#i might elaborate on this concept at a later point in time but : ) !

[quarkfancam]

i know a lot of people don't like vic fontaine but honestly i really enjoyed most episodes he was in. he's just like the crew's weird pet frank sinatra clone therapist and in a cast full of little freaks his concept is somehow the most bizarre. he's definitely at his best in it's only a paper moon, but i did still enjoy him in most of his other appearances (mostly because i'm a sucker for the songs he covers).

...if there's anything i really do feel was a missed opportunity it's the fact we never got a quark vs vic episode. like a comedic battle of two restaurants-type episode where they keep trying to add more luxury to their establishments and in the end it comes tumbling down on them and their final scene is just them sitting there with it all crumbled down. quark is ds9's king of comedy and the fact he wasn't in badda-bing badda-bang to interact with the vegas setting is absolutely criminal

[mcybree]

Ok ok ok I'm not Tryna start discourse but bluestars prophecy was my first ever warriors book and bluestar will always be my favourite so I'm gonna make some counterpoints to you about her being a Smajor character

bluestar has always been led by an intense loyalty and dedication to those she loves and cares for - this includes her mum, her sister, her clan, eventually Firepaw when he joins the clan, and she has a VERY strong moral compass when it comes to doing the right thing - when she sees thistleclaw teaching tigerpaw to hurt a then baby scourge she very much discourages it and is against it

Afaik scott is Not like that, he doesn't have an emotional or love-driven moral code, he does things because they're smart decisions in the long term or because he wants to. Granted I havent seen a ton of his stuff but I have seen his limited life and 3rd life perspectives and he is very much a singular team player there, there to look after himself and well if people align with him that's great he's got allies (jimmy and Martyn) but he won't go out of his way to care for them

Bluestars defiance of starclan in the first series is BECAUSE she gave herself to them and what the warrior code demanded so much - yes she broke clan rules by having kids with crookedstar but she did everything in her power to make sure they'd have a happy life and felt terrible that thrushpelt was willing to say they were his to save her reputation. She didn't do it out of a selfish want, she only ever wanted to help her clan and those she loved, and her becoming clan leader is emblematic of that want. When she rejects starclan so wholeheartedly in the first series it's because THINGS KEEP GOING WRONG WHEN SHES TRIED SO HARD TO STOP THEM FROM DOING THAT - starclan has never cared about the sacrifices she made to keep her loved ones and clan safe, she lost her mother, her sister, her kits, her mate, literally everything, and things STILL KEEP GETTING WORSE. it's not a demand that she deserves to have everything good, it's a cry for help that shouldn't something go right after she's tried so hard???

C!Scott isn't like that. He puts himself above others and inherently believes he will get the best if he just plays his cards right, and he is good at it, he's very competent at lasting a long time in life series and getting what he wants - the ruthlessness of gem driven by desperation kills him in secret life, Martyn's complete fucking about face kills him in limited life, and I'm pretty sure it's etho who gets him out in 3rd life by luck. He doesn't plan to look after the ones he cares about, because he cares about himself first and foremost. Yeah you can argue when he doesn't get what he wants he gets annoyed, but his is less of a 'why don't I get this don't I deserve it' and more of a 'oh fuck this didn't work. Ok new plan double down on getting what I want by appeasing to people cos they're easy to read and therefore account for'

I don't doubt Scott would make a bluestar adjacent character if he made a warrior cats oc BUT his character would honestly be closer to darktail or ashfur than bluestar and that's that on that.

(sorry you activated 13 year old me's unskippable cutscene sjdjsjsjja this isnt meant to be a serious argument I just love bluestar a lot and love talking about her)

OKAY 1. this is fucking awesome thank you 2. i am going to do something new and exciting (advocate for scott instead of beating him to death with sticks) because unfortunately this bluestar info has only made me believe she is a smajor character even more.

As a general note when I talk about smajor characters as a collective here I’m referring to characters more in the realm of esmp/traffic/rats/pirates/etc, less vampire scott or necromancer scott who are intended to be villainous.

Scott characters tend to operate under a “If I am not a Good Person I may as well die” rule, and consequently abide by a strict moral code to keep themselves feeling clean. For instance: traffic Scott will never go back on his word, he will avoid dishonesty, and he won’t take from others unless he is sure that he can repay them. He will never betray his seasonal primary ally (even when they betray him first), and will often give people things just because they asked him nicely. He stakes a lot of his own identity on this, because it is through being a “good person” that he justifies his superiority (and, by extension, his own existence); in his mind he deserves the best and *is* the best because he is such a good person. When things don’t go his way, he thinks he doesn’t deserve it because he has been nothing but good, so he tries to place a reason. He often assumes that somebody must “have a vendetta” against him, even if this somebody is the world (see: him asking if limlife episode 1 boogeyman is some kind of joke played on him for not giving in to the boogey curse in Last Life.) which is very Bluestar to me, convinced that her misfortunes are a divine punishment.

This is all to say that Scott does have a strict moral code and deep sense of loyalty. Being a “good person” and devoted partner in the ways he understands it are so ingrained into what he is that I think he definitely has the capacity to be a Bluestar if he were raised being taught clan values, even if his internal systems are often built around never letting gross emotions be fully felt rather than what those emotions compel him to do.

[medicinemane]

The world is set on prescriptivism and... it doesn't jive with me

[marasmadness]

Can you write BDSM dark!Jennifer Jareau x Reader who is a college student and they meet like randomly. Reader has a heart of gold and can’t see jjs dark side. And JJ js like obsessed with her.

“When you look at me like that, my darling, what did you expect?” || Jennifer Jareau x fem!reader

CW: slight age gap (college sophomore reader x TA JJ), obsession, stalker behavior, smoking and drinking, possessive behavior, smoking & drinking, jealousy, smut, hair pulling, begging, degradation, she’s kind of mean ngl, ahem anyways …

"If anyone would like extra review for the final exam, JJ will be available during office hours this week to offer any assistance you might need,” your forensics teacher announced to the room, pointing to the graduate student acting as his TA for the semester. You had gotten to know her a bit and frequently spent office hours with her that started out as going over work but often drifted into gossip or other unrelated discussions. She typically wore her long blonde hair in a loose braid that fell down her back. You admired her intelligence greatly. Her ability to analyze communication and media publications, part of her specialty, was enticing to watch.

Many of the students in the class were already filtering their way out of the lecture hall, ready to crash after their last class of the day. You lingered for a moment so you could scribble down the times you could go find JJ later before eventually running out. J.J. caught your eye as you approached the door. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but her lips drew up into a smile, and she curled her fingers with a wave in your direction. You waved back quickly, watching her cross her arms over her chest as you left.

On your way back to the dorms, you flipped your hand over to see the times scrawled in pen on your skin. You figured it would be nice to see her as soon as possible and wanted to make it to her first available time. That gave you enough time to race back to your room, switch out your supplies, and maybe take a breath for a few moments.

You popped into your room, sharing a brief small talk with your roommate, who was on her way out to the library, but you were back out again as fast as you were in. JJ could always be found in the office of the professor she worked under. She had held many roles under his authority and not only depended on her but trusted her as well, so at this point, a part of the workload and part of the office basically belonged to her.

When you got there, the door was only up a crack, so you knocked and tentatively peeked your head in. JJ looked up from the pile of papers she was grading at her small desk in the corner and swiped her fallen bangs out of her face. "Hey hon, came just for me?” She teased, setting aside her papers as she turned her full attention to you.

You laughed, setting your notes down and pulling up a chair across from her. Before you could sit down, she dragged the chair onto her side of the desk, patting the seat. "Here, just so I don’t have to read your notes upside down. She smiled innocently, waiting for you to take your place beside her. Once you had settled yourself, you flipped through the pages of analysis and calculations in front of you, running your finger across the blue ink as you explained yourself. JJ occasionally leaned over to stop you, correcting a small error or elaborating on a concept you didn’t entirely understand beyond the basics of it. When she did, she rested her hand on your lower back, and she leaned in close enough that you inhaled the subtle scent of her vanilla perfume. You found it harder to focus under her touch but thought little of it.

Your phone kept buzzing on the table, and you were quick to flip it over, typing out a quick response. JJ silently grew annoyed. After a few too many messages shot back and forth, her eyebrows furrowed, and she poked around for information. "Who needs to get in touch with you that badly?” She spoke dryly but quickly laughed it off.

"Oh, sorry, I’m just looking for an apartment for next year. I’m going to check out an apartment with a friend later."You trailed off as you squinted at your screen before setting it down and refocusing your attention on JJ.

JJ sat tensely on the desk in front of you. Her face was in its usual soft and charming smile, which kept you distracted from any other of her mannerisms. While she was adept at detecting others' slight movements and tells, she was also scarily good at covering her own. “Which friend?”

“ Lola.”

JJ’s face soured at the name. There had been the slightest bit of shared feelings between you and Lola earlier in the year, but aside from a single night with "no strings attached,” nothing had happened. Whatever could’ve happened between the two of you evaporated, and you remained distant friends—that is, until you ran into her getting coffee and she discovered that you were also looking for an apartment. She suggested that the two of you look for one together; you had already been roommates freshman year, and it would be worth it to split the rent. JJ had been the one you discussed your fleeting on and off feelings with, always being an attentive listener, but JJ didn’t like her. She didn’t tell you that, but she was also far from gushing over her that you kind of got the hint.

"Oh, well, if a place is all you need, baby, then you could stay with me. My roommate is finishing her master’s this semester, and I’ll have an empty room,” JJ suggested, eager to interrupt the idea of you and Lola living together.

You didn’t think she was serious at first. She was at a much different place in her life, getting ready to head into the FBI while you weren’t even sure what you wanted to do yet. She was like a mentor to you. She had always been supportive and became a great confidante. Maybe you would be better off with her than Lola. Why would JJ suggest it if it wasn't a good plan? "That's sweet. I’m still going to go check out the place with her tonight, but if anything falls through, I’ll consider it."

JJ watched you attentively, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth as you packed up your things. Your phone kept buzzing on the desk, and she grew subtly more frantic as you were getting closer to leaving. "Hey, would you mind grabbing my phone? It’s under the papers on that filing cabinet.” She pointed across the room while her other hand drifted to her back pocket. You turned around and started digging through the stacked papers she had directed you to. JJ smoothly pulled out her phone from where she had felt its weight in her back pocket the entire time you had been here and snapped a photo of the two addresses appearing on your home screen from Lola. Knowing you would quickly turn around without her phone, she stood up quickly out of her chair that had been squeaky all semester and dropped her phone under her desk.

You turned around, ready to tell her that you didn’t see it, but she was already crouched on the ground, plucking it up off the floor underneath her desk. "Nevermind, I found it. I must have dropped it.” She smiled vacuously, in a way that only fooled strangers, unaware of her intelligence.

"Oh, good! Thank you so much for your help. I’ll see you in class Friday.” You waved on your way out as JJ called out a goodbye while crossing her legs and rocking slightly in her chair. As soon as the door closed with a click, her face fell into a look of cold determination, and she switched taps on her laptop. Typing in the address, her lips curled upward at the information she found. It was a fairly new apartment complex, right outside the school’s campus, meaning there would be plenty of showings going on and people in and out all day long.

She put the address into her phone and parked at the convenience store next door. It was surprisingly easy to slip into a side door that was left open for construction workers working on the other half of the building. She had been fully prepared to go in, flirt with whoever would fall for it in the lobby, and hope it worked out.

Afraid of being stuck in an elevator with someone who might catch on to the fact that she wasn’t supposed to be here, she opted to take the stairs up to the third floor. She found that apartment number that you’d be touring in half an hour and passed it, slipping into the empty one next door. As she passed other rooms, she was relieved to see that other apartments in the hallway were already occupied by residents. Her plan instantly became more believable.

She shut the door behind her, surveying the room. The heels of her boots clicked across the wooden floors, echoing in the unfurnished place. Walking up the thin wall that would soon separate you, she placed her hand up to it. Knocking raptly, she smiled when she heard the echo on the other side. JJ had heard every step and creak from her neighbors in her first apartment. The echo guaranteed that you would experience the same when you arrived with Lola. Even the thought of the girl left a sour taste in JJ’s mouth, causing her to grit her teeth.

