten the mood.

he left the small room without another word, typing and clicking away at his computer.

you shook your head, struggling to regain your bearings. you're fine, you tried to soothe yourself. you're fine, and so is everyone else.

"your family's on the line," norm was beside you again, grinning as he grabbed your wrists and strung you towards the computer.

"wait—" already? what were you going to say to them?

distance was the strangest thing. put a bit of it between you and the nineteen years you've been by their side seemed foreign all of a sudden.

he sat you down in front of the monitor and you're still reeling, head tripping over itself to catch up to the fact that this was happening, your heart beating obnoxiously loud (could norm hear it?), and the uneasy feeling of something crawling over your skin.

you held your breath as the call connected, the picture of your family coming to life.

you pressed your lips together in a tight-lipped smile. "hey."

jake adjusted the camera, his forearm blocking most of the view for a moment before he drew back, squinting at the screen. then recognition washed over his face and he smiled. "y/n."

neytiri crouched beside him, a bright grin on her face. "how lovely to see you, ma'ite."

"sa'nok, nga 'ur tse." (mother, you look well.) you found yourself smiling, the nerves festering in your body a minute ago vanishing as if they were never there.

jake squinted harder at the screen, peering closely. "are you sleeping enough?"

you rolled your eyes as norm hovered over your shoulder. "no, she is not. which is why i called, actually..."

you sat back as norm and your parents discussed your medical history, but there was nothing out of the ordinary that would explain your insomnia or your severe anxiety.

"this seems sudden," neytiri mused, her brows knitted. her eyes darted to you. "y/n, you must visit your grandmother more often. she will be able to help you rest."

jake shook his head, the motion barely detectable. "norm, what medicine does she need?"

"let's not jump to medicine just yet. neytiri, you said this was sudden. has she never shown these symptoms before?"

"what symptoms?"

"paranoia, an impending sense of doom, uh..." norm glanced at you as he listed them off. "trouble sleeping, you know, stuff like that."

neytiri pursed her lips, taking a peek at her husband. "no, she's never..."

"never seen this before." jake finished, his face full of concern and sympathy. his poor baby suffering oceans away from him, and he couldn't do anything but stare at your forlorn state with guilt.

"no, we have." lo'ak piped up, scooting into frame. your face lifted at the sight of him. as if following his lead, the other kids slowly trickled into frame.

"remember when the RDA first touched down?" lo'ak continued. neteyam's eyes brightened with understanding. "she didn't let me wander around cuz she had a 'bad feeling.'"

"yeah, she was insistent. and didn't sleep after, either. for days." neteyam added. "there've been moments since then where she gets these fits of restlessness and unease."

you shifted in your seat awkwardly. it was odd for everyone to be talking about you as if you weren't there.

"so about two years ago it became noticeable." norm hummed, noting the new information down. "seems like her insomnia is a byproduct of her anxiety. they occur together."

"so, medicine?" jake cut in.

norm pursed his lips. "we have some, but they're strong. i don't wanna put her on those yet." he dragged a chair beside yours. "you know, this call doubles as a reassurance, y/n. they're safe. you can call them as many times as you like to remind you of that when you begin to spiral."

sure, they're safe now. what about when the recoms get their ikran? what about the day a call glitches and the channel is no longer encrypted? you had to find solutions for all these problems or you swore you were going to lose it.

"actually," you leaned forward, finally speaking up. "i'll be fine. i don't want to risk the RDA catching onto the call signals."

norm frowned. "y/n."

"what?"

"i told you i would never let something like that happen."

"you don't know that for sure." you muttered. before norm could protest, you put on a smile and focused on your family. "i hope you guys are having fun. are you swimming a lot?"

tuk grinned, immediately prattling off. "yeah! and we're learning this cool new hand language—"

"sign language." neteyam corrected.

"—because we're underwater for a looong time! i can hold my breath for two minutes!"

your eyes widened. "wooow, tuk. you're only gonna get better from there, huh?"

"yeah, we practice everyday."

after a few more minutes of catching up with each of your siblings, you finally signed off for the night. norm gave you a look.

"what?" you asked defensively.

he shook his head. "you want some sleeping pills?"

you pursed your lips. might as well. "sure."

norm gave you some melatonin gummies before sending you off to bed. he said he'd check on you in an hour or so to make sure you were asleep.

you sighed as you laid your head to rest on your bunk. and for the first time in what seemed like forever, your eyes drooped down, and down, and down, and...

. . .

thanks for reading! <3

taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @dae-dreamer @delirious-dolce @strawbaerriesvt @avatar-lover @ryiana @lxon-kxnnedy @zukki33 @chalahyung01 @ssc7514 @shmaptainbonky @aureolinb @whosbibi2000 @childishname @nen-nyy @moonchildxoxx

© jsooly ‘25

[newttxt]

hi quip! i really like your one piece comics and i am curious how you do them! i'm not good at comics and want to be better at drawing them! how do you learn how to make comics?

thank you!

uh oh... im afraid u have caught me at the perfect crossroad of "bored at work" and "unrelated task ive been meaning to do but keep putting off."

this is long. i hope you like reading (and grayscale progress pics). and of course!!! disclaimer before we begin that this is just how I, personally draw comics. there is no "right way."

quip's comic-making process!

Switching my typing to make this more legible...

My process can kinda be broken down into 6 steps:

Brainstorming

Thumbnailing

Sketching

Panels & Text

Lines

Tones/Colors

1. Brainstorming

My brain is a leaky sieve on a good day, so I sloppily jot down ideas in my phone notes the moment I have them. This helps me when it's time to draw too, because if I feel art blocked, I can look through old concepts and see what catches my interest.

Otherwise, I love drawing for other people's writing. :) And if worst comes to worst, doing manga/comic page redraws in my style teaches me new things every time.

Once I have my idea, I'll usually make a bulletpoint list of "plot points" or "story beats" I want. Then I plan the comic with this format that I've adapted from a tutorial I read once. I'm going to use my most recent comic (original comic post) as an example.

I start in the third column, writing notes of what I'd want to see in each panel. I also include the dialogue (in this case, I didn't have to write the dialogue! it's from the fanfic linked in the original comic post!). I usually write the whole name like [Luffy:], but at this point I've drawn so much of these guys, just the first letter works.

I like to handwrite these notes to get an idea for how much text I'm putting in a single panel.

After I describe all the panels, I go back and separate them into pages. I can't tell you how to know how many panels to a page. It's whatever works for you. I just kinda know about how big each panel will be, and so I can feel when I'm probably running out of space. (Also. You can change things later. I don't in this example, but I add/drop pages/panels all the time.)

2. Thumbnailing

Thumbnailing—as the name suggests—should be done tiny. Too tiny to accidentally get sucked into details.

This is about marking down blobs where items/characters go, and figuring out the paneling. I'll draw and redraw these a bunch of times too.

This is also the most time-consuming/brain-working part for me. If I were in a zine that did progress percentage, I'd try to finish thumbnailing around the 50% mark (but I'm also a moderately fast artist, so your mileage may vary).

I think the terrible quality makes them charming, actually. I really like how silly they look. :')))

I will add, when you draw your "page" rectangle, make sure it's the same proportions as your actual canvas for the final image. You want an accurate idea of how much space each panel will take up, especially if you have a lot of text.

