#i occasionally forget that i grew up with these characters but then when i remember i'm like

[cutebunnys50]

idk if I ever publicly yapped about how much I love SV Teto but I really truly do lmao, I love both UTAU Teto and SV Teto immensely, which is a lot. Basically whatever Miku x Teto brainrot anyone can imagine me with, just multiply it by 100 and you're marginally closer to just how much I love them lmao

[snakes-writing-corner]

Recently been obsessed with Undertale Yellow, and I am very much in love with a certain star cowboy. Long story short I need to get this idea out of my head before I forget.

Hear me out.

North Star x Bandit Reader

————————

You heard about this little town growing in popularity in the Wild East. A little place in the Dunes where monsters can get a taste of the surface, with some interesting characters to make the area more appealing.

The main attraction, of course, being “The Feisty Five” as they call themselves. Just a group of human-interested friends wanting to have a little fun, and bring hope to the other monsters trapped in this hellhole.

The Feisty Five are indeed… an interesting group. Not particularly threatening, but a good group to hang around with if you’re looking to have some fun. Most you’d have to look out for is Mooch, who ironically, has a nasty stealing habit.

Oh but what caught your eye the most? The self-proclaimed sheriff of the Wild East.

“North Star” is the name he goes by, and boy is he quite the charmer!

Initially you came by the Wild East looking for a bit of excitement. A place where you could have a bit of fun and mess with the residents before moving along to the next unfortunate destination.

Oh but this? This was a lot more fun than you ever thought it would be!

The Feisty Five despite being the “protectors” of this town were, quite frankly, terrible at the protecting part. Just a gaggle of monsters living out some sort of human-based fantasy.

Unfortunately for them, you had a streak of causing trouble wherever you went, and to this day you’d never been caught for it.

Living in the underground got… boring after a while. Everyone living in a zombie-like state of hopelessness and despair was a bit too… depressing for your taste.

Call it morally wrong, but you wanted monsters to feel, well, anything! So you resorted to becoming a… well North Star would call it a “bandit” if he knew.

During what monsters considered night-time, you’d don on your trusty cloak and mask and cause a bit of mischief. Breaking and entering, stealing, blowing things up, occasionally scaring any poor monster who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? All were fair game to you!

You weren’t a completely terrible monster however! Any damages caused would end with the owner of the property mysteriously ending up with the gold to fix it, and stolen items would always be returned by the next night. It was simply just to stir up a bit of chaos and have some fun! That and it got monsters feeling something other than hopelessness!

Which leads us to the situation at hand.

You started living in the Wild East for a little while. A few months at least, getting time to know the locals so when the chaos ensued… well you wouldn’t necessarily get blamed if the town trusted you right?

In that time you grew a bond with the Feisty Five. Honestly who wouldn’t! They all had their quirks that made them fun to be around!

Ed despite being the muscle of the group had a heart of gold, and was very fun to mess around with. You still remember his face when you snuck that little fizzy tablet into his drink, and it exploded all over his face. His reaction was priceless!

Moray was always a chill monster to be around. You enjoyed how you two seemed to be able to talk about anything, and admired their skills with a sword. Truthfully, you had a bit too much respect for them to pull a prank… yet.

Ace was a mysterious fellow, the most quiet out of the four for sure. You two never talked much, but you quite enjoyed the card game he used to offer you. Keyword on “used to”, he stopped doing that after you won one too many times. You got revenge about a month after that with an unfortunate loose floorboard in the saloon.

Mooch was a lot like you actually, mischievous and a pretty good thief at that! You quite like her and can’t wait for the day you can steal all the gold she’s taken from you back. Friendly competition and all that, but stealing it now would blow your cover so you wait. In the meantime some harmless pranks from time to time that can’t be traced back to you will do.

Oh and now for your favorite member of this rag-tag gang, the sheriff himself! North Star was definitely a fun guy to be around! Matched your dramatic flair almost too well honestly! His hero act was always one you enjoyed feeding into, especially considering what you had planned.

Oh right! That little plan of yours is exactly why you’ve stuck around the Wild East for so long!

You see, North Star wanted to play the dashing hero, but you can’t be a hero without a worthy adversary to face can you?

Sure the town had Vengeful Virgil, but honestly? He’s not a threat at all! There’s no stakes or genuine mystery with him! And quite frankly you’ve started to hate the staged performances.

No twists or turns? No drama or unplanned hang-ups? No no no! That won’t do for your new favorite group of monsters! I mean you’re hiding right under their gazes in plain sight! A well trained “bandit” who’s actually willing to cause actual chaos around here!

Which led to where you’re currently stationed. Mask and cloak obscuring your true identity within the night, you press a simple little button.

*BOOM*

You smirked from your position on top of the saloon. You see earlier you had planted some little explosives around town. Not in any spots that would hurt someone, but enough to give everyone in town a scare.

You chuckled as you heard screaming and panic envelop the town. Monsters like many times before running around terrified like mice. It was always fun to watch!

A shout rang out above the others however.

“Alright settle down everyone!”

Ah there he was… North Star.

You climbed down the roof of the saloon as you quietly hid behind it and watched.

The Feisty Four we’re running around under North Star’s orders, checking to see if any damage or harm had been done, while North Star tried to calm down the increasing crowd of monsters in a panic.

You watched a little longer.

Then North Star looked up at you.

Oh this was going to be fun.

“Stop where you are!” North Star shouted.

You smiled under the mask and made a run for it, the sheriff hot on your heels trying to get you to stop.

Oh but sheriff, the chase is half the fun no?

You continued to run, but quickly dug your heels to the ground and stopped to face your pursuer.

North Star managed to stop fairly quickly in return, and you two were suddenly at the end of a cliff in a stare down.

The sheriff lifted his gun and took aim.

You tilted your head in return, purposefully deepening your voice like you’ve done so many times before.

“Aw did the sheriff not like my welcoming gift?”

North Star glared. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you made a mistake coming into this town,”

“Bandit.” He spat with venom in his voice.

You chuckled, as you took a step closer.

“Oh but North Star,”

The sheriff’s gaze grew more sharp the more steps you took forward, you stopped mere inches away from him and the barrel of his gun.

“I don’t think I did.”

North Star fired.

No bullet came out of the barrel, a result of the tampering you did earlier to prepare for this moment.

You took the opportunity to rush forward and grab the taller monster by his bandana, and seize the wrist holding the gun in his mere moments of shock.

You stood there locked in place for a few seconds. Tilting your head to the side, you watched as the sheriff seemed to be caught between emotions of his facade and what lay underneath. After all, you can always break an actor if you try hard enough.

You chuckled and broke the silence between the two of you.

“What-” North Star started, but you cut him off.

“Tell me sheriff,” You tighten your grip on his wrist. “What do you think I want hm?”

You leaned closer towards his face.

“Money? Recognition? To simply hurt others?”

North Star stiffened.

“No.” You loosened the grip on his wrist.

“You and I both are not so different ya know?” You continued. “We’re both acting to bring some life into this hell of a place.”

You let go of him completely and take a few steps back.

“We just do it for our own personal reasons right?”

North Star glared you down.

��I’m nothing like you.” He spat.

You shrugged in response.

“Maybe not, sheriff.”

You back closer to the edge of the cliff.

“But…”

You stop right at the edge as North Star aims his gun at you yet again.

“You’ve always wanted to play hero right?” You ask.

North Star continues to glare you down. “I don’t want to hear it, bandit.”

“This is your last warning.” He whips out his lasso in his free hand. “Surrender now.”

You smirk, purposefully ignoring him.

“Well sheriff. You have your villain.”

You step off of the cliff as you see the lasso at the edge of your vision.

————————

Where?

Starlo ran over to the cliff-edge, kneeling down to look over the edge.

Where did they?

He frantically looked for the bandit, but they were gone without a trance.

Starlo huffed in annoyance, too many thoughts running through his head.

Would they actually kill someone?

Why was this monster so intent on this?

He never wanted this! This was just supposed to be for fun! He didn’t want to endanger anyone!

Starlo started internally panicking. The thought of- of this monster hurting anyone here. Would they do it? They wouldn’t right? They talked about acting so surely they wouldn’t-

The sound of paper caught his attention.

He looked down on saw a piece of paper tucked neatly into his bandana.

When did they have time to put that there?

With trembling hands he opened it.

“Howdy North Star,

Glad we finally got to meet face to face. I’ve been dying to see your reaction to when I finally make a move.

But don’t worry, I won’t hurt anyone. At least not yet.

You see I’m a bit of an actor myself, and any good actor should know you can’t have a hero without a proper villain.