Sliding down the wall, she sat beside the vent. Digging through her purse, she picked out a pack of cigarettes and a small red lighter. She wasn’t a frequent smoker but had a history of using one or two when her emotions overwhelmed her to the point where they made her sick to the stomach; Or, in this case, they were simply convenient. A lot of her plan relied on small details working in her favor. Since she arrived, every time part of her plan was reassured, her body relaxed with an increase in confidence. The second she approached the wall, she recognized the smell of new paint. The walls of the room she was in were dusty in beige paint, along with visible chips and dents. It was not newly painted, but a newer room just about to be shown to potential clients? Would be. Sound and scent both went through the walls. It was all she needed.

She occasionally heard footsteps pass and then fade away, but nobody bothered to stick their heads into a room that was supposed to be empty. She dully entertained herself by watching the clouds of smoke that left her lips. She had always paid close attention to every personal detail that had left your mouth, including your subtle complaints about everything smelling of smoke when you had been sharing a room with Lola.

Her attention peaked when she heard a trio of footsteps and two familiar voices outside the door. She quickly pushed herself up off the floor, rolling her eyes at the sound of Lola’s raspy voice, followed by your laughter. Wandering into the small kitchen area, she boosted herself up onto the counter and placed her phone against the wall. She hit play, sending music blasting from her so loudly that it vibrated against the wall. A grin flashed across her face at the grating sound. She had picked a playlist of music she hadn’t listened to since she was seventeen and very angry.

She lingered in the place for about fifteen minutes and could hear you and Lola being shown around the place, but not well enough to comprehend what anyone was saying. She could follow your voices, knowing when you got closer to the door. Her hope peaked at the quickness with which you were in and out of the apartment, under the assumption that you had disliked it. She waited five minutes after hearing you leave to exit out of the building the exact way she had entered, grinning to herself as she drove off to the next address she had plucked off your phone.

Her eyes darted to the short black dress hanging in the back of her car that she could see in the rearview mirror. She had become an expert at changing and getting ready in the back of her car ever since her recent internships with the BAU. Once she had changed out of a crewneck and pair of sweatpants and fixed her hair, she moved her car into a corner parking spot behind the bar, just in case you recognized her car right away. She wanted your interaction to seem more accidental.

Sure enough, when you entered the dimly lit bar moments later with Lola by your side, you backtracked at the sight of familiar blonde hair. You approached JJ tentatively, still unsure if it was her, where she was ordering a drink with her back turned to you. “JJ?”

She turned around, her face breaking out in calculated excitement. “Hi! What are you doing here? How’d the apartment thing go?” She started firing off questions, inviting you to sit on the stool next to her while also ignoring Lola’s existence.

“We decided to stop for drinks after. It didn’t go so well. The place felt unwelcoming. You could hear everything from loud neighbors, and the rooms had a weird smell."

She pretended to act both surprised and disappointed at this information, all while buying you a drink. “Aw, I’m sorry, hon. Well, like I said, my offer still stands."

You were much more willing to consider the idea now that your first place wasn’t looking as good as it seemed. At this point, Lola, who was tired of being in the background, crossed the room to accept a drink offer from a guy who had been staring at her since she had walked in. You decided to stay with JJ.

She thanked the bartender, who handed two glasses across the counter and then slid one over to you. You felt a bit more nervous sitting across from her than usual. She was much more intimidating in this setting than when she was happily helping you out in the corner of a classroom.

She wore a simple black dress, elevated with gold jewelry that fell against her ample cleavage. She also had rings to match on both hands that glinted under the hanging yellow lights as she gripped her glass. A smoky eye shadow was brushed over her lids, accentuating her bright blue eyes. She swirled the drink in front of her, watching ice cubes clink against the sides before she took a sip.

You sat talking for some time, not much differently than you usually did, but eventually her demeanor changed. She pivoted around on her stool so that her knees rested outside of your legs and leaned in closer to talk to you. Occasionally, her hands left the countertop to brush against your thigh, but she didn’t draw attention to it. You frowned as her eyes suddenly darkened at something over your shoulder and turned to find Lola sauntering back over with the same main from earlier wrapped around her arm.

"Hey babes, I’m leaving, would you be okay finding a ride?” Lola leaned in so that you could hear her over the overlapping chatter, and she seemed to be begging you to say yes with her eyes. Before you could reply, JJ volunteered without hesitation.

"I'll take her; you can leave.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she turned back towards you, waiting for Lola to leave. Lola had sensed the blonde’s dislike of her since they first met and was eager to get away from her, so she quickly turned around and headed toward the door without another word to you.

You and JJ remained in your corner of the bar, gradually becoming more rowdy with a second round of drinks, and JJ’s hands spent more time on your body. As promised, when you were ready to head out, JJ shielded you through the crowds of people until you slipped into the brisk air. She ran her warm hands up and down your arms, erasing the goosebumps that had risen from the cold. She mumbled something about her car being parked around the back and steered you around the corner of the building. Her jacket was draped over her arm, and she unfolded it, setting it across your shoulders. You were too unfocused, climbing into the passenger's seat of the car, to notice the unfamiliar scent of clothes that lingered on her clothes. JJ hovered over the car door, shielding your head from hitting the roof with her hand as you climbed. She shut the door behind you, walking around to the driver’s side. “Are you on Lotus Ave?” She asked, looking over at you as she pulled out of the parking lot.

"Ugh, yes,” you groaned, dropping your head back against the seat with the realization that your place was 30 minutes across town. You were used to being in places within walking distance, but you had followed Lola to this bar since you were already out of the apartment anyway.

JJ laughed at your disappointment. "Well, I’m 2 blocks away if you want to just spend the night, and I’ll drive you back in the morning. Maybe stop for breakfast,’ she suggested casually, gripping the wheel.

That didn’t sound terrible. Crashing in her apartment sounded like a much more comforting idea than a longer car ride in the dark and having to deal with whoever you might run into on your way back up to your dorm. "Actually, that sounds nice,” you said softly, and JJ quickly rerouted, turning onto her street.

Leading you upstairs, she dug around for a minute to find her keys and unlock the door. You shrugged off her jacket, handing it back to her with thanks, and she hung it up by the door. You both immediately crashed on the couch with sighs, kicking your shoes. Lola texted you to double check that you were alright, and JJ’s face hardened as you picked up your phone.

The wall that she had so carefully built up over the years to hide her true emotions fell, and impulsivity overwhelmed her. You were startled as she snatched the phone out of your hand, tossing it on the coffee table. “ Hey!” Before you could finish, her lips were on yours, and you happily sank into the kiss. "JJ,” you said, out of breath and shock.

She tilted her head, pressing her lips harshly against your neck and below your ear. Her mouth left a trail of soft purple marks and smeared lipstick posessively across your skin. “God, I’ve been so patient... waiting for you to get over those stupid little sluts, hoping you’d realize that I could treat you so, so much better.” Her voice had dropped into a raspier, coarser octave that made your stomach flip, but you were enjoying her touch too much to interrupt her. "That was silly of me, I should’ve known you would’ve needed to show you that, and now I can.” She straddled your waist, putting pressure on your shoulders so that you’d lay back underneath her. Her fingertips ghosted against your collarbone as she tugged the sleeves of your shirt over your shoulders.

Having such an ethereal, powerful woman loom over you left you breathless for a moment. "You've thought about this before tonight? Tell me how.” Your lips quirked up into a smile as you looked up at her.

Her eyes roamed across your body as she formed her words. "I've thought about those days that you sat between my legs in the office, oblivious to everything. And how I would’ve liked to wrap your hair around my hand and bend you over my desk, fucking you senseless until my name is the only word that's falling from your lips over and over again. I’ve imagined leaving marks all over your skin, in hopes that it will be a reminder that I’m the only one who gets to touch you,’ she had leaned in over you, her breasts pressed against you as she spoke into your ear, causing your breath to hiccup.

She pinched your chin between two fingers, running her thumb across your bottom lip. "Prove it” fell from your lips, barely above a whisper, and flipped a switch in JJ, entirely spurring her on.

In seconds, she had yanked off your clothes, dropping them to the floor. Roughly flipping you over, she pressed your face down into the pillow, silencing your gasps. "Don't move,” she commanded. You heard her cross the room and quickly return.

Positioning your body how she wanted it, her hands gripped your hips roughly, pulling them up. She dragged her nails up your spine and laughed menacingly as you yelped when she grabbed your hair. Your entire body tensed, back arching, as the tip of her strap brushed against your ass before teasingly sliding down across your folds.

Tugging your hair, she yanked your head closer to her. "Be as loud as you want, baby. It’s a shame nobody can hear you through these walls. I’d love for them to know how easy it is to get you begging for my cock,’ she chuckled, before unexpectedly and roughly thrusting into your cunt. She kept a tight grip on your hips, holding you up against her so that she could hit deeper inside of you and elicit more moans that you attempted to muffle into the pillow in front of you.

You bit down on your tongue in an attempt to be quiet, the noise she was getting from you was almost embarrassing, and tears formed in the corner of your eyes. JJ leaned down, swiping the drop off your cheek with her finger, a contrastingly gentle action. The sound of skin slapping skin filled the room.

Your nails dug into the cushion in front of you, and your thighs clenched as you neared an orgasm. "Fuck JJ,’ you panted as flashes interrupted your vision.

Her response came back cold and unaffected. "Beg me, beg me to let you come,’ she demanded, rhythmically continuing the thrusts of her hips. You were hesitant to ask for such a thing, let alone beg for it, to give her permission and control over your entire body. One hand drifted up to your chest, and she pinched your nipple, rolling it between the pads of her fingers. The stimulation was not helping your resistance, and a whimper escaped you.

Please, I need you to let me come. I’ll do anything, please please,” You started rambling mindlessly, desperate to do anything as long as you could finish this orgasm.

JJ smiled at your instant obedience and was satisfied. Her hand snaked around your body and between your legs. A shaky scream erupted from your throat as she curled two fingers against your clit. You quickly fell over the edge. Your vision danced in and out as you orgasmed, and your legs quivered, eventually giving out. You came on JJ’s pink strap and fingers. She slowly removed herself from inside you and brought her fingers to your mouth. Forcing your lips apart, she pressed two fingers to your tongue. You closed your lips around them, and her eyes glinted as you sucked them clean. “Good girl.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder, smiling as if she were victorious.

The rest of the night was a blur. You were exhausted. You briefly remembered an attempt to clean yourself up with JJ’s help but ended up falling asleep right where you were. JJ, much more alert than you, was also schemingly the first to wake up the next morning when your phone rang. Her eyes darted to you, relieved to find that you were still sprawled across her bed, where she had carried you, and you fell dead asleep in the living room. She was relieved to find your eyes still closed, fluttering with dreams. Reaching for your phone, she had no hesitation about picking it up. "Hello,” she answered softly.

"Hi Y/N, this is Elise from yesterday. I’m calling back about the apartment, room 505?”

"Oh yes, of course. Thank you so much. Actually, Elise, about that..."

[dreamings-free]

Louis about LT3

a summary UPDATED 5/2/25

Sep 2022 first time Louis mentions a 3rd album. Louis is quoted in Euphoria Magazine saying: “Ideally, I’d like to try and write the next record before I go on tour next year. I want to do something similar to what I’ve done this past year.” (but from what we know now it seems it didn't play out that way..)

Sep 14th 2022 Louis leaves a comment on Faith In The Future co-writer Nico Rebscher's instagram post about Out Of My System saying "Can’t wait to do more on the next album!"

Jan 2023 Louis is on holiday in Cabo, Mexico and is spotted travelling with his guitar - maybe in case inspiration strikes!?

Feb 22nd 2023 Louis is seen "a tiny village with a recording studio in it". A few days later both Louis and Matt Vines likes an instagram post by Faith In The Future co-writer David Sneddon captioned "Spent the week at @ angelicstudiouk with friends and heroes." Another FITF co-writer Theo Hutchcraft is seen in one of the photos.

May 11th 2023 Louis tweets: "Also probably shouldn’t mention this so early in the process but I’m feeling really confident creatively, just finished a week of writing and it was unbelievable. Exciting!"

