#i have like no excuse for why this took so long. initially it was bc i was waiting on that bellum commission but then like

[waywardsalt]

Can you please tell more about your redeemed Bellum that hangs around with the main cast in post-canon? Or, like, your hum!Bellum ideas in general?

Ooooh, I have a lot I could say about Bellum. I'll go a bit off this ask and just talk about him in the context of post-ph and some other aus, since he's fun and because most of them share the common thread of him being in human form often. This will probably be messy, but I'll divide it into sections to force myself to stick to one topic at once to keep this from devolving into what might as well be a transcript of a discord dms infodump.

(there should be a keep reading just under here- there are a few thousand words under the cut- if it's lower than it should be then idk, even while drafting this i had issues with it moving further down than i put it)

Human Bellum Basics (mostly design stuff)

It's less of a human Bellum au sort of thing, and more like a design for what if Bellum had a human form that he could change into. Kind of like Oshus having his human form while actually being a whale, it's the idea that Bellum can switch between his human form and his demon form at will, and I have spent... way, way too long trying to figure out this design.

I can't quite remember why I decided to give Bellum a human form (could've been anything from doing it for the hell of it to for shipping purposes) and it took AGES to decide on his final design.

Describing it would take a few paragraphs, so there's art! Commission pieces by @roskii specifically, he's great, he did great, check him out. (i dont know how to make these smaller :)))))) enjoy)

Half of it is directly taken from his demon design, he keeps the tentacles (not always present, he manifests them at will and tend to have much less reach when he's human), his eye, his teeth, his hair color (kind of), and half of it is more... brought in by ideas related to Bellum in general, with some vague references to that demon design; specifically him being scarred all over is a mixture of the idea of him as a violent and almost warlike creature, while also vaguely referencing the markings on his demon body (in the earliest drawing I ever did of a human Bellum design, he did just straight-up have those markings. That picture no longer exists, I'm sure).

As a basic reference, I suppose, in the second image, the character to the right of Bellum (Damien Fletcher) is an oc of mine, and therefore a character I designed (totally worth mentioning tho that with both Damien and Bellum while I did technically design them and gave roskii my notes for how they look, he also took some small liberties with their designs and... ugh theyre great im keeping them), so those two could provide some insight to my character design sensibilities, even if they're just a small fraction of the (mental) character designs I have.

Bellum is made up of pieces of his canonical design, pieces that I think make sense considering what we know about him, and just pieces of other character designs. He has more or less the same haircut as Joker/the protagonist from Persona 5. His hair has been like that for a while, but seeing Joker's hair helped me figure out specifically what I wanted.

It's been... hard, trying to give him a humanoid design, I've seen a bunch of other human Bellum designs, looked at other Zelda characters with both human and inhuman forms, took inspiration for what I could do and how and what parts could be carried over. His hair is easy to explain, it literally is meant to look like he does as a demon. Easy. It is absolutely directly inspired by that bitch from Tokyo Ghoul. I'm not looking up the character name I don't care about Tokyo Ghoul.

I keep him having sharp teeth, I've transposed those markings on his bodies as being scars (which I'll elaborate a little more on later), kept his eye and that he only has one main eye (there is nothing under the eyepatch. It's just smooth. If you've seen The Goonies, it's like what's going on with One-Eyed Willy. That's probably where I got it from tbh), the yellow and black color scheme is further kept with a yellow tank top-esque shirt and black pants and boots, and while they're not constantly present he still has access to his tentacles.

He's not human, just pretending to be.

Leading me to some other little details, such as his lack of ears. And nails. And. Other things not visible that he didn't bother with. He pretends to be human, but doesn't care enough to look truly human- though he can pass as human. When he does bother to actually look human, he does have nails and ears, and changes his eye to a human one, with a color of choice. He goes by 'Warren' when actually pretending to be human. It doesn't mean anything in particular it's just a play on how 'bellum' is latin for 'war'. But, most of the time, he's not really trying. A sense of lack of real care is something I try to communicate with his humanoid design, hence him having generally baggy and plain clothes.

The 'war' thing about his character I think is decently expressed in game with him having an army of sorts with the phantoms and him just coming off as sort of violent but strategic. He also seems very scrappy, mostly attacks with direct contact including just straight up running into Link, and seems to put a lot of stock into sheer force and just fucking killing you at any cost after a certain point, but seems genuinely wary and cornered once someone is shown to be capable of actually posing an actual threat. I like the idea of human Bellum being a bit of a brawler in a sense, fighting with his bare hands and just being incredibly violent when he fights like a human, really only breaking out his more supernatural abilities when he just wants to get shit over with.

Part of the fun with Bellum is that there isn't much to him, so I'm taking a lot of liberties with him. His loose clothes are something that won't really get in the way of him fighting and do the bare minimum, and the boots he wears have metal toes for just a bit of extra ways to hurt people. He's built but still soft in places, not intended to be a muscular as Damien, he's intentionally designed his own human form to be a bit unassuming, so I've kept that he's made of a lot of circular shapes, his face is meant to be a bit of a round shape, his hair gives a round shape, and though he's fairly tall (he and Damien are 6 feet tall btw Linebeck throws off every post-ph cast height comparison) I think of him being a bit... small? If that makes sense? His clothes help with that, they're slightly oversized, and his posture isn't great; He's a bit like a delinquent, starting fights intentionally for the sake of violence and putting little effort into his appearance.

His scars are technically cosmetic. They aren't results of injuries; technically nothing but the Phantom Sword and things like it can hurt him. His scars are references to the markings on his demon body, and just further reflection of him being a creature all about violence and conflict. They aren't totally consistent between the times he uses his human form, but some of the bigger ones are, most notably the scar across his face.

I'll be honest. My earliest human Bellum designs were some Tumblr sexyman shit and I've been trying to ditch that SO BAD ever since. I think I've done well. The scar across his face is a big one. An added imperfection, a massive facial blemish that isn't really conventionally great to look at. His nose specifically has been though some development stages, at first I kept switching between different full nose shapes, then brought in the facial scar and decided that he'd be missing a chunk of that nose, then, decided, fuck it! I can't decide on a nose shape, so he gets no nose at all. I think it works pretty well and I like it.

I really tried to get in a lot of his personality to the design, and I don't want to go into all of it in this section, so just keep in mind that a lot of his design has been influenced by the way I've decided to write him, and some stuff I've already mentioned might be made a little clearer when I get into that. As a quick aside, he's pale partially because I've intentionally made him look halfway similar to Link, and partially because I figure he does not get a lot of sun; you literally meet him in what is effectively a basement, and from the way he operates, probably hasn't made himself seen in a while by the time the events of the game happen. He can't get sunburns, but, as he cannot change a lot of extremely major things about his human form, he can't manually change his skin tone in a major way, and it's likely that when he was considerably younger and newer and spent time in the sun, his skin tone would be closer to Oshus's, so a bit more tan.

In the Context of Phantom Hourglass and Post-PH

Moving swiftly on, as there is pretty much no real info about Bellum's background, I have taken matters into my own hands and decided a lot of it for myself in headcanon; Bellum is technically Oshus's son. Not in the traditional sense, but he was created by Oshus and can very much be considered his child, and to an extent, Ciela, Leaf, and Neri are all also Oshus's kids due to them being created by him (yea even considering Ciela calling him 'grandpa', in her and my defense she lost her memories and he is old as a human), therefore making (in some terms) Bellum to be Oshus's son and the brother of the three spirits. I think it's an interesting dynamic, to have Oshus be the one responsible for Bellum's existence, and for the three spirits you travel with and help you defeat Bellum to be closely related to him.

Oshus himself (when you get the hourglass in ph) says that the sand of hours is made of force gems of the ocean king (whatever... that wording means)- which then suggests that at the end of the day, all sands of hours are derived from the power of the ocean king, and Bellum dissolves into that sand at the end of the game, and I am standing in front of a wild-looking conspiracy cork board trying to piece this all together. I find it interesting if Oshus was the one who created Bellum before he created the three spirits.

(This is a topic for another post/fic but Leaf and Neri were neglected so bad in ph and it would be interesting to see more of how they feel abt Ciela before she gets her memories back and how they feel abt... anything else ig. I think they're neat, too, and I like tying the spirits together with Bellum in this way)

In Phantom Hourglass, it's strongly suggested (mostly through dialogue) that it's been a decent amount of time since Bellum defeated Oshus and took over the Temple of the Ocean King and created the Ghost Ship (though I suppose it could be possible that the Ghost Ship's existence precedes Bellum taking over that temple and defeating Oshus), but things across that sea are relatively calm, despite the new influx of monsters and the Ghost Ship making most people too afraid to sail. No one knows it's Bellum, though, and people do know about the Ocean King, so I wonder if Bellum is known about at all by the general public, or is a being that's more or less completely unknown? My personal theory is that he's vaguely known in some sense, as an obscure deity, and that he was behind the collapse of the Cobble Kingdom, since they were aligned with the Ocean King and Bellum appears to be his direct enemy and would likely then target the allies of his enemy.

Bellum seems to do a lot of behind the scenes stuff, never been seen until the end of the game and not even being mentioned until halfway through. As I think I've said before, he's practically won by the time he comes across Link and Tetra, the Ghost Ship going out and collecting people for him while he sits at the bottom of the temple and drains anyone who might be heading directly for him. He doesn't even seem to concerned about hunting Oshus down for good, and I suspect he likely doesn't even know about Ciela being split apart, so (asides from my idea that gods/spirits/stuff like that only being able to be sealed away, only properly killed under certain circumstances) I bet there's a level of confidence that he's got things under tight enough wraps that he's good to do whatever he wants.

Aaaand then he panics when he realizes how much of a wrench in his plans Link is, throwing two sea monsters at him and causing earthquakes, he's a procrastinator, I think. That, or he underestimated this kid. Both are very possible. Either way, it's interesting to look at what he's done and caused, hiding away the spirits and beating back the Ocean King, taking over his temple, creating the Ghost Ship to roam indefinitely, screwing with the Yook and wiping out pretty much all of the Isle of Ember, and likely being the reason behind the increased number of monsters. If you really look into it, while most characters don't really seem to realize, things are kind of fucked at the start of Phantom Hourglass, and it's interesting how Oshus himself seems powerless and even dissuades Link from giving it a shot, even if he secretly wants him to go and handle things.

With my idea of Bellum being a sort of technical relative to Oshus and the spirits, it opens up a handful of new avenues for motivation beyond just being after securing control and a steady stream of prey, I enjoy the idea of it being a matter of him becoming more and more ambitious, far beyond the station he was created for; going off of his name and ability to create phantoms, I imagine Oshus created him specifically to be warlike, perhaps initially with the intention of having him as a more violent protector of the realm, maybe to keep monsters in check or maybe just as a secondary deity for the world of the ocean king; I'll admit, I'm still a little foggy on what Bellum would've been initially created for, the spirits are easy to figure out, but I do figure it was something not as passive as just representing something, I imagine it as a deliberate opposite to Oshus himself to account for his weaknesses. Either way, I figure a part of Bellum's motivation involves him wanting more than he was given access to by Oshus, and deciding to fully wage war against him in a sense. The short and silly version is that Bellum is Oshus' shitty disowned son. Oshus isn't entirely innocent in whatever I decide caused Bellum to turn on him and the spirits, but Bellum does suck: that is important. The Cobble Kingdom looks like it's been destroyed for a while, I figure that was Bellum's first major target when he started outwardly going after Oshus and hunting the humans of the realm.

In Post-PH, he's the group's pet evil squid on a very very very short leash until he starts behaving himself and having a character arc.