So I’ll give you a warning. A heads up if you will.

I won’t hurt anyone in any truly damaging way. Unless things get boring that is, but I highly doubt that’ll happen with how entertaining you and your crew are.

I think this town needs a bit of chaos. And lucky me that you just so happened to imply you wanted a challenge when I showed up!

So tell you what. Let’s have some fun with a little game of cat and mouse. I’ll cause some trouble and you can play the charming hero as always. Besides I’m sure even you’ve grown tired of the same boring routine every day.

See if you can be the first to actually catch me sheriff. I’ll be waiting to see if you can pull it off. :)

-With hope for future fun encounters, Anarchy”

Starlo stared at the letter for much longer than he should have.

Well…

If this bandit wanted to mess around with his town?

They’ll have sure as hell a tough time doing so from now on.

[headfullof-ideas]

Some headcanons of the Nektons family that I’ve been meaning to finish up, and finally got around to! I posted them to Ao3 as well, if anyone’s there as well. I usually post headcanons of a certain character by themself, but i couldn’t think of enough for a whole set, so there’s some of the whole family here, and some of the characters individually.

- After everything with the Monumentials is dealt with, Ant gets a tuxedo cat he affectionately names Buttons. Buttons is mostly black, with two little white ‘buttons’ and ‘gloves’, and she’s the sweetest cat ever. Ant insists that Buttons formal occupation as an ESA is entirely coincidental

- Kaiko played Dungeons and Dragons a bit as a kid and in college, but never found a group who wanted to play seriously. She still has all her old books, character sheets, and dice in a box in her and Will’s closet

- When Kaiko and Will were introducing each other to their parents, Kaiko’s parents were initially on the fence about Will. Meanwhile, Kathryn and Jacques immediately fell in love with Kaiko

- Kaiko had about a dozen different ‘pets’ growing up, some that were animals that her family were taking care of before they were released back to the wild. She was also the owner of a number of failed fosters

- Ant and Fontaine were both child leash toddlers. Fontaine grew out of needing it, but Ant would find new ways to slip out of his leash without either parent noticing

- Ant keeps forgetting that his name is actually ‘Antaeus’ because of how long he’s been going by ‘Ant’. When he does occasionally remember or get called Antaeus casually, he sits in silence for a few minutes having an existential crisis over it

- Ant and Kaiko both brush off minor illnesses like they’re nothing more than minor inconveniences. They do the same with injuries. When it becomes too much though, they both get super clingy and needy

- Will was an Egyptology kid, with the shiny gold book and all. He was also a magpie as a kid, attracted to all the shiny doo-dads and bobbles he’d find

- Ant wanted to be a Marine Biologist as a kid because of his mom and how much he loved the ocean, but as he got older he started leaning in a different direction with other animals as well. Eventually he landed on being an Animal Behaviorist

- Fontaine does NOT like snakes. At all. They gross her out so much

- Hide and seek is banned on the Aronnax, because the game takes way too long with how many hiding places there are on the submarine. Repeated incidents involving pingers as cheating, with all family members guilty of it, is another reason

- The World Oceans Authorities never stopped trying to rehire Kaiko after she left. When Ant grows up and starts looking for a job, they make it their mission to hire him. Ant makes a point to say no in the most elaborate way possible each time. Pyrosome cries herself to sleep about it sometimes

- After at least half of their late night missions, the family don’t even make it to their own bedrooms to sleep. Crashing in the Moon Pool happens often enough they store blankets and pillows in a closet

- There’s a board of ‘how many missions so and so has gone without needlessly risking their life’ in the lab. Ant has never made it to the double digits. Kaiko and Will are only slightly better. Fontaine is the only one who has made it relatively close to triple digits, and she feels ashamed every time she has to restart her clock

- Kaiko keeps a wall of shame and fame for all the animals she treats as a Marine Biologist, with their crimes listed beneath their photo. If she’s really annoyed with one of her family members, their photo makes it to the wall until they stop annoying her

- Kaiko and Will put child locks on Wills study when Ant and Fontaine were toddlers, and Kaiko has multiple videos of Will struggling to open his own safes and shelves during that time frame. Sometimes if she feels he’s spending too much time in the study, she’ll put them back on

- Ant and Fontaine had bells put on them when they first started being mobile as babies, as both would crawl off when their parents backs were turned for one second, and Kaiko and Will would have to madly dash through the Aronnax, listening for the jingling of a bell to find their baby

- Ant tried out Speech and Debate in high school, and was surprisingly really good at it. Kaiko was really proud

- Fontaine seems to make new friends almost everywhere the family goes, and she’s really good at remembering the names of all the people she meets

- Fontaine is really good at remembering specific dates, and here calendar is packed full of all sorts of important dates and events

[iamnmbr3]

Drarry

3,6, and, 10

3. Which one outlives the other, and how they cope

Starting off strong with immediate pain I see. Why would you hurt me like this? I like the angst and thematic potential of Draco being the one to outlive Harry. No one expects it. Least of all Draco. Harry is everything, the Boy Who Lived Twice, a constant since Draco was 11, so energetic and unique and yes human and vulnerable in a way that the public forgets, but still somehow larger than life. He couldn't possibly do something as mundane as die. Draco can't even begin to fathom it. How could this be the thing that he finally beats Harry at? It can't be.

Meanwhile Harry doesn't fear death. He got over that a long time ago. When it's his time he doesn't linger. He probably even makes a quip about how Draco can finally get the last word in their arguments. Draco keeps going but he's never the same afterwards, though to him it's more that the world isn't the same - everything seems just a little less bright, somehow, than before. Until one day he finds himself in a place that looks remarkably like Kings Cross and there is an achingly familiar face waiting to greet him.

6. How they decorated their bedroom

Haphazardly. Mostly with gifts from other people because Harry doesn't really see the point and Draco grew up 1) having people to worry about things like that for him and 2) with an all white marble aesthetic so having a random collage of Quidditch posters seems entertainingly rebellious to him. Since most of their decor comes from their friends and family trying to brighten things up they end up with a very eclectic and rather clashing look - a flower Luna painted on the wall, a rather severe looking bedside table from Narcissa that has a nasty habit of growling at the cheerful area rug that Molly brought etc.

Draco does however start sneaking in some "random" decor that just so happens to have highly realistic snakes in it. This definitely has nothing to do with the fact that he finds it sexy when Harry speaks Parseltongue.

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other

They don't because the wizarding world has yet to discover the concept of television and Harry never got into the habit because mostly Dudley wouldn't let him watch tv so he never really developed a taste for it and also he associates enjoying tv shows with Dudley and consequently looks down on it a bit. The half remembered programs he occasionally got a glimpse of in his childhood aren't enough to compel him to go to the trouble of trying to find a way to get something set up without magic sending it haywire.

Draco of course had never even heard of a television till after the war when he ended up spending time in the muggle world during his probation and even after because for quite a while no one in the magical world wanted anything to do with him. He never really got into any programs but at least he now knows what a television is. Unlike Arthur Weasley who still refers to them as Teffle-Fissions. Draco is secretly rather proud of this though he'd never let on. He also wins Arthur over with his stories of the Muggle world.

Draco does however enjoy listening to several wizarding radio programs - mostly of the mystery genre. Nothing too heavy because after the war he doesn't want anything with too much violence or realism in it. Harry didn't grow up having stories read to him (as far as he can remember anyway) and can be a bit utilitarian in his thinking. He doesn't really see the point of getting invested in something make-believe. Draco of course makes a huge Thing of it and makes a point of imitating characters from the show and dropping overdramatic references just to get Harry to roll his eyes. Harry for his part starts listening along just to make fun of it. It becomes a bit of a routine and after a few decades Harry finds himself just the tiniest bit invested. (He would never admit it of course, but Draco can tell).

Send me a ship and a number

[goldenchocobo]

Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi Adventures

So, I got the Kingdom Hearts Tamagotchi for my birthday this year. and it was only in September that I decided to activate it (I was hesitant because I know Tamagotchi can be needy and can't be turned off). So here's my so-far roughly one month journey!

Here he is- Base Sora on day 1. I took care of him, played games, and generally fiddled about with what I could do. This was my first ever Tamagotchi, so it was a new experience to me. You fight Shadow Heartless, Dusk Nobodies and Flood Unversed occasionally with the tap of the 'A' button. They didn't happen super frequently so I was fine fending them off.

Unfortunately things didn't go well. I became ill with stomach flu the night after. The manual says it takes roughly 49 hours for Sora to change/evolve. and well...