3. Sketching

This is my most recent change to my usual workflow, and it's saving me a lot of time. I make my thumbnails a bit bigger (each one about half the size of the final canvas), and I sketch these basic body forms right over them.

It just helps give me placement for my actual lines!

I usually draw these in a paleish color so I can lower the opacity and not get distracted by them while lining. The random darker parts are to either help keep two forms separate (like when two characters have their limbs all over) or to better define sections that were too sloppy/poorly proportioned.

I also think this helps my poses stay looser, because I have more dramatic/wriggly shapes that aren't too bogged down by proportions yet.

Sidenote: I CANNOT show this here, but sometimes this is when I take videos. Of myself. I prop my phone camera up and shoot a video of me acting each panel. :/// It looks really dumb, but it also shows me fun body language ideas like hand gestures, expressions, weight distribution, etc. Just pretend you're an overdramatic cartoon character, and try not to worry about your roommates or mother walking in on you doing odd things. (You can also use the video for anatomy reference later, but I usually just capture the vibe and don't try to copy the actual video frame.)

4. Panels & Text

Oh, boy. So, the panels are usually just straight lines (though it's fun to make creative exceptions, like a round panel to mimic looking through a spyglass), but there are some fancy rules that I don't strictly adhere to.

I believe (I have no technical training in this. Take everything I say with a grain of salt) the vertical gaps (between two side-by-side panels) should all be a consistent width and the horizontal gaps (between two panels on top of each other) should be another. The vertical ones? Should be thinner? Because you want the eye to easily glide between them, whereas the horizontal gaps should be a visual barrier to keep you from jumping ahead. Just something I've vaguely noticed.

There are lots of fun "default layouts" you can look up. Or keep it a consistent grid. I think it's fun to sometimes have characters/objects sticking out of panels and overlapping others. This is just a matter of taste, creativity, and inspiration. (Read Witch Hat Atelier... It has some of my favorite paneling...)

You may also notice I have already done the speech bubbles. This is, to me, a crucial step. This helps me catch early if I don't have enough room for all the words. It also lets me plan the art in each panel with the speech bubbles in mind. There's nothing worse than working really hard on a panel, and then you realize there's no room for the bubbles.

I also try to lay them out in a way that guides the eye! Even without art, can people tell where to go next? Better yet, if I want people to look at panels out of order (aka not left to right, in my case), can I use the speech bubble path to make them? Here's just a vague example of what I mean.

As an added bonus, doing speech bubbles early also allows me to be lazy! :) Ignore the comic; I'm not supposed to post it yet oops,, There's a whole lot of drawing to do on each comic page, and I am not wasting my time on stuff that will be covered up. So yes, if I hide my bubbles, there are a lot of unfinished lines trailing off into nothing. (As a bonus, if there's a part of a character you're struggling with—and it won't look weird to do so—you can move speech bubbles to just hide the problem area yayyy)

Making the actual bubbles could be their own whole tutorial, tbh, but there are some general guidelines I use.

Zoom out when you choose your font size. You want to know how it will look to the average reader, so it isn't super teeny tiny or way too big. You generally want to keep the same text size for all your pages/bubbles.

When I draw bubbles, I try to size them about one vertical letter height (and some change) around the words [left side]. This isn't always the case though, because humorously large or funny shaped text bubbles can convey different feelings [right side].

On Procreate, I set my bubble lines to Reference and just drag-and-drop the white fill on a separate layer below the lines. (Remember to turn Reference back off again when you're done, or your fill bucket won't work right when you're drawing.)

To get the white outlines I use to keep the bubbles from cluttering up the art, I literally just Gaussian blur an all-white copy of the lines + fills... and then I copy and merge it 5 times until it's opaque enough. This is a terrible way to do it, but it works for me. :')

5. Lines

This is the part that I can't tell you how to do. I literally just. Draw right over my wacky sketched body forms. Boom. Comic drawn.

I'll make three suggestions:

Don't focus on making every panel perfect. Give a little extra love to big ones or ones you want people to linger on. Otherwise, know that people are typically speeding through the art. It's way more important to focus on storytelling than art technique. In my opinion, a good story that's told well will always be better than a beautiful one told poorly. (Some comics are beautiful AND well-written... Alas, I am just a hobbyist who needs to get the ideas out of my head at top speed.)

Put your background lines on a different layer. Put your foreground lines on a different layer too, if you have those. Basically, I try to keep the main part of each panel (usually a character or object) on my lines layer so I can erase background/foreground/etc lines to ensure clarity/focus.

You can make background lines lighter colors too. I have too many numbers sorry. (1) Background. The stuff that's farthest away. Lightest lines. Few details; more focused on shapes and the suggestion of a background (I'm not good at backgrounds). (2) Midground. Same distance away as the characters are. Lines can be black. (3) Also midground, and also the same distance away. But they're very detailed, so I lighten them so they aren't so distracting. (4) The characters. Black lines for focus. For people who haven't seen the comic, I swear they are just hugging. This is SFW. D:

6. Tones/Colors

Do not. Do NOT ask me. I don't understand colors. I hate working with them, but I try because I want to improve. I hate doing anything beyond the simplest grayscale shading. Please go elsewhere for your coloring/tone advice. This is how my color picker looks 95% of the time. I have pre-set "percentages" of black that I got by lowering the opacity of a black layer and just color picking it. I don't even know the exact percentages I used. Good luck out there. Be better than me.

7. Sharing

This is a bonus step that I didn't mention earlier, but it's actually the most important of all of them.

You need a friend. Or maybe a groupchat or discord. A family member or coworker if you're really close like that. I don't know.

Find SOMEWHERE you can spam wips and be cheered on. Drawing comics takes a while, especially if you're trying to tell longer stories than I'd dare to attempt. If I don't force someone to praise me for every line I draw, I shrivel up and die.

Also if and when you post online, add alt text. I'll admit I'm the first person to complain and drag my feet on this, and I literally use a screenreader myself when my eyes hurt (strong prescription glasses wearer). Comics should be accessible, because stories are fun and everyone should be able to enjoy them.

***

Learning???

And I guess lastly, how do you learn to make comics? Two steps: 1) read them and 2) make them. This is the tragedy of creating things.

1) Reading them: I grew up reading comic strips, western serialized comics, and webcomics. I've always loved graphic novels too. Then in late middle school, I started reading manga (Death Note and Haikyuu were my first two), and now I'm trying to read more webtoons (sorry im so slow bree)!

I also... mass-consume doujinshi, thanks to proxy mailing services and bilingual friends/Google Translate/knowing some Korean. (I have an entire bookshelf of doujin, actually,,)

The thing is, it's not usually enough to just read comics. You also need to be thinking. :/ I notice paneling, comic devices, clever comedic timing, etc. as I go. It's just a lot of studying/learning while also enjoying the story.

2) Making them: You just have to start. :( Even if you think they're "bad." My first comics were actually just drawings placed randomly all over the page, connected by speech bubbles (yay... I was already practicing how to place bubbles to lead the eye around the page...). I was going to post a pic here, but I'm a coward. Backscroll my account and you can find some older ones though.

I also know my art in general improved dramatically when I did ten comics in ten weeks for my friend's fic. Don't do this. It hurt my hands/wrists. But do practice in moderation.

