#i think she can swap her prosthetic out for things

[enigmajaython]

Giving Eda a hook hand is my favorite design choice because she really could've picked any magic based prosthetic to be a fully ""functional"" or '""practical"" limb and she decided she wanted to be the pinnacle of Piratecore™, absolutely based behavior

[seafarersdream]

Thinking about Reader who has the ability to sleep everywhere and the cast always bothers her for that and they put things on her to see how long it takes her to wake up. But on one occasion she falls asleep on Ewan/Tom's shoulder and he's just a mess?? 😭

I don't know if it makes sense but the idea is there!! I love your work by the way

Out Of It (Ewan Mitchell x Y/N)

Y/N had always considered herself pretty grounded. Sure, she got to hang out with the cast, swapping jokes and stories like they were all old friends. But there was one little secret she kept tucked away, like a guilty pleasure—a huge, and she meant huge, crush on Ewan Mitchell. But, she reminded herself on the regular, it was just a celebrity crush. Nothing serious. A harmless little fantasy she kept to herself, because let’s be real—she was just the makeup girl, and he was, well, him. Then, one day, the universe decided to have a laugh at her expense.

TW // Strong language and profanities.

PS: I decided to take a different approach to the plot, hope it’s okay!

The sun was barely rising over the horizon when the makeup department bustled with activity, its team members moved with choreographed precision. The trailer was alive with the scent of coffee mingling with the chemical tang of latex and adhesive, the lifeblood of the team that assembled at ungodly hours to work their magic.

The door creaked open, letting in a gust of cool air, along with the unmistakable presence of Ewan Mitchell. He leaned against the doorframe for a moment, taking in the scene with a wry smile. Dressed casually in a worn leather jacket, another one of his band t-shirt, and dark jeans.

“Morning, sunshine,” Y/N greeted, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she glanced up from the prosthetic jaw she was carefully painting.

“Morning, Y/N. You look absolutely thrilled to be here,” Ewan replied dryly, his mouth curling into a smirk. He perched himself on a nearby chair, his lean frame relaxed but his gaze keen as it flicked over the team’s work.

Tom Glynn-Carney was already in the chair, his eyes closed as he tried to find some inner peace amidst the whirlwind around him. His usual charismatic energy was subdued, replaced with a resigned patience that only came from enduring this process multiple times. “Fucking hell, Y/N,” he muttered, peeking out from under his lashes. “Are we sure we need all this crap? It's just a flesh wound, right?”

Y/N laughed, a bright sound that cut through the tension like a knife. “Just a flesh wound? Sure, if you call half your face melting off just a flesh wound.”

He groaned slightly as one of the other makeup artists adjusted a piece of latex on his forehead. “Maybe just light me on fire for real next time.”

“I swear to God, Tom,” Y/N said, her voice cutting through the soft murmur of the trailer. She leaned in, squinting at the edges of the prosthetic around his left eye. “If you move your face one more time, I’m going to staple it in place.”

Tom’s laugh was muffled, careful not to disrupt the delicate work being done on his cheeks. “Sorry, boss. Just trying to keep the old face from going numb. Can’t feel my arse either, for that matter.”

“Is he behaving, or do I need to step in?” Ewan said from behind them.

“Barely,” Y/N replied without looking up, her hands steady as she pressed down the edge of the prosthetic along Tom’s jawline. “You can take him if you want, though. Maybe scare him into sitting still.”

“Fuck off,” Tom muttered, his voice laced with annoyance. “Last thing I need is Ewan glaring at me while I’m trying to get through this torture.”

Ewan chuckled as he stands up and walked further into the trailer, his boots making soft thuds against the floor. “Don’t worry, mate. I’m just here for moral support.” He glanced at Y/N, his eyes lingering a bit longer on her than the others might have noticed. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” Y/N said, her tone matter-of-fact. She finally glanced up, meeting Ewan’s gaze briefly before returning to her work. “This is a fucking beast of a job, though. Five hours minimum, and that’s if Tom doesn’t fidget.”

Ewan nodded, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the counter beside Tom. “You’re a miracle worker, Y/N. Don’t let this tosser tell you otherwise.”

“Hey, I’m the victim here!” Tom protested, though his grin betrayed the seriousness of his words.

“Victim, my ass,” Y/N shot back, a playful edge returning to her voice.

Tom chuckled, though the movement caused Y/N to pause and glare at him. He immediately stilled, raising his hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry. I’ll be good.”

Ewan watched the process with interest, his eyes following Y/N’s every move. He was always impressed by her skill, the way she could take something so gruesome and make it look so real. It was an art form, one that required patience, precision, and a bit of madness. And Y/N had all three in spades.

As Y/N worked, she could feel Ewan’s gaze on her, a constant presence that was both comforting and distracting. She ignored it as best as she could, focusing on blending the colors to create the perfect shade of burnt skin. But it was hard to ignore the way her pulse quickened whenever he was around, the way his voice seemed to vibrate in her chest whenever he spoke.

After what felt like an eternity, Y/N finally leaned back, surveying her work with a critical eye. The prosthetics were in place, the scarring realistic and horrifying, just as it needed to be. She let out a small sigh of relief, wiping her hands on a cloth before tossing it aside.

“So, Ewan,” Y/N said, breaking the silence, “what do we think? Does our dear Tom look like he’s had a close encounter with dragonfire?”

Ewan stood, walking over to examine Tom up close. His face was thoughtful, eyes narrowing as he took in the horrifying sight. “You know, I think we could go a bit heavier on the singed eyebrows. Aegon doesn’t exactly seem the type to worry about grooming after this.”

Tom let out a groan. “Fucking hell, you two. I’m gonna look like I went through a meat grinder.”

Y/N laughed again. “Relax, Tom. You’ll be the prettiest corpse on set.”

Ewan smirked, stepping back to lean against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. “Gorgeous, really. You’ll be the talk of King’s Landing.”

Tom rolled his eyes, clearly fed up but too deep into the process to protest further. “Great. Just what I always wanted.”

As the final touches were completed, Y/N stepped back, her eyes scanning over her work with a critical eye. “Okay, you’re done. How does it feel?”

Tom slowly opened his eyes, his gaze meeting Y/N’s in the mirror. “Like I’ve been fucking roasted alive, which, I guess, is the point.”

“Perfect,” Y/N said, satisfaction in her voice as she began cleaning up her tools. “Alright, Glynn-Carney,” she continues, with a wave of her hand. “You’re done. Get out of my trailer before I change my mind and add a few more scars for good measure.”

Tom stood, stretching his arms and rolling his neck. “God, I can’t wait to see the reactions on set. Thanks, Y/N. You’re a fucking genius.”

“Don’t I know it,” Y/N replied with a grin. She watched as Tom exited the trailer. A spring in his steps.

Ewan stayed where he was, watching Y/N as she cleaned up her station. “You really are something, you know that?”

Y/N glanced up at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. “Just doing my job, Mitchell.”

“No,” Ewan said, shaking his head slightly. “It’s more than that. You’ve got a talent, Y/N. And a way of keeping us all in line.”

Y/N felt a warmth spread through her chest at his words. “Somebody’s got to keep you lot in check.”

Ewan’s smile was slow, genuine, and it made Y/N’s heart skip a beat. “Lucky for us, we’ve got you.”

They stood there for a moment, the silence stretching out between them, thick with possibilities. Finally, Y/N broke the gaze, clearing her throat.

“Well,” she said, her voice a little softer now. “Off you go then.”

Ewan nodded, still watching her as she moved around the trailer, his eyes never leaving her. “Yeah… I’ll see you on set.”

“See you,” Y/N replied, her voice barely above a whisper as he turned to leave.

As the door clicked shut behind him, Y/N let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips as she continued to tidy up.