When I was able to move again... I woke up to... uh... Heartless Sora. Everything remained the same, except the food and treat (Paopu and Icecream) turned into Heart and !. Heart being that you well- fed him hearts, and ! meaning he attacked you (I think... he vanished then appeared closer and waved his arms about). I felt really bad that my first Tamagotchi basically 'died' because of things I couldn't control. But I enjoyed my time with Heartless Sora; and after a few days, Kairi found him and saved him! Very cute 2 bit scene. Back to Normal Sora. I found an issue. You see... I'm more nocturnal; and this Tamagotchi... wasn't. He woke up at 9AM and slept at 10PM; meaning he didn't get the right care from me.. but I figured I could change the time to suit me- and did. Now he wakes up at 12PM and sleeps at 2AM- same as me. Next evo was a surprise! Sora introduced me to (and trusted me to care?) Riku!

This was when I found out each character/evo has different sleeping schedules. Riku would sleep late and wake late (I'm thankful it wasn't early due to the whole Dawn motif because I didn't want to change the clock too much again). They also have their own unique cutscenes, with Riku primarily featuring Mickey. Not much happened, and I showed Riku to Riku(My Riku... the cockatiel- named after... Riku). But He left and Sora returned. At this point I wanted to aim for Roxas- or Ventus (I'm sad there's no Vanitas). So I miiight have looked up a quick wiki to see how to get the characters. "Wow that's cheating" you might say.. and yeah- probably... the issue is that I didn't get Roxas.

Instead, Sora 'grew up' into KHII Sora. I was interested to see what kind of outfit or character I could get to show up, so I continued with normal care.

On the 28th of September... Sora.. ever the festive fellow...

Donned his Santa outfit.

I found it kinda funny, but kept him up with Normal care. I was starting to forget him (I got a little drawer handle I put him on during the evening on my right hand ride next to my monitor, and during the day he's on the couch arm- I don't take him out because I'm scared I'll lose the Tamagotchi somewhere). So He was getting upset/hungry; but if he beeped I knew he needed something. He Unlocked/locked the Keyhole to Halloween/Christmas Town, then flew off in the Gummiship, returning as Normal Sora. After 49 hours, he once again reintroduced me to Riku. having forbidden knowledge, I knew I could turn Riku into Dark Riku. and tried.

I. Felt. Awful.

I know they're just 2bit pixelart on the screen... but Riku has a special place in my heart (I named my grumpy, gay cockatiel after him!) so me... just basically neglecting Riku? it hurt :(

After this. He did not turn into Dark Riku. He left. just straight-up.

Sora flew back in on the Gummiship and my quest to get Roxas/Ventus continued.

But I was surprised when I came back after an outing to find... Sora turned into a fish

Wiki says he's from 'Bad care', but I don't remember giving him subpar treatment, and catering to what he wanted- so I'm baffled. He did come with an Aerial/Sebastian scene, though- so that was cute. He didn't stay for long and locked Atlantica's Keyhole, returning as Basic Sora.

Again- I tried to get Roxas, but instead got KHII Sora again; so I thought I could maybe get Axel or Xion; since they're included in the KHII evo list.

Nope. Christmas Sora again. Oh well- He does love Christmas.

I'll update this if I get anything interesting. I know you can get Xehanort- I recognised his Silhouette on the manual, so maybe I'll get him one day.

I'm still waiting on Roxas..

[thyla-scene360]

Hell yeah more AU stuff - this time I thought it’d be fun to try and do some family trees for a few of the characters. It’s a fun little exercise in character design.

Starting off with Quentin Beck, aka one of my favorite Spidey characters. He and his parents are Marble Foxes.

Some notes: (what I have below is mostly what I’ve made up myself combined with what little we get of his family in canon. I wanna try and add his uncle and cousin Maguire later on.)

(Content warning for mentions of death and neglect.)

Quentin was the son and only child of Elmore and Henrietta Beck. He grew up in one of NYC’s many apartment complexes, and was raised solely by his father.

Unfortunately, Henrietta died just a few weeks shy of Quentin’s first birthday due to health complications. She was known to be a very sweet, mild-mannered woman with a quick wit and a love for the arts. Despite the little time she had left, Henrietta loved and cherished her son, and wanted nothing but the best for him. Unbeknownst to him, Quentin inherited her love for art and theatre.

Already a rather gruff and closed-off man, Elmore never really moved on from his wife’s death and instead became even colder, disagreeable, and generally unpleasant - particularly towards his son. He was never supportive of or interested in Quentin’s interests and talents, instead viewing them as nothing more than a waste of time and money. Overall, Elmore didn’t really care much about his son beyond the bare minimum, generally ignoring him for the most part.

All of this would have a lasting impact on Quentin, being something that would follow him well into adulthood. A combination of loneliness, deep insecurity, jealousy, a fear of rejection/failure, and a desperate need to be seen and loved ultimately culminated in Quentin becoming the ego-fueled supervillain he is now.

Beyond a few hazy memories, Quentin doesn’t really remember his mother, nor did he ever learn much about her. His father never spoke much about her (beyond the occasional mutterings or speaking to her as if she were still alive) and always shut him down whenever he asked. As of the present, Quentin doesn’t like to talk about her (or about most of his family for that matter) and usually just changes the subject when asked. He tries his best to forget about her and his relatives, and is more than happy keeping it that way.

Despite this however, there’s still that tiny, deeply buried part of him that wishes he could’ve gotten to meet her. Maybe things would’ve been different.

[yanderes-galore]

Hi! May I request a Yan X-Tale!Frisk concept?

Thanks!!!!!!

　- 🪷🪼

Sure! In this you're part of the X-TALE Universe. This is a very dubious yandere/concept as I was exploring the idea on this. Hope you like it!

Yandere! X-Tale! Frisk Concept/Idea

Pairing: Platonic/Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Trauma, Manipulation, Overprotective behavior, Violence, Murder, Blood, Clingy behavior, Dark themes, Brainwashing, Dubious companionship/relationship.

Frisk no doubt met you when X-Gaster was still around.

It was simpler times... simple times where he and Chara could just be happy.

The first timeline was the happiest... and the first time Frisk met you.

He was like any other Frisk.

You were made to be a childhood friend of Frisk and Chara.

When you speak to him he starts quiet, shy, and loves monsters.

It's your typical pacifist timeline.

You grew up alongside each other.

Friends... possible lovers... Frisk enjoyed his life until adulthood.

However, it wasn't enough for X-Gaster.

Frisk would soon learn that nothing was.

The next timeline, Frisk meets you again.

He tries to forget what's happened between you before... poor you wouldn't know what he was talking about.

The cycle repeats with X-Gaster experimenting.

Kill off a character here... Kill another to test... Frisk hated it but he tried to remain vigilant.

Then there was the Genocide Run... Gaster knew Chara hated him and wanted to experiment with that.

Gaster also knew of the fondness Frisk had for you.

Frisk nearly broke when he realized he killed you in that timeline.

He could still remember the blood.

The timeline after that didn't help as Gaster made you and the others negative towards Frisk and Chara.

The thought breaks Frisk's help... making him wish for times like the first timeline.

Gaster finds such emotions pitiful, yet the determination Frisk has towards you is intriguing.

Going off of "canon" for a bit, perhaps there was timelines Frisk tried to recreate the connection between you.

He follows you, he pleads with you, he tries to make you sentient.

If Chara can OVERWRITE, he attempts it on you.

He's desperate...

In the same way that Chara is determined to end Gaster, Frisk is determined to recreate what he once had with you.

You're important...

It's time to experiment.

Even when Frisk and Chara become the X-Event, Frisk holds onto the emotions he has towards you.

Chara is negative as usual, confused on why Frisk bothers to try and communicate with you.

Frisk ignores the phantom, continuing to look at you with a sad but fond expression.

Even when in a depressive state as X-Event, you still seem to stick beside him like X-Sans does.

He isn't allowed to interact with you... Even if you are now one of his/their creations.

But sometimes he doesn't care and still speaks with you occasionally.

He still misses you... the first you.

Not all the copies... even if he tries his best to recreate you it doesn't entirely feel like you.

Deep down he still loves you... a mix of the love he felt through all sorts of timelines.

He remembers when he clinged to you, when he tried to prevent the madness.

It's always been a useless fight... even if Chara continues to fight it.

Ten... it's been ten now, hasn't it?

Does he not deserve happiness?

Similar to Sans, he tells you the truth of all the timelines.

You seem so confused... just like Sans... but you die like the rest while Sans becomes Cross in the end.

Perhaps in your final moments you felt pity.

Frisk thinks of you until the very end... always fond of you despite what's happened.

Then he's killed... gone.

Gone until X-Gaster returns.