Effectively, Bellum doesn't die at the end of Phantom Hourglass, instead being broken down into the sand of hours he's made of and being sealed inside the Phantom Sword- after all, after the final boss, the sand Bellum turns into goes into the Phantom Sword. I imagine that the Phantom Sword, after breaking and restoring Oshus, turns into the hourglass for Link to keep, while Oshus and the spirits keep the remaining sands, therefore keeping a hold of Bellum. (A bit like Oshus just being left alone after Bellum defeating him, they can't really kill Bellum so they just keep an eye on him while he's in a weakened state) They kind of just keep him prisoner at the bottom of the Temple for a bit, and Oshus finally decides to send him to Link's world as a punishment, since he's at his weakest and Oshus wants to get him to learn some lesson, it's a work in progress. Bellum is grounded in Post-PH.

It's basically that 'the villain when you unlock him as a playable character' bit, where he's quite a bit weaker than he is in Phantom Hourglass, though mostly for the sake of keeping things balanced, so Bellum can't break everything for everyone. He's still powerful, he still accesses his demon form, can't be conventionally killed or injured, and move through walls and turn people to stone, the whole deal, it's just that his demon form's size is impacted (i hc that the size of his demon form can be manipulated at will, but the largest size is dependent of how much power/stored life force he has. he's small at the start of post-ph, but his human form isnt impacted at all. i imagine that for beings like oshus and bellum, their human form is a like a 'low power mode' kinda thing) So Bellum is the Post-PH crew's fourth member, the swabbie on the ship and pet sea monster when they need it and when he has the energy for it.

Bellum is kept mostly in line by a vague fear of Link and his general fear, respect, and curiosity about Linebeck. Linebeck is usually the one holding onto Bellum's leash. Bellum is decently civil with the group from the start, since he's weak and unable to return home until Oshus permits it or he gathers enough power to make that trip, and works mostly as a fighter- when he wants to. The earliest limitation I came up for him, since he's the member with the highest chance of breaking things, is that he will just straight-up choose not to help. He decides he's busy, decides it's not his problem, or other limitations, such as his involvement likely to cause more problems that they solve, since he's rather destructive when fighting.

He's the least sociable most of the time, for obvious reasons, but can pretend, and has the least... casual skills to offer to the group, hence why he gets stuck as swabbie (also general disrespect/as a punishment for the ph thing) and it takes a while for him to properly warm up to the rest of the group. He and Linebeck start off on decent terms and get closer through them just initially trusting each other, he and Link take the longest to get used to each other for... obvious reasons, it takes a lot of fighting together and seeing that they can rely on each other and they learn to be decent with each other just by existing in the same space, and things with Damien start off half decent, Damien was not present during Phantom Hourglass (obviously) and doesn't have the full context of how much he sucks, but it starts decent, gets worse when he learns what happened, and then gets good again because Damien's kind of amiable in general and sees that Linebeck thinks he's fine.

SO! To actually address your question about him being 'redeemed'- he does have a bit of an arc that I'm still mentally workshopping. He isn't entirely redeemed, as the group's general morality is a big off-kilter when Link isn't looking or is willing to get a little gray with things, and there's not really a whooooole lot of atonement Bellum can do in terms of the volume of bullshit he pulled in the past. It's less him atoning or w/e for the bullshit he's done, that's not entirely feasible, it's more him just. being forced to Be Decent and learn some actual kindness and think about more than just his own survival, he's essentially forced to actually appreciate life and the world, it's more him actually... experiencing the world for a reason other than consumption and war and conflict and doing what he's been told, he's effectively just on this long voyage with Linebeck, Link, and Damien, going with them from island to island and seeing what's up. I'm going to try and keep empathy out of it, so he's not really relating on a visceral level, more just choosing to be kind and take gentler paths to solving problems and interacting with others. He's also the group gremlin.

The way I write Bellum is definitionally inspired by other characters, Power from Chainsaw Man comes to mind in how he has a kind of shitty brat attitude at times, he'd fling vegetables across the room because he's a piece of shit who likes live meat. He's got his shitty messy delinquent loser side, where he causes problems and acts like some asshole teenager, and he's got his more serious, calm, almost professional seeming side that reminds the group that he's a few centuries old at the least and practically a god in his own right; generally outside of Post-PH I would pick one of these two sides to focus on for aus, but in Post-PH I need to figure out how the two of them work with how Bellum generally operates.

He's interested in Linebeck and initially decides to go along because he wants to figure him out, but grows to enjoy the rest of the group and that curiosity expands to involve the world as a whole; he experiences things like art and music, where he can't just brute-force his way into a satisfactory outcome and has to learn and find his own style, he reads books and listens to stories and sees the different ways humans live on the seas and I want his arc to, in some part, be about him just finding meaning in the world beyond what he does to secure survival, and the other members of the group introduce him to those other facets of life that he has access to, has had access to. The other part is the group getting Bellum to see most living things as more than just prey for him to hunt and consume, but that generally goes hand in hand with the prior point, as he actually enjoys life and figures out what he likes beyond the basic things he was created for.

He can't fall back on just smashing through everything or creating phantoms, since he's far too weak to do either effectively at the start, and I intend to just force Bellum into basically just being a human character with some unusually powerful magic at his fingertips, first just wanting to build himself back up to what he was in Phantom Hourglass, then just getting to see things in a new light. I'm not sure how to explain it or even what I'll want to do when I get to it, but that's the general gist of his arc, I think.

Other than that, he's just the fourth members of the crew with a serious knowledge of... a lot of things as a centuries-old demon and the hardest hitter in the group who can't and won't cook for shit and kind of just learns to actually live without constantly gunning for those bare necessities long after he's gotten them. I don't want it to be 'he learns to be human' because he... isn't human, but just him appreciating life and seeing some value in it, especially as something with as much power as Bellum, it's a bit messy and I'm still figuring it out, but I've got the general direction figured out.

Bellum is effectively the ship's best defender, and ends up fitting into the group as a friend and with his own specific role with the other individual members of the group. Linebeck kind of kickstarts his arc for him and connects with him the most and Bellum generally stays the closest with him, but Damien and Link help him see other little corners of life, as well as other characters he has to interact with, and I think I want Bellum's side of the story to have the most outstanding mundane-ity to it- there's absolutely meant to be a slice-of-life aspect to Post-PH, but I want the biggest points of Bellum's arc to be comparably the most mundane. It's the little things with him. The others have little things, too, but... I'm not sure how to express the difference, but I promise there is a difference.

Outside of Post-PH, though, when Bellum is present in a big way, his arc either tackles a similar idea in a different way, is just about something entirely different, or he doesn't have an arc at all, either due to not being a big enough part of the story or just straight up not being present.

In the Context of AUs

Bellum is only present in a handful of aus, either fully present as a character, halfway present, or just being referenced. When he is present in an au, he's usually some kind of major character, and he's notable in the crimson king au, the space au, the murder mystery au, and the horror au and one of my 'ruined hyrule' aus. (the horror and ruined hyrule au will be put together for this bc bellum's role in both are very similar) (for reference, here's my au explanation post)

In the horror au and ruined hyrule au, Bellum serves juuuust about the same role, just with different capabilities, contexts, all of that, but it's more or less the same thing. He's frequently present, but usually not acknowledged, and is very close to Linebeck in both, and the two of them pretty much rely on each other to live due to circumstances out of their control; they didn't really go into this whole thing liking each other, but have been more or less forced to become each other's friends due to proximity and just. Needing the others' presence in order to survive. In both, Bellum usually is a character who knows more than the others, but doesn't bother sharing that information since it's either not totally relevant or he just doesn't want to, and he tends to be protective of Linebeck, half because he needs him in order to live, half just because he's ended up liking him. (there is. more to say. but since i may actually write one of these aus [likely ruined hyrule bc the horror one has to be visual and it is VERY plotless rn] i'm not gonna go into much more depth since it would require spoilers lol)

Can't say a whole lot about the space au, either, since the story of that one is still a work in progress, and Bellum isn't particularly a major character, though he is important to some B-plot stuff. Without digging up too much world building and background and general story stuff and important plot bits, he's got a fairly close relationship to Linebeck in this au, as a general beneficiary and friend, and he actually tends to mind his own business and just wants to hold his own position; he's not really antagonistic or anything, but definitionally morally dubious even if he doesn't really directly do a whole lot.

In the Crimson King au, though, Bellum is one of the main characters, and a bit different than in ph-related stuff. He spends a lot of time in his human form, only switching to his little demon form a handful of times, and usually just for fun. He plays the role of Linebeck's closest friend and beneficiary, practically being the reason why Linebeck is able to do any of the things he does in the story, helping him from behind the scenes at times and balancing that business with Linebeck with his more outward appearance as a mostly normal guy working for the person who runs his section of the city... who also happens to be him. The vague politics in this au would take a bit to explain in full, but Bellum in this au spends a lot of time keeping his actual identity under wraps, the basic premise being that he's decided to integrate himself into current mortal society like a normal person to see what trouble he can cause, how he could sustain himself while keeping things stable, and to see just how far he can go- essentially, the only danger he faces is if others figure out what he is, but even then, he knows he could very easily cut his losses and go back to what he's done best.

He's not very active in the main plot, mostly giving Linebeck assignments and pulling strings behind the scenes in order to help and keep him safe, but Bellum does occasionally meddle directly in Linebeck's situation whenever it relates to him, when he needs something extra done, or, later in the story, when he gets a bit worried about Linebeck. His general arc is essentially him owning up to the fact that he does, in fact, care about Linebeck's well-being. Crimson King Bellum is fun, because he can't really just be 'violent demon', and I just like the supporting role I've got him in. He's Linebeck's rich friend who hires him to kill people for him. It's fun.

How I Like to Write Him With Linebeck

Of course, Bellum is going to have stuff with Linebeck, both in aus and in post-ph. Bellum has interactions and relationships with other characters, but the dynamic(s) with Linebeck tend to be the most diverse and important.

With aus: There’s usually a general sense that Bellum is above Linebeck, both in the power sense and in the sense that he’s typically his boss or in charge of him, but in a handful they are on equal footing (specifically, the modern school one, where they’re just classmates.)- the most common dynamic is usually along the lines of Bellum hiring Linebeck to kill people for him. Bellum is typically someone that provides Linebeck with things like payment or equipment or safety- in the Crimson King au, he gives Linebeck a fair amount of money, and supplies his equipment and gives him a place to live when he does jobs for him.

I like to imagine there's a level of... recognition? Not empathy, trying to keep that to a minimum... He's almost gentle with Linebeck, and is uncharacteristically merciful towards him. In post-ph, Linebeck survives being possessed and this marks him as notable to Bellum, since most people he possess die very soon after being released, so he's initially motivated by curiosity and a desire to observe Linebeck when he acts less violently- that curiosity is the biggest reason why he's cordial with Linebeck across my aus as well.

With Phantom Hourglass-centric stuff (which is what I'll mostly just talk about here, since it's kind of the 'base' for all other Bellum and Linebeck stuff I do), Linebeck and Bellum start on halfway decent terms, I'm planning a Bellumbeck fic sometime in the future, which is a bit less focused on that actual fight and more on whatever's going on between Linebeck and Bellum. I'm still trying to pin down exactly what I want with Linebeck and Bellum's dynamic.

I’ve fallen back into shipping them, (Still iffy on ship name lmfao, Bellumbeck is taken by the game and ‘Linebellum’ is lame imo, so I’ve been sticking with just ‘bellum x linebeck’) but it’s not really typically romantic/sexual, though there are some aspects of both, it’s still kind of abstract and easier to define with example stuff rather than just trying to explain it in a concise paragraph.

They both go out of their way to effectively research each other before properly meeting, starting as just trying to find advantageous information, but eventually just doing research out of curiosity, especially on Linebeck’s end, hunting down any material that so much as alludes to Bellum while Oshus refuses to say anything extra on the topic. They have a mutual interest and curiosity about each other.