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A hush falling over the room as the cameras rolled. The bedchamber set was dimly lit, the heavy velvet curtains drawn to block out the sunlight, casting long shadows that danced eerily across the stone walls.

Y/N stood on the sidelines, her arms crossed loosely over her chest as she watched the actors take their places. Andrij Parekh, the director for this episode, was seated in his chair just a few feet away, his sharp eyes focused intently on the monitors in front of him.

On the bed, Tom, fully transformed into the broken and battered Aegon II, looked like a man who had been to hell and back. The prosthetics had turned his face into a grotesque mask of burns and scars, his once vibrant features now hidden beneath layers of latex and makeup. His eyes, however, remained sharp, flickering with a mix of pain and defiance as he prepared for the scene.

Ewan, in full costume as Aemond Targaryen, stood near the foot of the bed, his posture rigid, every inch the cold, calculating Prince Regent. His long silver hair cascaded over his shoulders, the eyepatch over his left eye adding to the menacing aura that surrounded him. There was something chilling about the way he carried himself, a quiet intensity that made even the most seasoned crew members uneasy.

“Action,” Andrij’s voice cut through the silence, a single word that set everything into motion.

Ewan stepped forward, his boots barely making a sound on the stone floor. “Brother,” he began, his voice low and smooth, almost soothing, though the underlying threat was unmistakable. “How fortunate that you are awake. I was beginning to think you might sleep through the entire war.”

Tom shifted slightly on the bed, his movements slow, labored, as if even the act of breathing was painful. “Aemond,” he croaked, his voice hoarse, almost a whisper. “What… what do you want?”

Ewan’s lips curved into a thin smile, the kind that never reached his eye. “Only to ensure your comfort, Aegon. You’ve been through a lot, after all. It’s a wonder you even survived.”

Tom’s gaze flickered, a mix of confusion and fear crossing his features. “I don’t remember,” he muttered, his brow furrowing as if trying to piece together fragments of a nightmare. “I don’t remember what happened.”

Y/N watched intently, her eyes following every subtle shift in their expressions, every carefully chosen word. This was the kind of scene that could make or break an episode—the tension between the brothers, the unspoken accusations hanging heavy in the air.

Ewan leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a near whisper, yet each word was laced with ice. “Good. Best you don’t remember. There’s nothing to be gained from dwelling on the past, after all. The future, however… that’s what matters now.”

Tom’s eyes darted to Ewan’s face, searching for something, anything, in the cold, indifferent mask that stared back at him. “I don’t… I wouldn’t…”

Ewan cut him off, his tone sharp, his patience clearly wearing thin. “You wouldn’t what, Aegon? Speak of things best left unsaid? Confess to some… imagined slight? No, I’m sure you wouldn’t.” He straightened, the threat clear in the deliberate casualness of his movements. “We’re brothers, after all. Blood of my blood. We wouldn’t want anything to come between us. Not now, not ever.”

Tom swallowed hard, his throat working as he tried to form words, but nothing came. The fear in his eyes was real, a reflection of the strained relationship that had been growing between the two of them, now laid bare in this moment of vulnerability.

“Good,” Ewan said softly, almost tenderly. He reached out, his hand hovering over Tom’s burned face, but he didn’t touch him, didn’t need to. The implication was clear enough. “Rest now, Aegon. Leave the burdens of the realm to me. You’ve earned your peace.”

With that, Ewan turned and walked away, the scene coming to a close as Andrij called out, “And.. cut!”

The tension in the room broke, the spell lifted as the crew sprang into action, adjusting lights, resetting props, preparing for the next take. Ewan relaxed his shoulders, the hard edge of Aemond’s persona slipping away as he returned to his usual self. Tom let out a long breath, his body sinking deeper into the bed, clearly relieved that the intense scene was over.

Y/N couldn’t help but smile, impressed by the depth they’d brought to the scene. Ewan caught her eye as he walked over, his expression softening as he approached. “So, what do you think, Y/N?” he asked, his voice warm, a stark contrast to the cold menace he’d displayed just moments before.

She raised an eyebrow, her smirk playful. “Not bad, Mitchell. You almost made me believe you’re the cruel bastard you play on screen.”

Ewan chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that made Y/N’s heart skip a beat. “Almost?”

“Hey, I know you too well,” she teased, crossing her arms as she leaned against a nearby prop table. “But seriously, you guys nailed it. That was intense.”

“Thanks,” he replied, his smile genuine, a hint of pride in his eyes. “It helps when you’ve got a good team watching your back.”

Y/N spied Tom’s hand moving from the corner of her eyes. “Fucking hell,” Tom muttered, reaching up to touch his prosthetic-covered face.

“Don’t even think about it,” she scolded, her voice carrying a mix of playful sarcasm and genuine concern. “You start messing with that, and we’ll be here for another few hours fixing it.”

Andrij approached them, nodding in approval. “Great work, everyone. We’ll take a short break before moving on to the next scene.”

As the crew began to disperse, Y/N caught Ewan’s eye again, her heart doing a little flip at the intensity of his gaze. There was something in the way he looked at her, something that made her pulse quicken, but before she could dwell on it, he was already turning away, slipping back into the role of Aemond, preparing for the next bit.

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The set was finally quiet, the last echoes of the day's filming fading into the background as Y/N, Ewan, Tom, Fabien, and Phia settled themselves near the steps of the Iron Throne. The towering seat of power loomed above them, but for now, it was just a backdrop to their impromptu snack break.

“God, I’m starving,” Tom groaned as he unwrapped a sandwich, his voice muffled as he took a massive bite. “You’d think they were trying to kill us with these hours.”

Phia laughed, shaking her head as she reached into a bag of crisps. “You’re such a drama queen, Tom. It’s only been, what? Twelve hours?”

“Twelve hours of torture,” Tom countered, wagging the half-eaten sandwich at her before taking another bite. “I deserve a medal, not just a bloody sandwich.”

Fabien grinned as he popped open a can of soda. “Maybe we’ll get you one shaped like the Iron Throne. Then you can lord it over everyone else even more.”

Y/N, perched comfortably beside Ewan, raised an eyebrow as she munched on a kebab. “Speaking of the Iron Throne, did you know that Emma and Matt tried to recruit me to Team Black today?”

That got their attention. Ewan, who had been quietly eating beside her, looked over with a curious glint in his eye. “Oh yeah? How’d they manage that?”

Y/N leaned in, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “They promised me a seat on the Iron Throne, no questions asked. Said it’s about time someone else gets a chance, since someone” she shot a pointed look at Tom, “—has been hogging it all season.”

Tom feigned shock, placing a hand dramatically over his chest. “I’m just fulfilling my royal duties, Y/N. It’s not my fault you lot don’t have the je ne sais quoi to claim the throne.”

“Je ne sais quoi? Really? You’re so full of crap.” Phia repeated, barely containing her laughter.

“Exactly,” Y/N chimed in, leaning back on her hands as she eyed the throne. “But seriously, Tom, I need that selfie, okay? You’ve been banning everyone else from even getting close, and I’m not above switching sides to get my shot.”

Fabien smirked, leaning back against the stairs. “It’s true. You’re a tyrant, Glynn-Carney.”

Tom shook his head, his eyes narrowing playfully. “You all talk a lot of shit, but the throne belongs to me. You want a selfie? You’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

“That can be arranged,” Ewan deadpanned, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

As the conversation continued, the weariness of the day began to catch up with them. The energy slowly ebbed away, leaving a comfortable silence in its wake. Y/N, who had been unusually animated, started to feel her eyelids grow heavy. The warmth of the room and the low murmur of voices lulled her into a drowsy state, and before she realized it, her head began to droop.