***

If you actually read all that... I hope it made even a modicum of sense. And maybe it was even helpful? Just know at the end of the day, there is literally no right way to draw a comic.

And if you aren't ready to go for it yet, you can start by just adding a couple speech bubbles to your illustrations or doodles! It's a way to add storytelling and dialogue writing to things you may already be making.

Yay. I love comics. :))))

[h8aaz]

❝ 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 .ᐟ ❞

SUMMARY .ᐟ . . . you and hughie are left to watch over soldier boy in the motel. while the three of you are watching tv, an old ad from when you worked at vought comes on and the song you sing in it is immediately recognized.

WARNINGS .ᐟ . . . slightly angry ben . ex-supe + fem!reader . powers + name are never given . swearing bc DUH . hughie lowkey kinda fangirling . kinda a song fic but also not really ? also a soldier boy x reader fic but not really ?

GABS YAPS .ᐟ . . . based on the soldier boy performance of rapture by blondie. thought of this while listening to the song bc i have sb brainrot. likes, comments, + reblogs are very appreciated!!

you sat on one of the beds in the motel room while soldier boy sat on the other and hughie on the couch. the tv across the room began to play a commercial, your commercial. and soldier boy recognized the beginning of the background tune.

his eyes widened when you appeared on the screen, advertising some beauty products vought had forcefully plastered your face and supe name onto. he slowly turned his head to you, brows furrowed and nostrils flared. "you did rapture?"

you heard the slight annoyance and anger in his voice, making your eyes pop open as you did the same slow turn to him. "uh...y-yeah?" your voice broke into a higher octave at the end.

he scoffed and shook his head turning back to the tv. you shared a look with hughie across the room, both of you shrugging and wincing at the angry huff ben let out. "they'll give the rights of that shitty song to anyone, huh?" he sneered at the screen.

"it's not shitty. it's actually pretty good." you defended the song, hughie nodding in agreement with a small 'yeah'. ben gave you the dirtiest look known to man. "you're fucking kidding, right? rapture. by BLONDIE. is 'pretty good'? what the fuck does that even mean? if it means it's complete ass and you're being nice, then yeah, i guess i agree with you."

"it's not ass!" you exclaimed, sitting up straighter to face him. "the song did well for a reason. plus, you kinda boosted it's streams or...whatever you called it back then when you performed it." hughie joined in while pointing at ben, who rolled his eyes.

"of course i fucking did, because i did it better than them." ben said before taking a sip of his drink. "oh, you did NOT do it better than them!" you practically laughed. "yeah, dude. maybe it was good then, but you've been shown up." hughie then pointed to you, "and she actually got blondie in the commercial next to her."

you nodded, "yup! yes, THANK YOU, HUGHIE!" you gestured to the slightly younger man. "did you actually sing or whatever in it?" ben asked. "indeed i did. and people loved it, loved me. but of course there were these old ass bitches who probably got fucked by you once saying yours from 'back in the day' was better." you grumbled the last part.

"but the ratings and amount of products people bought settled that debate." hughie added before ben could try and spin your words to inflate his own ego. "although i think everyone agreed that a skincare and makeup line didn't call for all of this, let alone a cover." he gestured to the tv, where the whole collection was being shown with outrageous graphics that reminded you of how much you wanted to throw up when seeing it for the first time; not like that feeling hasn't changed from then to now.

"yeah, this looks fuckin' terrible." ben commented. "did that shit even work?" he asked while gesturing to his face with a look of pure disgust. you shrugged in response, "i actually don't know, but it's all made by vought, so i'm sure some number of people died or got poisoned from it." you sighed, "not my problem now, though."

the part ben and hughie, especially hughie, anticipated but you dreaded came on. you and deborah harry walked down aisles filled with your products with background dancers holding them while you began to say the lyrics.

fab five freddy told me everybody's fly

DJ spinnin' i said, "my my"

"oh my god, yes!" hughie cheered while you exclaimed a pained "dear god, no!" at the same time. you stared at him in bewilderment, "you actually liked this?! are you serious, hughie?" you shouted in shock while he laughed.

"it was so unnecessary but honestly, really good? you could ask my dad, i rewatched this countless times when i was younger." he grinned at the television, watching you dance as you 'sang'.

flash is fast, flash is cool

françois c'est pas, flash ain't no dude

ben nodded, squinting his eyes as he listened to your voice and silently, yet somewhat proudly, examined your body as you danced before looking over everyone else in the ad. "it's pretty good. and not like, 'this is so ass' good, but like actually, uh, really good." he complimented, which took you by surprise. "thanks." you mumbled quietly, still embarrassed as you watched your younger self do the moves that took way too long to rehearse because you simply didn't know what the fuck you were doing.

and you don't stop, sure shot

go out to the parking lot

and you get in your car and drive real far

your cover of the song continued to play while the products and their prices were shown one final time along with the stores they were available at. you cringed into the bed with a long and loud groan of great regret, all while hughie continued to speak the lyrics of the song and ben fully bellowed a laugh at the situation.

when the commercial ended and the screen began to run a different one, the two men began to sing the lyrics at you, which pissed you off to no end. "oh my god- I HATE BOTH OF YOU! SHUT UP!" you yelled while they continued, even when you sat up and threw pillows at them.

tags: @soldiersgirl @j2archives @sunsbaby @bejeweledinterludes @dulcescorderitas @legalmente-loca @starzify @bluemerakis @deansbeer @immodestly-marina

[fallendev0tionvn]

hihihihi

can you do a fic of clive and mc when he was alive plz? <3

first time at Clive's house- also the time this dummy almost confessed by accident🏃‍♀️

Clive had been waiting by the door. He tried to convince himself he wasn't, that he was just standing nearby, but the second your finger pressed the doorbell, the door swung open so fast you didn't even have time to lower your hand.

His eyes flickered over you, the way his eyes lit up almost made you laugh. He looked..proud? maybe a little too eager. Like a puppy waiting all day for its owner to come home.

"You actually came-" he blurted, then immediately winced, as if he cringed at his own words.

You raised an eyebrow. "Duh? you invited me."

"Right! uh- yeah, sorry." He cleared his throat as he stepped aside. "Come in."

His hands fidgeted as he watched you take in the space. It was spotless. Not just clean, scrubbed. The scent of cleaning products still lingered in the air, nothing was out of place. Even his hair was neater than usual, and he smelled different too- like he had poured the entire cologne bottle over himself.

"Make yourself comfortable," he pointed at the living room, "I got your favorite snacks and drinks- just wait here." He disappeared into the kitchen before you could even respond. You sat down on the couch, amused by how much effort he had put into this. Clive was always thoughtful, but today he seemed a little more on edge. He returned as fast as he left, balancing a tray in his hands. He set it down carefully before sitting next to you- close, but not too close.

"So-" he started, clearing his throat once again. "We can watch a movie, I can play any song you like on my guitar, we can draw each other.."

His voice trailed off as he leaned back against the couch, his fingers tapping nervously against his knee.

You tilted your head, leaning slightly toward him. "Why are you so nervous?"

He stiffened. "I'm not-" He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Having you here is...different. I just want you to have fun." His gaze flickered to the side, avoiding yours for a moment.

"I dunno- I guess the assumptions about us dating, I don't want you to think I asked you to hang out for other reasons."