May 13th 2023 When asked about the next album at the LA screening of All Of Those Voices, he answered: “I recently just started, yeah. The majority have been my own, but some of the lyrics is less direct, so it’s maybe not quite as specifically about me but,I felt really fulfilled, the last couple of writing sessions I’ve done have been really, really good.”

Nov 23rd 2023 Louis gets asked about album 3 at the Rolling Stone UK Awards and is quoted saying: “It’s funny, I wrote maybe 4 or 5 tunes in one of the breaks of the tour legs, and actually, I just wanna spend a bit of time. I’m really excited for those songs, but I don’t know when the next records gonna come and the thing about me is when I start writing, I’m just desperate to release things as soon as a possible, so I wanna take a bit of time on this record. So when that might be, who knows.” He also talks a bit about potential collaborators and mentions DMA'S.

Jan 20th 2024 Louis follows producer James Ellis Ford who has worked with Arctic Monkey, Gorillaz and many, many more.

Jan 24th 2024 When asked in a twitter Q&A if he has "a concept in mind already for the next album?" his answer was: "Started drawing the outline in my head". He also told fans asking at the meet 'n' greet in Jakarta that it would be "soon, in my context of the word" 😜

Mar 30th 2024 At the Tecate Pa'l Norte press conference he said: “At the moment, um— to be honest, I haven’t really— the question was what I listen to which is a slightly different thing but; I haven’t really given the next record real thought yet. Obviously it’s been on my mind. But in terms of conceptually, or even finding references, I’m not really at that point yet because I’ve done a lot of touring— just kind of getting that out of the way before I really start thinking about that proper.”

April 4th 2024 He told Chilean radio station Bio Bio: “I have written a couple of songs, but when I was writing them I wasn’t thinking about what they would be for a new album, they were just written to give me something to write and not put pressure on those songs. But I think I will start the work on a new album at the end of this year, maybe.” futher elaborating to Radio Disney Chile: “The good thing about this record is I’m gonna have plenty of time to experiment and with that it gives you plenty of room to just kind of find where the edges of the record live. So yeah I’m looking forward to getting into the process, but like I said I’ve been loving touring at the moment so just been kind of sticking to that.”.

He also told Paraguayan radio station HEI Now: “Of course there’ll be a new album. When? I’m not overly sure. I think I’ll probably start writing at the end of the year. I just wanna let as much life in first and then I can really start emoting and writing.”

June 2024 In the FITF tour LatAm recap video posted to Louis’ instagram 25/6 he says: “At some point I gotta think about the next record, but.. I’m a bit scared of that, truthfully right now, feel like I’ve been enjoying the success of Faith in The Future for.. quite a while. And yes, it’s been the pressure of the shows but I delivered what I think was a good record and a record that was successful. So now going into the next cycle it’s a little bit.. a little bit tentative going into it. I know that’ll change once I get off the road and really start thinking about the essence of the record and the concept of the record and stuff like that. But right now.. yeah, I’m just thinking about the festivals, I’m excited for those.” (he also talks - in past tense about playing in Mexico City and about the upcoming Away From Home Festival, so we can assume this interview was done somewhere in early June)

August 4th 2024 Responding to a fan sign at Santander Music Festival that said "How close R we to the next album 1-5?" showing three - possibly four? - fingers! meaning the album is 3/5 (or 4/5?) done!

Oct 4th 2024 curious activity across Louis' socials; on twitter the header image was changed from the Louis Tomlinson : Live album graphic to just the cover image and the Faith In The Future tweet was unpinned (like it was on Louis' insta 9/9). on Louis' instagram the bio text was cleared and the link to louist.lnk.to/live was also removed.

Oct 6th 2024 Louis replies to a fan on twitter asking if new music is coming with "Only been off tour 2 minutes. The next record is going to be my best yet but need chance to let life in first!"

Nov 29th 2024 Louis is seemingly working on music. He posts an instagram story with an ipad and a guitar with a diy pen capo.

Jan 28th 2025 Louis tweets “Had a good break, looking forward to getting back to it. [..] Excited about the next few months of writing as well. Big year incoming!”

Feb 4th 2025 on the podcast The Champ & Contender songwriter David Sneddon, who worker with Louis on with Louis on multiple tracks off Faith In The Future, mentioned they're currently working on LT3 !! “There’s a song on [Louis'] last record.. we’re in the middle of doing his new one..” 👀

tbc...

[electraslight]

the loss of the addiction angle in Kevin's character in the transition from ogs to uaf really shows to me the flaws in uaf's writing compared to ogs's, at least in terms of Kevin's redemption.

Kevin's energy addiction is a key part of his character in ogs. it's implied to be why he swings so drastically from being good to Ben out of the kindness of his heart to trying to kill hundreds of people in mere hours, and it seems like this has been going on a while, shifts in mood correlating to his energy consumption. the addiction is why Ben and Kevin break apart, because Kevin's behavior because of the effects of the drug and his pursuit of it stop them from being healthy friends. Ben never stops believing Kevin might have the capacity to change, though, trying to see through the person the drug created to the person inside, like him sparing Kevin in framed and helping him out in grudge match. Kevin is, at this point in his life, dangerous, but he's still a kid, and Ben's failure to protect him weighs heavy on him for the rest of his life. you see this narrative and think well, if he's redeemed later, this should be important. recovery should be hard, especially when he seems to have been in survival mode for years. it must be hard for Ben to trust him afterwards, especially with the sheer amount of pain they've put each other through, Kevin especially, because of his addiction.

in uaf, Kevin is already good. he can still absorb things, but they don't hurt him now, they aren't a compromise he makes, sanity for safety. he's a con man, he makes measured plans and scams, not drugged out bids of random violence. he's calm, mostly, and he's a good guy now, and he'll help Ben because he has "honor", and he no longer thinks of life totally selfishly. this, I feel, is a cop out.

main characters aren't really allowed to have rough edges in uaf, and when they do, it seems jarring and out of place, or a result of weird writing. Ben's transition from being a little too kind for Ben to being unreasonably cruel in a way he never was as a child is strange, unfitting of how perfect the show wants him to seem. gwen's random bouts of insulting Kevin or pettily harping on him for things he apologized for seem strange when paired with how kind she usually is to him. and Kevin, Kevin is a "bad boy", but not in a dangerous way. all of his crimes are amorphous "things he's done" that they never elaborate on, his scams not cruel but only conniving. even when mutated, he still seems lucid, way less vengeful and violent than he was as a child. he's not an addict. why would he be? he's a good guy. he's changed. even at times where it seems obvious to show that he's "fallen off the wagon", they don't mention it.

I feel like this leads into a larger discussion about uaf, mainly about character flaws and the white sheet covering specifically the alien trio. character traits that got lost in translation, Ben's hobbies, Gwen's love of technology, Kevin's addiction metaphor. especially in terms of flaws. in uaf Ben's "flaws" fluctuate, sometimes being perfect, sometimes randomly getting an ego, losing it, then gaining it back. Gwen in uaf has no stated flaws, or at least ones that are intentional, but because of that, the ones she accidentally has are more toxic and weird than she ever did as a child. and Kevin? he's an amorphous concept. vaguely criminal. vaguely angry. a doormat. what's the issue with writing Kevin in a way where he really does feel like a homeless kid with addiction problems and enough trauma to have that dead look in his eyes forever? I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. give Kevin a little violence back.

[macabresymphonies]

The Magnus Protocol Alchemical Theory Ramble

I've been really into alchemy recentyl due to it's connections to The Magnus Protocol (probably to woe of my thesis supervisor), but the more I read the more some stuff that already have happened is starting to make sense to me. This post will be probably due to an update once I get further in my research, but I wanted to get some stuff out of my system as it's still fresh in my mind (people also wanted an update on my previous post where I spoke how there is a lot of connections between history of alchemy and TMAGP so here it is).

Keep in mind this is very brief explanation cause history of alchemy is MASSIVE, so I will be mostly focusing on a brief period in 12-14th century where alchemy was kind of the talk of the ruling class (mostly church). I will also not be explaning much the alchemical goals, but the purpouse of this post I will say chrysopoeia (transmutation of metals into gold) and connected concept of a Philosopher's Stone were two of the main ones.

Natural vs Artificial

The main concern with alchemy in the eyes of the church at the time was the issue of "natural" vs "artificial" gold. You see there were few loosely documented cases where alchemists seemingly reached one of their main goals and trasmutated some metals into gold. The problem was this "alchemical gold" was either devauling natural gold (if real), which was also an issue of "playing God" it was by divine design a fixed amount of gold in the world existed, or an elaborate way to counterfiet coins (if not real). This combined with the concerns of using artificial gold in medicine pushed alchemy into an underground by a decree of pope John XXII by forbidding alchemists from selling this alchemical gold (and silver). Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus (known alchemists) were however both subscribed to idea that not only is alchemical gold equal to the natural one, it's actually better than natural one.

I see a connection here between "natural" fears (Smirk's 14) and "artificial" fears (clearly a faction of people who experiment on people, forcibly turning them into some type of creatures that resemble TMA's avatars). If we see Entities as apexes of their domains, these "offshoots" we've seen so far could be read as attempts of creating new entities by amature "alchemists" of this universe. This leads us very nicely into the second section.

Deckname, hiding in plain sight

You see, because alchemy was becoming quite controversial alchemists needed to hide their recipies. Deckname describes a way alchemists hid some of their exact recipies by using allegories, same names for multiple ingredients or (quite the opposite) one name for multiple ingredients. This concept wasn't new as in even in arabic writings on alchemy we can observer use of Deckname, but in ~13th century it was quite prelevant and even sometimes mixed with religious imagery (which will be important later). The general idea was to hide infromation with this type of "code", but not in such a way as it would be virtually impossible to decipher (as this would deem it useless). It also connects with the idea of "scattering" information (ingredients) as to send some scholars on this wild goose chase for Philosopher's Stone.

I don't think I need to talk much on how German way of hiding information might connect to the fact Freddie is a mysterious program written in German code that seemingly does not make much sense (with Deckname being intensively decribed by an arabist named KRAUS of all things). What I would like to point out that even very early on I believed that Freddie is used to crossreference attempts at creation of Philosopher's Stone and it's becoming much more likely this is a case, especially if you consider the next point.

The battle against the Antichrist

You see, alchemy wasn't like a one school of thought with a proper way to perform it, it was a science much like chemistry is today (alchemy is like a granddaddy of chemistry anyway). One of the concept that caught on, especially with the faction of Franciscan Spirituals (which is like hardcore Franciscans who liked to predict end of the world a lot) was the idea that Antichrist is coming and that all knowledge will be needed to stop him. Franciscan friar Roger Bacon even wrote a letter to the pope about it. This connected to with alchemy created a notion of a Philosopher's Stone as a tool in stopping the Antichrist which will be important later.

The Magnus Institute did tests on children that were mostly measuring three things: their developemnt, their empathy and how compliant they are. Given the history of the Institute in TMA it's hard to believe they were doing it for selfless and pure reasons, so I believe they were monitoring children to catch the possible "antichrist" and use their potnential for their own gain (note that I do not believe this "antichrist" is like a christian concept in TMAGP universe, I think it's something more aligned with entities or a purely symbolic title for some type of individual).

The torment of Messiah

For every Antichrist there's gotta be a-christ and alchemy actually did have a concept of one. You see, combining Deckname and the battle with Antichrist the Philosopher's Stone was very often hidden under the allegory of the Passion of Christ. Alchemists believed they are in a way tormenting metals by subduing them to all these processes (this is where the word crucible comes from by the way, it's "the little place of torment"), combine that with Antichrist theory and Jesus became a great allegory for creation of The Stone. Alchemists believe that metal (most often mercury) would have to go through four stages of torment before "ascending" similar how Jesus did (the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension). This were in fact only believed to be instructions hidden in religious imagery.