Without warning, she leaned over, her head coming to rest on Ewan’s shoulder. The sudden contact made Ewan go rigid, his eyes wide with shock. His pulse quickened, and for a moment, he didn’t know what to do. Should he move? Say something? Wake her up? But the last thing he wanted to do was disturb her, especially since he had been harboring a massive crush on Y/N for what felt like forever.

Tom, who noticed the situation first, nearly choked on his sandwich, desperately trying to stifle his laughter. He nudged Fabien, who quickly caught on and shot Ewan a wicked grin. “Looks like someone’s got a new pillow,” Fabien teased in a singsong voice, causing Phia to glance over and giggle.

Ewan’s face turned an impressive shade of red, his usual cool composure completely shattered. “Shut up,” he hissed, his voice low and tense as he tried to keep still, not wanting to wake Y/N. He could feel the warmth of her body against his, her hair tickling his neck, and despite his best efforts, his heart raced.

Y/N, oblivious to the chaos she’d unintentionally caused, snuggled a little closer, her breathing soft and steady. Ewan’s mind was in overdrive. Okay, don’t freak out. She’s just tired. She doesn’t even know she’s leaning on you. Just… act natural.

Tom, unable to resist, leaned over and whispered, “Careful there, Mitchell. Wouldn’t want her to wake up and realize she’s been cuddling with you.”

“Tom, I swear to God—” Ewan began, his voice a strained whisper, but he was cut off by Y/N shifting slightly in her sleep, making him freeze once more.

Phia, trying to be the voice of reason but failing miserably, leaned in with a grin. “Maybe she just knows you’re a softy, Ewan. Perfect for napping.”

Ewan shot her a death glare, his embarrassment only growing. “You’re all assholes, you know that?”

Fabien chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, but let’s be real, mate—this is adorable.”

Ewan groaned inwardly, knowing there was no escaping the teasing he’d endure from this moment. But as much as he wanted to retort, a part of him couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of Y/N resting against him, even if it was just because she was exhausted. His hand twitched slightly, tempted to brush a strand of hair from her face, but he resisted, not wanting to push his luck.

The ribbing continued around him, but Ewan barely heard it, his focus entirely on Y/N. For now, he’d let her sleep. And if it meant enduring the endless teasing from his friends, well… it was a small price to pay.

“Just wait until she sees the photos,” Tom whispered to Phia, pulling out his phone to capture the moment. Ewan’s eyes widened in horror, but it was too late.

“Don’t you dare!” Ewan hissed, trying to keep his voice down so he wouldn’t wake Y/N, but Tom just smirked, already snapping a few shots.

“This one’s going in the group chat,” Tom said smugly, causing Fabien and Phia to dissolve into laughter.

Ewan could only sigh, resigned to his fate. But despite the teasing and the inevitable jokes that would follow, a small, secretive smile tugged at his lips.

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Y/N had barely made it through the door of her flat before she collapsed onto the couch, her body finally catching up with the exhaustion of the day. She kicked off her shoes, letting them land haphazardly across the room, and leaned back with a groan, rubbing her temples as she tried to shake off the lingering embarrassment from the day’s events.

The picture of her sleeping on Ewan’s shoulder had exploded in the group chat, with the cast and crew having an absolute field day over it. The jokes had ranged from harmless teasing to outright accusations of a backstreet romance, leaving Y/N feeling mortified beyond belief.

God, I can't believe I fell asleep on him, she thought, covering her face with her hands for a moment before letting out a frustrated groan. She knew she had to address it, to apologize for the awkwardness, but the thought of actually texting Ewan made her stomach churn with nerves.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she steeled herself and typed out a message.

Hey, Ewan. Just wanted to say sorry for crashing on you earlier. I was so embarrassed when I saw that picture in the group chat. I hope I didn’t make things weird or uncomfortable for you.

She hit send and then dropped her phone on her lap, closing her eyes and letting out a long breath. The flat was quiet, save for the distant hum of the city outside her window, and for a moment, she allowed herself to simply exist in the stillness, trying not to overthink the situation.

When her phone buzzed a few minutes later, she opened one eye and glanced at the screen. Seeing Ewan’s name made her stomach flip, and she quickly unlocked her phone to read his reply.

Hey, sleepy head. Honestly, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t uncomfortable at all. You looked like you really needed the rest, and it was no trouble at all. Seriously, it’s no big deal.

Y/N felt a small wave of relief wash over her, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. But just as she was about to put her phone down, another message came through.

Fuck it, this is me shooting my shot—are you free this weekend?

She froze, staring at the screen as her brain tried to process what she was seeing. Was Ewan really asking her out? She reread the message a few times, half-convinced she was imagining things, but it was still there, plain as day.

A mix of shock and excitement surged through her, making her heart race. She sat up straighter, her mind spinning with possibilities. After what felt like an eternity, she finally mustered the courage to respond.

Wait, are you serious? Because if you are, then yes, I’m free. But if this is some kind of joke, I swear to God, Mitchell…

She held her breath, waiting for his reply, her fingers tapping nervously against her thigh. When her phone buzzed again, she almost dropped it in her haste to read the message.

Not a joke, I promise. I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while, just never found the right moment. And, well, maybe now’s the time.

Y/N felt a giddy warmth spread through her, the earlier embarrassment completely forgotten. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to come up with something clever to say, but in the end, she opted for honesty.

I’d love to, Ewan. I guess I’ll see you this weekend then?

His reply came swiftly.

Definitely. And hey, if you need a nap while we’re out, I’ve got a shoulder for you anytime.

She couldn’t help but laugh, the tension in her chest finally releasing as she typed out her response.

You better be careful with offers like that, or I might just take you up on it.

Another ping.

Looking forward to it, Y/N.

As she put her phone down, Y/N found herself grinning like an idiot. She curled up on the couch, the weight of exhaustion lifting slightly as she thought about the weekend ahead. It seemed like this little nap incident might have been the best thing that happened after all.

[genericpuff]

Are there any characters from LO that you actually like/don’t mind

I have a lot more appreciation for Minthe now with all the hindsight that Hades and Persephone are often way worse than she is. She still had a lot of issues on her own end that she didn't deal with well, and while I would have liked to see her actually develop properly beyond her struggles both internal and with Hades, I think the best thing we could have asked for was Minthe being written out of the story the way she was. At least then Rachel couldn't continue to use her as a punching bag (she just tagged in Leuce for that, sigh)

Helios is great, zero issue with him. This scene is a lot funnier and more relatable to read in hindsight:

like ofc Helios is gonna rat on her, he's the fucking sun who's been around for thousands of years, why would he put any more of his limited freedom on the line for macaroni art LMAO (and yes, Rachel herself confirmed that Persephone made macaroni art cards for Helios, it's like... yeah okay it's cute but Persephone and Demeter still hid a crime from Zeus, the sentimental value of the birthday cards have no bearing on that LOL)

Thanatos is also in the camp of "characters I appreciate more in hindsight and wish got better character development". Adding in the 'twist' that he was Hades' adoptive son after we just spent nearly two seasons watching Hades treat him like just a lowly employee who didn't deserve his respect was certainly... a choice. And I don't think I should have to explain why it was a very very BAD one LOL

Hephaestus is also great, I know he's an extremely minor character whose only real role was to delete the blackmail photos from Apollo's phone but, like. look at him???

amazing. precious. sweet boy. and it has absolutely nothing to do with my absent older brother issues why would you say that- (｡•́︿•̀｡) that said, there are still flaws in his design (his prosthetics especially because he's constantly wearing running blades for every occasion which I feel like Rachel only chose because they "looked cool" and were "easier to draw" but like. his poor hips and back, that's gotta be uncomfortable 😭) but even just his face on its own is ironically one of the most unique character designs across the entire cast, not for any sort of outstanding or creative reasons, you just can't possibly mistake or color swap him with anyone else LMAO and though I can't feasibly give credit to Rachel for writing a neurodivergent character - because I have no clue if that was her intention here, afaik she's never really talked about it - I can wholly relate to him being the introverted computer guy who just wants to be left alone with his work and his airpods, like that's literally just me LOL