You blinked. "Still bothering you?"

Clive's breath hitched. His fingers curled slightly against his knee before he forced himself to relax. "I'm not bothered, I just don't want you to be uncomfortable." He paused.

Then quieter- almost like he didn't mean to say it-

"Not like I would mind if we were."

The words hung there. His lips parted slightly, as if realizing a second too late what he just said.

His hand shot up to cover his mouth. "I mean- I'm not- like, asking you to date me or anything but-"

He clenched his jaw, running a hand down his face. "Forget it. Let's just watch the fucking movie."

You tried to bite back a smile, he was trying to hide his emotions as usual but you could see the way his knee bounced. He wouldn't even look at you, ears a little too red to ignore.

(his mind the whole time)

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

What if Skeleton's child refuses to est their vegetables? And hidden them instead or smt?

Undertale Sans - It depends, what do you give him if he doesn't tell you out to his S/O? Sans upgrades what he expects each time a little more until the kid has no choice but to eat their vegetables lol because they can't afford Sans' silence. They don't even realize they got scammed, that's cute.

Undertale Papyrus - Papyrus never forces his children to finish their plate, but he insists on at least trying the veggies before saying you don't like it. Also, he's going to give Sans the same talk to show his kid they're not the only ones who have to make an effort in this house. Sans is not too happy about that, but he can't say no to his brother lol. Too bad Papyrus knows it exactly and uses this excuse to prevent him from eating at Grillby's too often now.

Underswap Sans - "LOOK A PLANE!" As soon as the kid opens his mouth, Blue lunges with the spoon and forces it in their mouth at the speed of light. No excuses in this house, you will eat your veggies. S/O struggled to cook for you!

Underswap Papyrus - Honey tries to explain the benefits of eating vegetable to his child to get them to give it a try. He doesn't care if they don't finish their plate, he just wants them to stop diabolizing veggies. It's not that bad, and if you want to have strong bones growing up, it will definitely help. He's good as hiding veggies into friendly shapes too, so his child doesn't realize they are veggies.

Underfell Sans - Welp, he tried. ... Pizza? No, because, uh, he doesn't want to eat that shit either. Edge is trying to make him healthy and he doesn't like it. Bonus point if Edge's kid is there. Red would love to corrupt his precious baby's perfect diet by taking them to McDonald's lol.

Underfell Papyrus - Hell no! He's not raising a second Red. You will eat healthy and you're going to like it! He doesn't care how many tries it will take, how many subterfuge he will have to find to make you eat veggies, you will eat your veggies! You can't fool him by hiding them. Red found 1001 ways to do that before you. Eat. Your. VEGGIES.

Horrortale Sans - He's slightly triggered, but tries to not pay too much attention to it. It's not his child's fault, they didn't go through the famine like he did, so it's normal they don't really understand what it's like to have nothing to eat for weeks. But still, he's entirely vegetarian so, uh, you don't really have any other options? It's stressing him out that you might go back to school on an empty stomach, so he packs your bag full of snacks, just in case. That's not easy to deal with that for him.

Horrortale Papyrus - Like his brother, he's triggered, but Willow doesn't hesitate one minute to tell the kid that Underground, someone would have already stolen his food and they would have starved for even longer. You don't realize how lucky you are to have easy access to food, and he can't understand you being petty over what he cooks, even more since it's all handmade. He actually has to go outside to calm down a little because he's shaking. He knows it's not really his child's fault, they're just a child, but it's extremely hard for him.

Swapfell Sans - He's the veggie police. Nox insists everyone in this house should have a healthy diet. He's paying for the groceries, he's cooking everything handmade, and the simplest respect is to eat what he prepared for hours. He doesn't care about your excuses. Veggies are important, and if he had to go through Toriel forcing him to eat healthy his entire teenage years, you will go through it too.

Swapfell Papyrus - You and him both, dude. Except Rus is cleverer than you and doesn't hesitate one second to throw all of his veggies in his child's plate while Nox isn't looking so you're the one who takes the blame and not him. In this house, it's be smart or get scammed by someone smarter. Unfortunately, the kid understands it fast and starts to throw his dad under the bus as well by "innocently" calling their uncle while Rus is emptying his veggies in their plate. Busted, sucker.

Fellswap Gold Sans - Unfortunately, Wine knows when you're trying to hide your veggies from him. You swear he has eye sockets behind his head because he stops you every time you try to throw the food in the plant pot behind you. That's creepy and frustrating. You lost though, so now you have to eat your veggies. He's a fair player, you can get away with it if you don't get caught. Too bad it's impossible to not get caught. Wine is evil.

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - As father, as child. Coffee pretends he doesn't feel well every time he has to eat veggies. So now you're mimicking him by pretending you also have a stomachache. It fools Wine once, but, uh, you two doing the same thing at the same time eventually doesn't work anymore. You're busted. Wine gives you twice as much vegetable, sits down quietly and says you won't leave the table before you finish everything, even if it has to take several hours. Coffee is mad at you too lmao. You ruined his strat!

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.23 thoughts

[I'm Not Brutalized, But I Seem to Be Struck By You]

(Topics: character analysis - Gokuraku/Ichi/Kumugi, speculation - worldbuilding)

Confirmed! The new companion is, in fact, a man! And what a pretty man he is, too

I've always been a fan of those sorts of gauntlets and greaves, his hair has a lot of interesting things going on, the markings around his eyes are distinctive, and of course, as a freckle-haver myself, I'm quite impressed that Usazaki made those such a prominent part of his design

But before we dive into discussing our new best boy, though, I'd like to take a brief moment to talk about our previous one, Ichi, and his little uh...proposal for Kumugi

What'd He Mean By This?

It's immediately clear that Ichi doesn't actually have a firm grasp on the terms of the contract, as the literal first thing he does after learning that he's now indentured into Desscaras' servitude is draft his own copy of the contract and run to Kumugi, asking her to be his family too

What this tells us is that a) Ichi doesn't realize that he'd be endangering himself and Kumugi by doing this; b) he thinks that all it takes to forge a magical contract is a regular pen and paper; and c) his takeaway from that conversation with Desscaras was that they have, in fact, become family

Ichi is so excited by the prospect of having someone in his life who he knows won't leave him that he tries to apply it wherever he can, so naturally he goes to the only other friend he has, Kumugi. I won't suggest that this means that he feels anything romantic towards her, but he does value her and want her around. Even if he misunderstands the weight of what he asked, that misunderstanding in and of itself carries its own weight and implications, that he never wants Kumugi to leave him

Of course, from her perspective, he basically just waltzed in with a marriage license and said "let's get hitched." She doesn't have the context for what Ichi thinks that contract is for or even what it actually is in the first place. She saw paper and heard "family," and her imagination went wild. She does seem to appreciate that Ichi probably didn't know what he was saying, but that only leads to more confusion on her part: what did he think he was saying, and whatever it was, what prompted him to say it?