I believe TMAGP does reverse of that concept. We've seen the Intitute use chemical terms like agent and catalyst do describe either the paranormal items or their wielders. I believe that the faction currently pulling the strings is using alchemical writings to experiment on people through tormenting them and exposing them to what is left of TMA Entities after traversing the universes. Some of those parts were used to make Freddie, that's why we got The Voices, but some are used to make eldritch abominations like we've seen so far. I'm not sure if Messiah in this sense is to be considered a benevolent concept, perhaps it's simply a being that will stop the apocalypse, but I believe that Antichrist is probably rebirth of The Prime Fear all Entities came from in TMA.

Closing thoughts

You can take that with a grain of salt, as I'm not a proficient alchemy scholar, but I won't deny the fact all of this so far fits pretty well and I can already see how this could play into many arcs (like how Celia has a baby that could be the "natural" antichrist and Sam with "chosen boy" issues could become the chosen "artificial" Messiah). If there are other points anyone with more knowledge on alchemy would like to mention in this post feel free to do so!

[memerepositorygt]

❤️ SHIPPING PITCH SHEET

Got a ship concept in mind? Here’s a chance to pitch it! 

This sheet is intended for elevator pitches that can be discussed more in-depth later if all involved parties are interested! It features options for imperfect resolutions because, as we know, not all relationships end well.

Bold, italic and strikethrough as desired. Elaborate as much or as little as you’d like! This is just a starting point with a little extra meat on it.

Remember to specify muses for multimuses!

❤️ What does your muse see in mine?

❤️ What do you think my muse might see in yours?

❤️ What kind of relationship do you see these muses having?

One-Sided / Unreciprocated | Noncommittal | Unbalanced | Mismatched Priorities | Mismatched Expectations | One Using the Other | Using Each Other | Transactional | Hidden Incentive | Transformative ( Positive / Negative / Neutral ) | ‘I Can Fix Them’ | ‘I Can Make Them Worse’ | Codependent | Committed | Casual | Friends with Benefits | Fling with Consequences | Nebulous Situationship | Together for Appearances | Arranged Partnership | Partners in Crime | Rivals / Enemies Who Got The Wires Crossed | Cross-Alignment / Cross-Faction Romance | Slow Burn | Mutual Pining | Fairytale Romance | Soulmates ( Wholesome / Tragic / Condemning ) | Cold | Warm | Passionate | Chaotic | Stable | Unstable | Nurturing ( One-sided / Mutual ) | Protective ( One-sided / Mutual ) | Obsessive ( One-sided / Mutual ) | Possessive ( One-sided / Mutual ) | Toxic ( One-sided / Mutual ) | Masochism Tango | Other ( specify! )

❤️ How often do you think they see each other?

Only by Chance | One Avoids the Other | They Avoid Each Other | Infrequently, by circumstances outside of their control | Frequently, but for strictly nonromantic reasons | Occasional Meetup | Planned Dates | Frequently, for romantic reasons | Living Together | Other ( specify! )

❤️ What struggles do you see them having together- both within the relationship, and outside of it?

❤️ What might keep them together in times of strife?

❤️ What future do you foresee for these characters?

Haven't thought that far ahead! | Domestic Bliss ( with children / without children ) | Committed & Content | Complacency / Settling ( with children / without children ) | Amicable Exes | Bitter Exes | Restraining Order | Tragedy | Mutually-Assured Destruction | Other ( specify! )

❤️ Are you willing to write…

Marriage Threads | Pregnancy threads | Parenting threads | Sex Scenes | Love-As-Redemption | Love Triangles | Open Relationships | Polyamory | Jealousy | Heated arguments | Break-ups | Cheating | Divorce | Toxicity | 

❤️ Is there anything else about this ship idea you’d like to mention before we discuss it further?

[fricc-darn]

More dating B.E.N hcs but sprinkle in some love

(some BEN angst if you squint n slight warning for toxic relationships)

When it comes to BEN and affection it's a tricky situation. It only cares about other moon children in the network. For other people, the concept of love is not on their mind. Due to that, it's not often you'll experience loving moments with them.

Their love is rare and will take time to form as this is reserved for a specific kind of person. Someone who it enjoys the presence of. A person who's a pleasure to mess with but isn't too easy. Someone who keeps things interesting. The perfect toy? In a sense yes! This type of love is genuine. It's truly a weird scenario because BEN continues to be a menace while attempting to be sweet.

Of course, these acts should be appreciated to some degree. At least attempts are being made. Despite how flawed these acts are, it's treatment others don't see. You should feel lucky that you're an exception. The last thing BEN wants is for you to end up dead. Though if you have gotten this far, you'd certainly know to appreciate these moments.

BEN's words of affirmation are just as concise and vague as their regular speech. When it compliments you at worst it's backhanded. At best they come off as someone talking to a beloved pet. Occasionally, it'll complement you in an odd amount of detail. Pointing out quirks that you don't even notice.

Now, if they really like you they have a tendency to info dump. Though they try to keep it at a minimum. They wouldn't want you getting too curious and becoming nosey.

For the most part; simple phrases like "I love you." or "Cute." work fine. It'll take time for you to figure out whether or not BEN is being genuine. Even when you get the hang of it, there's still a nagging uncertainty present. This process would be much easier if they weren't so deceitful. The first time BEN loosely said the words 'I love you' it was out of the blue during a flurry of obsessive messages and threats. They refused to elaborate until much later and took whatever response you had as a yes.

At first, it only communicates with you online or through poltergeist-like activities. They'll even appear in your dreams as individual moon children. These dreams are surprisingly pleasant in comparison to the nightmares. With a substantial amount of trust, you learn more about the spirits as individuals.

Hearing the bits and pieces of what they remember about their past really makes sense of their behavior. Just don't even think about pitying them. Even if its well meaning, the outcome won't be in your favor.

None of them can stand being vulnerable. Especially if they don't have the means to take over the situation. In those almost unthinkable scenarios, it would trigger them into emotional distress. Which isn't something you'd expect from BEN of all people. To avoid that, they lead you to the information with breadcrumbs.

When BEN decides to appear physically, things really get fun!

They aren't too fond of physical affection. You can ask, but it will often result in a no. They have to be the ones to initiate it. There are plenty of reasons but it's mainly for the comfort of each moon child. You'll quickly learn who hates being touched, who doesn't mind, or who enjoys it.

Dealing with BEN is like dealing with a cat with an awful attitude. A spiteful shithead to its core. When they're not toying with your stuff, they'll come up to you whenever they feel like to bother you. From hugging, breathing down your neck, or maybe even biting you. The ladder isn't always ideal since BEN has way too many teeth. When this happens, it doesn't have much of a care for what you're doing or if you want to be bothered. BEN has some major cuteness aggression towards you. They play rough and oddly enough they're pretty strong.

Hugs and hand holding are the most common form of affection you'll get. When you're asleep they might even decide to cuddle with you. Be warned, BEN will take up most of the bed for no good reason. You also have to be prepared for potentially getting scared half to death in the middle of the night. Besides the distorted whispers, it's uncanny generated face will stare at you while you sleep. When you sleep with them it doesn't feel like a person is sleeping next to you. It's more like a general presence. BEN's skin is cold more often than not. Its skin seems to get warm off of your body heat or if there's something going on inside of its head. At least they're soft and squishy.

Can BEN kiss? Sorta. Its kisses are chaste and usually on the cheek. They're a prude, and a super hypocritical one at that. If they happen to kiss you on the lips it's essentially like kissing a mannequin with synthetic skin. It's cold and awkward. They're artificial in almost every sense of the word. Its mouth is the texture of gooey silicone with a long tongue and plenty of teeth. Kissing it is an experience that only you get to have. BEN really tries to be a good kisser but it just doesn't work out. It may be a questionable kisser but it's not sloppy. For that has no appeal, BEN prefers kisses to be simple and clean.

[ozzgin]

Dearest Ozzgin, do you have any tips on how you stay motivated ? Everytime I go to write something I feel majorly stumped.

(P.s I love your work!)

During the pandemic I struggled to keep up with my academic studies, and so I got myself a self-help book about excelling in science: A mind for numbers by Barbara Oakley. I'm mentioning this because it ended up offering great insight on how to stay focused, motivated, and disciplined, regardless of what you're doing, and I use the advice to this day, even for my hobby writing. This is a mix of everything: tips from the book, other advice I've found online, and what helps me in particular.

Find a schedule. I personally find it easier to start an activity once it becomes part of my routine. It's something my brain anticipates and prepares for. Now, it doesn't have to be an exact timetable. But you can have a look at your current schedule, and come up with a rough interval. For example, you might have more time in the evening, or maybe you have a burst of energy in the morning. Pick a time when you're not too tired and try to stick to it most days.

Focus on the process, not achievement. So, you've established your routine. What did you set as an achievement? Concrete goals, such as finishing up a story, or writing a given number of words? While this isn't a bad idea, it can sometimes contribute to that stumped feeling you've mentioned. I once read an article from a professor who suggested the following: pick your time window, and focus on just doing something. In that hour you've dedicated to writing, you can write as planned, or you can sketch up the characters, create visuals, build an outline, draw a timeline, collect bullet points to elaborate later on, and so on. Maybe you're not particularly inspired at the moment; don't let it stress you out, just work around it instead.

Don't force yourself. Our brain uses two different processes for thinking - the focused and diffuse modes. In order to solve a problem or task, it's ideal to be in a focused mode. Your brain is actively building connections and coming up with solutions. A neat little detail, however, is that your brain doesn't stop working once you move on from a problem. It continues fiddling with it in the background: that's the diffuse mode. It's why you sometimes have a sudden eureka moment, despite not actively thinking of said topic. If you're struggling with your story and can't come up with anything, step away. Do activities that trigger your diffuse mode, like sleeping, listening to music, walking, cycling, drawing, taking a shower or bath, meditating. Let your mind fiddle with it freely, give it some time, and try again later.

Don't worry about how you write. You don't have to sit down and write entire paragraphs. I used to have an idea for a story, then I'd struggle to come with connectors for said idea. What happens before that? How do I begin? I'd end up wasting a lot of time writing the premise instead of the actual thought I originally had. Now I just write down whatever I feel like, while I have the inspiration, and fill the rest later. Even if it's just a sentence, or a concept, scribble whatever comes to mind and patch it up afterwards. It'll be easier to continue when you have a starting point to build around.

Small steps. Lastly, it's okay to take breaks, and it's perfectly fine to have days, weeks, or even months when you're simply just not in the mood. There are other ways in which you can build your story. You can draw the characters, build world maps, watch movies related to your topics, create fitting playlists, all that jazz. Be patient with yourself and don't forget why you're (presumably) writing in the first place - because it brings you joy. :)

[icedragonlizard]

I've made major headcanon changes!

Hello everyone. I'm unsure as to how often people in the Kirby fandom change their headcanons to be different from what they used to be, but I've decided to update some of my headcanons.

Some of them are pretty big changes! Different from what I used to think before. I suppose it's just happened as time goes on and I come up with new ideas. I've only been active in this fandom for about a year, which ends up having my mind actively develop ideas over time.

But anyways! Here are some of my major headcanon changes:

-I now headcanon Dark Meta Knight and Shadow Kirby to be friends. Back then, I had them not getting along, but it's changed now. I'm also changing the personality of my Skirby a lot, so I'm now rendering this post to be obsolete. I do however still interpret DMK to not be a good person as he's temperamental and assholish, but now he's slightly more reigned in because Skirby is a friend of his that's able to occasionally keep him in line. Skirby is one of DMK's closest friends alongside Daroach. I'll talk more about these concepts in a later post, but now let's go on to the next big changes down below.

-Shadow Kirby is now effectively added to the Wave 2 friend group. As I have him being friends with DMK, he's also now good friends with the rest of Wave 2.... Daroach, Adeleine and Ribbon. Can elaborate more on this later, but at this point my verse considers Skirby to be an "honorary wave 2er" in a similar way to how Nago, ChuChu and Pitch are "honorary wave 1ers".

-Dark Meta Knight and Flamberge are now friends in my verse. Something I hadn't really done before, but am doing it now. They're distant friends, as DMK is closer to Daroach and Skirby than he is to Flamberge, but these two sword users are sparring pals! They like to beat each other up with their weapons for fun and enrichment. DMK still doesn't do much of anything with the other two mage sisters, though. Zan in particular doesn't really even seem to be a big fan of him.