And of course nothing Rachel could ever do would make me hate Demeter, I think it's so ironic and tone deaf that Rachel claimed she "didn't get" why Demeter was so hated by the fans and didn't "agree" with the comparisons to Mother Gothel, but like... Rachel literally wrote her that way. And while she did "resolve" it, it wasn't with any actual empathy towards Demeter's own side of things, it was just bandaids on top of bandaids and then going "yep! She's all better now! That's character development!" Out of all the characters who deserved better, she was the one who deserved the most 😔💓

[anonymouspuzzler]

you know what? fuck you (heartbreak gulch's my own guys)

(@heartbreakgulch courtesy of the inimitable @strangegutz & collaborators, also miscellaneous Thoughts under the cut bc it's my blog no one can stop me the doors have closed behind you)

HEARTBREAKER BULKHEAD:

Probably does not have superpowers anymore but still came from a family of considerable influence and was under pressure to inherit, pressure which he very much Broke Under.

Turned to a life of crime, definitely got in over his head with it, and essentially got rescued by Eddie, who he is Utterly Obsessed With And Heartsick For.

Has spent literal years as one of Eddie's attack dogs and generally jumping through hoops for him for Whatever Scraps Of Affection He Can Get, though he's still kind of squeamish around Literal Murder and thus tends to be assigned to supply runs and such most of the time.

Amateur mechanic and car enthusiast. Probably did a lot of McGyver-ass fixes around the Gulch-slash-generally assisted Ami til Davey was recruited.

Speaking of, was still the guy who recruited-slash-rescued Davey. They fell for each other hard and are in a committed relationship now, which has helped Buck take a little bit of a healthier step back with whatever the hell he and Eddie have going on (and helped him be a little less jealous and curmudgeonly about the Hot Young Things In Town, ie Zeki and Felix).

Absolutely not prepared to be a guardian to Minnie which has led his and Eddie's whole Relationship to enter a fun new stage of "hey man can I ask you for parenting advice nothing weird"

HEARTBREAKER DYNAMO:

Pretty similar backstory to the Villain-Coded version. Civilian turned criminal, lost his arm when he got in over his head on a job and Buck rescued him.

Has a bunch of different prosthetics he swaps out for different purposes, ie. one for combat, one to use for mechanic work, a kinda general use/everyday one, etc. That said, he goes without a lot to make sure he's prepared for a situation where he doesn't have access/one breaks or fails on a job/etc.

An alarmingly good recruit; I feel like originally Eddie kind of let him stick around as a kind of "gift" to Buck, but now that he's actually got him on jobs he's become a real rising star. Real good in a scrap and is a little more flexible with his moral lines in the sand compared to Buck. Outside of that he works with Ami a lot doing mechanics and repairs - probably interested in learning CompanDroid maintenance/repair but figures it'd be skeevy for him to push that point too much.

He and Eddie have a complicated relationship I think. They'd be kinda suspicious/distrusting of each other but also have a LOT of similarities and work really well together. To say nothing of their respective relationships with Buck.

I don't think he's Trying to Uncle the younger recruits in the Gulch but he definitely Does. He likes White a lot. He and Ami would also definitely get along really well. He is being The Bigger Man and Mature Adult and not giving Felix a wedgie no matter how badly he wants to

HEARTBREAKER(?) MINNIE:

From the same family of prominence as Buck and is currently very much on the run after a failed attempt to kill her own dad.

Extremely a city kid and is Not necessarily adapting well to Middle Of Nowhere Self Sustained Living.

Knew Of Buck but never met him before this so his whole Life and Little Criminal Commune featuring Multiple Guys He's Got SOMETHING Going On With is. it's a lot

Would like to do some crime actually but is A) still a little traumatized and adjusting to the whole Situation and B) 13 Whole Real Human Years Old.

Fascinated by Zeki's whole deal and his work but I think they would absolutely bring out the worst in each other they would fight so much. Autism to autism hostility

Having a very complicated response to White and Ami wherein she thinks they're SO cool but interacting with them at any length would make her realize Things About Herself that she's not consciously ready to confront so just like. Imagine being White and looking over your shoulder and that 13 year old is just Intensely Staring At You Unblinking from around a corner and as soon as she realizes you've seen her she turns around and runs off as fast as she can directly into a wall

Zarita absolutely hitting that Cool Just Slightly Older Kid niche for her.

[idontknowreallywhy]

WIP-what-on-earth-have-I-got-myself-into-here…

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Ash had had access to both of their files for a long while… the visible parts anyway. The extensive redactions? Not so much. Well… now his new GDF rank meant he could get past those too but he hadn’t dared. Partly because he wasn’t sure it was a can of worms he was ready to face. Not now he had Scott back after so long.

The other big reason he’d resisted was because they’d know. The decryption keys were personalised… they’d know both who and when. And three weeks into the new job was a little early to risk getting fired.

Or worse. Knowing them… probably worse.

Tonight though, hours of the puffed up, clueless idiots squabbling about the new outbreak had forced him to relive so many parts of his experience ten years before that the phantom pain was almost unbearable. He rubbed at his lower leg, trying to fool his mind into thinking he was comforting the missing arm, soothing the nerves that tormented him but that he could never reach.

Scott hadn’t lost anything visible. But Ash knew they’d stolen a no less crippling part of him too. He’d watched his friend from a distance, scratching at a a similar untouchable itch in so many subtle ways. How much of his friend’s confident, controlled outward demeanour was as synthetic as the fingertips Ash realised he was rapping against the desktop? He flattened his hand, grimacing at the supposedly-unnoticeable delay between thought and movement that had rewritten his future.

Ash knew what his friend had lost. And he couldn’t help feel responsible - he should have been there. He’d spent countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how he could have prevented it all, if he’d spotted the clumsy sabotage as he should have, swapped with another jet… maybe he could have got there in time. Got him out.

Instead he’d just sat there shaking and bleeding and sobbing and helpless as first Scott and then Val’s radios had cut out. If Ash hadn’t passed out from the shock of his injury perhaps he could have got her out at least…

No. They’d got it right in her jet. She wouldn’t have known a thing.

EHZ007 was all over Scott’s file. And each time the reference was used, the following sections were blacked out. If he knew why, maybe he might get closer to finding out what had happened and why.

At the very least he might be able to reach out to his friend, to help him find closure. If he knew better what had occurred between that last desperate shout over the radio and the day that the gaunt face of his best friend had asked him to leave the ranch and never return.

It would look highly suspicious if the first Top-Secret graded file he accessed post-promotion was that of his old wingman. They were clueless in some ways, but not in all of them.

Giles, though. He looked at a lot of the TS material just for fun and bragging rights, if his boasting was to be believed. And this evening Ash had watched the man unlock his work phone with 1234. Someone that uncreative with passcodes might just have used the same one for everything…

Officer ID, rank code, personal pin, age in days. The man’s date of birth was on his Wikipedia page and so… Ash now had everything he needed.

Except the courage. He’d been staring at the encryption alert box for over an hour. His shoulder ached.

He disconnected his prosthetic and dumped it on the table before snatching up the scotch bottle and refilling his glass.

He typed in the number.

PASSCODE ERROR.

He swore and retyped it.

No! The man had clearly used another pin. Damn.

He drained the glass and dropped his head to the desk. It was probably just as well.

Out in the hallway his great grandmother’s clock chimed once.

It was later than he thought.

It was… tomorrow.