With Bellum, its a similar curiosity with how Linebeck survives being possessed, and a general interest in him as a person, as Bellum doesn't really care much about the world beyond how it can serve him, but felt the need to look into Linebeck. A lot of the time, Bellum starts with the intention of exploiting Linebeck in some way, then ends up actually caring about him, he usually goes through variations of the same arc regarding Linebeck. It works with Linebeck for me since I tend to read and write him as fairly morally gray, so he's more willing to reciprocate Bellum.

(There's also the whole bit with Linebeck being kind of a monsterfucker and having a thing for being tied up and just a handful of like. sexual stuff on Linebeck's end, but we're talking about Bellum's perspective here we can't be focusing on Linebeck)

Bellum primarily operates with survival on the mind, and at odds with anything that might get in his way, and secondarily treats mortal creatures as something to study. When his attempt to use Linebeck fails, he shifts to that studying, and therefore has some respect for him due to his survival. They both focus quite a lot on survival, and don't have the most interest in making connections, seeing most relationships as transactional. They understand each other; Bellum sees Linebeck's mind when possessing him, and therefore knows a great deal about him.

There are similarities between them; not-great relationships with their fathers, a strong desire for survival at any cost, generally low empathy and a habit of mostly viewing others for how they can be used, curiosity about anatomy, a higher tolerance for things like blood, gore, things that would likely make others squeamish, they both hate Ciela...

(As an aside to that last one, an idea I've decided to integrate into my ph stuff and may touch on in a future fic is that Linebeck calling Ciela 'sparkles' gives her a strong sense of deja-vu before she gets all of her memories back; it's something Bellum would call her, when he was more cordial with the other spirits)

Bellum hangs around on the ship, and he hangs around Linebeck the most, to the point of being annoying, but learns what boundaries are and ends up respecting them decently. I lean more into... things just working out, Bellum more or less being put in a situation where he chooses to change things up and be a bit kinder, starting with the guy he's decided was the catalyst for all of this.

He gets along well enough with Damien (damien ends up in that shipping, too, considering that he's already dating linebeck by the time bellum sorts his own feelings out, so in post-ph, bellum ends up being a sort of on-and-off polycule member), he is eventually friendly with Link, often because Linebeck likes him as well. It takes a very long time for he and Link to warm up to each other, so they'll likely end up in situations where they must rely on each other at the start of things.

Bellum is… very not used to social stuff or acting human, and isn’t even very used to his human form at the start, so he does spend that time with Linebeck while he figures things out, as well. Linebeck's not the best role model for decent social interaction, especially since he works on dismantling his own mask and figuring himself out for a bit at the start of post-ph, but he's the only person Bellum tolerates and respects at that start.

Bellum eventually gets roped into helping Linebeck cook, follows him around for ship maintenance, watches him patch up wounds, and just ends up as a crew member that can kind of fill any basic role, but he’s not making it much further than swabbie.

I haven’t actually written a ton of interaction between them yet, but what I have written always comes off as casual, almost humorous, they joke around with each other and Bellum is detached and unserious at times, but very capable of switching to dead seriousness. A lot of the time, Linebeck tends to take things more seriously at face value, but Bellum is more prone to joking around due to the fact that very few consequences mean anything to him.

He and Linebeck are typically close in one sense or another in most things where they're included, and I generally consider all dynamics between them to fall under the ship umbrella, because I don't consider it strictly romantic (though it usually ends up being vaguely like that), just more that there's some kind of intimacy between them at some point. It's a relationship whose dynamic I think is interesting given the... lack of actual interaction between them, but with just enough interesting conclusions that can be drawn.

I guess it's similar to the general stuff I have about Bellum, kind of just scraping ideas together from canon and then following whatever threads can be connected to them, while trying to make sure it still has roots in that canon. It's similar to my personal 'design philosophy' or whatever for my aus.

I've also considered making their relationship parasitic in someway, as a sort of homage/callback/reference to their canonical relationship, but it's not entirely a direction I really want to go in, and I feel like some aus get decently close.

Final Points

I think Bellum's really neat, so considering the general lack of information or depth to him, I've been playing with expanded ideas and building up my own ideas for him, specific within the context of Phantom Hourglass and a post-ph setting, while many of my other ideas with him tend to then derive from that.

His (human) design is one I've spent a very long time figuring out, trying to mix his demon design in with more human traits, trying to keep him distinctive without getting too complicated, and trying to have that design represent him decently with a fair bit of reasoning behind a lot of that design. It's something Bellum himself controls to a certain degree, so it's in a bit of a crossroads between portraying him based on his character, and being something he uses to come off as generally innocuous.

I've got a decent idea of what Bellum's whole deal is in Phantom Hourglass and afterwards, and I use him in a fair number of aus, often in tangent with Linebeck, whom I often give him some kind of intimate relationship, be it romantic or some other form of closeness, based off of ideas for ways they would interact and why.

Bellum's fun! He's fun as he is, and he's fun to build off of and develop further than what we see in the game. And giving him the ability to shift into a humanoid shape gives even more room to play around in. I don't know when I first came up with the idea, but I've had ideas for a human form Bellum for quite some time now, I've just only recently really started solidifying a lot of it. Even between the time when I got the ask and finished it, I came up with new ideas.

But for now, these are the broad strokes! Not just about post-ph humanoid Bellum, just about my ideas for him in general, though it all really relates back to that one in particular, honestly.

He's surprisingly fun to speculate about! I didn't really expect Bellum to end up as one of my favorite LoZ characters, but I guess any character can end up as your favorite if you spend enough time thinking about him. At the end of the day I think he's funky, and he's fun to use in a post-ph setting.

[k0yaz]

hello! can I request headcanons of how Arlecchino would be as a parent with wife reader? like they have their own child that isn’t being trained to join the Fatui and Arle just gets to love and raise the child with reader (preferably the child being a daughter but it’s up to you <3 )

parent arlecchino hcs

Pairings: arlecchino x fem!reader

CW: sfw, female reader, established marriage, CHILDREN MUAHAHAHSHSH, um idk what else to put, pure fluff, her wife/reader being absolutely concerned for this woman, but it’s ok bc it’s cute and she loves her, eating the nearest route on the highway, ok that’s enough “content warnings” I hope.

A/N: wait this is so cute omg I love the idea of arlecchino having her own child that’s not part of the fatui 🕯️

Oh my god bro Arlecchino would be so ridiculously sweet and gentle with her daughter it’s actually insane.

She cares about the members of the House of the Hearth obviously, so the affection she shows her own child with you is immeasurable.

Arlecchino would be way more protective over her, considering that this child of hers isn’t trained to kill or go on missions, and just meant to live a normal life. She really wants to protect her child’s innocence and peaceful lifestyle no matter what.

While you two took care of your daughter, Arle would definitely do the thing where she picks her up and spins her in the air.

She enjoys it, but her resting bitch face makes it hard to tell-

Lowkey I feel like she would hilariously have her daughter held in one arm while answering the door to Lyney, and tell him to go on another mission while shielding the child in her encircled arm.

And Lyney would just stare wondering if that’s really the fourth Fatui harbinger, who’s currently hugging a child protectively.

She finds it oddly comfortable to come home to her wife and daughter at home, having both you and your kid in her arms as the three of you would spend time like a normal family.

Although she may not show it, Arlecchino gets kind of emotional over this. She wasn’t accustomed to coming home to just pure peace and tranquility rather than never ending business and violence. It was nice.

Subtly, if you have to go out for something, or if either of you have a responsibility to share, she ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS, tries to make some sort of excuse to stay home with your daughter.

She never outright says it, but she always has a convinient ploy of reasons as to why she should stay home that day.

Most of the time, she uses the excuse that she wants you to have a break from the kid.

“Hey Arle can you-“ “No worries, I’ll take care of her today so that you’ll have some weight taken off your shoulders.”

You see right through her, but who cares it’s adorable.

When your daughter gets a bit older, Arlecchino initially lies to her whenever she goes out on missions. At first, she’d vaguely state that it was just “business that she needed to take care of,” and then come home covered in blood.

She definitely lied saying it was ketchup once.

Of course she isn’t able to hide it forever, but your child understands since that is her father after all.

Omg off topic but this woman would definitely let y’all’s daughter step on her back cause she thinks it’s funny, Arle won’t be fazed even a bit cause obviously this woman has some ridiculous muscle.

Arlecchino would even let her do her lipstick sometimes, no matter how sloppy it turns out.

Once she removed it and redid her lipstick before going out, and your daughter wasn’t happy at all 😭

So from then on she always kept it on even if she looks like a clown.

She’d have to stare daggers at her fatui children laughing at the oh so intimidating woman who was feared going out with lipstick smeared up her cheek.

This is so cute I love domestic parent arle ‼️

A/N: OMG BRO AT FIRST I DIDNT HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR TJIS BUT I ENDED UP EVAPORATING MIDWAY AND GOT A TON SO I FINISHED WITH IT BEINT FAIRLY LONG hope u like it <333

[queenofallimagines]

Needy Embarrassing sex with Sae

A/N: Daydreaming about this mans dick what else is new🙄😒 imagining he’s in charge of helping the new manager get accustomed to the team and he can’t help but let his eyes wander

EDIT: MDNI but here’s an audio reference for y’all who not picking up what I’m putting down💕 twitter link 🥰

Sae:

- this one gave me butterflies Ngl

- Bc I can hear his voice

- Like I said he’s a lot more Tame than Rin so he does have an occasional soft spot

- ESPECIALLY for cute little things who can’t even remember the name of half the teammates they’re managing

- Since he’s the best of the best coach obviously tells him to whip you into shape

- “Try not to scare this one off”

- “Not my fault you signed off on someone who can’t even fill a water bottle”

- The coach is praying for you fr

- Surprised that you take the initiative to approach him first to ask him about things

- “I mean you ARE the star midfielder right? You probably have a good read on everyone and how they work so asking you would be my best bet.”

- Okay he loves a go getter

- Pleasantly surprised that you’re asking good questions

- “I’m trying to get as much info as possible so this becomes second nature.”

- Gives you a through rundown of the schedule and what time they take breaks

- Obviously he’s a diva so he’s the most demanding

- Giving you a tour around the facilities

- “That’s the locker room. Wouldn’t recommend walking by here between the hours of 4:45 and 6pm”

- “…..I’ll keep that in mind.”

- Finds showing you around not annoying

- Once you get to the dorms he’s listing off everyone’s sleeping habits

- “He won’t wake up before 8:30 am so if you can manage that congratulations”

- He’s been eyeing you this entire time but he can’t help it!

- He’s a hard worker so anyone putting in honest effort into anything especially when it pertains to him catches his eye

- Not his fault you look good taking notes and analyzing your surroundings

- Stands back when showing you the rooms so he can sneak a peek at your ass

- You feel him glaring holes into your back but it’s not for the reason you think

- He’s infamous for being kinda a spoiled brat but he produces amazing results so who’s gunna say something to him??

- Lmao not I said the cat

- You don’t even peep his heated gaze until you bump into him walking backwards

- Turning around quickly to apologize before he can catch an attitude his eyes are quite literally undressing you

- This man’s whole life is sports so ofc he’s gunna find a track suit sexy

- Will play it off like he’s not embarrassed for getting caught

- “Cat got your tongue? Don’t tell me you’re just now getting star struck.”

- Mans is giggly asf in the back of his head

- He fr ain’t seen someone catch his eye like this in a while

- Logically getting his dick wet right now would be nice

- But also with the new manager on the first day??

- weighing the options in his head and the way you look up at him and go

- “What about you? What do you want from your manager?”