-Francisca is now the mage sister that Susie is closest to. I used to have Zan Partizanne hold that title, but now it's Francisca. In fact, Zan is actually now the mage that Susie gets along with the LEAST, hahahaha... they're still ultimately friends, but they like to butt heads a whole bunch, as they're basically firm rivals. Francisca on the other hand is a very close buddy to Susie in my headcanons now, she might be Susie's third or even second closest friend. I can elaborate more about this in a later post!

I still have Zan being the mage sister that Taranza is closest to, and Flamberge being the mage sister that Magolor is closest to. Now I've got a perfect double-trifecta with now having Francisca be the mage sister that Susie is closest to!

-King Dedede is now a big Marx hater. I suppose this one might not be as drastic of a change as some of the others, though? I say this because I already had Dedede not liking Marx, but now it's turned up a notch. Dedede is legitimately ticked off about being a top favorite prank target for Marx, as it threatens his reputation and he also clearly doesn't appreciate Marx for additionally messing with his waddle dees a lot. If you asked my verse's Dedede who is his least favorite fellow dream friend, it's absolutely Marx. But don't worry about the jester too much, because it gets better for him in the next big change down below. Consider it an exchange of haters.

-I'm now all in favor of Wave 3 + Marx being a friend group. This is a big change from what I used to headcanon, I would say. I've ALWAYS had Magolor be pals with Marx, but back then I used to talk a lot about how I interpreted both Taranza and Susie hating him. That has now changed. I'm now doing a 180 and considering them to be friends with Marx. They'll still "butt heads" with him as they both have cain instinct relationships with him, but ultimately Taranza and Susie are now friends with Marx in my verse. Congrats to my Marx for being friends with them now, congrats to my Magolor for now having his three besties get along! I'd be more than glad to elaborate on this in later posts as I can talk more about Marx's individual dynamics with Susie and Taranza, but yeah I'm now on the train of having these 4 lunatics be a friend group. I guess we can call the group the "Magogang" because I bet Magolor would want to call it that.

Even though the "Marx and Taranza ought to bite each other" and "Marx and Susie would get into arguments about clockwork stars" posts I did a while back are still very much plausible to happen in my verse. Like I said: cain instinct is what the jester has going on with those two! He's still a devious little shit even when he's friends with someone. Top kek.

It's like Dedede is simultaneously taking Taranza's and Susie's places for being a big Marx hater. Lol. Still a net positive for the jester though, he's losing 2 haters and gaining 1 hater from someone that already didn't like him before. He'll take it!

-Wave 1 + Magolor also now exists in my verse, to go along with Wave 3 + Marx. This one might not be such a huge change because I already had Magolor getting along with Gooey and the animal friends, but now he's closer friends with them than he was before. And that's in no small part thanks to Marx. I still have Marx being pals with the rest of Wave 1, and now Magolor is too! Gooey and the animal friends get to experience the fun of the chaos duo. Magolor and Marx, being the besties they are, are interactive with each other's respective dream friend waves! Magolor interacts with Marx's buds in Wave 1 while Marx interacts with Magolor's buds in Wave 3. This technically makes a connection between Wave 1 and Wave 3. Even though Taranza and Susie still aren't very interactive with Gooey and the animal friends, they're all the extended friends of Magolor and Marx.

Not to do Wave 2 dirty. At least I've given them Shadow Kirby to add to their group. And I mean, Adeleine and Ribbon are good buddies with the animal friends and Gooey, so there's some connection between those two waves there. Daroach is, additionally, decent friends with Rick, Kine, Coo, Marx and Magolor.

-I am now planning to introduce individuals of Helper species, such as a Chilly and a Vividria. This is something I need to expand on more, but I'm planning to have a Chilly individual be a friend of Magolor's to reference Magochilly. LMAO. I don't actually ship Magochilly but the idea here is to have a Chilly individual be hanging out with Magolor and Marx inside their 3 AM slumber parties in the Lor Starcutter. And I'm thinking up a Vividria individual that's a big fan of Susie as she has designed a goddess statue based on her, the one you see in Star Allies. Will converse more on these ideas later!

Those are all the big changes I've made, more or less!

And if you might be wondering, I'll update my google doc of Kirby dynamics at some point. Before the end of the month, I'll rework it to be in compliance with my updated headcanons and I'll reblog that original post to remind you all when it's updated as I'll update the google doc at the time.

That won't stop me from elaborating more on the updated concepts above in tumblr posts beforehand, though! After all, the google doc merely just summarizes dynamics, I can go into much greater detail in tumblr posts! Feel free to ask away in my inbox what you're curious about in any of these concepts.

A lot of the headcanons I've had before these updates are still the same, so this doesn't invalidate ALL my headcanon posts before this. It's not that simple. If you need more specific clarification, feel free to ask me.

[j2zara]

hello janelle zukkacore j2zara, its a long time coming but i would like to be a part of clone enjoyers anonymous bc im v interested in their dynamics and i really like ur drawings of the clones :3

i am however, overwhelmed on where to start learning abt them and i was hoping u could point me to the right direction since i pretty much see u as the president of clone enjoyers thank u so much ily 💖

HI FRIEND WELCOME TO THE CLONE ENJOYERS!!!!! WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU! THIS WAS GETTING WIELDY SO I SPLIT IT INTO TWO PARTS

PART ONE + TWO OF CLONE LORE IS HERE

Part 1 is basics of Clone Lore. Part 2 is me shamlessly reccing my fanfic to understand the context. Tbh I'd start with part 1 first or the doc

I've also compiled Clone Lore into a Google doc: it contains all the information from the first post and this post. I might include elaborations later (i was too exhausted to get fully into LJ3. But i feel bad neglecting it).

Anyway. I'm probably gonna link Clone Primer into my pinned post so that people can come back to it.

And I wanna emphasize. I 100% get how insular this is so if you're confused please feel free to ask!!! I have no problem explaining things. I love to talk. I talk way too much. Ask anyone. b/c like. I feel bad that this is gonna look super intimidating.

SO here's the rest of Clone Primer

PART 3: CLONE PRIMER - ELABORATION ON THE BASICS + WEIRD INSULAR INFO + ME RECAPPING FIC CONCEPT STUFF

[I WOULD SKIP THESE OR COME BACK TO THEM LATER IF YOU WANNA GO INTO THE FICS UNSPOILED BUT IF THE SUMMARY IS SUPPLANTING READING THE FIC GO RIGHT AHEAD]

J2 EDITION (aka ALMOST LORE) - aka "BLUEJAY"

J2's personality originates from I'm Almost Me Again (He's Almost You), and was the first one to be developed

J2 is devoted, sweet, earnest, hard-working, anxious, desperate to prove himself. He can have a slight acidic streak (his favorite way to rebel is smashing Jace's stuff) but is very preoccupied with being useful.

He reads as slightly younger than Jace b/c he's a clone, he basically just started existing yesterday, and I jokingly refer to him as "25 year old green new hire coded jace" (and also as Born Sexy Yesterday Jace) bc rewatching Freshman Year, I was surprised by how young and inexperienced Jace sounded, and I feel like that detail about his character (that imo makes his situation very pitiable) was really lost in translation in Junior Year. Because he is young to the world and kind of naive, he is very easy to impress and exploit

However, he is still clever and good at magic. Simulacra in dnd don't regain spell slots, but J2 was the first clone to figure out that as a sorcerer, he could convert sorcery points into spell slots, extending his utility to Jace and Porter and basically sparing himself from being dispelled.

J2 is initially very anxious about his purpose / survival. As a clone, he knows he has an expiration date and is desperate to make himself invaluable. The sorcery points solution to the spell slots is part of this.

J2's innate talent is part of what caught Porter's eye. He was the first clone to meet Porter, and Porter (and to some degree, Jace too) laud him as basically like. Jace's Precious Last Gift to Porter. He's often seen as remarkable or special, but its ambiguous whether that specialness is about j2 on his own terms or if he is special as a manifestation of jace's talent.

J2 is the one who is the intermediary between Jace, Porter, and the other Clones. He takes on the most responsibility, and interacts the most with Porter. Spending a lot of time with Porter, they two of them became very close

J2 is the one who loves Porter deeply enough to be very committed to The Plan. He thinks Porter is worthy of ascension, godhood, even if it means Porter will eventually leave him.

J2 had a long, deeply committed affair w/ porter that culminated in them sleeping together and J2 taking devil's honey that kinda rewired his brain and fucked him up. J2 was very much in love with Porter until he found out that Porter killed Jace and brought him back to life, but the devils honey tricks him into forgetting that fear.

The lie he told himself on devil's honey is "I want this. I want everything. Porter deserves everything". It basically rewires his brain to convince himself that he wants whatever happens to him, whether it be good or bad. Even if Porter got back together with jace, he would want that too, because Porter deserves everything, right? Everything he wants. Me and Jace. Just jace. Even if J2 becomes a literal or emotional sacrifice for the betterment orf porter or the cause. Whatever it is, i will be happy

Right after this happens, jace calls porter and agrees to enfold back into the Plan, but is not going to get back together w/ Porter. J2's fate is ambiguous, but emotionally, Porter has pretty much cast him aside with the hope that he will get back together with Jace. Also, b/c Jace is back in the picture, his status as the Last Precious Gift from Jace is in jeopardy and he becomes about as disposable as the other clones (however, usually when we clonepost, J2 is still top of the pecking order just below Jace)

POST-ALMOST: as far as Clone Lore goes - J2 tends to live in this state where he doesn't just worship Porter, but what we call the "Starbreaker Pantheon". He reveres the jaceporter relationship b/c he finds it to be profound and meaningful even if it's not always Good. Jace also occupies a spot in his devotion as like. This figure he is deeply envious of and could never measure up to, but also as someone he knows must be worthy of respect b/c that's who Porter wants, right? He wants what Jaceporter has b/c he sees Porter's love for Jace as like, something true and intimate and something he's only ever gotten a sliver of, treated as a replacement. He wants to be Jace, but he also wants Porter to be happy, so if Porter is happy with Jace he can find a way to worship Jace, too.

I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION: in Almost, Porter gave J2 the nickname "Bluejay". This is b/c J2's favorite color is blue, which makes him distinct from Jace. He is a very cozy boy who loves cardigans and sweaters and blue nail polish. Yes. Blue Jay is two words. We're gonna breeze past that. J2 fell in love with his new nickname, desperate to see it as a way for Porter to finally recognize him as different from Jace. If you see the clone enjoyers refer to J2 as Bluejay, this is why.

J3 EDITION (aka some Biggest Lie Lore etc)

J2's personality was developed in Almost, and I'd say J3's personality was crystalized in Biggest Lie, but technically J3's personality started as a joke. I said offhand one time in reply to another mutual that in my head, Porter was 100% noncommittally flirting with J3 the entire time he was having this very deep and torrid love affair with J2, and J3 sort of. Became the our beloved little slut as a result of that

J3 is flirtatious, thrillseeking, playful, manipulative, charming, easily bored, fatalistic / borderline parasuicidal, and deeply alientated from his sense of personhood. J2 spent a long time wishing to be loved by Porter on his own terms, as his own person, before finally succumbing. However, J3 is happy (well, convinced himself he happy) to be treated as Jace's cypher.

J3 is often treated as the Most Disposable of the clones. J2 is the intermediary and the Precious Gift. J3 is usually left with grunt work, and anything dangerous is usually foisted upon him to spare J2. He is the one who goes with Porter to cast enlarge-reduce in the woods, and he is the one that used to be spellcaster support for Porter if they ever needed to go anywhere dangerous.

J3 being treated as disposable is why he has no sense of identity or a sense of self preservation, unlike J2. Porter never spends time outside of necessity (until they start screwing. we'll get to that), so nobody has ever really bothered to get to know J3 besides the other clones. J2 is the one that Porter treasures, so J3 views himself as the shield for j3, the disposable one, the one who is likely first to die.

Because of this, he is a thrillseeker, desperate to cram as much living into his short half-life as possible (this includes trying to fuck anyone and everyone in elmville). The experiences do not have to be positive, he wants everything as long as its exciting.