He sat up, cursing his own idiocy and typed the code again, increasing the last digit by one. The screen refreshed and the blacked out sections disappeared.

He was in.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[princess-of-the-corner]

So, feel free not to publish this as I really don't wanna fight with swap in your inbox or in general but... I tend to think the "Loss of humanity" thing is rather taken out of context in regards to Ironwood.

For reference, one of the four main characters is Yang Xiao Long, who also lost her arm and has a mechanical prosthetic. One she wears proudly and comfortably, while in contrast Ironwood always hid his prosthetics.

What's more, a huge theme of the Atlas arc is dehumanization and various ways it can manifest, either by being done to a person or done to themselves, or by society, IE:

The people of Mantle are viewed by Ironwood as "A few city blocks" and a source of "problems" and paranoia.

Cinder Fall was "adopted" into literal slavery and their "Rights" to own her always had precedent over her suffering.

The Ace-Ops refuse to grieve and end up turning said grief into violence against others because they aren't allowed to view themselves or their fellows as people that matter. Thus they just "Move on" when someone dies, just interchangeable parts.

Penny is easily one of the most sympathetic characters, but is consistently de-humanized by much of Atlas because of her mechanical nature. Even when she was made "Human" though not really it was weird magic stuff, while she enjoyed some of the sensation of her new form, she was also shown to be incredibly vulnerable, off balance and generally disadvantaged by it. SO much so it ended up leading to her falling in battle compared to how she'd stomped that same foe in a previous brawl.

Plus, as I said, Ironwood hates his own prosthetics. He always hides them whenever he can but his new arm was too bulky to do that. He is one of the people who most dehumanizes Penny, he can be superficially 'nice' but the moment he feels his authority is threatened she's an object. He very much embraces & encourages the Atlas, "You are expendable & don't matter save as a cog in the machine that keeps Atlas running" mentality.

All of which I think provides context for the "Giving up his humanity" angle, because and I need to stress this. In that very same scene, where Ironwood flayed his own arm (Because he stupidly didn't bring one soldier with him so he could beat up Salem's tech guy 1 on 1 to vent his frustration) Ironwood says that he will sacrifice anything to stop Salem. Watts, the villain, just smirks, seeing that Ironwood's self destructive mentality is still large and in charge and that it will doom him. Which it does.

Basically, what I am saying here is that comment very much feels more reflective of Ironwood's thinking. IE, the author saying, "This is Ironwood showing he will sacrifice his humanity" they are speaking for how Ironwood views the action he is taking. Not what the author actually thinks regarding prosthetics.

If they did think that then Penny wouldn't have been so consistently emphasized as a person before now & Yang wouldn't wear or show off her prosthetic with such confidence and comfort.

Ironwood is the one with weird attitudes regarding prosthetics, most other characters broadcast their use of them. Pietro's wheelchair s vibrant and also technically a miniature mech. Maria's prosthetic eyes take up more than a third of her face. Hell even with the villain Tyrian seems very fond of his new tail.

Its exclusively an Ironwood hang up.

Basically, I think there's far more to this than what swap is saying, because the shows writing does not reflect the attitude they claim it does.

so it could vibe less as the writers saying it and more the character's views on himself then?

Also yeah if y'all wanna go back and forth on it take it to each others' inboxes not mine.

[pencil-peach]

G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 10

Wow! If you're reading this, you've reached Part "Eleven" ("Onze" in Portuguese, "Ju ichi (十一)" in Japanese) of my attempt to document and transcribe all the onscreen text in G Witch! (Although at this point, it's more like an episode by episode analysis of the series as well...)

<< Click Here to go to Part Ten! (Dez) (Ju)

Sit back, grab a drink, and join me under the cut! Because...after all..

Delling is going to die.

There's actually not any legible text for a good bit of the episode's opening, so I thought I'd take some time to talk about an interesting Text Related Thing !

For a long time, I was trying to figure out if there was any method to the naming convention behind Asticassia's Student IDs. After I spent an embarrassing amount of time thinking about it, I realized I had never actually gone through the official website to check... and as it turns out, the convention is in fact stated right there !

The ID has 3 parts to it: The Student's year of admission, their department, and their personal id number.

Year of Admission: "K" denotes a Third-year student "L" denotes a Second-year "M" denotes a First Year

Department: "P" denotes the Piloting department. "M" denotes the Mechanical department "S" denotes the Management Strategy Department

Personal ID: It's a bit tough to denote exactly what the website means when it says "The personal number is determined by the hierarchy of the recommending companies," but my best guess is that it has to do with the rank of the company that submitted the student. (But is also probably affected by, like, the order of admission...)

So, for example, Miorine's ID is LS001. So: L - Second Year S - Management Strategy Student 001 - Considering her dad is President of the Entire Group, it makes sense that her personal number is 001.

Guel - KP001: K - Third Year P - Piloting Department Student 001 - As we discussed before, Jeturk Heavy Machinery was ranked #1 in the group when the story starts, so again, it makes sense that Guel's personal number is also 001. (This also shows that Personal Numbers aren't strictly unique across the whole student body, but within the combinations of Admission Year + Department)

Interestingly, Elan Ceres is KP002 and Shaddiq is KP003, despite how when the story starts, Grassley is rank 2 and Peil is rank 3 within the group. This could mean that maybe the companies were swapped when the two were admitted and ID's can't be changed, or that Elan was just admitted before Shaddiq.

Lauda is KP013, but since he was also definitely admitted by Jeturk, he might have just been admitted a little bit after Guel for some reason, maybe? Don't think too hard about it.

But knowing this tells us some other interesting things too!

For example, with the exception of Lilique, Suletta, and Chuchu, all the Earth House students have ID numbers in the 200s. (Except for Norea and Sophie but they don't count) Martin: KS229 Aliya: KM237 Till: KM231 Nika: LM236 Nuno: LM238 Ojelo: LM232 Suletta: LP041 Lilique: MS119 Chuchu: MP039

If I may make an assumption, this might be because a lot of the Earthian students didn't enroll with the recommendation of a company. (Aliya mentions in the 1st Drama CD that she and her family didn't know much of anything about Asticassia, and she enrolled to the school on her own.)

Running with this assumption, Chuchu might be so high up (at 039) because we do know for a fact that the people that sent her to the school are Mobile Craft Operators. She might have used the mobile craft company her family works for as her recommendation.

Lilique is unknowable. Forgive me.

On the board at Earth House, we can see the to do list Lilique has written for business to take care of. TEXT: This week's online meeting schedule New applicants for investments Prepare budget sheet Final Adjustment of GUND prosthetics by operation test AERIAL repair status Ideas for increasing PV views

As we can see in the scene, the students are actually hard at work taking care of the things on the list. Lilique is in an online VOICE ONLY meeting, Aliya and Martin are working on the budget sheet, Ojelo, Chuchu, Nika, Suletta, and Nuno are working on the operation test, and Till and Miorine are checking on AERIAL (among other things)

Another cute touch is that before the founding of the company, the symbol on the back of the board was the Earth House Emblem, and now it's the GUND-ARM logo

God help me I don't know why of all the colors on god's green earth that they chose a light ass blue on white ass legs but Kaori Seki (Monitor/Graphics Designer) gives their toughest text to their silliest warrior. (me) My BEST Guess for what this says is: GUND MONITORING SYSTEM 01

I'm reasonably confident in GUND, SYSTEM, and 01, but i can only make out about half of "Monitoring." Considering the nature of the tests they're running on the legs, and how Ojelo says he's established a connection with them, I'm gonna go ahead with believing that I'm reasonably accurate with my reading.

The Tilting Tables also say GUND PROSTHETIC LEG MONITORING SYSTEM (and also READY.) So I think I'm right.

The tables' displays also change to 100%: NO ABNORMALITY when Suletta steps on them.