- He threw caution to the wind

- Everyone else is busy with practice and he can make up some lukewarm ass excuse as to why you guys took so long

- Testing the waters by letting one of his hands rest on your lower back

- Mamma ain’t raise no bitch so he’s relieved you immediately return his energy

- He’s not wasting anymore time and pulls you in for a kiss

- Mans is STARVED for intimacy like this so he’s definitely a little more vulnerable

- Like that’s definitely the reason your lips fit so well against his

- Why your body curves into his so nicely when he carries you to his bed

- Yeah that’s definitely it

- Feeling himself get embarrassingly hard so fast he’s feverishly tugging at your sweatpants

- “Let me make you feel good, there you go.”

- The quiver in his voice isn’t missed

- You have a once in a lifetime free pass to tease THE Itoshi Sae

- PLEASE TAKE IT!!

- Grind your hips into his while tugging at the hair at the nape of his neck and he will let out some of the sweetest moans for you

- It really has been a while the way his hands are shaking to pull off his own clothes

- Pull him down to kiss you, distracting him from his current task

- He’s weak for being pushed around a little

- Throws your legs over his shoulders without warning

- The way he’s got your legs spread wide for him and he’s eye level with what he wants has you avoiding eye contact at all costs

- Moving his head between your thighs he’s damn near moaning with his mouth all over you

- Holds your trembling thighs still right beside his ears as he shamelessly moans into your cunt

- “You taste so fucking good, gonna use my fingers.”

- This man has not had pussy I’m so long he’s acting FOOLISH

- If he even took a moment to BREATHE he would be giving you heart eyes

- The way he’s singing praises while sucking your clit and angling his fingers to hit your g-spot all at once

- Man is filthy, and he’s not at all ashamed like he’s grown

- Spitting on your clit before he starts rubbing it with his thumb

- While his mouth and other hand are busy getting as much of your taste as possible

- The type of man to need to lay a towel down no matter WHAT your doing in bed

- Very “wait I didn’t shave” “did I ask all that??” Energy imo

- He’s gunna have you cumming on his sheets anyway so what do all that matter??

- Looks up and sees you covering your face trying to keep your noises down and that shit don’t fly w him

- “Keep covering your face and I’ll tie your hands to the bed.”

- And he’s dead serious too

- Comes up to kiss you not caring if you taste yourself because he wants to feel your lips THAT bad

- The way he refuses to break eye contact only serves to make you more shy because they’re glossed over with desire

- making sure you can’t squirm away from him has he has you cumming on his fingers

- “Feel good?… Yeah? like how i stretch you out? Let me feel you come undone then.”

- Whew IK he talks you through it😫

- “Keep your eyes open.”

- “S-sae I can’t-“

- “You can and you will, pretty thing.”

- Feels your nails digging into your wrists as you clench around his fingers

- “Ah. Almost there? Make a mess f’me.”

- Almost came in his pants watching your eyes roll back

- Since he IS shameless he’ll lick his fingers clean as you’re forced to watch him

- Dramatic as fuck the way he groans about you tasting good

- “Let me watch you play with it.”

- Watching your small fingers curl inside your pussy as you mewl in embarrassment almost has him intoxicated

- Throwing his damn clothes anywhere

- He’s not too stupid to not tease you a little tho

- “If you’re that shy turn around and hide your face in the pillows”

- Nothing is EVER that easy with him

- Cursing and grunting under his breath as he slips it in

- “How about you set the pace. Fuck me how you want”

- Chuckles as you hide your face in the pillows while fucking back into him

- He knows how to put on a performance before all else too

- “Use my cock cmon, make me proud and fuck me good pretty.”

- He’s moaning like a whole ass pornstar head thrown back and everything

- Trying not to move because this is your “punishment” for being all shy

- Can’t help it when you look back at him face clearly burning and whimpering at how embarrassing this is

- Praising you which makes it even MORE embarrassing

- “There you go” “fuck me till I come cmon” “you can do it”

- Like bro SHUT UP😭

- However the way you’re squeezing him tells otherwise

- When he feels you come around him he grits his teeth and says a small sorry in his head before he shoves your face into the mattress

- Feeling you wrapped about him had him fr loosing his mind

- Might skip all of practice just to keep doing this

- “Mhm, you can cum on this dick.. i wanna see it messy."

- Stretches out his words and talks all slow

- He is an Itoshi though unfortunately

- “W-wait Sae, 's too much, you're too fucking big."

- Has you seeing stars like never before

- Clit pincher🗣️ hair puller🗣️

- “Sayin’ it's too much but whining for more? Can't make up your then mind I’ll decide for you.”

- Pushing you deeper into the mattress with his whole body weight

- Grunts and moans RIGHT into your damn ear because you’re squeezing him so might tighter shouldn’t he tell you how good you’re making him feel?

- “At least your cunt knows what she wants, pretty pussy sucking me in and won’t let go. Want me to fill you up that damn bad?”

- Failed to take into account that all he wants to do now is lay down and spoon you while you cockwarm him

- But alas this is the shared dorm and NOT his apartment

- And he has no clue how long y’all been at it

- Helps you clean up while wobbling slightly

- Makes sure there’s no trace of what yall did but the sheets to his bed being in the washing machine

- Nobody thinks nothing bc he’s an upper class brat who needs things to be pristine

- Some people get suspicious when it happens like 5 times a week though….

- He does all his laundry separate so there’s no one to see how your underwear accidentally falls out the pocket of one of his jackets

- Everyone congratulates you on somehow going above and beyond so well that The Sae Itoshi acknowledged you!

- He didn’t think after the first time that looking at your ass you’d be enough to make him embarrassingly hard in public but oh well

- “Continue in my absence I’m going to check if the manager has the new schedule.”

- A few people see red scratches peeking out his jersey but meh probably just the imagination

[sunsguilt]

hello lovely! since vil is your favorite character, can i request some vil hcs similar to the other ones? he's not really 'pathetic little man' material, but i wanna see what you do with him 00

have a nice day <3

SO IF YOU NEED A HERO... OR A BOYFRIEND...┊ft: vil schoenheit

warnings: none! contains : gn! reader

notes: if vil showed up while i was literally at the altar abt to say my vows i would dip so fast its not what it looks like babe ur th only one 4 me it was never that serious (this took a while, sorry guys i went silly)

everyone who says vil is pure evil and would treat u like shit, you are all lying to yourself. he is literally my babygirl. argue with the wall.

vil schoenheit would fall for someone, fall hard, then want to die because why did he have to fall in love with you? like international superstar vil falls head over heels for an absurdly average person who they see in classes occasionally??? he doesn't know either.

he is striving to become the most perfect version of himself, just to have your attention.

and you're. not perfect. nowhere near what vil initially assumed would be his standards for a partner before you. maybe you sleep in class and you're scraping by with a barely passing grade.

he's gonna make it his goal to "fix" you. you're not irredeemably evil but he'll make it his job anyway.

(not that you guys need fixing! failing your classes is a hot bitch move but he is doing this bc he wants the best for you!)

this is going to serve as an excuse to be closer to you and allow him to tutor you. he won't bullshit it either, he takes it seriously.

moving on to the topic of nicknames, he usually just says your name. when he first meets you, he'll call you spudling. calling someone a potato is cringe; it's his only flaw.

he'll say "my dear" just as a general affectionate term. when he's annoyed at something or someone, he'll be calling you "sweetheart". his tone gets sickly sweet and you know he's mad at something.

but honestly, flashy nicknames just aren't his style. it's more of a rook thing to be like "my darling, my love" etc etc. vil would be mortified if he had to call you that, even as a joke.

vil vague posts about you. it's probably the most human vil looks in front of his fans. even vil schoenheit has someone they pine over? incredible for the self-esteem.

he's posting a photodump with a caption like: "i never know what to think about. i think about you." or "with them today."

you're probably vaguely aware of vil's social media presence, not really paying it any mind. it's awkward to cyberstalk a classmate, much less a friend.

since he doesn't tag you, you never really know about the posts and the wreckage that comes after vil happens to post a random photo of him holding your hand across the desk in an insta story.

vil wants his confession with you to be perfect, like it has to be. he agonizes it for a long time, rook occasionally dropping huge hints to you, much to his dismay.

he really is just scared of rejection. you denying him would honestly shatter him into a million pieces.

he'll take it slow, he'd never try to rush it with you. with time, he'll tell you his carefully guarded feelings, and it will be perfect.

— ☆

[charlesdesvoeux]

excuse to talk about immediate aftermath of carnivale, regarding stanley and charles frederick, should you want one? hope you are having a wonderful day or night or afternoon! :)

hiiii sorry I didn't get to it sooner it's iwtv finale day so that briefly took over my life. i think charles was just. wrecked by the events at carnivale, and while he was never a particularly good/nice person it was like... a line was crossed, and he can never go back mentally and emotionally to who he was before that. i think it was something that pushed him to become worse and worse (and he was already pretty nasty before).

(this got way too long so. gonna put a cut here)

i see des voeux as a person who initially hedged his bets on the order and structure of the royal navy bc he was pretty much guaranteed to ascend within it, and above all des voeux is for des voeux. he liked it bc he was good at it, at doing the maths and following the orders and whatever it was that a mate did (i have to look into the duties etc of the different officers in the navy bc i still dont know too much on that). he was already upper class, well-connected (in my hcs, idk about real life), and a very good officer-- I would say, more of an officer than a "human being" at that point. but seeing Stanley-- someone so disciplined, ordered and structured-- break so horrifically also shook his faith in the possibility that sticking to that order would save his life, and for someone who had essentially placed all his eggs in that basket... it was bad. which is one of the reasons why he was so receptive to mutiny later (in addition to the racism, not trusting crozier's decisionmaking, and BEING PASSED OVER FOR PROMOTION DUE TO LIEUT JOP which I think pissed him off to no end).

also imo just... the image of stanley. burning with his arms outstretched walking towards them as if wanting to embrace them. his charred flesh in the aftermath. i think it haunted him to his grave. i'm imagining he helped with counting the bodies but also at one moment he just knelt beside whatever remained of stanley and stayed there. and looked at it, made himself look straight at it even if he wanted to look away. there were no tears in that specific moment, he was too shocked, but afterwards-- when he was back in his cabin at the ship after they finished up with the bodies-- i think he wept. wept like a child. just once. and i think afterwards stanley was in his mind a lot. maybe he wonders-- i think they weren't really speaking to one another when it happened-- he wonders if maybe, just maybe, if they had been in better terms. if it could have been prevented. he quickly decides "no, us being on good terms at the time wouldn't have made a difference bc he did not really care about me, i was just someone to fuck"* but EVEN if he couldn't have prevented it. just for his own peace of mind he wishes that they had been on good terms before stanley died.

*that's not true btw. stanley did in fact have feelings for him beyond just "person i fuck". in fact i think his (eventual) actual genuine affection for des voeux was something which downright frightened him. and when he thought about everyone eating the poisoned food and wasting away slowly but surely-- he thought SPECIFICALLY "i don't want to see this happen to him". which motivated him to do the carnivale fire as "a mercy".