During Almost, J3 and Porter were casually flirting. J3 would die before admitting it, but spending time with Porter was his favorite part of the day. Post Almost, when Jace got folded back into the plan but was not back together with porter, that's when Porter started hooking up with J3. With J3 perfectly willing to let Porter project all his want for jace and frustration at jace onto him because hey, he's getting the porter hookup and not jace, right?

J3 always threads this tenuous line of actively seeking out experiences while also passively being the recipient of other people's fantasies. unlike J2, he embraces being a jace cypher for Porter because that's how he gets porter at his most heightened. J3 often refuses to articulate what he wants, instead letting people do whatever they want to him. He is terrified of being seen as needy, terrified of being rejected for who he is.

At his best he is charismatic and charming, but at his worst he can be dramatic, whiny, desperate for enrichment, actively manipulative and cruel. His best quality and greatest flaw that he inherited from jace and took to the extreme is that he is generous and egoless; as much as he desires to be the center of attention, as much as he can push and push, at the end of the day, he gives people exactly what they need from him at his own expense

J3 rejects the intimacy with Porter that J2 seeks out and can never really achieve because he always falls short of being Jace. J3 convinces himself that he got the best deal out of anyone b/c he doesn't have to deal with the mess of attachment and heartbreak. However, deep down he is deeply jealous of J2 and Jace.

Post-Biggest Lie: Jace and Porter get back together in IYWD, in which Porter drops the clones, including J3. However, in cloneposting, sometimes the clones still have like a weird undefined thing with Porter and Jace for the sake of us having a fun time and fucking around.

BONUS LORE: Not technically canon to Biggest Lie, but J3 is closest to J4 out of everyone in Jaceporter + the clones dynamic. Because J2 is the precious favorite, J3 n J4 developed a weird allyship because they were the matching spares. They are kinda primed to be each other's biggest supporters and biggest weaknesses tbh. J3 provides J4 a spot of actual levity and pleasure in a half-life she otherwise considers to be miserable. J4 recognizes J3's personhood, gives voice to injustices he faces, and likes him for who he is and not who he pretends to me. They are best friends. They flirt. Sometimes they're in love, but like. we'll get to that

J4 EDITION - (aka Electra / Ellie)

J4 doesn't have as much of a... hefty source for characterization. i really hesitate to call things i write a primary source b/c i don't like to claim ownership over the clones it feels weird and wrong for something that is supposed to be fun and is already fanfiction. But i will say the things i write are. Substantial sources if you want clone context bc they're hefty projects lol.

J4 does not have a Porter-centric fic. This may change in the future but, the reason for this is b/c she is the only clone that hates Porter so subjecting her to that is. A much more convoluted task. Closest thing she has is Stay / Leave which is j3/j4 which we sometimes call LJ3 (and the two fics written by iaus!!!! which are fan fucking tastic!)

J4's personality is the result of. Looking at J2 n J3 and going. Ok what is the third point in a data set. If J2 worships Porter, the antithesis is someone who hates Porter, right? (and J3 is a middle ground)

J4 is marginally more loose in her characterization, but I would say she is... Rageful, bitter, driven, rebellious, ruthless, and steadfast in her beliefs, whether they are good or bad. She feels trapped by her circumstances, unlike J2 who has learned to love his gilded cage, and J3 who has accepted his fate and is basically trying to fuck hard until he dies in an explosion. She is determined to carve out her own path and define her own personhood, what we jokingly refer to as her "escaping the narrative"

Unlike J3 who has no problem being a cypher for jace and has completely neglected his own personhood, and J2 who desperately tried to get porter to recognize him for the person he was before succumbing and submitting, willing to be whatever The Plan and Porter needed of him, occupying this weird middle ground, J4 wants nothing to do with jace. She is determined to be her own person. She is disgusted by the limitations placed on her by being "of jace"

You're probably wondering why J4 is a girl. This was a me-headcanon that became fairly mass accepted, but I have joked that J4 is the only clone to achieve transgenderism. I do use she/her pronouns predominantly for J4, but it's mainly out of habit, i also am not super precious about it, nor do i really care what anyone else does with her. I don't necessarily see being a binary trans girl as the only way to interpret her character, but J4 being a girl it is the common way she is perceived at this point this deep into clone lore. As someone who also has a lot of gender feelings, i do see the need to define oneself and create your own identity to be very transgender tho, so i do think it's fitting

More of a fandom joke thing, J4 loves knives. We love when she gets stabby. There are also a lot of jokes abt her stealing jace's credit cards, his SSN, fantasizing abt setting his house on fire

She is preoccupied with the ways in which she might be similar to Porter because she views him as the embodiment of everything she hates, but she is the clone most like him. She is afraid of her own capacity for rage, her instincts for violence, for control, to own, to take, to posses, to dominate. She wants to fight to liberate, for what's right, but she worries her fight is just to be the person holding the boot at someone's throat rather than the person under the boot.

She worries her impotence and rebellion makes her unpalatable and unlovable. Because she can't really make any meaningful change in their circumstances, wouldn't it just be easier to submit? She worries she's denying herself pleasure for nothing. Even if she doesn't have a choice, wouldn't it easier to be submit and be happy, rather than fight and be miserable?

We also joke about Bad Timeline J4, who is equally as cruel and ruthless, but is devoted to Porter. There's no real content abt her, but its just a make believe scenario where she did finally stop fighting and agree to love Porter, in which she is the one most possessive of him, determined to be his attack dog right hand.

As articulated brilliantly by bambi, Jace, j3, and j2 are pretty archetypal charisma casters in that they are charming and make themselves easy to love. J4 wields her personality like a sledgehammer, but that is charisma, too. Her presence is always felt

She was originally very prideful. Determined to be different. Determined to be the one to make it out. Her pride covers up for a deep self hatred, especially as the expiration date of the clones ticks nearer and nearer, and she views herself to be a failure.

Her only soft spots are for the other clones, but especially J3. She pities J2, essentially viewing him as brainwashed into accepting their lot on life, but because of that pity, she does harbor some kindness and tenderness for him because of that. But J3? J4 bets on losing dogs, and she loves her losing dog so much and she would never admit it, but everyone can see it. If it wasn't for him, she probably would have ditched this whole situation.

This is an Esme Special aka @neerdowellnarrator, but J4 b/c she wants to make a point about not being Jase does choose her own name. J4's chosen name is Electra b/c of the greek myth comparisons and her basically Escaping A The Cycle. She goes by "Ellie" for short. J3 sometimes calls her El / Elle. We still refer to her as J4 sometimes for clarity's sake. Whatever stage she is in when it comes to even having a name is very dependent on whoever is depicting her anyway.

PART 4: Wait, so are J3 and J4... In love?

Yeah. it's like a whole Thing. This is a pretty recent development. I'll save it for the doc. To be elaborated on soon, I promise. It's called LJ3, i have a whole tag for it if it grips you.

PART 5: ADDITIONAL SILLY CLONE ENJOYERISMS (with links)

J2Porter Vegas Wedding Roleplay Weekend: a Jess Special! Based on this post! Elaborated on here! Jess aka @hauntedwizardmoment has more thoughts here! But I have a whole tag dedicated to it. Gist is that even after Jace n Porter get back together, Porter still devotes special days to the clones to give them Porter Time, and J2's day is an entire weekend where they booked a hotel in Bastion City. And during that time, they're basically roleplaying "What if we got spontaneous hitched in vegas" where Porter books out the honeymoon sweet, and J2 wears a tacky wedding dress, and the whole weekend is just devoted to treating J2. I'm not kidding, if i think too hard abt j2porter vegas roleplay weekend, I might cry.

Jace put the Clones are in the Torment Nexus: based on a post made by Jess again. Makes me laugh my ass off. If we say the clones are never escaping the torment nexus, this is why

J2Jace Blue Lingerie Gift: Sometimes J2 deserves the niceys, so Jace gives him a treat. NSFT warning lol. The post is a Jess Special / Bambi @iaus / @innskeep Special. I drew J2 something inspired by the getup once.

J2 is goodboy modest tradcath jace / J3 is college casual hookup clubbing era jace / j4 is grunge jace: Just headcanons for the different Jace's style of dress. They're all different eras or common headcanons within the fandom b/c Jace fashions eras. J2 is a bit modest, he likes cardigans and sweaters and for things to be comfortable and oversized (but to be fair, he's not AS modest as goodboy jace. Goodboy ex tradcath jace is the jace backstory for IYWD btw. He's the child of one sol worshiping parent and one galicaean worshiping parent and he is NOT ok). J3 wears a lot of form fitting clubbing outfits and hotpants and shit, Jace's wild child era. J4 wears clothes from grunge jace era which i think is a Jess Special again? Like. Old band tees and flannels and lots of black.

J4 is constantly name dropping obscure alt bands that play tuesday night in the parking lot of the black pit and only watches experimental indie horror movies and foreign war films shot from the perspective of pigeon (said w so much love, that concept fucks)

J2 Amy Dunne / J3 Cool Girl / J4 Gone Girl Amy / Jaceprime Amazing Amy Thesis: An elaboration on Jess's Cool Girl Jace Thesis on which she wrote an awesome fic about.

The Clones are Dykes: This one is old as fuck. I made a joke ages ago abt Dyke!Jace b/c I think Dykefag!Jace / Zara is a cute ship. So if Jace is a dyke, then the clones must also be Dykes. I drew art of them once. Digging up the dyke clones posts would be a trip and they're not really indicative of their current personalities, but if you see us joking about. J2 escaping to another timeline where he is a dyke and in a committed relationship with Zara or Lucilla, that is where that comes from

"Born to Love Porter Cliffbreaker, forced to do weird menial tasks for Jaceprime": another old ass thing i said as a joke before the clones had personalities. But it does have a lot to do with j4's preoccupation w/ free will. And Jace also being remade to love porter. Life is hard when you're born to love someone and you're forced to grade papers instead! It ain't much but it's a half-life! At the same time, me positing the clones all had potential to fall in love with Porter is kinda what brought us here, so.

There's a whole host of greek myth and hadestown references we're always dragging out. Cassankarna is Persephades, Jaceporter is Orphydice. Jaceporter is Persephades, J2 is Eurydice. Jaceporter is Persephades, LJ3 is Orphydice. J2 is Iphigenia, J3 is Helen, J4 is Electra / Cassandra. J2 is also Psyche.

Putting the Clones in Game changer: A comedy au in which the Clones are improv comedians on Dropout.tv. But also it's about LJ3 being a little in love and unable to escape the narrative. Esme made Elliego n J3go which i love (aka bingo cards). Loosely based on the last time i drew Jaceporter on game changer as well

Anyway! Thank you for coming on this long winded journey of Clone Primer! If i have any other thoughts I'll add it to the doc.