TEXT: WISH: 005 - EAT LUNCH WITH FRIENDS WISH: 006 - MEET UP WITH FRIENDS TO GO TO SCHOOL WISH: 007 - EXCHANGE CONTACT INFO WISH: 008 - TELL A JOKE AND MAKE EVERYONE LAUGH WISH: 009 - SHARE MATCHING ACCESSORIES AND KEYCHAINS WITH FRIENDS WISH: 010 - CALL FRIENDS BY NICKNAMES

Here we get a peak at Suletta's wish list. Do your best to fill it all out Suletta...! We also see that, accurately, "Share accessories" is in fact after "Tell a joke"

Off topic, but something that's only funny to me is that, when Suletta shows Nika the Cool-san and Hot-san Keychains, the word she says is (accurately) translated as "Keychains," but the word she actually says is "キーホルダー" (Kii Horudaa) which literally translates to "Key Holder"

Suletta is called The Key to unlocking the door for Aerial, and she's also the Holder at Asticassia. She's literally a Key Holder herself! Ho Ho Ho!

Something we hear about every so often but never really get a broader look into is how Grassley appears to be swamped in a succession race, most likely because Sarius is concerned he might die soon and needs to leave the company to a worthy heir when that happens. Shaddiq was leading that race, and that's most likely why the position of Acting CEO fell to him when Sarius "disappeared."

Also there's something about how everything at Plant Quetta only happened because Sarius erroneously told his son about Jeturk's plan because he thought he could trust him.

I will do my best to also document all of Norea's drawings that we see. I...think this one is a dead moth...? M....Maybe....? (Please correct me)

TEXT: GUEST: MIORINE REMBRAN GUND-ARM INC. COMPANY REPRESENTATVE What she says during this interview is as follows: "One strength of GUND treatment is that it can extract the user's intentions from comprehensive biological data. Thanks to this strength, we believe we can enable you to physically adapt to the space environment."

Okay now it's time to talk about this fucking scene. I think about this fucking scene all the time.

Okay so first of all, it's an intentional allusion to El4n's habit of silently appearing out of nowhere. But something is very immediately and tangibly off about it this time. Firstly, whenever El4n would appear, he would always be approaching Suletta when he makes himself known. He never just stood and waited for her to show up.

Secondly, whenever El4n would appear, his appearance would swiftly be accompanied with the track Tell Me More About You, which is a calming piano piece that leads with El4n's main motif.

(Funnily enough, "Tell Me More About You" plays more often for El4n's appearances in the show than his actual theme, aptly titled "Elan Ceres." From what I can tell, this song only plays when Suletta brings Elan out of the destroyed Pharact and they have their moment.)

The song usually starts playing almost immediately as soon as El4n appears on screen, if not before. (It even plays when Original Elan is pretending to be him at the Incubation Party.) But in 5lan's initial confrontation with Suletta, there is NO music. NONE. There's not even background ambiance. It is DEAD silent for a MINUTE.

Up until Suletta tells El4n she can't date him because of Miorine, to which he responds that it's okay because "that's all a lie, isn't it?" At Which the song My Depression cuts in, which is a distorted, unsettling arrangement of El4n's motif.

AND THEN, when 5lan continues to come onto her and she shoves him and runs away, we cut to a shot of Original Elan talking to one of the Peil Witches (Nugen) about "That new enhanced person," stating out loud that the Elan we just saw ISN'T El4n.

This scene literally drives me crazy because it is utterly perfect in its execution but it feels like it came directly from an alternate version of the story where we as the audience didn't ALREADY KNOW El4n had been killed. LIKE, AM I CRAZY??????

Anyway, we are shown the same data sheet for 5lan that we saw for El4n in Episode 6. Not much to be said here, the DECISION CRITERIA is Rank A, the graph is empty, and his test results all show "NO ABNORMALITY" , presumably because 5lan hasn't piloted the Pharact yet. We unfortunately don't get a closer look at the EEG section in this shot either.

Not text, but we can see that on the greenhouse monitor, Miorine is looking at a mockup of the Prosthetic Legs. She's probably looking over the results of the operation test from earlier. And thus, we have reached the end. My final gift to you:

In a scene where Miorine is unintentionally hurting someone she loves by emulating her father's worst traits, it's fitting that she's physically copying him as well, hm?

Episode 11. >>

Masterpost.

[beforeitrains]

I have a pretty wild Miley theory I previously mentioned in my bingo card post. So now I'm going to make y'all suffer through it with me.

Let's look at Miley's Room from 2-2. I think, there might be some hints about what she’s planning for the finale.

There's a pile of machine parts on the desk, and Sara remarks the materials are similar to what the participant's collars are made of. Given this hint, I think it's likely that they are disassembled collars taken off dead participants. Miley might be trying to fashion something new out of the parts. A defective collar that can unlock, or a collar that can switch between doll and human modes? I believe it's something that can help her (or her helper) cheat the system.

Hayasaka's video is playing on the monitor. I'm more or less convinced that he's Miley's beloved by now. So it makes sense that she was watching his death scene on loop, while putting her revenge plans into action.

Fridge/freezer. It's locked, so we don't know what's inside. Potentially, Mishima's head could be in there. But also it could contain various chemicals, like whatever Miley used to generate white smoke.

Miley's doll. It has removable limbs that the participants collected in Ch.1.

Now with all that in mind, let's try to guess who could be on the operation table in the locked room.

Hayasaka. That's who Miley would want to save the most, right? However, Hayasaka lost his head during his First Trial. To heal him, even in the sci-fi world of YTTD, Miley would have to find him a new doll body (of him, or of another similarly sized adult). But we know that all the candidates' dolls are intact on the third floor. And there's nothing in the room that could explain where Miley could have gotten the doll body either.

Midori/Hiyori. We know Midori cut off his hands and swapped them with Mai’s doll. He had to have done this at some point during the game. However, Sara and Keiji observe the sleeping figure during Ch2-2, not long before the second Main Game. It's likely that by that time Midori was already hustling on 4F, setting up the puzzles and instructing the dolls. But it's definitely possible.

Megumi. I like this idea the most, because Megumi lost her limbs during her First Trial. And Miley's doll has removable limbs. Miley and Megumi are roughly the same complexion, so the prosthetics would fit. Miley could have also tampered with Megumi's collar, so it wouldn't go off during the Main Games.

Ok, so for the first two candidates, it's more or less clear what Miley's motivation for keeping them alive would be. But why would she help Megumi? Maybe Miley just took the opportunity presented to her by the First Trials. She was planning her revenge on Asunaro and needed a partner-in-crime. Preferably a smart adult with a matching grudge against the organization. Megumi fit the criteria. Also, repairing limbs is a doable task (unlike repairing victims like Kurumada, who was crushed to a pulp).

What could Miley and Megumi be planning? I imagine, they could try to swap two versions of Megumi in the last chapter. Let's say Megumi (the doll) is delegated to carry out some task during the final moments of the game. If Megumi (human) takes her place, she might foil Asunaro's plans and aid Miley in making her grand entrance. This could be why Miley is working on those collars. Megumi needs a doll collar.

Look, I understand that this is all far-fetched, but it would be such a cool twist. Two bad and desperate women working together to bring down the organization they were originally a part of.

This story reminds me of Nao and Shin. No one suspected them of conspiring, because they were never friends or anything. But in the end they achieved great things together.

[zirkkun-uthcs]

Underswap Asriel Headcanons

I’ve always hated how overlooked Asriel is in Underswap. I get that the MK <> Asriel swap doesn’t make much sense, but implications of this swap are fun to think about

I image Swap!Azzy to be pretty similar to his classic counterpart with two major differences. One, he’s a big fan of Alphys, and two, he doesn’t have legs.