[evelina18-6-blog]

(this is so long, i am so sorry)

i understand why the artist was offended because your post made some pretty strong if not aggressive arguments, and i'm sure some assholes took the opportunity to send that person anon hate which probably made it feel more like a personal attack than it actually was, but i am honestly so sick and tired of people using their real life trauma as an excuse for every single thing. i may not have some deep, life altering trauma but i have my own issues and experiences and i too use fiction and art to cope but here we're not just talking about fiction and art, hell we're not talking about fiction at all. the ethics of shipping real life people are already questionable enough and i don't think there's a clear cut and dry answer but taking someone so repulsive, so downright dangerous, as Vargs and not only making cute artworks of him a if he's your casual anime boy, but also shipping him with a person who hated him, is inexcusable. just saying that you don't like or support Vargs is not enough when you have practically dedicated an entire account to making fanart of him. the Mayhem community is already messy enough and by doing that, they downplay what a piece of shit Vargs is and the pain he caused. (no matter how unintentional). also can we talk about Pelle for a moment? claiming to like him and pair him with such a horrible person? using him as a prop and completely ignoring his real life relationships and beliefs? how is that fair? people are already infantalizing him enough because of his mental illness and possible autism. how about realizing that Pelle is not a prop? that he was a person who deserves respect and that drawing him in the embrace of his friends murderer, is not being respectful to say the least? what about Oystein? no one seems to want to address were Olystein fits in this situation at all, why? was he not the person affected the most by Vargs? was he not his victim? putting his friend with his murderer feels like a huge fuck you to him. overall, painting someone in a positive light and later going 'lol im just kidding' is not good enough. Vargs (amongst others..) has spend the majority of his time insulting, belittling, even sexualizing Oystein, in an attempt to ruin his legacy and he has mostly succeeded because he's surrounded by cowards like himself who don't have the balls to stand up and speak the truth. the first thing people come across when researching Mayhem is the same bullshit about what a ''terrible'' person Oystein was and how he ''needed to be stopped''. this is the narrative Vargs has created and if you don't care enough to look deeper, you'll end up believing his lies and blaming a dead person. therefore such artwork, that completely rewrites the history and relationships of these people, can be very dangerous because it can actualy help Vargs into better selling his stupid narrative. i'm not saying that this particular artist is a bad person or that they're lying about their trauma or any bullshit like that, but art affects real life and the moment you post sth online you've opened yourself to criticism. do these Vargs/Pelle fics have more depth than initially presented? maybe. maybe they truly are a great psychological analysis of Vargs (although i don't understand why the hell you'd want to touch that with a ten-foot pole) but you can't blame people for not seeing that. whenever i see fanart of a ship, i don't sit wondering what the artist wants to say with their piece, i either like it bc i like the ship or i don't. if this is your copying mechanism, fine. can't criticize someone's copying mechanisms without sounding like an asshole i guess. but my advice is that maybe people need to take a better look at themselves and see how their interests affect others as well. you can do whatever in your own time but when you post it online it contributes to sth bigger whether you like it or not.

Don't worry about the length of your messages. I like that you elaborate. I agree with everything and thank you for your message. I honestly don't understand when this person says that she is NOT a fan of Varg, or that she doesn't like him and makes fun of him. I haven't seen anything mocking. I've only seen a great idealization of the young Varg, who was a horrible person, more violent than the current Varg. And a certain idealization of the "wonderful" intellect of the current Varg. I'm sorry to say that "the mockery" is poorly done. Like when you have to explain a joke, if no one understand it, it's because it's done poorly. About Pelle, I liked this: "claiming to like him and pair him with such a horrible person? using him as a prop and completely ignoring his real life relationships and beliefs?" Yes, that's why I said Pelle is not a ball that goes from here to there. I also agree that no one seems to think what's going on with Euro in this situation. In my case, it is almost the first thing that shocks me, it is a double offense towards him. That's why I wonder if there is something, deep down, against the Euro. Because romanticizing Varg SO MUCH, yes or yes, for me, brings with it some kind of sympathy for his ideologies, therefore, some kind of resentment towards Euro. When people attack Euro, they generally resort to two things: lies about the mistreatment of Pelle, and his political inclinations, painting him as an authoritarian extremist fanatic. And therefore, Varg as a person who was encouraged to go further and do "something that many would want to do." Varg is a failure who does not know how to value the only good thing in him, his musical talent. He did not know how to value the influence of Euro and the environment in which he found himself. Now he is a clown who needs to resort to ridiculing himself on the internet to stay current, so that his morbid followers consume him "as ironic consumption." It's an internet phenomenon. And he is free only because the Norwegian prison regime is very soft. I think he should be under psychiatric treatment because he can't stop being a bad influence, even on his children, or they should send him to hard labor, so that he can channel his anger through physical labor instead of the internet. Perhaps the girls who draw Varg romantically and the people who are big fans of him beyond his music do not specifically have his same ideologies, but they admire him in some way, and it is clear that his systematically offensive attitudes are not enough to stop them and scare them away I sincerely feel that they see him as a master. I see Varg as the typical cult leader, and I feel cringe at the adoration they profess of him. "i'm not saying that this particular artist is a bad person or that they're lying about their trauma or any bullshit like that, but art affects real life and the moment you post sth online you've opened yourself to criticism." What you said sums it up. I don't doubt that this girl could be harmless in real life, and that she has traumas and that her art and fanfics help her in her introspection. I fully believe her when she says it, but the debate does not end with whether something is therapeutic or not. It is up to her to choose what things to express her art on. She don't lack talent, why do you choose Varg? That's what's shocking, I mean, it's shocking that she brings Pelle into this and twists history to support her capricious ship and celebrate that more and more people join her ship. There you can see that she doesn't do it for herself, she wants more people to romanticize Varg and have the vision of Pelle that she has, which, in my opinion, is a bit humiliating and objectifying.

[samithefungus]

Coffin meets reader who actually alive but buried bc some people had knocked them out and hope they had suffocate underground. Coffin help the reader get back to the surface (and maybe a little bit of revenge)

Thank you Anon for the request, hope you like it.<3

Coffin x Buried Alive Reader

WARNINGS: Mention of Panic, Claustrophobia and Suffocation

-You were with some 'friends' in a fairly isolated cottage in the countryside

-They had asked if you wanted to stop to help with some renovations and you agreed

-As soon as you arrived you found your friends welcoming you

-When you entered the house everything seemed to be in pretty good order and you didn't understand what needed to be renovated

-You asked for explanations from your friends who said: "We'll explain it to you later, right now we've prepared tea for you, why don't you go and drink it"

-You agreed, so they accompanied you to the kitchen and gave you a cup of tea

-After a few sips, however, you felt strange; your head was spinning, and when you got up to go outside to get some air, you fell to the ground, losing conscious

-Your 'friends' picked you up, loaded you into their car and took you to the cemetery; then they buried you in an empty grave

-The headstone had the name "David" engraved on it, and a coffin was already there

-They had located that grave long ago, and what better place to hide a corpse (or rather who would soon become a corpse) than a grave in a cemetery; no one would come looking for you there

-Initially they wanted to kill you directly, but no one had the courage; so they opted to drug you and bury you alive so that you suffocated to death

-You regained consciousness a few hours later, not quite remembering what had happened

-When you opened your eyes you didn't understand where it was, and when you tried to get up you hit your head on something wooden

- "Ouch!" You heard "Be more careful!"

-You looked up, then turned your head to the right and then to the left; you were surrounded by wood...and it just spoke to you

- "Excuse me, but where exactly am I? And who are you?" You asked cordially

- "I am Coffin, and as you can also guess, you are buried under the ground" He answered you

- "Buried? But I'm not dead" You said confusedly

- "If you are here you must be dear" He answered you

-It couldn't be; you knew you couldn't be dead, you could feel your heart beating and your chest enlarging when you breathed

-This thing of being presumed dead made you anxious, the you began to shake, you felt your heart beating faster and faster, and you began to breathe frantically

-Coffin noticed this behavior and it seemed very strange to him, usually the other dead people he had hosted were not so 'active'; except for one who would not stop talking, but that is another story

-Coffin could clearly hear your heartbeat and see your chest getting bigger with every breath you took, something unusual for a dead person; maybe you were right and you weren't really dead

-But that means that if you had continued to breathe so frantically, you would run out of oxygen

-Then Coffin tried to calm you down, and strangely enough he succeeded

- "Well, now that you are calm, explain to me what happened dear" Coffin asked

- "I don't remember much" You replied

- "Then tell me what you remember" He said to you

- "Let's see...I had gone to some of my friends' house to help them with some renovations; as soon as I arrived they offered me tea, but after a few sips my head started to spin, so I got up to go outside for some air, but I fell to the ground and everything has become dark, then when I opened them again I was here"

- "Well...From this I can't tell if you're dead or alive, but I have a sure-fire method to figure it out; there should be a pair of scissors in there, take them and cut off a finger; I know it sounds brutal, but it will help, trust me"

-You looked around for the scissors, and when you found them, you cut one of your finger off

-Blood started coming out and you made a little noise of pain

- "My God, so it's true, you're alive!" Coffin exclaimed

-You started to get lost in your thoughts; you thought that those bastards you thought were your friends tricked you, drugging you and burying you so that you could suffocate to death underground, you thought that most likely there were no renovations to be done either and that was just a way to get you to an isolated place where they could carry out their plan, you thought that you would soon die there and no one would ever look for you

-You looked around and seeing yourself surrounded by wood gave you a claustrophobic attack and you started breathing frantically again

-Coffin tried again to calm you down, but this time he did not succeed easily

- "Calm down, You've run out of oxygen," he told you

- "WHAT'S THE POINT OF THINKING ABOUT PRESERVING OXYGEN IF I'M GOING TO DIE HERE ANYWAY!!!" You cried out in panic

- "You won't die, I promise, I have friends on surface who can dig you out" Coffin said

-Hearing that sentence you calmed down and your breathing became regular again; you had a hope of salvation

-A couple of hours passed, but the situation always seemed the same

-Coffin tried to keep you company as much as possible and you appreciated that, but your oxygen was beginning to run out

-Because of this you had a severe headache and were beginning to feel very sleepy

-You were beginning to feel the cramped space you were enclosed in getting tighter and tighter every minute that passed

-You began to sweat, chills were running through your body, and you felt a strong sense of nausea; your pulse was racing and you were trying to keep your breathing under control

-You felt the wooden walls as if they were clenching and were about to crush you

-You knew you were delirious, perhaps from lack of oxygen, perhaps from claustrophobia, or perhaps from both

-At some point you started to see blurry and feel heavy-eyed and you were sure you were going to die

-Suddenly you saw a light and thought you were dead and that was heaven, but when you felt fresh air enter your nose you realized that that light was the sunlight and you were finally free

-You quickly climbed out of the pit and breathed deeply; at that moment it was as if the air tasted good

-You wanted to thank Coffin's friend who had set you free, but when you turned around no one was there

- "So what are you going to do now?"  Coffin asked you

- "I survived and now that only one thing to do...Revenge!!!" You answered almost indemonically

- "I'd like to help you in some way," Coffin told you

- "If you really want to...could you dig some pits please"

- "Sure dear, but what do you need them for?" He asked you

- "You'll see!!!" You replied

-Then you headed for your ex-friends' house, fortunately it was not very far from the cemetery

-You spied on them, waiting until one by one they were isolated and then hitting them in the head with a heavy object

-You didn't want to kill them, you just wanted to knock them out; and fortunately you knew where to hit to accomplish your intent

-Then you put the unconscious bodies in your car and drove to the spot where Coffin had dug the pits

-You threw the bodies one by one into the pits and then buried them

- "Did you kill them?" Coffin asked

- "No, they're just unconscious, they will suffocate to death in the pits" You replied

-There was a moment of silence, then you spoke again: "Coffin, thank you for everything; you are the best thing that has happened to me in my whole life"

-Coffin didn't expect to hear this, but honestly he was also pleased and you can tell that he even blushed a little bit

[tomwambsgans]

so i've assumed for the longest time that 2x7 must take place in march of 2020 because in 2x9 DC, gil refers to march 12th as the night that tom sent greg the "can't make a tomlette" emails, and of course a deleted scene from that episode is the only time we would have ever seen that phrase mentioned otherwise. it also makes complete sense, narratively, to essentially do a little fakeout: "tom, is [the date that you burned the documents] significant to you?" "nope! (feeling confident bc there's no proof of him having done that on that day)" "well that's the day you sent all these batshit emails, and how i know for certain you are well acquainted with greg hirsch." "uh oh"

ntm the fact that it makes a lot of sense as a character choice for tom to specifically send greg that email over and over again on the night that he's kinda trying to punish greg, and where he's probably totally unable to sleep.