[windvexer]

"And it's not like the spell is locked behind a glass wall in some faraway astral space (or at least, it shouldn't be... it can be. This is too much for one post, let's stay on topic)" oh please, please elaborate! 🙏

its all well and good for me to use a metaphor that magic is ever-present and really close at hand, nigh tangible, even,

but there's obviously more than that to successful manifestation.

like it's an actual large deal in practical sorcery of how the hell you get the spell to do something, or much more relevantly do what you want it to do.

so a while ago I used to talk on manifestation using a metaphor that there is a conceptual sphere of glass that separates physical reality from magical reality.

as the metaphor (analogy?) would have it, you can set intent and focus willpower and manipulate astral energies all you want, but those things are stuck in magical reality, blocked from manifesting in the physical world by the glass.

so the spell, obviously it's a good boy and it wants to be helpful, it's going around and around the glass looking for a crack or a foothold to find its way into physical reality.

but this spell is made out of a finite blob of energy. sooner or later, the battery is going to run dry. and all that time it's spending trying to get into our world is burning energy.

by the time it gets here, it could have burned a lot of energy and it doesn't have a lot left to produce strong results. or maybe it doesn't find its way at all.

if this is all true, then the solution is to make cracks in the glass yourself.

overall it's a pretty rough analogy and I'm not even terribly sure if I'd consider it to be more than a parable at this point.

to mash this idea together with the underwater shark thing, the concept would sort of be like...

okay, so let's say metaphorically half of a person is above water and the rest is underwater.

and we're where there are sharks, which means the WHOLE OCEAN is under there.

maybe the ocean is an elegant metaphor for the supreme depths of magical reality. certain layers of magical reality are very close to the surface and truly are interacting with the floating humans, right?

but we can go deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

it wouldn't be true to say that a fish from a mile down is touching the floating humans. it's actually really far away and has a long way to travel before it could touch them at all.

so hypothetically, while all humans are (hypothetically) always partially within magical reality, that doesn't mean that everything within magical reality is close to them or can easily access them.

and this would also be true of spells, when the sorcerer has inadequately developed the spell too far down (or too far up), or failed to properly draw the spell to the surface.

of course, all of these ideas assume it's true that when spells are created they exist somewhere far away, or in any location at all.

just to clarify I think all of these ideas are most useful when treated as thought exercises and not in any sense literal. I think its perhaps true of witchcraft, or at least the kinds of witchcraft I'm familiar with, that one of the witch's primary sorcerous (and mystical) jobs is to "bridge the gap" and learn how to bring things back and forth between our world and the spirit world.

but even that being said, I think there's an element of mysticism in sorcerous witchcraft. I think maybe the best way to talk about it is in stories, or extended spatial analogies, because that's just about the truest way some of it can ever be written down.

sometimes I feel like if anyone can really write it down, like step-for-step for real, then it's got to be one tiny part of it. because it's a big machine out there, you know. it's so decadently complex that it might be more alive than we are.

so it's good to know how one or two cells work, step-for-step. but in the bigger picture, maybe the best way to impart knowledge is in stories and poetry.

and with some step-for-step details of the biology of a few kinds of cells, and with some nice poetry, maybe a person can crest a cliff and see something that will put its own stories inside of their mind forever.

which is to say that I don't know how magic works but i've seen some nice landscapes out there ✌

[vajazzly]

day 5: first day of school

skipped the last couple days, but i'm back baby! and with some muggle kindergarten au no less!

1985, the suburbs of London

There are a bunch of mums staring at him.

He’s a little miffed about it, if he’s being entirely honest. Harry had begged and begged to be allowed to walk home by himself, seeing as he’s so mature and responsible, but despite the short walk Sirius insisted on picking him up, at least today - surely that should win him some Responsible Parent Points? But no, the gaggle of women standing in front of the primary school gates are eyeing him, and not in the way he’s used to being eyed by women.

Ah, well, he thinks. At least I didn’t bring the motorbike.

“Excuse me,” says one of the women primly. She’s wearing a long floral dress in a gag-worthy purple that clashes awfully with her red hair, and Sirius has to hold his tongue to keep from commenting. “Do you have some business here at the school?” Her eyes flicker up and down, lip curling, which is just uncalled for really. His jeans aren’t even ripped. Much.

“Just picking up my godson,” he says through gritted teeth. “And what business do you have, Mrs…?”

She narrows her eyes. “Your godson?”

It is at this point that Sirius notices the gaggle of women drawing nearer, in what he assumes they think is a subtle manner. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept, see, when a couple and their best friend love each other very much -”

“You look quite young to be a godfather,” says another one of the women, cutting him off. “How old is your godson?”

“Well, seeing as it’s two o’clock and everyone else gets out at three, unless I’m sorely mistaken he’s in Year One,” Sirius says. “Or have I got my timings wrong?”

Thankfully the bell sounds at that moment, and before long children come spilling out of the gates, running up to mothers (some of whom are ushering their children away from him at rapid speeds, he notices) with their adorable little backpacks and adorable little snot-nosed faces. He spots Harry towards the back of the group, walking more slowly with a red-haired boy.

Oh no, Sirius thinks, please no…

“Ronald!” the red-haired woman who’d been practically interrogating him earlier shouts, and the red-haired boy next to Harry breaks into a wide smile, rushing up to his mother. Harry spots him not a moment later and dashes up, wrapping his little arms around his legs.

“Pads! Pads! School is awesome, we did coloring, and counting, and the ABC’s, and then everyone was jealous of my lunch ‘cos I had candies but I only shared with Ron, and Ron said maybe I could come over and we could watch He-Man!”

“That sounds brilliant, sprog!” Sirius says, but when he looks up the red-haired woman is glaring at him while her son rants at her excitedly. “Is that Ron over there?”

“Yeah! Can we go over? I wanna say bye!”

“Sure thing,” Sirius says, giving Harry what he thinks is a convincing smile and ruffling his hair. “I’m glad you made a friend.”

He starts to guide them over to where Ron and his mother are standing (and Ron is conspicuously pointing at Harry with a wide, gap-toothed smile) and the mum visibly stiffens, which, really. She’s the one who was harassing him. Lord, he’s so mature.

“I think we might have gotten off on the wrong foot,” he says charitably, extending a hand as their children crash into each other in an excited mess of sticky hands and incomprehensible shouting. “I’m Sirius Black, this is Harry.”

“Mrs. Weasley,” she says, setting her shoulders before taking his hand and giving it a surprisingly firm shake. She does not elaborate.

“Right,” he says. “Well, our children seem to -”

“Our children?” She interrupts. “Bit presumptuous for a godfather, aren’t you?”

I am mature, Sirius chants in his mind. I am an adult. I will not punch this cunt.

“Seeing as I’m his legal guardian, no,” he says. “Bit presumptuous to ask, aren’t you?”

“Hm,” she says.

“Padfoot! Padfoot! I told Ron about Snuffles, and he says he doesn’t have a dog, and I said he can come and meet him, please? Can he?” Harry says, looking up at him with those damn pleading eyes. 

“Sure, sprog,” he says, smiling tightly. “As long as Mrs. Weasley says it’s okay.” He turns back to her, trying to project calm. “I’d love to have him over, of course, you’re welcome as well.”

“We’ll have to see about that,” Mrs. Weasley says, grabbing Ron’s arm. “Come along, Ronald, you can meet Snuffles another day.”

“No!” Ron cries.

“Bye, Ron!” Harry calls after him as Mrs. Weasley drags them around the corner and out of sight.

“Come on,” Sirius says, bending down to fix Harry’s shirt, which has gotten all mussed up in the commotion. “Ready for home time?”

“Home time!” Harry says with glee. “Can we walk Snuffles?”

“‘Course we can,” Sirius says smiling and taking Harry’s hand, leading him away from the school gates and towards home. “And we can watch cartoons, and have mashed potatoes with dinner, how does that sound?”

“I wanna watch He-man!” Harry says.

“We will. We’ll watch whatever you want.”

@goodgodfathersiriusblack

[crystalkitty1220]

What’s Curse!IBVS? :0

Guess this is gonna be my monthly check-in

Curse!IBVS is an IBVS horror AU heavily inspired by Razmerry's Warriors AU "The Cursed Three". I thought the concept of "What if the main characters' powers were actually harmful?" was really cool and wanted to see if I could twist the IBVS characters' powers in a similar way. I think I've deleted most of my old posts about it because I quite simply just didn't like it, and I've slowly been reworking it ever since.

Trigger warning for general spooky stuff, non-graphic body horror, major character death, child death, unintentional hanging, unintentional self-injury and probably a bunch of other things.

The easiest powers to curse-ify were Nevin and Edward's. Admittedly, Nevin's curse was really just a mix of Lionblaze and Jayfeather's from Razmerry's AU (because Lion has super strength and Jay has empathy, and Nevin has both plus a secret third thing and also an aura). Since last time I've posted anything about it, I've shimmied the curse around a bit into something that feels more unique and fitting for him.

Most difficult was between Chris and Dez. I've still got nothing for Dez because I don't want to make it too similar to Nevin or Edward's "be super careful at all times" curses. Chris, on the other hand, doesn't even really have a power of his own?? In the first and second versions, Charlie was some demon with a grudge against the entire Jackson family or whatever, but I just don't really feel like that works. So I've kept him and Chris being a bit closer to their originals, but Charlie's ghost situation is worse, and Chris gets no benefits. As I implied in my last post, if I actually wrote some kind of fic or something, Chris would be the main character as to ease the reader into the curses.

I could keep typing, or I could just copy-paste all of my rewrite notes into this post. Keep in mind these were written in a google doc that I shared with @echosoftheflower, so I might have some stuff directed to them.

-

Updated Curse!IBVS notes

Curses

•Isaac: Drawings will always be alive, even if he doesn’t take them off the page. Drawings removed from the page will always move in strange and unnatural ways, and look kinda fucked up. When they run out of time, the drawings die a gruesome death (unless they remain on a page, in which case they stay alive and watching until the art is destroyed). Just a minor god complex. Appearance does change to look more sketch-like over time, though I'm removing the part about his specific sketches getting tattooed onto his skin.

•Edward: With any sudden movement of his hands, strings will grab and strangle/destroy anything in front of them. They will actively seek out something to wrap around, and never miss their target. He never told his family because of guilt over what happened to Barry. [Added note: I'll elaborate later.] He wears gloves, but that only directs the strings back to his arms, where they dig in. He’s grown quite used to that pain by now. His bones are really strong, they basically just can’t break (except a half-hearted punch from Nevin would crack them quite easily). His skin's also pretty tough. [Note: I really only made his bones and such stronger so that his hands don't just get snapped by his own strings. That's not due to a lack of him trying.] His intuition is also strengthened, so it’s less like random hunches and more like just knowing things. He never learned about anyone else’s powers, and he doesn’t remember a certain time when he realized they had them, at some point he just knew. His intuition will probably never break the fourth wall, but no promises. (Debating: His intuition also tells him about things happening in other AUs, so he can never be sure which hunches are real and which aren’t.) [Note: Still considering that one.]

•Chris: honestly he might just be normal. charlie’s the supernatural one. No knife privileges, that's for sure.

•Charlie: things really can’t get much worse for him. Stronger? He can possess Chris for longer? I definitely want it to be impossible for him to be separated from Chris - maybe one or the other will die if such a ritual is attempted.

•Nevin: Super-strength so strong that touching anything with too much force will crush it. Empathy so strong that it’s nearly impossible to differentiate others’ emotions from his own. Aura so strong it’s.. actually not that bad compared to some multiversal entities I can name. He can prevent himself from destroying things by staying calm/positive and focusing (since his powers are tied to emotions), but the empathy combined with the aura makes it really hard to do that. [He needs to stay positive to control his strength, but he unintentionally causes fear in others, and then he's forced to feel that fear. Oof.] Goop shenanigans tbd.

•Drew: Colors take up most of his vision. Instead of his powers simply healing him, branches weave in and out of his skin, trying to patch up whatever’s wrong. Was hugged by Nevin once when they were kids. Got a bit of a Snow White situation going on at the moment, but more crushed and looking vaguely like the aftermath of hanahaki. The blossoms [apple blossoms] are more vibrant than the universe’s color palette generally allows, and change color depending on nearby [or his own] emotions (if there are any). Sometimes people will hike near where Drew is, and if Nevin’s nearby he will always scare them away. Nevin can still sense Drew's emotions, and Drew can even kinda tell what Nevin’s feeling when he’s nearby.

•Dez: [Very small image of "He hurls his thunderbolt!"] [Suggestions from Echos:] Forgetfulness? Seizures?

•Bullet point for Harley [I'm still anticipating the reveal of him having powers]

Aesthetic [Personal notes for when I'm drawing, or for Echos]

•Artstyle inspiration: Courage the Cowardly Dog, BatIM, Tim Burton, abitfrank, LavenderTowne, Paprikup, Litchi Kitti, and ofc Razmerry themself.

•All colors are dull, except for the ones in Isaac’s drawings (mostly monochrome, but the colors that are there are uncomfortably saturated) and the flowers from Drew.

•Constant cloudy day. The sun and moon aren’t visible, but there is a lighter patch in the sky around where they would be. No stars either. Sunsets and sunrises are sepia yellow, or sometimes a desaturated red. It seems like there are always fewer clouds on nights when Nevin visits Drew - stars are actually visible then, and so it the moon (fullness of moon should reflect Nevin's current state).

•Tree branches curl a lot and tend to have thorns. Knots are large and cause the tree’s shape to be curvier. Roots stick close to the surface. Most leaves are gone, despite it still being early fall.