Gaster has always noticed Frisk's attitude towards you.

When he brings him back to make his perfect world, he recreates you too.

Frisk may not entirely be himself... not fully sentient like Chara... but he still expresses emotions when Gaster presents you to him.

You're alive, reborn, just like you were when Gaster made you long before.

Despite the brain fog, Gaster makes Frisk somewhat aware of your presence.

To keep him compliant... you are given to Frisk.

For the first time in a long time, you are properly reunited with Frisk.

Even though you are most likely both puppets to Gaster... you're together.

Frisk never wants to let you go.

He just wishes he had more control over himself so he could properly protect and love you.

You're all puppets.

Gaster grins when he realizes he can control you both... no matter how sentient you both are.

Frisk will remain obedient as long as he has you.

A deal Gaster can do if it means perfection.

Frisk can't help but smile when he sees you and his brother again... he's wanted this happiness for so long.

Even if it isn't the same.

[danvillecheese]

the general audience versus the rest of us

this analysis is not to degrade anyone outside of or in the fandom, it’s simply to showcase how differently people remember phineas and ferb. there are a number of topics I will delve into, all of which are lovingly put into sections under the cut. so, with no further ado… enjoy!

how normal people watch it

so if you’re like me and watched pnf occasionally on tv growing up you’ll remember bits of the show. you’ll remember it’s repetitive and episodic nature, the way everything goes back to how it was at the start of the day. phineas and ferb think of something to do, candace attempts to bust them, perry fights doofenshmirtz, and doofs machine makes phineas and ferb’s invention disappear, sticking to the status quo of what linda typically sees. it’s predictable, but not in the sense that you necessarily know what’s going to happen. maybe you do, or something happens that subverts your expectations. the “typical phineas and ferb episode structure” (or TPNFES, I’m calling it that now) is how a lot of people who haven’t seen the show in a while will remember it. or maybe not. maybe they remember doof making an inator that does x. or they remember the aglet song (never forget ze aglet!). it’s typically something you’d have seen at least a couple of times during its original run.

and no, of course there’s no problem with only remembering one or two things about a show from your youth. I personally watched a lot of shows as a kid that I don’t remember a thing about. yeah I watched LazyTown when I was like four but if you asked me the plot of any episode I would NOT be able to tell you. and it’s because it wasn’t something I was really interested in. and of course, kids can be interested in shows and know a lot about them and then hit their teen years and not remember much about them later. but if they go back and absorb that content again? they see stuff they missed the first time, or stuff they definitly remember. hell, they might even sing along to A.G.L.E.T. because as everyone knows, pnf lyrics stay with you forever. (even if you haven’t heard the theme song in a decade you won’t forget the lyrics. that shit is hardwired into you from the moment you first see it.)

my point is, a casual viewer doesn’t do anything more than just… watch the show. hell, sometimes they don’t even watch it, they’ll have it on in the background while they’re on their phone or doing something else (couldn’t be me!!). watching the canon content just once gives them the satisfaction of starting and ending the show. they don’t go into detail about it. they probably won’t open an ao3 tab the moment the last episode finishes. they won’t make a tumblr sideblog dedicated to understanding the intricacies of character arcs, their goals and ideals and how they interact with others. they don’t care enough to do that bc it doesn’t make their brain go insane for more knowledge about the show. and as strange as it sounds, they don’t have it on their minds for that long. yeah, maybe theyll think about how nice the songs were in that s4 finale but after that, that’s it. they’ll move onto something else.

how I watched it

I watched phineas and ferb as a kid. I’m pretty sure I watched it when it first aired, too. perhaps not in 2007, it might have been the year after when it actually started premiering (nz airing is so far behind it’s not even funny). I watched it as it aired, and then grew out of it around the middle of s3. I got a little older, started watching different shows, and I was just generally doing other stuff. I have a vivid memory from 2012 when a kid from my class told me that pnf wasn’t worth watching bc the same thing happens every episode and my socially inept ass went “omg ur so right” and I stopped watching it. fast forward a couple of years and I hear that the show is like, actually finally ending. idk why but I remember it being in 2014, not 2015 when it actually did air (the pnf wiki doesn’t have the date for the nz airing of last day of summer so I guess we'll never know if it aired early or not) but I watched it and kinda just carried on with my other interests at the time.

around 2017, I start talking to an internet friend from the same country as me. we talked about our upbringings and stuff we used to watch on tv, and she brings up phineas and ferb. aha! I know that one! it encourages me to rewatch the show and before I know it, I’m shoulder deep. i mention facts about it to real life friends and family (“there’s a pnf episode where…”) and I go hunting for interviews and comic-con panels with the whole cast on youtube. you know how it is. I start going through the posts on tumblr and I find a sibling show of sorts – one that also has a crossover planned for 2018. I watch that show. I lurk in the shadows of the tumblr tag for a while. I start writing fic. I draw the characters on any piece of paper I can get my hands on.

it all comes to a head in october 2018, when I wrote a phinjeet fic called cappuccino, and one of my favourite artists EVER made fanart of it. and obviously, I had to put it somewhere. I’d thought about making a dwampy sideblog for ages and had no idea what to call it or anything, but this was all the encouragement I needed. I made the sideblog. I reblog the art. then I went through my likes and got some of the pnf/mml posts out. fast forward almost five years, and here we are. still just as insane, just with a new username.

in short — no, my experience watching pnf is not one of those typical of a general audience member. I mean, it would have been, if not for that fateful conversation with my internet friend that basically rebooted me and quite literally rewired my brain to be insane about this cartoon universe. I’m not by any means a casual viewer of this show. I know more than an average person would about it, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I adore this little community of ours. and being able to crack out of context jokes that come from the shows to older people who I know have never seen it, well, it’s a cherry on top.

both the GA and the fandom contribute to the culture staying alive

there’s certainly a way that the general audience keeps pnf alive, even if they have no idea they’re doing it. they’ll make very generic memes about it (you know the ones I’m talking about) and they’ll circulate the internet for a bit, reminding everyone about the show they watched casually as a kid. us, on the other hand, make very very niche memes about it. like hieroglyphics. and combovers. (see what I did there?) ours tend to stay in our little circulation, minus the ones that break containment. you get it in any fandom though, it’s certainly not limited to us.

as many times as you’ll see the posts that attempt to explain the ‘doof is phineas dad theory’, you’ll see just as many responses debunking it. or seeing dan and swampy debunk it, as they should. (honestly I think we need like crystal fucking clear evidence in the reboot to explain it otherwise it’s just gonna keep happening.)

the circulation of phineas and ferb itself through any means, be it memes or actual conversation that prompts a rewatch or even just a memory of the show, keeps the show relevant. I think one of the more notable ways this has happened is dan povenmire getting tiktok famous and basically reminding every older gen z kid about the show. to quote jeff swampy marsh – “plus there’s always reruns so the show will never die” – sure, disney channel itself barely exists anymore but reruns can also kinda be translated into disney+ rewatches or even just the passage of a meme on the internet.

phineas and ferb has stayed, somewhat, consistently relevant. I mean, think about it. since pnf started airing, there hasn’t been a year (except for 2021) where nothing has happened. pnf aired from 2007-2015, milo murphy’s law aired from 2016-2019 (which includes phineas and ferb characters so I count it as pnf content) and catu came out in 2020. dan’s own show hamster and gretel started airing in 2022, and based on the poster, I don’t think we’ll be missing any phineas and ferb characters at all. dan basically confirmed it. and truly, it’s what keeps the show alive, even when it’s not really there.

things in the show that the ga have very different opinions on, re:

candace and jeremy’s relationship

something the general audience haven’t caught up with yet is the way that candace and jeremy interact within the show. sure, if you haven’t watched it since you were 10 then you probably remember candace being like insane and loud about the boy she’s obsessed with. if you watch it again, you’ll see that jeremy is almost just as bad. it’s just downplayed because he’s not a main character. we don’t see his perspective NEARLY as much as we see candace’s, which might make it seem a bit more one sided or unrequited than it actually is.

in the episode “backyard aquarium” from early s2, we’re shown a montage of both candace and jeremy trying to ring each other for a whole day, until candace goes to bust her brothers and forgets about her phone for a little moment. this gives jeremy time to leave eleven messages for her. obsessed much? (it’s actually kinda sweet) and yeah, they’re teenagers. every feeling seems way more amplified than it actually is so both of them getting upset that they cant contact each other is pretty realistic, even if it is just played for laughs.