anyway, there's a But incoming... i fucking wish there wasn't, but. somehow i've only just now realized that in DC, gil refers to the thanksgiving of 1x5 as "last year." which would indicate that it's still 2019, and therefore the march 12th he's referring to should be a day very close to tom's wedding. and, admittedly... it's not totally out there that tom's initial reason for coining the phrase was because he learned about the Greg The Egg nickname, from shiv having told him after hearing it from caroline. hell, maybe it was when they first started at ATN and it was tom's anxiety spilling out to match greg's Principles.

obviously it's a lot of personal bias that mainly makes me not want this to be the case, like... the sheer amount of fic i've written just confidently using the timeline where a year has passed in the first 7 episodes of season 2, which would be fucked to hell if i accept that DC is in 2019 lol

however..... it IS pretty undeniable that at least a year passes in season 2. do the math: exactly 2 years between the pilot and 4x1. ~5 months pass in s1. 2 and a half weeks pass between 2x9 and 3x5 (according to frank). the rest of s3 takes place - MOST LIKELY - over the course of no more than 4 months. about 3 months pass between s3 and 4, based on knowledge of shiv's pregnancy. and no gaps between seasons otherwise... that's a year left. there HAS to be at least one months-long timeskip somewhere in there. and it's always seemed very plausibly to be between tern haven and argestes, given the notion of pierce "fucking them about." for the longest time i've even specifically imagined argestes as being after the holidays and in january of 2020, partially bc that's convenient for why any notion of logan's 81st bday, the recny ball of 2019, and the holidays are all completely missing. the holidays would also be a good excuse on pierce's end not to rush a deal, and finally, i took into account the weather in that episode.

frankly, i consider the climate heavily when i'm working out the timeline of a show. especially this one. if they wanted to make it plausibly deniable what time of year it was, they'd set the episode indoors. or they'd pick a different part of the world for the roys to visit. and in the season 2 finale, they're on a yacht and explicitly swimming in the mediterranean. it's VERY unlikely that they'd be comfortable hanging around in swim trunks and swimming in those waters if it was any time between october and march. going off of that... if s3 begins in late 2019 as opposed to april/may of 2020, then caroline sent out her wedding invitations no less than 6 months early.

basically it's split between this:

what gil said has more weight. we can assume that the seemingly conflicting weather is a metatextual flub to be ignored. DC is in 2019, the emails were around the time of the wedding, and the huge timeskip containing the holidays is in s3 which also means that caroline sent out her invitations very early

settings and characterizations have more weight. we can assume either that gil misspoke or that it's a metatextual flub to be ignored. DC is in april of 2020, the emails were sent during The Return, and the huge timeskip was in s2 and took the holidays of 2019 with them

[genderkoolaid]

Hi this im sharing my experience w transandrophobia when i was younger. ⚠️TW for rape but nothing explicit. Also, sorry this might be long, theres a few parts I wanna cover, and I'm wondering if anyone else hs hd a similar experience. I was 15 and had only been out as trans for like a year or 2, and I didn't really know anyone else who was queer, let alone trans, so when a new trans girl around my age moved to my school I was excited, and I told her that I liked her outfit. We chatted a few times after that, and after a while she invited me to hang out at her place. I hadn't really known her well, but I was so excited to make a new friend that I kinda pushed any worries to the back of my mind. However, once I was there, we were bonding over being trans, and she started saying really weird things, that she couldn't understand why anyone would want to transition to being a guy, and that T corrupted people and made them ugly. At the time I still had a lot of iternalized transandrophobia, so I had initially brushed them off as a little harsh but ultimatly #feminist. Later that night things took a turn for the worse, and I'll spare you the gorey details, but I do remember that she told me that I'd be so much better as a lesbian, and that she had made fun of my packer to the point that I cannot pack anymore (something that used to help w dysphoria) bc of the assosiation of that night. She also said some fetishistic things about me being asian (shes white). I never ended up reporting it, bc at the time I still wasnt sure what had happened, and if it really had been rape. But I did ask her to never speak to/contact me again and blocked her. It made going to school really hard, because I was so nervous that I'd see her in the halls. After about a week, as I was leaving school she came up to me and started crying and telling me was sorry, and I didn't know what to do and people around me were glaring at me and it was just such a scary situation. I didn't really see her much after that. It was a long time before I told anyone. Its so hard talking about it because on one side, I'm worried that people will think I'm making it up to hurt trans women or to push a certain narrative. I want to say that I do not think this is a problem with trans women as a whole, moreso an individual problem with her. In fact, I had a similar experience at the hands of a cis woman when i was much younger. On the other hand, when I have talked about it, cis people have used it as an excuse to misgender her, or otherwise be transphobic, which doesnt help at all and just makes me feel worse. It just solidifies that they don't really see either of us as valid. That i'm just some poor little little girl who needs to be protected. Its been a few years, and I'm still getting over it, but I really wanted to get this off my chest. Thanks. Sorry it's so long.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I know there are other transmascs who have been in similar situations with transfem abusers and not talking about it for fear of the optics & how it can be used as a weapon by others, so just know you aren't alone and I'm glad you shared this.

[beachesgetpeaches]

All i want to say is thank you for what youre posting about this whole situation with matty and taylor. I personally think your responses are well thought out. Sure matty makes some really really bad choices in what he says or does and even acts etc. But that doesnt make him this evil person, the narrative people are trying to push.

I mean after all taylor did choose to be with him whether thats a relationship or friendship or whatever it may be. And if shes happy why start petitions to remove him from tour when clearly she wants him there. Yes i get he is problematic but thats not for fans to dictate who she spends her time with. There is no reason ANYONE should receive death threats, especially family members that have done nothing. We get so caught up and forget that celebrities are still people they still have feelings and they do take things to heart, so people saying they hope he OD's or relapses? That's is pretty messed up in itself.

The amount of hate he is getting is ridiculous, ive seen different articles and comments and whatnot contradicting each other on what and why things were said. But immediately we all jump to cancel someone, i agree if it was done in malice intent why would they still be a band? That is an excellent point. Honestly everyone is up in arms because shes dating someone who yes, does tend to be problematic. Should there be someone from their team (the 1975) to comment on the situation? Maybe, but that also could make things also worst. Noone knows for a fact what went on. Yes theres proof of him saying this but also no factual proof of him actually doing so, if that makes sense. Yes, joking or not, should not had been daid period.

Another point is if you do watch interviews, hes a different. He is into satire and you can tell. Not trying to make excuses for what hes said. Joking or not some of the things he has said he probably shouldn't have looking back, but you cant go back in time and change it so whats the point of dwelling on it. He also said he doesnt know himself and hes not going to form this idea of him because then every question or statement becomes a nightmare in interactions.

Long rant short, just thank you for standing up and speaking out. Yes these sites should be taken down and quiet honestly if people would focus their rage there instead of in threats there could be a difference. The fact they made these site so accessible and posting them. Thats the issue. This whole situation was bad from the jump but again desth threats and bashing on peoples careers, cancelling them... its not it.

Sorry!! Took a bit to answer this one bcs it was long 😅

Thank you, I've been thinking this through for the past few weeks (or so it seems to me), so I've had the time to construct my thought and opinions. And I was going to try to stay out of it because I thought/felt that getting into any discussions will just fuel the topic further while not getting through to people who have already condemn everything Matty does and Taylor alongside him.

But the level of horrible behaviour has reached its peak for me when I heard about death threats being sent, people saying they hope Matty ODs (ffs that one was very vile to read about), the open letter to Taylor was also a step too far for me (esp signing it as if it is the thoughts of the entire fandom), and then initiatives that people who go to specific shows turn around and not look at Taylor while she sings (I've heard second-hand about this BUT this would fuck with the entire show not for Taylor but for EVERYONE who is at that show)... basically, I just felt like if I don't say what I think it seemed as if I was agreeing with all of it.

I think it all comes down to some form of critical thinking, and also thinking for yourself. I have seen a lot of people parrot half-truths, repeat information which has not been true (from Matty liking nazi jokes - which I haven't seen evidence for, to some ww2 memorabilia comment which is false, and people also trying to spread shit like he is a pedophile or smth vile like that)... And it leaves this weird feeling in my brain, this whole outrage and cancel culture. Lowkey feels like tame public executions 😂 and I say this with utmost sensitivity.

But to me the world has come down to people actually actively waiting for someone to fuck up so they can do some symbolic online lynch and cancel them. Hashtags instead of pitchforks, cancellation instead as metaphorical death of a celebrity.

This situation with Matty (and I will focus more on him because Taylor really is the catalyst but she is very secondary to the discourse; or she should be)... but the thing with Matty proves that you can do a lot of positive shit, and you can say a lot of supportive things, and you can show through both your art and actions that you are a decent human being (flawed but decent) ... and none of it will matter if you do something that "the people/public" disagree with.

It ends up formulated as you being fake/performative because you are not constantly adhering to this morally perfect picture expected of you. Matty is clearly not perfect, he has clearly messed up on multiple occasions BUT he has also talked about important issues from what I've seen.

Sidenote: I have watched that interview with Zack Lowe (I think?) and it is very insightful and gives a nice perspective on the way he thinks.

But none of this matters because people (specific groups right) have already decided to treat him as if he has done the worst things imaginable (I maintain that all he should really be accused of is ongoing insensitivity and not finking things frew; iykyk... and like if that's an issue we can just be like yo Matty that was not chill pls don't and that ahould be it).

None of it matters because when you try to talk to people about the other point of view you end ip blocked or given the same "proof" you've already seen (but it's like a different compilation or a new thread or another copy paste article).

None of it matters because no one is ready to recognize that Matty is not anti-semitic, racist, islamophobic, or generally a bad human (all of this based on the gift that my hyperfixation is which has enabled me to consume so much info on the man and the band in the past weeks)... I maintain that for condemnation on those counts you need proof of continuous and purposeful behaviour with malicious intent.

And it would actually be much better to discuss his fuck-ups (which I believe he has accepted he will have, thats what I got from some interview I watched)... anyway, it would be much better to discuss his fuck ups in the context of those specific fuck-ups without pulling out heavy artillery of -isms, -phobics, etc.

....... ok I wrote a shitton lets wrap up

I went off on a tangent here, but I think we need to be realistic. As, I've said if Matty truly was all of the things he has been accused of the band would be no more, the fandom would not support them at all, there would be massive public condemnation, he would most definitely not be hanging out with A LOT of people who seem normal - unless I guess we are going to subscribe to the theory that eeeeveryone is a horrible fascist person (Taylor, Jack, the entire 1975, Gigi, Phoebe, Bo, Ryan, etc etc... I guess now Ice Spice is in the mix of people "collabing/hanging out" so lmao let's add her to that mix).

In general I think people use "heavy-words" too much in these online discourses which in retrospect dims their impact, yknow. Like is Matty insensitive edgy and has he said things that likely should not have been said/done? Yeah, like newsflash every person is flawed and literally for every person saying he is a nazi/racist/phobe/etc bet if I had as many recordings of them talking about various issues - I would be able to cherry-pick some shit out.

Anyway... people will stay mad, and people will stay believing that what they see is the ultimate and only "real" truth (while also knowing that they have only been privy to a small percentage of those peoples lives).

And when it comes to Taylor there has been this most fascinating thing with her - people just LOVE to watch her fall from grace. There is somehow nothing people enjoy more than having "proof" that Taylor is not this perfect good girl "she portrays herself to be", when all along it was the people who have put her on a damn pedestal and treated her as some perfect human being who can do no wrong.