•Bushes are similar to trees but with more thorns and fewer leaves.

•Animals will usually just be drawn as shadowy figures with unnaturally fast and sudden movements. When drawn with more detail, they’re spiky with pencil-thin necks, small eyes, no other facial features, needle-like teeth (if mouth is open), and bug-like limbs. They’re generally rare, as the impression should be given that there’s not much nature or life nearby.

•NPCs [background characters] are uncommon despite the school having the same number of students as in OG. When shown, they should be undetailed and unresponsive to the main characters, as if the school is populated by ghosts. In fact, there should be a lot more hushed, overlapping voices than visible NPCs, and none should be able to be traced back to any single person. NPC numbers should be increased when Nevin is the main focus, and they should be even more ghost-like, but louder. NPCs should be less ghost-like when Edward is the main focus.

•Water is dark and murky, but is water.

•The school has some murals around it, most of them courtesy of Isaac. The eyes in those paintings always seem to be watching you. A lot of the murals are of gray foxes attacking other schools’ mascots, in honor of wins Foxfield sports teams have had against those schools. I’m purposefully leaving how realistic/distorted/unsettling the paintings are up for interpretation because that depends on what you headcanon Isaac’s style to be.

Misc.

[Describing the appearances pretty vaguely on purpose because I prefer when designs are left up to interpretation. The only canon details about their designs are the ones listed here. Any other details I draw should be considered headcanon - yes, even for my own AU]

•Funnily enough, Isaac is more similar to my original plan for him than the previous version was.

•Isaac’s appearance: Same fashion sense as OG (light clothing, which I find surprising considering this man looks like he has no body heat), and for the most part unchanged if not for the half of him that looks like it was drawn.

•The style of the sketch half is up for interpretation, depending on what you headcanon Isaac’s art style to be. It might be cool if you could see the style change as it gets closer to the non-sketch side, showing the progression of his style over time. So his ear would just be like a circle and his nose would be his current style. I didn’t do that in my concept sketches tho.

•He's gradually painting a design on his jacket, but only has half of it done at the moment.

•[Echos and I tend to come up with nicknames like this, just in case. Habit from the UTMV.] His multiversal nickname could be Sepia or Vignette, but Vignette might be more fitting for Ghost of Foxfield. Bistre could also work.

•Isaac's room is very decorated. His blanket is embroidered to look like a pile of snakes, which he thinks are pretty silly, but will try to constrict around anything (that isn't him) that the blanket is wrapped around. His closet doors are painted like a cave opening, but the handles look like two little glowing eyes in the darkness, and the stalactites and stalagmites look like teeth. His carpet has a dead tree on it, which looks an awful lot like a hand. There are eyes painted on the bottom ridge of his bedframe.

•At some point, Edward started chilling in the lair with the previous king’s squad, completely uninvited. This confused everyone who was not high school royalty. [Edward just kinda knew that he was gonna be the next king, and the current king knew it, too. No exchange necessary.]

•Edward? Blaming himself for the death of one of his peers? In an AU by one of us? It’s more likely than you’d think.

•[This part wasn't on the doc since it hasn't changed much, but I'll put it here for you] Some of you might be wondering why Barry hasn't been mentioned yet. That's because when Edward first got his powers, when he was trying to save Barry from the cliff, the strings caught onto Barry's neck. Edward was missing for a while - his strings caught on everything, digging deep into trees, cutting through branches and bushes, tugging him around, damaging his own skin - and when he was found, he was in his family's own garage, wearing a pair of heavy-duty gloves that were much too big for him. Barry was found before Edward, but Ed remained silent about the death, or anything that had happened while he was missing. Growing up, he's regularly brought to speak to therapists (and sometimes police), but he still refuses to talk about it.

•Edward’s appearance: Outfit almost identical to OG, plus a pair of gloves. He usually keeps his hands relaxed in his letterman’s pockets. His hair is a lot messier, as he doesn’t spend much time on it.

•Was gifted a pair of gloves from Isaac. These gloves have bramble thorns embroidered on them.

•Chris and Nevin become friends very quickly, but a part of it was just because Nevin thought Chris might be able to talk to Drew. Zombie bush things are kinda similar to ghosts, right? Right?

•Man, I wonder whose aesthetic should be based on black-and-white movies? Does anyone quite fit that description? Maybe a certain oreo?

•I’m in love with the Murder By Bramble color palette. Definitely going with something like that. The pop of red is just *affectionate popcat noises* [For context, Murder By Bramble is a really cool Warrior Cats Multi-Animator Project which I have on my playlist for Curse inspiration.] [Also, any time I draw anything for Curse, the style will be changed a bit to fit the character it's centered around. For Chris, the colors would be almost full black-and-white. Normally (or when centered around Isaac, who has the default), however, they'd just be desaturated.]

•Drew-centered vibes are heavily inspired by the Brokenstar Absinth PMV. Psychedelic, bright contrasting colors with complex, cluttered patterns and very shaky lines. Hollyleaf Look Away PMV vibes, too, but more for Nevin. Litchi Kitti’s art is such a huge inspiration for me and I will not stop gushing about it, actually.

•Apple blossoms and thorns. That’s so much of his aesthetic.

•I’m vaguely imagining those flameless fireworks from MLP for the flowers, but in apple blossom form.

•How did Drew get to Foxfield? [Comment from Echos: trunk] Good question. I’m going to say after the mess Nevin made when he got his super strength, his grandmother showed up because his father and stepmother were afraid of him. She took Nevin back to where she was living and Drew was moved to a hospital near them because she thought he should be where Nevin could easily visit. Then the doctors started pointing out the fucking tree branches growing in this boy and making it nearly impossible to perform surgery, and cutting the branches seemed to be painful, so at some point, Grandma Jovel took him home. It was a little difficult to get him to Foxfield when they moved, but they managed to do it.

•Religious Nevin? In my Horror AU? It’s more likely than you’d think.

•Nevin was homeschooled up until middle or high school, to get better control of his powers before going into public spaces with a lot of emotions. Instead of having moved to Foxfield in 2017, another possibility is that he moved there after the incident and just wasn’t in public school until 2017. While that would clear up Drew’s half of the plot a little, I think Nevin’s experiences in previous schools are an integral part of his character, so keeping at least one year of that feels crucial.

•Nevin’s appearance: Hair is curly because trying to use a flat iron would probably be dangerous. His eyes are constantly cyan, but usually not glowing (too brightly). Wears a smart watch and a second ‘watch’ with a little keycard in it. He’ll sometimes put his hands in his pockets but he’s usually afraid of ripping his jacket.

•His vibes shall be weirdcore-y in the sense that some things are hyperrealisitc. Consider: making him much less defined (scribbly, lineless, etc.) at points, or adding some hyperrealistic pieces of stuff nearby (petals of a flower, etc.) into his hair or stuck on his clothes. [All to symbolize how much of him his environment makes up, and how little he can be sure of what's really his own feelings.]

•Nevin has a little pencil holder thing that attaches to his pointer finger so he can still write, he just has to be careful not to break the part that goes around his finger.

•The Jovel house is set up to make it as easy as possible to do everything while applying the least amount of force necessary. The front door has a card reader that reacts to Nevin’s watch. Voice-activated things are very handy, especially Siri or Alexa or whatever the Jovels have. The electricity bill is a bitch, but the constant repairs would have been worse. Anything that can’t be used electronically has some sort of contraption attached to it, mostly of Nevin’s own design.

•Nevin and Edward kinda mirror each other, having similar curses and backstories. But while Edward will slowly recover, I have absolutely no intention of letting Nevin do so.

•Dez [yeah i got nothing]

•Louis? [Comment from Echos: Puella Magi Madoka magic]

-

Aaand that's all in my doc. I don't think I'm forgetting anything? You can ask more questions but I probably won't answer until next month.

Concept art below (mostly for writing; it helps me remember what to describe, or get into the vibe)

[triptychgrip]

TFW a Viktor look-alike slithers into your life (and then just won't leave you alone)

What if 16 year old Katsuki Yuuri (at that point, a Junior division figure skater), distraught over learning that Yuuko and Takeshi are now dating, accidentally runs into someone at the Ice Castle who looks exactly like his idol...with the exception of mesmerizing gold eyes instead of blue?

And, what if said man, who is instantly charmed by Yuuri's mistaking him for the Viktor Nikiforov (and someone that Yuuri later realizes is just as touch-starved, creative, and confident as his idol...lmao, on that latter point, let's pretend Ayame Sohma wears golden blades on his skates despite not even being able to do a double axel), turns out to also be a huge Viktor Nikiforov fanboy?

If you've read my Fruits Basket/Yuri!!! on Ice crossover That's Like The Pot Calling The Kettle Ayame, you probably know that I adore both Viktor and Ayame, and the idea of Yuuri forming a pre-canon friendship with the latter and being the first "outsider" to discover the Sohma family's secret is intriguing.

Perhaps after accidentally witnessing Ayame transform, he confides in Yuuri about his fear that he'll never be able to live the life he wants because of the curse, and in turn, Yuuri opens up to Ayame about his anxiety, and his yearning to be able to one day meet Viktor on the ice as a true competitor.

Their friendship is not automatic, however; that would be a stretch, given their diametrically opposing personalities, lol.

I actually think their relationship would emulate the Hatori/Ayame dynamic, with Yuuri slowly being worn down by Ayame's sheer determination to be his friend, as well as his effusive compliments ("he calls himself ordinary, Tori-san, can you imagine?! With balletic grace like that, how could anyone find him ordinary?!").

Though I headcanon that Ayame isn't so much into the technical prowess of skating as he is the dazzling costumes, it doesn't mean that his connection to Viktor isn't just as profound as Yuuri's. In fact, when his 15-year-old self sees Viktor on tv for the first time (also at the Junior World Championships in Bulgaria, like Yuuri), seeing Viktor enchant audiences the world over while sporting a distinctly androgynous appearance is what first gives Ayame the idea to play with his own gender presentation.

I'm not sure if I'll actually get around to completing this story, but the possibilities have been fun to think about. Here are some other elements I'd attempt to include:

Yuuri and Ayame's first real fight is over Yuki; Yuuri is shocked to learn that Ayame could be so apathetic towards his own brother's suffering, and, in light of his lingering hurt over being "discarded" by Yuuko and Takeshi, he wonders if Ayame might one day discard him, too, when his interest in him fades. When they're a bit older, it's actually at Yuuri's encouragement that Ayame begins trying to close the rift between himself and his brother

Ayame regularly flies to Detroit to visit Yuuri when the latter moves to the US. Particularly with how lonely Yuuri is in the first year away from home (he won't become roommates with Phichit until his third year in Detroit), their friendship becomes a lifesaver. They find it particularly enjoyable to make fun of racist Americans who can't seem to grasp the fact that Japan, China, and Korea are 3 separate countries with vastly different cultures

Ayame makes Yuuri promise that if he's ever chosen to represent Team Japan at the Olympics, that he'll be allowed to at least help come up with the costume conception (this of course gives way to Ayame just taking over the costume design entirely). When Yuuri debuts an elaborate/inventive Short Program costume during the 2014 Sochi Games, it causes a huge buzz, even garnering Viktor's attention/admiration.

Relatedly, when Viktor gets in touch with Ayame regarding designing costumes for him during the 2014-2015 skating season, Ayame has to be dissuaded under threats of murder from trying to arrange a meet-up between Viktor and Yuuri. His wingmanning tendencies get a chance to manifest when Viktor actually arrives in Hasetsu ("Come onnnnnn, Yuuri, just let me hang all over you, and we can make Viktor-sensei jealous!")

Despite being completely oblivious to anyone crushing on him, Yuuri is able to pick up on Ayame's interest in Hatori pretty easily. He even manages to give him some decent advice regarding a possible relationship ("just be there for him...Hatori has so much responsibility on his shoulders with having to carry on his father's legacy of memory suppression...there could be a time in the future when it gets to be too much to bear, and he needs someone to lean on")

The other Sohmas (well, not Akito, lol, since she really can't stand Ayame even after the curse breaks) all adore Yuuri, but none as much as Momiji, who offers to compose original program music that Yuuri can skate to