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Kumugi starts to develop feelings for Ichi over the course of the story, but I'm also not quite sure that I want that, at least not yet. This doesn't seem like a story that's built on romance, meaningful glances and women drinking from each other's glasses notwithstanding, so unless Nishi lays a lot of groundwork first, I just don't see Ichi settling down or anything

That said, if Family is meant to be a major recurring theme, perhaps tackling the topic of marriage would be helpful for developing that theme? Marriage is a contract, so perhaps a comparison could be drawn between marriage and the Mentor-Pupil Blood Contract? Like how much control one relinquishes or gains in a wedded relationship vs. how much is lost as a Pupil

We can probably explore that fine with the contract on its own, but it already doesn't seem quite as all-powerful as I expected

The Ol' Ball-and-Chain

As the gang arrives at Origumo's nest, Ichi prepares to mozy on in without hesitation, only to be pulled back by Desscaras who gives him a number of orders: "don't rush in, don't get cocky, don't eat stuff off the ground," all of which Ichi acquiesces to. This is presumably because he is under magical contract and can't defy any order from Desscaras, except there's one more that he doesn't seem bound to follow

After he says yes to the orders, Desscaras pulls a Makima and insists that the correct response isn't "yes," but "woof." However, Ichi emphatically and successfully refuses this order, even though she tries it two more times

This implies one of two things: 1) Desscaras' orders aren't absolute and there is some mitigating factor such as the reasonability of the request or relevance to the mentor-pupil relationship; or 2) that wasn't a serious order and the spell is powered by intent, so an "order' like that that's only meant for banter doesn't necessarily count

It's a minor detail and one that doesn't really need to be dwelled on, but it's a pretty immediate inconsistency that I think is worth at least considering in the event of future contradictions

I think the exact wording or specific circumstance is important to consider as well, as Ichi does manage to defy the order not to charge in unprepared after seeing Gokuraku's treatment of Oniguro. Does the context of already being in the nest negate the timing of the order? Does he have some reign to say "I'm not unprepared, so now I can charge in?" It seems strange that he's already able to resist the contract after such a big deal was made about it, so I'd really like an in-depth explanation on the mechanics

I don't expect we'll get it for a little while if we're not getting it now, but one that I think we will get an explanation for is Gokuraku's armor

Gauntlet Thrown, Gauntlet Picked Up

The clearest takeway from this chapter is that, whether or not there are men aside from Ichi in the world who can use magic, Gokuraku is not one of them

And yet, when he kisses his ring and declares "Synchro Rate 10%," he seems to be able to augment his strength at will. This gives the impression that the kiss is meant to activate the ability of his armor and that this strength comes from it rather than purely from himself

My question is how

That sounds pretty similar to the leg augmentation of Ichi's magic boots, but that requires that the user charge them with magical energy. Gokuraku can't be using magical energy on his armor because he doesn't have magic to use, but we don't have a clear alternate energy source in the story yet

Gokuraku is either here specifically to introduce that new energy or technology or to expand on the lore of how magical items work. Perhaps the armor already has magic imbued into it from another Witch and that's what Gokuraku is synchronizing with?

Or maybe he's actually incredibly strong naturally and he's adjusting his physical output to a smaller amount to account for the current situation? The kanji used is "tekigou" (適合), meaning "compatibility/adaptability/conformity," so I could go either way, but I think it's clear that Gokuraku's strength is being scaled to something, and I'd really like to know what

The idea of compatibility is particularly interesting here because that seems to be Gokuraku's goal: to find a Magik that he's compatible with, but there's something about him that's making it impossible

Swipe Left

Some of Gokuraku's dialogue ("what a silly little Magik you are" in English or speaking with heart emojis ♥) and his actions (kissing his ring, attacking with a playful forehead flick, etc.) gives a sort of whimsically flirtatious vibe. It's almost like he's looking for a partner or a soulmate and trying to convince the Magiks to love him

I don't know if that is his motivation, but I think with the theme of Family starting to develop, I'd say someone that's desperate to find love would be a perfect angle to analyze the theme from at this point

Even better for that analysis is the fact that, despite thinking that he's just doing his best, Gokuraku is actually disincentivizing the Magiks from wanting to be with him by being cruel to them. Gokuraku may be looking for love, but he's not actually trying to find it, he's trying to take it by force

Gokuraku is, for the time being, an abuser

He's a toxic man who refuses to listen to what anyone else says if it contradicts his opinions or desires. It can't possibly be that he's incapable of acquiring a Magik, it has to be that the Magiks are either lying or lazy. They either know exactly what they need to do and are being stingy, or they aren't willing to put in the same work as he is to figure out a way around it

He's deluded himself into thinking that "magic" can do anything, can break any rule that proves inconvenient to it, inconvenient to him. If there isn't currently a way for a man to acquire a Magik, then the Magik should be able to cast a spell on him that will allow him to

But magic simply doesn't work that way. A Magik only has one spell. Maybe they can use it in different and clever ways, but they aren't miracle workers. They can't change the rules of the world, no matter how much they want to

And that's unacceptable to Gokuraku. Maybe it's because accepting it would mean giving up on some kind of dream. Maybe it's because admitting he was wrong would make everything he did to all of those Magiks pointless, a colossal waste of time. It would make him the bad guy

And I think that's the problem. It's his unwillingness to accept other people's perspectives to overwrite his own, his refusal to be open to anyone outside of himself, that's keeping him from acquiring a Magik, at least on a symbolic level. I don't think having a change of heart will get him what he wants immediately, but I think the narrative is keeping him from his goal because he's allowed that goal to turn him into a monster. He is not fit for a relationship, to be family with anyone, so he doesn't get to be

It'll only be when he abandons his ego and his insistence on everything going his one, specific and unreasonable way that he'll find what he's actually looking for in a place he never looked. Once he ceases to be cruel to Magiks, he'll be able to open his heart to humans and find his family among them

But he has to change first

Necessary Evils

From this introduction, it seems like it will be difficult to make Gokuraku an ally. Not because he won't be willing, he's already endeared to Ichi, but because Ichi already doesn't like him

While Ichi does take pleasure in killing, he only kills because it's necessary for survival. It needs to be done anyway, so he might as well enjoy it. However, suffering isn't necessary for survival. There's no sense in hurting a rabbit, the goal is to kill and eat it; drawing out the process only makes it more likely that the rabbit will get away, and will waste precious energy that the rabbit is supposed to be refueling. A quick, painless death is the most beneficial for everyone involved

The World Hater doesn't seem to take pleasure in anything, they only kill because it's necessary for ridding the world of the things they hate. It needs to be done as a matter of course, so emotional investment isn't necessary. The death they bring hurts, and clearly a lot, but likely not for long. The goal is to kill them and be done with it; drawing out the process only gives humanity time to breed more to replace the ones that died. A quick death without concern for pain or pleasure is the most efficient for the World Hater

Gokuraku has no desire to kill Magiks, he wants to acquire their spells, he just needs to convince them to let him do so. They're unreasonable and won't give him what he's earned when he passes their trial, so he has to retaliate. It's not like they'll die, they won't even be so much as scarred! They'll walk away exactly the same as they were before, and they know it, so he's gotta get a bit extreme to really make his case. And hey, if he's gonna be there for a while, he might as well have fun with it! The goal is to make them give up the goods, and it's completely up to them how long that takes. He doesn't want to hurt them, they're making him hurt them; they're drawing out the process, and the longer it goes, the more painful he has to make it to convince them that giving him what he wants is the only way to make it stop