[roobylavender]

previously you’ve mentioned how the cruel prince series had potential to expand on its world building as well as explore the, rather frankly, xenophobic attitude the fae held in regards to humans !

do you think if HB had done that well , cardan and jude’s relationship would be more realistic ? also i wonder if issues ever come up later in life like “oh remember that time where you hated my entire race lolz” to be honest, as much as the whole “cardan is/was/has been obsessed with jude most of his life; The Jude Name Letter TM” was intriguing i feel like it was a bit of a cop-out ?? yk , like when it came to light that he never truly hated her but his past actions were …. [gestures]

considering holly black (per her own words) took large inspiration from the queen’s thief i have to take that as a reference point and say that judecardan might have been believable had their initial dynamic been founded on anything other than cardan responding to his own familial trauma.. attolia was the way she was bc she had had every semblance of agency repeatedly robbed of her by the men in her life, whether that was her father, her barons, or eventually her fiancé, so eugenides’s theft read in context of that was a direct threat to every ounce of respect and control she’d managed to scrap up through sheer cunning and resolve. he was as much a political threat to the stability of her rule as a female monarch as he was a personal threat to her agency and ability to shield herself against patriarchal crimes. the prowess of the queen’s thief consistently lay in its ability to tie its political narrative to its personal one and that’s somewhere i think holly black gloriously failed. admittedly i never read the latter two books of the series but my problem with the world building in the first was that it felt utterly surface level. it never took its time to delve into the intricacies and trivial details of how the kingdom functioned and why it functioned that way. the fae hating humans was merely taken as a given. so even in light of the abuse i wasn’t compelled to feel like i should care that cardan might feel something for jude. nothing really excused him specifically taking his anger and trauma out on her, and i’m even less inclined to be impartial to the whole “actually he never really hated her” shtick bc it’s a cop-out

the thing with enemies to lovers as a trope that is so often absent in its execution is accountability. you have to sit with your pre-existing hatred and your crimes and you have to feel guilty about it for the rest of your life bc it’s the absolute bare minimum required of you: the acknowledgment that you have treated another person in the most horrible way imaginable bc of pre-established lines of political conflict. the acknowledgment that no matter how much love may spring out of the earth after there will always be a rot underneath that you can never forget so long as you live. this is a concept executed to perfection in the lumatere chronicles via the relationship between tesadora and perri (which i’m going to talk about in the vaguest terms possible bc some people have come here asking for spoilers and i am telling you NO! you will never get a better experience with them than reading about the horrors of their story completely unaware of what they actually entail). regardless of however remorseful perri is about what he’s done in the past and regardless of how deeply he loves tesadora, his prior violence is something he has to live with and atone for in perpetuity. it’s an ugly thing between them and he even acknowledges that they don’t know how to talk about it with each other bc it’s so painful and humiliating to think of the violence he and the people in his community inflicted on hers for years. and this is regardless of the fact that he was a child for most of it! he doesn’t allow himself to make excuses or beg for her forgiveness bc a part of him knows he’d never deserve it. he’s actively tormented over the suffering he’s caused her in the past and even when they’re together in the present you can tell they’re always shifting back and forth between moments of heart-rending tenderness and painfully silent grief. so that’s a quality i think all good enemies to lovers should have: the idea that you’ll never really be at peace and if the love is truly that strong and worth it then you’ll resign yourself to your role as a permanent penitent for the sake of your lover. the idea that you’ll do everything in your power now to give them the peace you robbed them of prior. enemies to lovers to me isn’t supposed to be an everyone’s happy and everything’s perfect now thing. there has to be a perpetual ugliness to it, even if latent, and that’s something that at least from reading the first book and seeing snippets from the last judecardan to me lacked

[rayatii]

Continuing with the beginning of Adina and Nemorino's lives as parents!

It's also Harvestfest, so Adina decided to be thankful for Nemorino, and Nemorino sent Dulcamara a thank you card, for bringing him and Adina together.

Nemonrino being a good dad!

I like to think that Nemorino and Adina would be more hands-on as parents than most rich families during their time (e.g. Adina's parents), a sort of combination of both their backgrounds.

Atalanta still being antagonistic towards the local rabbits.

Ah, finally a moment of peace. These twins are adorable, but they can still be a handful, especially on long lifespan.

These parents deserve a nice rest!

Nemorino was inspired by his children's birth to build a sandbox in the backyard.

I love how the twins sometimes have the exact same animations at the exact same time.

Awww Sanook taking care of the babies 🥰 (but she's also not very good at figuring out their needs.)

Adina and Nemorino organized a dinner party for Harvestfest for their tenants and Adina's parents, partly as an excuse to show off the babies (tho the way I positioned the bassinets made it impossible to actually show them off).

(And if you noticed that the UI's disappeared for a few screenshots, it's bc my Reaper's Rewards thingy was kinda broken, presumably by MC Command Center, which I have since deleted, and I refreshed some game options to try and fix the issue.)

Protected and softy illuminated by the famous defender light!

Oh, and this happened. I had Nemorino select "You should really decide for yourself", bc that's truly a decision one has to make individually, but also Belcore is not marriage material. Needless to say, Giannetta got pissed at Nemorino for not giving her an actual answer.

LMAOOOOO Adina and Nemorino autonomously decided to WooHoo in one of the spare rooms 😂

Both parents feeding both babies at the same time 🥰🥰

Jeb Harris is still head over heels in love with Adina, and idk how to make him understand that she is literally MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, and likes Nemorino more than him anyway. Anyway, I sent Nemorino to greet Jeb in her place.

Wait, I thought newborn babies don't have teeth? And children typically start teething at 6 months old?? (I myself started teething at 11 months old.)

Feeding each other some donut drops that he won after a silver date! (Nemorino is sad bc Adina was feeling tense from disliking Hipster fashion style and feeling lovelorn, hence me making him do the the Sweetheart Box interaction.)

Sanook why are you taking a bath in the masters' bathroom you literally have your own en-suite

Cowpoke dance! (I had Nemorino bake an apple pie for the Finchwick Fair)

LMAOOOOO Giannetta why are you insulting your own pie??

Mateo Markovic is now dating Candy Behr?!!!

omg, Principessa's ghost is visiting the twins (also she still has a bladder need despite being a literal ghost)

Gym date! I took them to Oasis Springs rather than their own personal gym, for a change.

❤️

I just noticed how when newborn babies are being bottle-fed, they hold the bottle with their tiny hand 😭

whoops, little glitch there?

Anyway, the twins have aged up into infants! I'm pretty glad I don't have the Growing Together pack, with all these milestones that take ages to complete.

And they're just cooing back and forth at each other now! I like to imagine that they would make up their own language as they grow, like I read twins sometimes do (idioglossia/cryptophasia).

And here's a closer look at the twins!

Isotta, the first-born, has inherited her father's hair and eye color, and her mother's skin complexion.

And Tristano has inherited his father's hair color and skin tone, and his mother's dark eyes. I changed his hairstyle, bc it was initially Afro-textured.

You can now download the expanded family from my gallery page!

[audiovisualrecall]

Brain things:

- can't make phone call with other people around, Someone will Hear me and Judge me at all whatsoever. Cannot be Perceived while making phonecall or cannot make phonecall at all whatsoever No. Feels like you Cannot put hand on hot stove burner. But Why? - making phone call and being Perceived is Not the same as Putting Hand On Hot Burner. But apparently It Is. to my Brain.

- didn't make phonecall in a timely fashion, forgot initially and then was off+then out sick, wasnt able to let customer know we had the flowers she wanted, she didnt call us apparently either, so she didnt come in to pick them up and that was last thursday. Since Friday have been afraid to make phonecall because I messed up and customer will be angry and yell at me or be upset and I will feel bad and also I have to make the perfect script with a plausible excuse/explanation bc 'I forgot' isn't good enough, and then suddenly it's 4 days later and officially a week since I was supposed to call customer originally, now it's really too late to call but also i can't just pretend nothing happened and also I put the flowers out for sale already so I can't even say we still have them set aside if customer still needs/wants them, and really what good will calling do, but dad is like but you should blah blah blah but maybe it's actually better Not to??? But also what if whether I call customer or not she calls my boss and gets me yelled at/fired???? AVOID SITUATION ENTIRELY.

- today got yelled at at 12pm for not sending an email at 10am to leadership about not knowing yet when the garden center would arrive, and/or not reaching out to regional, when u only got in at 9am and had to work on my 2 orders that were due at 12pm and had no clue the display was empty outside or that my boss hadn't considered looking into it himself when he came in at 5 or 6am since I wasn't in yet and letting them know himself??? Why would I need to send an email when we all suspect it's not coming till Wednesday? And again, I got in at 9, I was working on the computer from the minute I got in until like 11am at the earliest, possibly 11:30, then I took my 10 minute break, then I went to work on the floor and had him complain about my lack of communication, and about the windowsill under the plants not getting disted/swept a bit yesterday or this morning (I had to do the work of 2 ppl yesterday despite my team member being in bc she doesn't pull her weight anymore at all, so I had no time to consider the outdoor or the foyer, and then I cake in at 9 well after my other team member so I couldn't have reminded her to do that when I wasn't in yet?), and about how I should condense the display and take away the crates even tho we're getting more indoor plants tomorrow, etc etc.........

- can't communicate needs or issues bc they'll upset/anger the other person/cause a problem/cause a misunderstanding/take too long/it's easier to just say nothing and have a peaceful interaction even tho I'm pissed off at them for a legitimate reason, but I can't communicate it into words right so I'm not going to try anyway, and I shouldn't have to and I don't want to I hate itttttttt

- try to talk about brain thing that's causing problems. Person listening tries to offer Advice or Solution even tho the issue is not solved by those things because the issue is my brain won't let me do those things for these reasons, reply is ok but it's easier to just do the suggestion/thing in the end trust me :) like not the point it's not the point the point is my brain thinks doing the thing is equivalent to touching a hot burner pls understand I'm in distress about how my brain works and this issue at work is only a result of how my brain works and somehow getting myself to resolve the work issue would not fix the way my brain works or the distress I am dealing with. I need suggestions on how to not have my brain declare that making a phonecall is the exact same as putting my hand on something burning hot. It says Not Safe!!!!!! Don't do!!! Can't do!!!! Will cause harm/damage/pain!!!!! AVOID!!!! how do I make my brain Not do that?

- i know cause: mix of self-consciousness and anxiety (multiple types) on top of audhd. But also don't really get WHY. There must be a solution to that problem. There must be something that will make it not be incredibly upsetting to my brain to pick up the ringing phone and answer it or pick up the phone and dial and call someone. Not just work related, haven't called driving school to schedule lessons I paid for in August of *2022*. Can't do it.

- want comfort, not given it clearly outright in the moment, brain perceives as rejection bc RSD. Funtimes, not. :'c

- knowing I have problem, even knowing WHY more or less, does not allow me to magically not have the problem or logic around it somehow. Unfortunately.

- anxiety is main issue, but causing (autistic/adhd) burnout at work, which causing more anxiety which gets tied up in rsd and makes more anxiety. Yay! Want ppl to like me. Want ppl to not find me annoying.

[emetkoto]

What ARE your other XIV ships?