there’s a lot of really thorough characterisation when it comes to both of them. mostly with candace, obviously, she is THEE main character of the show so clearly she’s deep and very fleshed out. we don’t see it as much with jeremy but we get pretty good glimpses of it when it’s shown. he’s got the picture of her from “the bully code” in his guitar case. he likes her so much! he put her picture in the place he keeps one of his favourite things!! he’s down so bad for her! but of course, if you don’t actually pay attention or care especially about any of that stuff, you’re going to miss it and generalise about it. and it unfortunately applies to quite a few things in the show. sigh.

doof’s relationship with his parents

for real, fuck those guys. I think the ga are pretty aware of this part, and if you asked anyone to say what one of doofs backstories are they’d probably say “his parents didn’t show up for his birth!” or “he was a lawn gnome!”. both of which are specifically tied to his abhorrent relationship with his parents. but what they potentially don’t remember is how he still tries to gain their affections anyways. it’s the classic trope of not being able to cut off your abusers simply because you just can’t, morally. you still want to prove yourself to them and make them see you’re worth having around even if they never liked you in the first place. heinz tries very hard both in his youth and in the show itself to gain affection from both his mother and father. these include:

the teddy bear and trying to be good at kickball (thaddeus and thor)

the original gnome (fathers day)

even the fucking clip show episode from the end of season 3 (this is your backstory) where his mother comes back and he goes in for a hug and is instead greeted with a smack. hmm.

even just those examples are enough evidence that yes, heinz did actually really try with his parents even if they didn’t care. and again, it’s unfortunately played for laughs that heinz is constantly beaten down by almost everything around him but as we know, he gets a real family at the end of the show and things seem to work out well for him. does he get closure with both of his parents by the end of s4? maybe not his mother, but sort of with his dad. and yeah, maybe they’ll get into that in the reboot. but it’s definitely something the ga never noticed. it’s always about laughing at his tragic backstories, even if that is the point of them, not necessarily feeling bad for him and wanting to see him come full circle with everything that’s happened to him. and it does!

isabella and her one (1) personality trait

according to the ga, isabella garcia-shapiro is a one dimensional character who’s only personality trait is having tunnel vision heart eyes for the boy across the street. is your blood boiling yet? mine is! isabella is one of the most fleshed out characters in the show, with a large family and interests outside of phineas. hell, she’s the leader of her fireside girls troop which is a huge part of her personality. she’s brave and strong and gives ominous patch related threats to a man almost five times her age. but no, the general audience will only ever see isabella as the girl obsessed with phineas. I’m not discrediting this at all because yes, she’s obsessed with him. she’s a simp. definitely nothing wrong with that at all! but the ga claiming that it’s her only personality trait? get fucking REAL this girl is deep and gets upset and anxious and emotional about things that have nothing to do with the boy she’s in love with. even if it does have something to do with that, she carries on anyway because she’s strong as hell. it’s not the first time a character has been like that on disney channel — I mean, kim possible was pretty boy crazy but her crime fighting always came first, right? (really showing my age with that reference. wow) and I hate to reference act your age bc it’s vile but she doesn’t only ever spend her time moping over phineas as a teenager, she keeps herself busy and helps her mom at the restaurant and is an RA at her college and does a whole heap of other things! she’s multifaceted and it’s what makes her a really compelling character to watch. and watering her down into just the girl who likes phineas is a huge discredit to her character.

so, where am I going with this?

I’m not saying ever general audience member has to rewatch phineas and ferb a million times to understand every single character arc. hell, I’m not even saying that they have to rewatch it at all. there’s such a huge divide when it comes to it, and obviously not everyone is going to experience everything the same way. a lot of people simply don’t care enough to crack open the psyche of every phineas and ferb character to understand their motivations. that’s just the freaks (affectionate) who roam on tumblr, eager for media analysis of a childrens cartoon that ended almost a decade ago.

for a lot of us, it’s very satisfying to be able to analyse specific media. there’s writers and storyboard artists that put all that stuff in the show for a reason, right? it makes us want to see parallels and understand where a characters moral alignment sits and why exactly buford speaks latin. and for others, they’ll simply watch a show and move on. there’s no need for them for it to be on their brain 24/7.

overall, there’s a stark difference in the way people watch a show as iconic and culturally significant as phineas and ferb. the general audience watches it very differently to us, and that’s okay! it happens with any piece of media. there’s casual fans that watch something once and then the very not casual fans who have it on the brain constantly. and then there’s fans that have been very absorbed in the fandom and move on, which again, you’ll get anywhere. nothing about the dwampyverse fandom is limited to us, in terms of the way things go (not the source media itself. name one other show that has anything REMOTELY similar to pnf happen in it.) most people know the show, and most people don’t know about the insane and obscure facts about it, and I think it’s fantastic.

goodnight tri-state area. thank you.

[your--isgayrights]

Hi idk if anyone has asked this before but do you think there are thematic implications to Sangah liking works from Murakami Haruki, Raymond Carver, Han Kang.

Yeah, I'm not super familiar with all of the authors myself but I did some basic research while writing Wall fic so I have an opinion about this. First of all, the internationality of these picks shows YSA is well read, but this different kind of well read than KDJ. Her interest in international literature is somewhat connected to her backstory of being from a richer family that wanted to marry her off in my mind bc international language education is somewhat status/wealth associated in modern South Korea. Second of all the kinds of authors she picks out are the type who write singular, artistic works that tend to start from a point of realism and make a comment about the characters' navigation of Society. So the type of reading she's doing isn't sitting down and obsessively following a 3000 chapter webnovel that can only exist through the conglomeration of niche trope after niche trope to be completely understood. I see her as a girlie who like. Will check the new York times best seller list and just buy or check out a new book to read if she hears good things. So this authors of singular works and short stories being her favorite shows she doesn't really follow extensive Series, she's not the type who needs constant updates to keep on living lol. She's the type who occasionally read novels for literature classes which graduated to occasionally reading novels in her free time. Not saying that she reads popular novels just to seem cultured like mister 'art of war on my desk' but I think she is someone who can see opening a book like stumbling upon a television program that just happens to be on you know it's not a major time commitment or something that will rewire her brain and then she'll have thoughts about language use and literary opinions you know.

Then the one author I'm more familiar with is Han Kang and I actually didn't remember her being listed by YSA but you're probably right and I just forgot bc I know Han Kang from reading the Vegetarian more than I know her from being referenced in ORV I guess lol. Han Kang is a popular modern author in South Korea who has both been somewhat of an icon for feminism (I think?) And is definitely a representative of the Trauma literature movement. She grew up in Gwangju and lived through the aftermath of the Gwangju uprising (the people suffered violent oppression and censorship under leadership at the time) and in an interview she once described herself as someone who writes to ask questions instead of answer them. The Vegetarian is an example of a work of hers that starts off very ingrained in reality and slowly becomes surreal in a way that could still exist in the real world but could be interpreted as containing fantasy elements. I think it's interesting to me to draw parallels to YSA here bc the vegetarian is a story about a traumatized woman being controlled and used by other people. Spoilers for the vegetarian I guess but the main character decides to be vegetarian one day without a 'societally acceptable' reason and this 'embarrasses' the people around her so much that they try to force her to change. After she is abused by her husband, father, and brother in law, this experience is held parallel to something she experienced as a child, when she was friends with a small dog and then the dog bit her. Local folk medicine said killing and eating the dog was the only way to cure sickness from a dog bite and she felt no remorse as everyone agreed the dog must be eaten. Forgetting 'the natural order' revokes the rights of personhood or humanity, when the main character of the Vegetarian descends into a psychosis trying to escape participating in the violence of the world around her by 'becoming a plant,' it's shown at the end how even her own sister struggles to see her as a person who can still be spoken with or make her own decisions. So yeah it's pretty fucked up and I have some more specific opinions on it ( like I've written essays about it) but as it relates to YSA the Vegetarian is very much about the POV of outsiders following another person's struggles which I find a very interesting in parallel to YSA leafing through KDJ's memories as his wall librarian. I also think her familiarity with trauma literature as a genre may be off-putting to KDJ specifically because these realistic type stories with a bit of fiction are quite similar in genre to the book his own mother wrote, in fact I find it extremely likely that in the world of ORV YSA read LSK's book somewhere before. I think they're also not the kind of books that get overly silly/ have a 'happy ending' by convention, which is interesting to me bc I see passivity vs agency as an important theme concerning YSA's arc throughout the story and whether or not she has an ability to create a happy ending or not is interesting. Like the little 'you knew??' moment in the epilogues is very important bc YSA and KDJ come from this same 'real world' and because of that neither of them really expected a Happy Ending you know. I like that YSA goes through the journey of beginning to Believe in it before KDJ comes back bc you know it shows that perspective can be changed before we even get to him it's really good.