Gokuraku's approach shows a complete lack of respect for the Magiks or their lives. He thinks because they'll heal that he can do whatever he wants, completely ignorant of the psychological damage that they'll be left with, and how that will impact their immortal lives going forward. Worse, he revels in that ignorance, whistling while he humiliates and tortures them in creative ways

Ichi can't possibly accept that. His philosophy of Death for Death assumes the capacity to die, a dignified conclusion to a battle for survival. Nothing that Gokuraku is doing helps him to survive, and doesn't offer a way out for the victim to escape. The Magiks are not a threat to Gokuraku, and he doesn't live longer because of their suffering - Death for Death does not apply anywhere in this process

The gulf between Ichi's philosophy and Gokuraku's actions is so wide, it would be near impossible to reconcile their differences without forcing Gokuraku to grow. Somehow, Ichi needs to prove to him that what he's doing is causing real harm for absolutely no benefit, and he himself needs to be able to admit that he's wrong

I see this going one of two ways - either Gokuraku gives up hurting Magiks but is still clearly a deeply unhinged and sadistic individual in every other aspect of his life, OR he has to fight the urge to be sadistic and struggles with it for the remainder of his storyline. I'm not sure which would be more fun to see, but either way, I'm very compelled by his character already and I greatly look forward to seeing how he develops

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[carefreecoffee]

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚Fluffbruary Day 23: Secret relationship w/ Aizawa Shouta˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ

Word count: 968,Gender-neutral reader

Finally, all classes were over for the day. Shouta was leaving the staff room, about to walk back to 1-A before he noticed a group of his students lingering at the end of the hall. 

‘What are they doing..?’ One of the students; Ashido, looked over their shoulders, noticing Aizawa's gaze on them. The others soon did, too, all frozen for a moment before scrambling to act normal. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow curiously. He could tell something was going on and he didn't like it one bit.  He folded his arms, glaring at them scrutinizingly, his tired eyes narrowing. "What are you all up to?" 

The group of students exchanged panicked glances, unsure of what to say. Sero finally spoke up, stuttering a bit. "Uh... nothing, Sensei! Just, uh, talking. Yeah." He wasn't convinced. He knew these brats were up to something shady. 

He crossed his arms and fixed the group with a stern glare. "Really? It didn't look like just 'talking' to me. What are you really up to?" The students shifted nervously, the lie they tried to come up with crumbling. Jiro muttered under her breath, "Should we just tell him...?" 

That made Aizawa even more curious, lifting a brow. "Tell me what?" Denki, who seemed to not be able to hold it in anymore, blurted out, "We think you and y/n-sensei are together, Sensei!" 

The others looked at him in shock, their jaws dropping. Denki quickly clamped a hand over his mouth, realizing he’d said too much.  Aizawa's eyes widened in surprise, his expression shifting from curious to taken aback. He hadn't expected the students to suspect that, let alone Denki of all of them. 

He kept his composure as best he could, his heart racing. "Why would you think that...?" 

A few of them looked sheepish, but another one spoke up. "We've seen you two together a lot. You're always hanging out together. And, uh, we've seen the way you look at them." 

Aizawa felt a pang in his chest. He didn't realize the students had been paying that much attention to his interactions with you. "And that necklace you wear all the time. It looks like a ring pendant doesn't it not?" 

Aizawa's heart raced even faster. He had been so careless. He should have known the students would notice something as obvious as that. Aizawa felt caught, defenseless. The students stared at him, waiting for him to confirm or deny their suspicions. His mind raced, trying to come up with a way to play this off. 

But deep down, he knew there was no use in denying it. The students had already figured it out, and the way he was reacting only confirmed their suspicions. 

He sighed, resigning himself to the fact that the secret was out. "Alright, you kids win," he finally said, his voice low. "Yeah, me and y/n are together, okay? But we kept it a secret for a reason, so I don't want you blabbing about it to everybody. Got it?" 

The students' eyes widened in surprise. They hadn't expected him to actually admit it so easily. They exchanged glances, murmuring under their breaths in disbelief. 

"So, it's true...?" Sero asked, still trying to process the information. 

Aizawa let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, it's true. Now can you all just keep quiet about it? We'd appreciate it if you could respect our privacy." The students nodded; their eyes still wide as they absorbed this new revelation about their teacher. They hadn't expected any of this. 

Denki spoke up, a teasing note in his voice. "So, Sensei, how long have you two been together, anyway?" 

"That's enough questions," Aizawa said firmly, his expression turning stern. "I've indulged you enough. Now get back to class, all of you." 

They dispersed with a ‘Yes sensei!’, still whispering amongst themselves. Aizawa let out a deep sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. He couldn't believe they had found out about his relationship so easily. 

Aizawa found himself feeling both relieved and anxious. It was a weight off his shoulders to have the truth out, but he was also worried about how the students would react to the revelation.  He knew they were a curious bunch, and he couldn't help but wonder what would happen next. As he brutes through the halls of UA, he notices you on the opposite end, walking toward him with a bundle of papers. “Oh, hi Aizawa!” 

He looks up from his gaze on the floor as you approach, his tired eyes lighting up slightly. "Hey." 

He paused; his mind still preoccupied with the recent events with the students. Should he tell you what happened? 

“You look agitated” 

Aizawa sighs, his expression hardening. "Yeah, you could say that. The students found out about us...us being together." 

“Oh” you hum and sigh in defeat, “Guess it was bound to happen. But I'm sure they know better than to spread it. Especially from someone as brute as you” you chide playfully. 

Aizawa huffed, rolling his eyes. "You have too much faith in those kids. They're nosy as hell." He crosses his arms, his expression softening as he looks at you. "But I told them to keep it quiet. I made it clear we don't want everyone knowing about this." 

You chuckle and nod, “I see, well I'll keep an ear out just in case. For now, I've gotta get these papers to principal Nedzu” 

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll see you later. Don't work too hard, alright?" He gives you a small smile, his tired eyes softening as he watches you walk towards the principal's office. 

"Mhm, see you at home!” With a final wave, you exit down the hall. 

He watches you leave, sighing and rubbing at his temples, in need of a long-awaited nap.

[ilikekidsshows]

Another thing with the rabid Marinette stans is the virtue signaling. It's incredibly annoying cause it's touted as a "kids show" and people want kids shows to genuinely showcase issues that might happen day to day, even in fantasy situations. And a lot of kids shows are great at it, but ML is not one of them and the MariStans only ever care about those things when it makes Marinette upsette while also ignoring her behavior and their own. Like it's been brought up about how shit their behavior is towards anyone who isn't rapidly downing copium while they also go on about how Marinette doesn't have to forgive her bullies or whatever. Marinette's done so much worse than whatever petty thing Chloe or Sabrina or the rest of those middle school bullies have done, and people always instantly forgive her. Same who people just love to claim Chloe caused the most akumatizations or whatever when Marinette's def caused more and has done worse things that didn't end in akumatizations (re: S5 finale and anything related to it + abusing her hero persona because she's been using it to deal with her petty civilian worries since the beginning cause she can't bring herself to face them head on as Marinette so she has to do it as Ladybug. Volpina anyone? Breaking into Adrien's room because she can't bring herself to talk to him face to face?).

That's not even getting into how they cry about the racism and ableism and whatnot Marinette supposedly faces while writing their Alya bashing fics and ignoring the blatant characitures of multiple Asian characters and complete disregard for disabled characters and the show's unwillingness to have any good, well thought out depictions of any regularly/historically oppressed group of people.