The legs thing is inspired by one comic of Monster Kid watching Mettaton’s show and getting super excited when MTT says “Who needs arms with legs like these?” Since Napstaton loves his arms, I though it’d be a funny parallel, on top of me just trying to be original.

Swap!Asriel has prosthetic legs that Undyne made at Toriel’s request. Azzy’s pretty self-conscious about them, so he wears super long sweatpants that he trips over a lot. Swap!Asriel also plays a bigger part in the story than classic MK. He still sneaks out against his parents’ wishes, but that carries a lot more weight when you remember that he’s the prince. 

Asriel sticks a lot closer to you and basically becomes your only party member, possessing healing abilities similar to Ralsei’s. His anxiousness shows itself in his acts, especially when he has a flex off with Shyren, though he does seem to enjoy singing with Aaron. 

Alphys’ chase scenes involve Chara dragging Asriel along by the hand, with Alphys attacking a lot less out of fear of accidentally hitting the prince. Alphys, along with the additional guards patrolling Waterfall due to the prince’s absence, are under the assumption that Chara is holding the prince hostage, or at the very least manipulating him.

Alphys attempts to reason with Asriel, but the path gives out, causing Chara and Asriel to fall into the dump. The flashback plays out the same, and Chara wakes up to Asriel worriedly calling out to them. Asriel’s clothes are all sorts of messed up after the fall, basically forcing Azzy to come clean about his prosthetics. He asks Chara if they think he’s lame because of it. Chara will say no regardless of which option you chose.

Asriel becomes a bit more confident, even after the Bored Dummy insults him for having such boring magic attacks. He mentioned his love of the stars if you poked around the wishing room, but he’s now more vocal about it. He really likes Hapstablook’s poem about the stars, and he looks through Sans’s telescope, only to find that Papyrus drew on the lense with marker. A classic Papyrus Prank TM. 

After facing off against more guards, including 01 and 02, Chara and Asriel arive at the cliff. Alphys actually starts telling Chara the story of monsters before Asriel tries to sneak past with Chara, who seemed genuinely interested. The chase plays out similar to canon, only with Alphys trying to talk Asriel down. If you say just the right things, Asriel can convince Alphys to back off. If not, then the chase continues all the way to the bridge to Hotland. 

Alphys doesn’t buckle under the heat, instead grabbing Asriel. In a panic, Asriel pushes her away, right off the bridge. Alphys is now dangling above molten lava. She’s struggling to hold on, and Asriel can’t pull her up on his own.

If Chara does nothing, Alphys falls and dies. Asriel, overwhelmed by the guilt of killing his hero and his only true friend doing nothing about it, runs back to Waterfall. In many resulting Neutral routes, he is still missing. 

If Chara does help, Asriel will apologize profusely. Alphys asks one last time that Asriel stay away from the human, even though now, she seems a bit reluctant to. On more violent neutral runs, Asriel does just that, but otherwise, he stands his ground. 

Undyne is ticked off by the visitors, but she tries to be more approachable when she realizes that it’s the prince and the human. Asriel mentions seeing Napstaton’s blue prints along with the designs for his prosthetics. Undyne talks about Napstaton, who then bursts through the wall. 

Instead of TV programs, Napstaton’s encounters are them filming for their Music Videos. Each one is themed. A science song for the lab, a Halloween song, a love song (which is basically just the musical scene). Each encounter baring the first utilizes the Cyan soul, which is basically just DDR. Asriel can sing in each encounter, and he can even show up Napstaton, giving you the chance to freestyle. If you freestyle on all the previous encounters, then Asriel will (unwilling) play the part of the princess in the love song instead of Napstaton. 

Catty and Bratty are now 03 and 04, and their fight is pretty much the same as the unused encounter. Grillby is tough to reason with, as he doesn’t talk, but Asriel can help the fire monster WARM UP to you. In fact, Asriel can help you spare a lot of monsters in Hotland and the Core easier than if you were alone. Also, Asriel can cause Grillby’s attacks to become stronger/more erratic if he attacks the fire monster because fire + fire = more fire. 

In the dinner scene with Papyrus, Asriel confirms that the man behind the door is Asgore. Unlike classic Toriel, Swap!Asgore didn���t run away. He was purposely relocated to the ruins to… collect the human souls quicker. Papyrus drops a penny and takes his opportunity to stairwalk away and let you two talk.

Asriel talks about how tense things are between his parents. How tense the guards are as they walk him to ruins so he can stay with his father for the weekend. How tense his dad is when he tucks him in.

Asriel explains that he didn’t sneak out because he wanted to see Alphys, or the “stars,” or any of that. He snuck out because his parents were fighting over the phone. He needed to get out and clear his head.

Asriel chuckles at the irony. If he hadn’t been in such a bad situation, then he never would’ve met you. You, Chara, who saw him for who he was. Not “Asriel Dreemurr,” or “Asriel the prince.”

He was just Asriel. 

01 and 02 are out in the back alley selling stuff if you didn’t kill them. Nice Cream Guy puts on a glossy exterior, but Asriel can tell that the bunny man is dead inside. 

Undyne actually gives you the correct directions in the Core because she kinda wants you out of her hair. If you couldn’t tell, Hotland’s heat has made her a bit of a grump. 

At the end of the Core, you face off with both Napstaton and Hapstablook, the latter now having a robot body and going by Mettaton. Chara can help Mettaton overcome their stage fright, while Asriel can cause Napstaton to tear himself to bits similarly to classic MTT. Yes, that means that Napstaton’s question of “who needs legs with arms like these?” is directed at Asriel. Que happy goat boy sounds. 

Anyways, Napstaton has a bit of a Blooky moment before powering down, and Undyne steps in to sort everything out. While Undyne helps Mettaton calm down, Asriel and Chara ride the elevator to New Home. Asriel is the one who explains the situation with you taking the queen’s soul, though he’s even less tactful than classic Alphys.

If you killed Napstaton or Mettaton, not only would the fight end abruptly, but Asriel would lock himself in his room. Asriel would also do this if you started killing monsters after saving Alphys. 

If neither of those are true, then Asriel will follow you through the judgment hall, where all of your sins (or lack thereof) are spelled out by Papyrus, and finally, you reach the throne room. Toriel is both shocked and relieved to see her son, but when her gaze lands on Chara, she goes numb. She tells Asriel to go to his room, and after much arguing, he obliges, though not before giving Chara something.

A heart-shaped locket. 

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

OC Questionare

Thanks for the tag @winterandwords and @illarian-rambling! I'm gonna compile the questions in this one 👍🏾.

I tag: @jezifster @weirdgirlcroix @the-void-writes @revenantlore @cryptid-s-wips (Only if you want! Open tag too)

Your questions

1. Be honest, you fucking up that dance floor? (Good or bad way doesn't matter.)

2. Something you think is stupid?

3. How's that sleep schedule looking?

Robots & Gardens crew I guess.

What are you most ashamed of doing?

Green: "Killing a protester for meh money. Was desperate at the time. Hopin' not to fall on desperate times again."

Peace: "Guess I'm ashamed if I dragged anyone into an unsuccessful plan. Stresses everyone out."

Hollis: "Working my old job. Shouldn't have stuck around so long."

Donnie: "Taking on extra enhancements to do this job."

Digits: "I wouldn't really say I've got a lot of actual friends. So I've gotta be doing something."

If you had one wish, what would it be?

Green: "Enough money to support all the peoples that roam in. 'Specially the kids and Peace. Peace might hate it, but she loves me it's fine."

Peace: "No more fucking smog. I want to see the sky. I feel like I haven't seen a clear sky since I was a kid. The hell is this?"