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Omg I've been meaning to make this post for a hot second but kept having adhd moments and forgetting, but like. I really wanna emphasize to y'all just how intimately familiar I was with PPG before this whole obsession started 😳 The reason I wanna say so is because in contrast, my ship with Cortex was also my first experience with the Crash Bandicoot franchise- I was seeing everything for the first time, there was a TON that I was discovering for myself and that was an absolute blast. However, its a world of difference with my current PPG fixation because Powerpuff Girls is something I grew up with. I watched it on Cartoon Network and Boomerang all the time, I had the first season on DVD and watched those episodes on loop, I even distinctly remember one drawing I did of myself as a Powerpuff Girl and I'm sure that there were more drawings that I don't remember! On top of all of that, when I was a kid, I'm talking around 3-6, my parents would take me to a video rental store occasionally (it was somewhere between every week and every month) and let me choose a movie on VHS before we had a DVD player, and if I didn't choose a Land Before Time movie, I would pick the Powerpuff Girls Movie. I watched that thing CONSTANTLY, it was one of my absolute favorites and it's clearly a core memory movie with how much I enjoy it still

And on top of all that, I know for a fact that Mojo Jojo was ALWAYS one of my favorite characters. Idk about number one favorite, I'm sure baby me was more inclined to enjoy watching the girls since they were the good guys, but I do know that most of my favorite episodes were ones with him in it (In fact, the episode I remember being my favorite that I got rly excited for every time it came on was Mo Job, the one where Mojo and Princess team up, since they were my two favorite villains). Not only that, but now that I think about it, I did have a weird phase when I was 6 about wanting to take over the world.... hang on 0-0

Hrnsjxjt ok that aside, my bottom line is that I REALLY wanted to emphasize to you guys just how much PPG and probably Mojo himself were a part of my earliest memories and literally shaped me as a person, which has honestly made this ship and this obsession all the more wonderful to indulge in 🥺💖💖💖💖💖💖

[jesscrazydoodles]

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! I wanna start 2024 introducing my main penguin oc and finally posting his character card that I had in my gallery for far longer that I’m willing to admit 😅

So, This is Jimmy. I took a page out of @flxr-art book and asked her to describe him and this is what she had to say:

“Jimmy is the type of character that acts mostly because of his love ones instead of for himself, and once he learns how to step outside of what he knows is great. He's so very insecure at first, and still is, but he makes due with what he has and even though he's not confident on himself he takes a step outside of his comfort zone for his friends and is very protective of them”

Jimmy has charisma, but he lacks the confidence to back it up. He “knows” a lot of penguins but had little to no friends before meeting Thunder.

He’s on the inattentive side of ADHD and was definitely considered “gifted” as a kid witch gave him such a self worth crisis that still follows him. Basically if he isn’t giving his 110% he doesn’t feel like he’s doing something right. To him, if things are easy, he’s not putting an effort. This mentality has kept him from perusing many opportunities.

He’s the book’s smart to Thunder’s street smarts in the sense that he does that ADHD thing of picking up information like a magnet and knowing a little bit of everything.

As a kid all to way up to early adulthood he had a blog dedicated to conspiracy theories. Ninjas, secret codes, tipping the iceberg, etc. He still logs into it from time to time but since he became a journalist he’s barely been able to update it. Aunt Arctic had always been a role model to him so, in her honor, his screen name for this blog was “Jimmy Arctic” and it stuck.

His mom is Argentinian and his dad was Puertorican but if you ask him up front he’ll just say he’s Argentinian since his dad passed away before Jimmy could really remember him and he doesn’t feel very connected to that side of himself. He’s very close to his mom though. He was born and raised in Club Penguin but his mom moved away after he grew up.

Jimmy is very adaptable to whomever he is with. He can even the playing field easily or match the energy of the other person. He’s actually on his best when playing off of someone else since it forces him to step out of his comfort zone, and explore different facets of his own personality.

On the down side, he can be a bit egocentric, but not in a “oh look at me, I’m the center of the universe” kinda way. All his life it’s been just him and his mom, so that’s his point of reference. It’s more of a “oh, I’ve been stuck inside my own head for so long that I forget the factor the wide range of reactions from others”

——

Fun facts:

-“Jimmy” was the name of my first ever penguin in CP. The name comes from that one character in the Kratt brother’s cartoon. To this day I have no idea why I choose it, I didn’t even like the character that much, but regardless, I’m glad I did.

-I named him Juaquin because as a kid, I didn’t like the name. I also didn’t know how to spell it. It’s fine, it’s a running joke. (Also to all Juaquins out there, I do like the name now, I’m sorry 🙏)

-He was originally going to be related to Aunt A. but upon revision, yeah first thing I scratched. The name stuck though.

-He also had a cousin named Elsa who was a whole other mess of a character so I scraped her

-All my ocs are adults in their early to mid twenties, but of the main three, Jimmy is the youngest.

-His dad named him.

-His mom calls him “Quino”

-Has a lot of ADHD headaches

-He has an argentine accent when he speaks Spanish, and while he can mask it pretty well in English it occasionally slips.

-He enjoys card-jitsu as a spectator sport and collects the cards.

-He came up with the band name. Thunder only regrets it sometimes.

-just in case it didn’t make sense, he has a blue puffle named Blue.

-💚🤍🩶🖤

—

I still have a lot of this character I could talk about but I want to leave it a little bit brief cause if it was up to me I’d keep going and that’ll just be a nightmare 😵‍💫 if you’ve read this far that probably means a failed to put the “read more” and IM SORRY 🥲 or you actually read all this and just 🥹❤️ thank you!

[avengersfluff02]

Ticklish Mermaid Secret

This is my second fic, and some feedback would greatly appreciated.  I know that I switch between first and third person a lot, I just find it easier to write in first person. If you sent in requests, I see them and I will start working on them! I also have some headcanons about the different Mako Mermaid and H2O: Just Add Water characters and cast, and other shows characters and casts, so let me know what you want to see.

Word Count: 1,624 words

I was the youngest cast member of the Mako Mermaids and had been in a few episodes of H2O: Just Add Water.  Since I grew up with the Mako Mermaids cast, and played Rita Santos’s daughter Chloe, I considered them a second family.  When the show ended in 2016, I was very sad and had the cast promise me that we would also stay in touch, and they gave me a moon ring to remember them by. I made a promise that I would wear the ring everyday, whether it be on my fingers (middle or index), or on a necklace. It is true that they would visit me occasionally, but I missed being in Australia filming with everyone.

One day, when I was hanging out alone in my house during summer break, my phone rang, and I picked it up surprised, seeing that it was my agent Maya.

“Hi Y/N!  Are you excited and ready to go?” Maya asked.

“I am excited to hear your voice, but ready to go where exactly?” I asked really confused.

I could hear Maya’s smile in her voice as she answered, “Mako Mermaids got renewed with a crossover from H2O: Just Add Water, that might lead both shows into a movie!”  Maya waited for my reaction and giggled as I screamed.

“When do I leave, does anyone else know that I’m coming, I want to surprise them if they don’t” so many things were spilling out of my mouth, that Maya started laughing.

“You leave tonight, and no, no one in both casts know that you’re coming back,” Maya ended up briefing me, and then I went and packed, and I made sure to wear my ring on my necklace, and then I was off to Australia.

On the plane, I spent my time overthinking seeing the cast again, as I hadn’t seen most of them since I was 14 (or in the case of H2O, when I was 7), watching Netflix, Max (formally HBO Max), listening to music and podcasts, and reading.  When the plane landed, I went to a hotel and started to make a plan on how I would surprise the rest of the cast. 

Since we were meeting in a park at 11:00, I knew that I had to get there before them, and find a place to hide. I ended up taking an Uber from the hotel to the park at 10:00. I was trying to decide whether to hide in a tree or under a bush, when I heard footsteps.  I quickly climbed up the tree, and looked down as my cast mates started getting set up for a picnic.  I desperately wanted to join, but wanted to watch for a few minutes.

When it seemed like everyone was engrossed in talking and catching up with new and old cast mates, I decided that it was time to come down from my tree.  Only problem?  I was forgetting to keep my noises to myself, as I descended, and my cast mates were starting to figure out that something was amiss.

“Eek!” I let out a startled hum as my foot slipped, but I fortunately caught my footing.

“Did you hear something?” Lucy Fry asked Ivy Latimer.

“Nah, it must’ve been the wind," Ivy replied, smiling.