---

Yeah, like, I just saw a post where Marinette stans were claiming that just because the people calling out Marinette’s abuse apologia don’t do it as much for all the other characters keeping Adrien in the dark it's misogyny, when the group of people supposedly not being criticized includes another POC girl and two women. This just in: Marinette is the only female and POC character in Miraculous! No, what it actually means is that Marinette is the only character that registers as a fictional person to her stans, which explains why they hate basically every other character in the show. I mean, either that or they’re just parroting Astruc whining about misogyny whenever someone says they don’t like the main character he, a white man, wrote. How progressive of them.

Like, this has been discussed before, but Marinette stans have such strong opinions about bullying, but only when Marinette is the perceived victim. When Marinette bullies the new girls for liking the same boy, it’s crickets. And when they themselves see a take they don’t agree with, the worst of them don’t waste a second breaking out the cyberbullying tactics. Everyone in this fandom knows “salters” are free game for the worst Marinette stans, and, in fact, I’ve seen some Marinette stans go into pretty neutral blogs’ inboxes with messages like: “you sound like a salter” that sound downright threatening when you’re aware of how the Marinette stans that crawl in people’s inboxes act like.

I think the one thing Marinette has on any of the villains is that, uh, actually, I was gonna say she hasn’t gotten anyone expelled from school, but she did, her targets just had actually done something expulsion-worthy (ignore Marinette doing something expulsion-worthy herself to accomplish this). Also, like, people keep pointing out she hasn’t purposefully done a lot of the stuff she does, although, as I keep saying, when Marinette makes a pattern of humiliating, ignoring and insulting people without meaning to, it makes it actually worse than if she was just being a jerk on purpose, because her victims are constantly made to forgive her for “mistakes” that are just the way she treats other people by now.

Basically, there’s very little any villain in the show has done that Marinette also hasn’t, she just has more or less (more often less) convincing mitigating circumstances for when she does it and the stans cling to and make up these mitigating factors desperately.

But, sure, it’s not the show that’s sexist, racist and ableist with how it depicts its characters, the problem is obviously the fans who have a problem with the writing. It's not like Marinette stans themselves constantly cry bad writing in defense of Marinette and then ignore it when said bad writing includes blatant ignorance of the very topics they hold up as weapons against critics.

[into-the-milgramverse]

Aight, so, while I'm trying to calm down from certain event

I'm gonna try to write on Muu, specifically relation to what happened regarding Haruka, cause I see left and right people who either jump on to see her as this completely evil irredeemable being or as a totally a good friend who did everything in her power but she just didn't know!!! 🥺🥺 And I feel like both of those takes are... not quite right? Uh, because it's gonna be a long and potentially nonsensical ramble cause I'm not doing well rn, I'll put it all under read more. tw for mentions of Haruka's attempt

Ok, so, first of. Starting of with the "Oh, but she tried to help him!! She brought him food! There's just no way she could have known!!!!"

Yeah, nah, I call that bullshit. If you have functional eyes, capable of sight, you can see a person who starves themselves get thinner. That alone should have told her that he's not eating properly as she supposedly tried to get him to (by... saying it once.) Even if someone who's fat started to starve themselves, which would be less obvious when looking at the body (in fact, you can bet some people would praise them for being ""healthy"" regarding that), the negative impact on health would still show in the face: the cheeks would get sunken in, the, skin would get dry and lips chapped. And, since Haruka is not fat, but tall and lanky as it is, these changes would be especially noticeable on him, along with noticeable body changes. You're telling me that someone like Muu, who's focused on her external beauty (reminder, she wants to be a model) and who literally has Haruka keep his eyes on her, would somehow miss all those signs? Not to mention, she also has a sense of smell, doesn't she? She would have noticed the smell of rotting food that Haruka would hide.

So, she knew very well, and, even if you try to defend her how she somehow didn't think he'd actually kill himself, no, that was very obvious sign that he was actually gonna kill himself. And yet, she didn't do anything. At very least she could have told someone, to ask for help, if she herself struggled with how to help him. But it's clear she did not want to help him.

However, here's a bit more that should be thought about. Muu sees friendships as transactional. She thought Haruka how to write, something he struggled with before, helped him with his style, since he literally arrived in pyjamas, and taught him how to at very least act confident until he internalizes the confidence.

In return, Haruka would provide protection. He'll make sure she stays Innocent so that the harm doesn't come her way like it possibly could happen if she gets voted Guilty. He is also a source of attention for Muu. It's been made clear over and over again that attention and praise is something she looks for and needs. Most prisoners get annoyed with that (Yuno and Fuuta come to mind).

But who doesn't get annoyed? Who else is so starved for attention due to years of being neglected, that simply spending time with them will paint her as an angel directly sent from heavens? Haruka. All she needs to do is to give him a drop of attention to be showered in attention back.

This need for attention and need for protection is not inherently a bad thing. Rich families usually don't do any caring for their children, they have money so they just hire a nanny to take care of them, resulting in lack of attention that's necessary while growing up. On top of that, as I've talked about in my previous Muu post, her school environment was such where she had to stay at the top (at what point she'd be praised), only to be dragged down if she made even the smallest slip-up, and then she'd have to act pitiful to gain attention and climb up to the top. This is all a survival tactic to avoid being bullied, to avoid being hurt. It also leads to a feedback loop of attention and praise = safety. The assumption that Haruka's attempt would sway the audience into voting her Innocent was just added means of securing her safety. And of course she'd support that then. There's no way she could have known that the audience would hit her and Haruka with a Guilty, but after that happened, why would she suddenly stop supporting Haruka?

And speaking of that

Why would Haruka even consider stopping? He was not only encouraged by Muu, for who's sake he was starving himself for, and by Kotoko, who laughed at him and found it amusing, but he also got encouragement from the audience. Not only did Muu got voted Guilty, after he threatened he'll kill himself if she gets voted Guilty, but he himself got voted Guilty too. Reminder that he, like Yuno, could hear the voices while Innocent. He heard voices that praised him, that said they love him. What do you think he heard afterwards? That they don't believe he'd actually do it, or that he'll be restrained if he gets voted Guilty so there's no need to worry. Though he likely didn't get restrained immediately (after all, Muu too would have been restrained, and her arms would be unusable, yet Shidou saw her, and trusted her that she'd bring food. If she had her arms bound at the time, she wouldn't be able to bring food at all), it's a possibility that he definitely thought about, which led to him picking the one method he could do regardless if he gets restrained or not.

By the time Fuuta finally discovered him, it was pretty much already too late. Haruka has gone far enough, and still stuck to his choice. And besides, only one person vs 2 people, one of which is the very person he cares about the most, along with the entirety of both Muu Guilty voters and his own Guilty voters, will not convince him to stop.

TL;DR:

She's literally Just a Girl that has a need for attention, and who's life experiences have shaped her to believe everything in this life is transactional and that other people's lives don't matter if it secures her own safety.

Final thought to end it on: Her actions are horrible and you cannot defend those. She knew and could see very well what was happening. Regardless, I also don't think she herself is inherently a bad person.

Personally, I'd vote her Innocent.

[tackykachowch]

How it feels to not like timebomb after s2

[maddieandangel]

Vee skin concept, based on a Game Boy!