I don't' really have any npc/npc ships bc i just dont care that much if my ocs arent involved thats just how my brain works gjskbsflds but here's all my wol/oc ships:

K'oto is in a poly ship with Estinien, G'raha Tia, and Emet-Selch! It's not like a four-way thing where they're all together too it's just. They are three guys who happen to have the same boyfriend and all live together with him <3 They go on group dates and stuff but Emet excuses himself from cuddling and Other Such Activities that Estinien and G'raha like each other enough to let overlap unless it's solo time with K'oto bc he's literally only alive rn for him he could possibly not be less interested in everyone else!!! but aside from occasionally butting heads with G'raha out of habit he's nice enough to them when they have to interact bc he knows K'oto will be sad if he's mean </3 he is married to Emet and G'raha but he and Estinien are chill staying as just partners, Estinien doesn't really care about marriage or putting labels on their relationship it's just not his thing and thats ok <3

Eme is shipped with and married to Urianger, but was involved in a will-they-wont-they mutual "unrequited" love thing with Haurchefant where they both thought they weren't good enough for the other and so never took initiative and then......it was too late </3 if not for That though she would have married him but bc soulmate stuff she would have still fallen for Urianger eventually and they would've become a poly thing bc I hate making choices and writing breakups and also why would they break up. If you asked me to pick two guys in this game who wouldnt mind sharing a wife it'd be them! She and Urianger are also kinda. Open. Y'shtola sometimes Joins them as a third but it's purely physical, and I maybe sort of kind of have been tossing around the same thing with Estinien lately. I had a weird shower thought about Eme pursuing him to cope after the Vault that turned into 'ok yeah maybe not that early but after 7 years of watching him grow into the weirdest most pathetic quirked up elezen man imaginable she might kinda want him' but again. only physical. The only ppl she's been in love with are Urianger and Haurchefant. She's one of those "likes every kind of girl and one specific kind of guy" bisexuals

Adem is shipped with Erenville and they're just kinda vibing :) not married yet but they will be eventually....they travel the world together when Adem isn't busy with his goldsmithing apprenticeship under Godbert or Studium work! Adem is very stupid and nervous all the time but Erenville finds it SO hot. Trip and stutter more boy it's only making him want you more! Truly failing upwards

and then Coconut is shipped with and married to Thancred though it's only as of the end of 6.0 that things have really settled down for them, it's been a rough 7 years what with Thancred being. Thancred. Spent a long time cheating on her even once they'd made things official following the praetorium where he promised to be better for her......then kept doing it and even ditched her at the banquet for another girl after promising he'd be there to spend time with her then she thought he DIED.....then he came back and promised once again he'd be better......then the truth about minfilia came around and he got really pissy and started acting like a dick 24/7 and also STILL flirting.....etc etc etc until late shb where she reached her breaking point watching him treat Ryne like shit and also continue treating HER like shit so she broke up with him.....at the end of 5.0 tho he tried to propose and made his grandest most sincere apology yet and even though she took him back for one more chance she rejected his proposal bc she needed time to see that he was serious before that.....they were married.....then he did good for all of 6.0 and they got married in the 6.0-6.1 1 year timeskip :) things are good as of right now.......only time will tell how he'll do in dt. king of fumbling, thancred waters

[purplepixel]

HEHEHE I'm glad you like it! I really put my heart and soul into this. So many choices I made to try to capture the words you put on paper. I can write a whole essay on how I used color on this comic. Which is funny bc again. This was supposed to be a quick thing. I WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO GO FULL COLOR. But typical pixel brain is taking a project and elevating it and before I knew it COLOR is very much a storytelling element in this as much as what you see the characters doing. Every color choice was made with intent.

For the ninpo, I had to rewatch parts of the rise movie for this since I didn't realize mikey's is...lava lamp esque??? Which honestly makes so much sense since he's circle. I really thought he was also fire. Raph and leo's ninpo already looks pretty similar, but raph's is more electric inspired.

YES CASEY CAMEO. Casey squared moment. I'm imagining them playing good cop bad cop. One minor thing on my list of things to do is design a post season2 casey outfit. She has one screenshot in the movie that has her old foot clan outfit and I think that was just so we could easily tell its her. Hamato clan outfit casey? But sleeveless bc she's just like that.

Draxum 100% texts like an old person who doesn't understand text speak. Of course he's gonna add a period not knowing the tonal implication of his message. I also think he's just direct and to the point. I wanted to add in splinter's message, but I couldn't come up with something and realized mikey and raph would prob break the news that they're missing instead of asking where they are since splinter's kind of a homebody.

Shoutout to @cottoncandywoof who I sent these panels to before uploading. Everyone needs a second pair of eyes. One of his comments was "make him angrier" and he definitely helped with some speech bubble stuff and the last panel on page 7. Which I was struggling with.

I'm not a comic artist, my background is animation so this was a good challenge. "animator tries translating written words into comic panels". I had to break my mindset on some things that make sense in animation, but not so much in comic pages. But I also always knew that this particular moment from swsa NEEDED to be told in comic format which is why I chose that instead of say, an animatic. I also really wanted to test out comic making and this was the excuse. Comics are a completely different medium from animation despite the similarities from an initial glance.

The last panel is my favorite ngl. That whole last page. Which technically I took creative liberties on. Raph is there when mikey comes to that conclusion after they have the family meeting in chapter 6, but I didn't want to break the flow of the comic AND I didn't want it to be too long. I wanted it to be focused on mikey and his thoughts and feelings towards this. I really thought I could do that in 4 pages sdlkfjsdlk.

Wow long message. I'm just extremely passionate about the creation of this since I put so much forethought and care into it. I tried my best to translate the feel of what you wrote into a visual format. It was a great challenge :]

Happy SWSAnniversary!

This one's for you @psychologicalwarclaire! Finally can give a proper thank you for writing my favorite rise fic of all time. Here's to a Spider's Web with Strings Attached's one year anniversary! What better way to commemorate this with a little comic featuring the very beginning?

For those who are just stumbling on this comic, please go read the fic its based on! I cannot praise and recommend it enough!!

[castlecult]

saw you wanted frank castle requests!! how about him after he did something dickish (like get overly protective and preachy abt readers safety) and now readers not exactly giving him the silent treatment but isn't as affectionate. thank you!!

an : hello anon !! thank you for sending in a request and sorry it took me a few days to reply <3 i’m not very proud of the initial part, i think it’s a weak reason and it’s poorly written but anyway *looks away* … i chose to write for gender neutral reader bc you didn’t specified a gender, i hope it’s okay and that you’ll enjoy it !!

warnings : use of pet names ( baby & darling ), sad frankie, sad but fluff in the end !!! not proofread

gif here

“why would you treat me like that?!” you stormed into your apartment, followed by frank. “why would– are you being serious now?” frank raised his voice once the door was closed.

“yeah, i am! you acted like a piece of shit, all of that in front of matt. just because i’m slower than you, that doesn’t mean that i don’t know what to do or how to defend myself, okay?” you said while pulling off you jacket, trying to keep your tone low given that it was almost five in the morning.

frank didn’t agree. “bullshit! you almost got hit by a sniper, you completely lost your target and were about to die if it wasn’t for red!” he kept screaming at you. you knew it was just his fear and worry taking control but you couldn’t really excuse him now, you two have been working together for so long it disappointed you that his trust in your abilities was that low.

“oh thank god daredevil exists!” you turned to look at him. “i’m tired of arguing frank, just say that you don’t trust me and go,” you said before walking towards your bedroom.

“hey! do not walk away now, huh?” he followed you and you rolled your eyes, sighing. “i wanna sleep, okay? i don’t care about whatever excuse you have for your behaviour. i hope the couch is comfortable enough for you,” you pushed a pillow and a blanket to his chest, then waited for him to exit the room.

frank stared at you for a moment, a bit taken aback by your behaviour. he mumbled something under his breath and then walked into the living room, leaving you alone.

—

“hi baby,” franks voice filled the kitchen. you were eating, sitting by yourself. “hi,” you simply said, keeping your gaze focused on the newspaper.

frank sat by your side and kissed your cheek. you said nothing and kept reading the news, ignoring his presence. “i’m sorry about the yelling, it was really late,” he said after a while.

“yeah,” you got up and started washing the dishes, sighing. frank just watched you, a bit confused. he cleared his throat and got up, scratching his neck. “so um… i got a thing, to do…” he started, hoping you would turn around. “with curtis.”

“have fun, i guess,” you simply shrugged, without looking at him. “it won’t take long,” he added soon, getting closer, “okay, frank.”

he didn’t say anything, just kissed your cheek once again and got ready to leave the apartment. once you heard the door closing you released a long breath you were holding.

“asshole,” you muttered. you hoped he would enter and apologise for his behaviour, but instead all you got was an apology for the last night’s yelling, which you didn’t really care about because it was a consequence of what happened.

you spent the day doing stuff around the apartment, you also went out shopping.

you were almost falling asleep in front of the tv when the door opened and closed, you heard his heavy steps and quickly sat up, almost forgetting the way you decided to treat him.

“darling, i’m back!” his voice filled the apartment. you yawned, tiredly. you turned off the tv and freed the couch for him. “hey,” he finally showed up and noticed you were approaching your bedroom. “welcome back, frank,” you simply said before closing the door behind yourself.

frank silently stared at the closed door, confused once again by your behaviour. he finally understood that you were angry about something and he was the main reason you were acting like that.

what he would never think about, not even for a second, was that the reason you were upset was the way he treated you the other night, in front of matt.

you laid down, groaning. you weren’t expecting him to come into your room, so when he opened the door and entered you slightly jumped up.

“what now?” you asked, annoyed. “okay, enough,” he said and came sitting on the bed. you faked confusion, watching him. “don’t act a fool, i know what you’re doing,” he added.

“oh, i see,” you nodded and laid down again, turning your back to him. “stop treating me like that, y/n,” he sighed and gently grabbed your hand. you freed yourself and kept silence, staring at the wall.

“i’m tired,” you said, noticing frank was still sitting there, without moving or saying anything. “i know, but i can’t wait to talk tomorrow,” he said, his tone serious. “no, i’m tired about you not trusting me,” you corrected.

frank felt his chest tightening, scared he was about to lose you. “w-what?” he chuckled nervously, as if the words you just said were foreign to him. “you heard me,” you replied.

you sat, angrier than before. “you think you’re the best out there. well, i guess you are… but that’s not the point,” you shook your head. “you always complain about matt, and i understand that because you guys have different opinions, but me?” you met his eyes, taking note of a glimpse of fear. “you always complain about what i do, you say that it’s all because you want me safe, that i risk my life every time i try to help you guys, but you try to protect me in the worst way possible.”

you took a deep breath, noticing frank wasn’t gonna say something. “i know that you care about me, you care so much about the people that you love and maybe you don’t even realise that… but frank, you gotta stop acting like a dipshit, getting angry because people don’t do exactly like you said,” you moved a bit closer to him, sighing. “there are good intentions behind your actions, i know that for sure, but it hurts… the way you look at me, the way you speak in those moments…” you noticed him looking away for a moment, clenching his jaw.

“i’m sorry,” he muttered, closing his eyes for a second. he reopened them and met your eyes, gently grabbing your hands. you let him, waiting patiently for his next words. “baby, i- shit, i’m scared of losing you, like… i hate when you come along with me and red, but not because you’re not good, but because i’m scared that the second you’re out of sight you won’t come back to me.”

you felt him squeezing your hands, nervously. “frank, baby, i know that this scares you, but maybe we can find a way to work together… i mean, being a better team okay?” you tried to show him a smile, letting him know that you weren’t that upset with him. “you always act like you have to protect me, like you have to save me… but i’m here to help, not to make you more stressed,” you caressed his cheeks, comforting him. “i wanna help, but you gotta let me do it,” you spoke softly.

“i know, baby… i can’t help it, it’s just…” frank sighed, struggling to find the right words. “it’s okay, i know what you mean,” you said before hugging him, holding him close to your body. “i’ll stop treating you bad, but i make no promises about the protect you part, you got that?” he said and you chuckled. “i figured you would say that, but that was the point,” you kissed his cheek and then his nose, making him smile.

“i’m sorry for my behaviour,” you looked at him, feeling guilty. “don’t. i probably deserved that, i’m a piece of shit,” he caressed your cheek and stared at your lips for a moment. “i still don’t know what is holding you back from walking out that door and never come back,” he said that chuckling, but you knew that deep down frank feared that day with every cells inside his body. “you give the best bear hugs and no one can resist to those,” you kissed his lips and smiled.

extra an : feedback and reblogs are super appreciated !! if you wanna send me your thoughts about frank hit my inbox <3 have a good day