 I had finally made it down the tree, and suddenly feeling really nervous, began to walk as quietly as I could toward the group.  I wanted to speak, but couldn’t find any words, so I tried to have my actions speak for me.  Unfortunately, Isabel Durant saw me, but I quickly put my finger to my mouth.  Instead of saying anything, she turned her attention back to her conversation with Allie Bertram, in which I was relieved.

I decided to come up behind Claire Holt and Phoebe Tonkin, but I forgot that they were on The Originals together, and in a second, I was pinned on my back.  I saw some tiny recognition in Claire’s eyes, as I tried to get my necklace out.

“It’s me, Y/N” I whined.

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” Chai Romruen asked as he helped me up.

“Is it really you?” Indiana Evans asked.  “If it really is you, show us something to prove it”.

“I can prove it”, I said as I took out and showed the cast my necklace.  “Ever since you guys gave me my moon ring as a parting gift on the last day of set, I’ve never taken it off”, I finished as I started to fiddle with it.  “My agent told me that we were getting renewed, and I wanted to surprise you all, but I guess it backfired on me” I added on, shrugging.

“You did surprise us, but we are so happy to see you”, my on-screen mom Kerith Atkinson told me while hugging me.

“You’ve grown so much since I last saw you” Indiana mused.

“Yeah, a lot’s happened, and I’m going to be a senior in college in a few months,” I replied to gasps of awe and shock.

I saw the original mermaids from H2O (Cariba Heine, Claire, Phoebe, and Indiana give each other sly glances, but I was too content talking with Amy Ruffle to pay attention.

“Hey Y/N?”, Cariba sweetly asked, bringing me out of my conversation.  When she was met with my confused face, she continued, “Are you still ticklish?”.

My blood instantly ran cold, and silently cursed Cariba for outing the secret that I had kept from the Mako Mermaid cast for so long.  I gave her a blank stare and tried to move away from the group subtly.

“Based on everyone’s reactions, you haven’t told them, and also the fact that I can see the panic in your eyes confirms that you are, in fact, still ticklish”.

I remembered that running never helped in the past, but decided to try again for old times sake.  To my credit, I got further than I usually do before hands closed around my waist and tackled me to the ground.  I landed on my stomach, and I just laid there, knowing that if I moved, it would give access to my hips and ribs.  Claire stayed by my side and made sure a hand was on my back holding me down, Phoebe held my legs down with help from Cariba, and Indiana held my arms.  I couldn’t see what was behind me, until I felt extra weight on my back and arms.

“Thanks for helping Ivy and Lucy”, Phoebe said with laughter in her voice.

“You’re welcome, and Y/N, this is for all the pranks that you pulled on us and got away scot free with” Gemma Forsyth chuckled.

“You usually fight more Y/N, are you really giving up this easily?” Angus McLaren asked with curiosity.

“I’m just embarrassed,” I mumbled into the grass, blushing.  “Just get it over with please”.

“As you wish”, Indiana slyly said.

Just like that, 80 fingers descended and started tickling my body.  I didn’t realize that my cast mates were positioned near my feet, so as a reflex, I kicked out, and made contact with a stomach.

“Oof, she kicks!” Alex Cubis exclaimed to the original mermaids over my laughter.

“Yeah, we forgot to mention that” Phoebe shouted over me.

“Hahahahaha, whhwhy meeeehhh?!” I laughed out as I squirmed.

“Because you’re the youngest, and we missed out on this for a few years” Cariba answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I was holding out nicely, I thought.  As long as they don’t get to…

“AHHHH” I screamed as Lucy found the spot on the bottom of my back that made me spasm.

“Let’s not kill her yet mates”, the voice of Dominic Deutscher advised.

I took in as many breaths as I could, before I was flipped over onto my back and started up at Isabel, who had a smirk on her face.

“You like this, don’t you?” she asked me, and my face immediately went bright red.

With as much bravery as I could muster, I asked, “no, what are you talking about?”.

“Alright, hold her down for me,” Isabel laughed as she straddled me.  Allie was positioned by my feet with Chai, Amy was by my knees and Gemma was by my thighs, Kerith Atkinson was holding my arms, Linda Ngo was positioned by my hips, and Brittany Byrnes was by my neck.

I was already starting to regret my life choices when their 90 fingers hit their target spot on my body, it felt like my body was short circuiting.  I knew that I had to stop it, but at the same time, I didn’t want this bliss to end.

“AHGAHAGAHAG” I screamed as Kerith honed in on a particularly bad spot on my armpits.

“You know the words to make this end,” Brittany laughed.

I didn’t want to give up easily, but after three minutes I realized that I needed to breathe and tapped on the ground.  

“Sthtop” came out of my mouth weakly, as everyone let me up.

As I caught my breath, I finally spoke up.  “Yes, I do like tickling and being tickled, I was just really embarrassed and I thought that everyone would treat me differently”.

“Aw, Y/N, we would never treat you differently!  You’re like our little sister!” Indiana said, putting her arm around me.

“Now let’s go finish our picnic and get caught up with you” Chai exclaimed.

All in all, it was a fantastic way to bond with my cast mates, and I felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.  I smiled, happy to know that I could tell my second family anything.

[bunny-hare]

Silly Game Time: Who are some of your favorite magician characters? And what do you like about them?

They can be of any class or variety of magic-user (wizard, witch, sorcerer, warlock, healer, druid, etc.), of any race or species, so long as using magic is *primarily* their thing in the story. Not just something they do occasionally, but something that is a major element of their role and their identity.

OOOOOOH BOY-! THIS WILL BE LONG! (And possibly involve a lot of Final Fantasy).

First of all, possibly the best example-

VIVI! From Final Fantasy IX! He's just a little guy and I love him for it! Condemned to die young (as he's made basically from pure magic) but determined to live his best life! Vivi is nothing but a sweetie that always sees the best on everyone and everything, he must be protected at all costs. On that last note: his sibling relationship with the protagonist, Zidane, is DIVINE! I really have a soft spot for these.

Cereza/Bayonetta: She's such a fabulous Girlboss. She went through so much trials to be the person she is (or at least is during 1-2, since 3 is a different Bayo as far I'm concerned but- uhhhh I won't get in that can of worms since I haven't played 3 yet) and I honestly love her for going from timid, meek, helpless little girl to the most powerful Umbra Witch. She had good genes ofc, but all that would go to nothing if it hadn't been for her hard work.

Quina (again, from Final Fantasy IX): They're no thoughts, head empty, eating only... which is how they gain spells, so... are they hungry for food? Are they hungry for knowledge? Maybe both? We shall never know as Quina is a riddle and I love them for that, their frog hyperfixation, and their love language being giving food 👏 such a mood.

Soren from Fire Emblem: he's a prince, he's the dragon protecting the tower, he's a damsel on distress, he's an orphan, he's actually not an orphan, he's definitely gay yet pseudo-flirts with the merchant girl to get these sweet discounts and gets away with it bcs home girl likes being flattered, what is there to not love Soren? He has always been of my best units in my every Radiant saga playthrough, I'll forever remember when he killed a buffed up golden tank unit with a staff. Much like Bayonetta, I love how Soren grew from a miserable little lost kid barely surviving on the streets to the master mage/tactician that he's now, he fought hard to have his happy ending at the side of the man that gave him a will to live and he's such a Girlboss for it too.

The Wizards from Terry Pratchett's Discworld book series: they're batshit insane and wasted all their points in intellect completely forgetting they needed wisdom too. They're the Wizards in Arby's before it was even a meme.

And not to make this list much longer as my phone is starting to lag: my current hyperfixation along many, many, many other things:

Ace from Final Fantasy Type 0: I like that he's not such a typical mage even though his movesets are 100% around magic, you won't catch homeboy with a staff, he's got cards to channel that magic. My poor son was basically trained (not to say experimented on) from a young age to have a great magic potential and be the great soldier his mom wanted him to be. I honestly like him better from the complementary content (novelization, mobile game, opera omnia, yadayadayada) as there, there's a much more deeper focus on how much messed up it was, though IG that's also why I like Ace so much, despite it all, and despite trying to keep an stoic bravado, he's just a kid, he wanted to learn to sing and be happy with his chocobos.

[theworldbrewery]

Hey I'm thinking about running a game that take place (partially) in "the real world." Do you have any advice for that? Specifically for running a setting that exists and can be "fact checked."

Haven't run something like that myself, but it's very possible -- there are plenty of non-D&D systems that are set either in the real world or in an alternate-universe version of real life.

A lot of the things that can come up in that type of situation are similar to what comes up in full-fantasy settings like D&D -- if I set a game in a forest and I put a camel there, my players would probably question it. It's just that it's much easier to hand-wave these 'errors of fact' by saying it doesn't work that way in your world.