[hecatesbroom]

Thanks to the lovely @the-eclectic-wonderer for tagging me in this tag game!

Bold & colour whatever applies to you:

i’m over 5'5 / i wear glasses or contacts / i have blonde hair / i often wear sweatshirts / i prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / i have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / i typically wear makeup / i don’t often smile / resting bitch face / i play sports / i play an instrument / i know more than one language / i can cook or and bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / i’ve never dated anyone / i have a best friend i’ve known for over five years / i am an only child

No pressure to participate of course, but I'm tagging: @roseeycreates-blog @alectothinker @srosehh @timelessbian @tvmilfs

[devondespresso]

i was reading a scoops era steddie au where eddie visits scoops often and one thing i noticed i alway want but have yet to see (bear in mind my fic pallette is basically just shit i see on Tumblr and occasionally reading every fic a certain author has written) is a specific scene of eddie noticing stobins missing when he goes to visit them at scoops the day theyre stuck in the bunker. cause they entered the bunker after a shift one night and didn't get out until at the soonest the next afternoon right before the mall closes so if either or both of them were scheduled to work then they'd be just... gone.

and how characters around them handle that depends on how soon (if at all) they're declared missing. did robin think they'd be in-and-out in their snooping and tell her parents shes be back a little late or did she think they'd be out kinda late fucking around and just lied to her parents telling them shes sleeping over at a friend's like how we know tina was going to cover for erica? did mrs Henderson freak out when Dustin didn't bike back home (knowing what happened with will) or did she know he was with steve and trusted that they were goofing off or something?

and usually i see Steve's parents not being home but what if they were?? they could panic because steve always has some sort of excuse for why hes gone or maybe just his mom starts worrying because while his dad never really asks about him she does and she knows hes probably not at some girls house right now because he at least would have told her. or maybe mrs harrington doesn't know her son as well as she thinks she does and assumes he is out at some girls house and is relieved hes finally getting to be more like himself.

maybe just one or two people in scoops troop are reported missing that night and maybe the search started for them is enough for the other's parents or friends to realize they're all missing. maybe none of them are because they each already had a coverup with the people who'd notice. maybe they spent a good few hours in that elevator regretting lying about where they'd be because now no one knows they're in danger and by the time they start looking it could be too late (obviously erica didn't seem to grasp this yet but shes literally 10 and it's definitely her fist severely traumatic life or death experience. for the others tho it could definitely be on their minds and i have seen a few fics where robin wonders about how steve and Dustin are reacting like they've done scary shit like this before together)

then morning comes and id give it until lunch with no calls or anything before parents who believed their kids were sleeping over to start worrying seriously. maybe they call the friend their child's supposedly with and get a confused parent saying they haven't seen them or maybe they get the friend picking up and confirming they're fine (like tina). but if Mrs Henderson gets worried and calls steve she'll either get the harringtons saying he isn't home right now or she won't be able to reach him. and knowing steves like a big brother and a best friend to dustin knows that if steve missing too he's probably at least missing with him and goes to the station worried about them both

and then theres the fact that scoops has to open in the morning, probably sometime around 10am. maybe steve and robin were scheduled to both work again and as 10am comes and passes scoops ahoy hasn't been touched. maybe some mall manager calls the scoops manager (forgive me ive never worked in a mall but i do work in a store-within-a-store and we have our own manager plus the big store manager) and asks where their employees are. if missing persons reports were filed that last night then the manager would be really worried while frantically trying to find someone to cover for them. but maybe no one knows they're missing yet and their manager is grumbling about their no-shows, maybe considering firing them for both disappearing without even calling out. depending on how much they know and if the reports were filed, whoever has to cover their shifts is either worried about their coworkers (probably moreso robin than steve because of his reputation) or utterly pissed that they both didn't show and they have to open scoops ahoy with a few hours delay and probably a good few karens bitching about being closed. or maybe one or the other was scheduled and while their no-show is really inconvenient at least someone's there to open and ask for backup

and then theres steves car still parked in the back where it was the day before. a bike left behind at the mall is less eyebrow-raising but a fancy car? Steve Harrington's car? Steve Harrington who was scheduled to work today but somehow isn't in scoops right now? is he skipping work while simultaneously wandering around his workplace? and whats worse is despite evidence being there *no one can find him*. maybe thats what it takes for people to realize hes like actually missing. maybe they think he was kidnapped, hopefully he just went home with some girl and lost track of time.

and then theres eddie. eddie whos been stopping by scoops for a while now. maybe he still doesn't really like Harrington but likes teasing him with Buckley or maybe they've gotten pretty close. maybe they're already dating. maybe eddie walks up to scoops one morning to find it closed or to find that one or the other didn't show up for work this morning. maybe he hears from the worker that ones missing or maybe they get a rant about how pissed the worker is to be opening alone. maybe he's the one to go to a mall manager or security officer worried about scoops being closed because he *knows* the people that are supposed to be there right now and they don't just abandon work at the same time with no explanations.

or maybe eddie visits in the afternoons and learns they're missing from their coworkers or maybe hes there because he saw it on the news and went on his our hunt. either way it'd probably end with Eddie looking around the mall for them because he knows steve isn't going to just abandon his beemer in a busy public parking lot. maybe he finds them high out of their minds while checking the movie theatre (this one i do see a lot and am obsessed with its so good) or maybe he doesn't find them at all (its a big mall and they are actively hiding from Russians who know they escaped. sure stobin are not being very secretive while high but dustin and erica are at least keeping them in less-discoverable locations). maybe he goes home knowing hes looked everywhere in that damn mall and assumes they're probably kidnapped and taken somewhere else (if he did find them tho that opens a whole can of worms for if, how, and how much eddie gets involved and while my brains gone down sone of those rabbit holes i don't think i will today)

and then they see the news about the mall fire. and eddie knows damn well that he looked everywhere in that mall but didn't see a trace of his friends but there they are on the news and apparently in the fire. maybe eddie assumes he didn't look hard enough. but maybe he sees how steves the only one with more than a few bruises on his legs, how despite them claiming he was trapped in rumble that also allegedly killed billy hargrove he looks like hes carrying himself on adrenaline alone and hovering around robin and the kids like something more than falling support beams could get to them. maybe its the fact that he look as shit as he did but wasn't laying down on a hospital stretcher like he would be if he just got those wounds.

_._._._

hi if you saw any typos no you didn't UNLESS theyre funny or actually concerning then you should tell me and i can react appropriately

also i swear i feel like doctor strange looking through every possible reality when i go on tangents like this. idk whenever i come up with little fics in my head or come up with different ways my favorite unfinished fics could end im always exploring as many different versions of the same scenario as i can and coming up with as many what-ifs as i can.

also i pressed the poll button by accident while making this and idk how to make it go away to we're trying just ignoring it and not writing anything in it to see if it goes away

actually fuck that it probably wont work so im adding a poll question as a treat for the people who read this far

[licorishh]

"The Bible is so sexist blah blah blah" okay. When it talks about how you can avoid doing stupid things in Proverbs it uses a man in its examples and personifies wisdom as a woman though which I think is pretty funny

[dawnthefluffyduck]

Happy (very late) Halloween 👻👻 Made this one too smol, spare me by not zooming in haha