But sometimes you think a certain cultural practice is widespread and refer to it and suddenly you're players look at you like you've grown a second head. To some degree it's unavoidable; practice taking that kind of pushback in stride.

The more specific you are about reality, the harder it is to avoid the fact-checking you're worried about.

I'd say there's a couple different solutions.

First off, do your research about anything you plan to be specific about, especially things that will be important later. If your plot hinges on the fact that there are no big cats native to North America and your players point out that cougars exist, that's a story-breaking error. It breaks immersion and the suspension of disbelief when you say things they know to be false (and you're not doing that in-character which could mean the character is wrong/lying). Even if you think you know something, it won't hurt to double-check. Take notes; ideally, take a serious interest in the things you're planning to include, so it's easier to remember these things.

(This matters most in factual disputes -- dates, numbers, names, and trivia.)

Second, use what you already know to provide your base of support. Set the real-life part of the game in a modern setting, or in a historical period and place you're very familiar with (or familiar with the popular depictions your players might recognize). Have elements of the story draw on things you're personally interested by and know a lot about. On the flip side of this, you can also rely on things your players aren't familiar with. If you're the only one who's ever spent time in San Francisco, they are unlikely to try to 'catch you out' on whether or not there's really a mafia front Italian Restaurant off I-80. Frankly, they may not even check to see if there's really an I-80 in San Francisco. If you set it in a small town where all of you grew up...they might push back more if you forget the mayor's name and make up a new one.

Third, fictionalize. There is no town called Derry in Maine, and yet Stephen King set like half his novels in or around that town. It's probably based off a real place, or a composite of places, that he actually knows. Players can't tell you off for making up details about a city that doesn't exist -- or at least, if they do, they're being ridiculous since you do the same thing in your fantasy setting. Invent a micro-nation like Genovia, or imply that this setting is actually a slightly-to-the-left version of reality, not a one-to-one, which absolves you of major errors.

But honestly, I think the biggest advice I can give you is this:

If your players are trying to fact-check you all the time, your players might not be very good players.

Halting gameplay to make fun of you for misremembering the native range of brown recluses or to Google the length of Ronald Reagan's presidency is a dick move. It's one thing if your players do this occasionally, or if it comes up when you get something wrong about one of their personal interests, but if they are pointing out mistakes all the time, that's mean-spirited as hell.

It's also deeply uncool if they can't let it go, or won't respect it when you tell them 'above the table' that you need them to just buy into the thing you're telling them even if it's wrong in real life. Sometimes we suspend disbelief for the sake of having a good time; if your players refuse to do that, the problem is them, not your lack of encyclopedic knowledge.

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

15 Questions: Character Edition

Tagged by @words-after-midnight! Using this for OCs as well as writers is a fun idea.

Going with everyone's favorite repentant bloodborn and fish dad, Renato (who just got some lovely new art):

(Thank you again to @/littlestpersimmon for taking the commission! I love the background and fish details especially. Go check out more of Caleb's beautiful art and his comics if you're not familiar with them already!)

1. Are you named after anyone? My given name came from my Portuguese great grandmother on the Dimas side of the family, my father's side. I chose "Renato" as a teenager because the meaning (reborn) applied to both my transition and future as a bloodborn. Anyway, it shares the first letter and same number of syllables with the old one, so I also just liked how it sounded.

2. When was the last time you cried? I...honestly can't remember. Really. I'm not trying to sound tough or cool or anything. I must've cried when I was still a child of course, before the break. I can recall afterwards, though, watching the harbor get farther and farther away as my family fled the destruction on a ship. My eyes were completely dry. I still felt...still feel despair, anger, sadness. But after the world changed, I did too. Crying just seemed like a waste of water. It wouldn't get me anything, so my body just...didn't bother with tears.

*shifts, visibly nervous* But I think...I think I'd like to cry again someday? Is that a strange thing to say? Nevermind--forget it. Next question.

3. Do you have kids? No, but I have the next best thing. *opens wallet with photos* The goldfish is Tesoro--Tes, for short. They can roll a tiny football into a mini net. Ah, they're so talented! Then there's Beija, the pleco. She's nocturnal like me, but rather shy. And of course I can't forget the Venerable Order of Lady Guppies: Sisters Dolores, Joan, Hildegard, Leonella, Mary Celeste, Teresa, and Abbess Malfada. They're named after nuns since there aren't any male guppies in the tank and, well, you get the idea.

4. Do you use sarcasm? Occasionally, to make a point maybe. I prefer saying something outrageous with a serious face, though. I've gotten quite good at it over the years.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people? It's going to sound terrible...it is terrible, but true. I try to see if they have a weapon, and assess their vulnerable points, gauge which would be best to strike first. You know...to incapacitate. Or kill, if need be. It's ingrained into you as part of becoming an Aquila. But I'm sure you don't want to listen to such a dark subject.

6. What's your eye color? *sighs* They're blue-green, or aquamarine, or sea-green, or whatever you want to call them. I honestly don't find them that special. The way dark brown or black eyes shine is much more appealing, in my opinion.

7. Scary movies or happy endings? Hm. I'm just as likely to be annoying and complain about either one being unrealistic. I think the execution and style is what matters to me, not the category.

8. Any special talents? Winning people's trust. Being deserving of it... that's another matter. I've been told I pick up languages rather quickly, at least as far as basic conversation goes. Of course I grew up being a strong swimmer and diver.

9. Where were you born? On the Pacific, in a ship's medical bay, while my mother was accompanying my father to the States. That meant I was a default Brazilian citizen, although both my parents had dual citizenship.

10. What are your hobbies? Looking after my fish, making a nuisance of myself, finding what little pleasures I can take. I'm starting to realize just how much of my identity was tied to being an Aquila, honestly. Without that...well, I suppose I'll just have to test things out and see what sticks.

11. Have you any pets? Oh, do you want to watch all my videos of Tes and the others? [A/N: I advise you to decline. There are a lot of fish videos.]

12. What sports do you/have you played? I practice various styles of fighting and marksmanship, but that's survival rather than friendly competition. I never had a real opportunity to play any, given the world descended into chaos when I was ten. I mean, Ollie and I used to play a game where we'd dare each other to touch sharks while scavenging. Does that count?

13. How tall are you? 5'5". Many of the deadliest predators are smaller than their prey.

14. Favorite subject in school? I only attended about five years of Catholic school. My parents found me tutors for various subjects after the Break happened. I did fine with math, reading, science, all of that, but I preferred learning and honing skills. Spear fishing, sailing, foraging, those sorts of things I could use in a practical sense.

15. Dream job? *grins* Indolent concubine of a lofty noble or conquering warlord (gender neutral). Perhaps if things work out with these supposed merfolk they'll have some openings available.

Dysthanasia Taglist: @thecyrulik @thatndginger @space-writes @sunset-a-story @scoundrelwithboba

[upside-down-low]

If I’m being honest, i think the GA + fandom is actually more in danger of downplaying s1 Steve’s sequence of his slutshaming (he looked through Nancy’s window without her knowing, assumed she was cheating, proceeded to publicly slutshame her with his friends with the intention of humiliation, got her harassed by a guy on the street bc of said graffiti, and made her cry on top of all that), compared to forgetting s1 Jonathan taking creepy pictures (which virtually every single person, including Jonathan stans, at this point still remembers, and really, it isn’t actually an unpopular opinion to dislike him based on that—definitely a valid reason, but definitely not unpopular. It’s like saying “unpopular opinion but I don’t like Jason bc he was not a very nice guy to Eddie” lmao)

Steve breaking the camera (justified) and calling Jonathan a slur (not justified) were still things he did, but it just wasnt the single worst things he did that season, and I’ve seen multiple ppl on different sites now kind of gloss over his slutshaming of Nancy to emphasize those other two actions for some reason, especially when they’re comparing him to s1 Jonathan’s pictures.

It’s almost like it’s trying to soften s1 Steve’s character by redirecting attention to the other things he did (some arguably more sympathetic than others like breaking the camera or something brief/more off-the-cuff and less calculated like the slur) and ignoring that whole deliberate and misogynistic slutshaming plan he and his friends had for Nancy. Which I think is disingenuous, because if you like his series-wide, dynamic character development, then I would think you should be able to acknowledge even the ugliest parts of it that he grew from

And it’s a shame, since Steve is a good character but due to his popularity, is the most susceptible to character reduction from both an extreme anti and extreme stan standpoint—people who demonize him and, moreso, people who put him up on a pedestal and not treat him as a regular teenager who’s still ultimately good-natured yet occasionally clumsy and always has had the capacity for both good and asshole moments like every other human character on the show