Hollis: "That I had focused more on my music. Love helping people but I shouldn't be used to seeing demolished prosthetics and what people look like screaming and sobbing in pain. You know? But maybe that's me."

Donnie: "More accessible tech. Damn it took me three damn lifetimes to figure all of this out."

Digits: "I just want prosthetics that don't suck ass and sleep. If they pick sleep tell them to make it eternal. I'm sick of this shit."

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Green: "Gonna take ya on a nostalgia trip a bit. I'd say Peace's parents's place. But maybe the diner with the good pops. The fizzies in the glass bottles with the real sugar. Oh hell yeah. Add Peace to the mix and a silent phone and I migh've finally died."

Peace: "There's this spot by the diner right. And there used to be a patch of trees and like an itty bitty pond thing? It was kinda like a really really deep puddle after it rains. Green and I used to sit there sometimes and chug fizzies back to back till we felt like we were gonna puke. Think one of us did one time."

Hollis: "There's a couple hangout spots. But one in particular has a longue sorta thing going. And I get to play my music for a crowd. Get to play my music for the gorgeous dancers when they show. And I usually get a mouthful of a beautiful person too. It's the place to be."

Donnie: "Those rooftop garden things. A lot of them do end up shrivelled and depressing looking after the chemical rain. But the ones that flourish. Really fucking flourish. It's gorgeous. Or just my own home garden. It's nice to stare at nature after fighting all day. Or staring at screens all day."

Digits: "Is it sad if I say my place? Feeling like I'm barely there anymore. It's comfy. There's usually food. The tv works. I like my room, bed's comfy."

What is (or would be) your favorite subject in school?

Green: "History. I actually understood it the longest."

Peace: "Foreign language. Language classes in general really."

Hollis: "Shit it's been awhile. Any of the hobby classes maybe. Really liked the hands on stuff." (Electives basically).

Donnie: "Science. The really broad environmental stuff. I didn't like the smaller stuff much."

Digits: "Math and trade skills. Ended up working construction for a reason."

Have you ever played a prank on someone?

Green: "Yeah. Think I ended up gettin' my ass beat by the menace though."

Peace: "Nope. Well maybe? I helped Green out with hers sometimes. I hate when that woman pranks me. Gets her off my back if she can focus it on someone else."

Hollis: "Pulled out a chair or two. Swapped drinks. Nothing special."

Donnie: "I don't think so. I don't think I'm clever enough to come up with a good one."

Digits: "People usually prank me. But I've gotten my get back a couple times."

If you could swap bodies with anyone you know for a day, who would it be?

Green: "Hollis maybe. She's cool, maybe I could get somethin' out of it."

Peace: "Digits. And I'm making her lay the hell down."

Hollis: "Don't think I could do it. Donnie gets injured all the time. Digits's arms spazz at random. I'd give myself a concussion in Peace's body. Get killed in Green's. And would be annoyed to clean up after drunk assholes at my hangout spot as a bartender."

Donnie: "Digits maybe. Give her a mental break from her prosthetics at least."

Digits: "Green. Green all day. No I didn't answer that too fast. Fuck off."

[genshin-impact-redesign]

hiii again! Connected to my previous ask about Natalia, I read the advice and it sent me down a whole redesign rabbit hole that I exited with a few questions about how to add some elements.

Despite Natalia’s design being inspired by military nurses, she is a doctor of prosthetics and a battlefield medic. In her current design, I took inspiration from ww1 VAD nurses’ uniforms but swapped out the apron for a lab coat with a belt. I also ditched the nurse veil/cap.

However, as Natalia’s character has developed I think an apron like the nurses she is inspired by and adding a nurse veil or cap would help her design. She does take on a lot of duties that a nurse would do as well as doing doctor duties. She’s very burnt out and overworked to say the least lol.

An apron would hold her tools for designing prosthetics in easy access and give her a place to wipe her hands on. The veil or cap would keep her head warm, we all know how cold Sheznayah is.

The tricky thing about adding any elements signifying her status as a doctor is that nothing can really be added around her chest because it would be covered up by the harness for her extra arms.

My question is what elements could I add to her redesign that would still let people looking at her tell she is a doctor while not having them be covered by her harness?

oo!! Im glad you took the advice to heart!! Also i love being able to put my studies to use :)

If we look at the differences between a nurse, and field medic, we can combine elements of these to get the fem look a nurse uniform gives while also getting the doctor vibe.

I'll add a tldr & more concise answer to your question at the end because I'm about to YAP

(Advice under the cut)

If we look at war-time nurses, we see that they wear aprons and head covers to keep themselves clean while working with patients. They don't have to perform any medical care outside of a tent or dedicated place, so there's less need for them to carry tons of equipment on them! Maybe pockets to transport stuff easily when moving between stations.

Now, field medics have to carry a LOT on them, since they don't have access to a stable supply of medical equipment - anything they need has to be on their person. So, they have giant utility belts, pockets of various items, bags, satchels, toolkits. The reason an apron doesn't work is because items could easily fall out of the big pockets when they're moving about.

Doctors who aren't on the field would standard army uniform and some sort of scrub/covering/apron to keep themselves clean. So similar to a field medic but without the need to carry so much as anything needed would be stored where they worked.

So! In order for her to look more like a field medic, she has to be carrying a lot more readily available on her. A belt around the waist with pouches and a satchel, or more secure pockets on her dress/apron might help with that :D

Also, there can be stuff attached to the harness that secures her arm. Harnesses are great places to add extra design elements.

AND stuff CAN cross over eachother, as long as it remains clear and readable. See here:

He's got a lot of bags, belts, harnesses, etc, but the straps on his shoulders still have a clear shape and design, and thus remain visibly different from the harness across his chest.

A beret, military cap, or a hat of that sort might read as more "doctor" or in command compared to a nurse's veil. Keep the structure of the nurse's dress, including the apron, because it looks nice and feminine, has a good bottom-heavy silhouette, and just makes for good character design. I'm especially fond of the high-neck flat collar on the nurses in the photo I shared :D

Lastly, what might help is making a reference board! We have a specific way of laying them out in my Comic & Concept art class.

find a mix of references; some for utility (e.g functional bags, clothes), some for design (can be entirely unrelated to what you're drawing, doesn't need to be medical!), and some for form (things that give you nice ideas for the shape of stuff).

as well as a mix of real world references and a mix of what other artists are doing.

organise each category (utility/design/real world/drawn/etc) into its own area on the board, just roughly

you can zoom in on sections and just doodle ideas based on what you see

It's a good way to almost randomise the ideas you're getting, but still have it be specific.

This is a moodboard I made for an assignment where we had to design edo-period objects of modern things. I had to make a plant pot, phone booth, and a traffic light. There's a mix of utility (the actual items I had to draw), form (interestingly shaped items) and design (actual edo period artifacts, items, etc) :D

I'd zoom in on an area and just mix aspects of what I saw to see if it worked.

TL;DR

What elements could you add to her design to keep her appearing like a doctor?

wartime beret/cap instead of a veil

more bags, satchels, pockets, etc, which can ALSO be added onto her arm harness to give things extra utility

chunky belt (this'll also be nice for bringing in her waist and making her dress look more flowy <3) for extra pockets or storage

additional layers for pockets, can be added to her apron/an extension of her apron basically

additional CLOTHING layers (coat over dress, dress over shirt, etc) because that can just imply bulk, which implies she can carry more without need to draw it

And for a reference board:

gets IRL examples of both wartime and modern doctors

get IRL examples of clothes you just like, hats, accessories

examples of genshin characters to be inspired by

examples of fellow artist's interpretations of fantasy doctors, wartime doctors, etc

Mix that together and I'm sure you'll get what you need :D

[jayesprite]

oh, are we sharing tl memories now?

i’ve been waiting for an opportunity to share the kin hell i’ve found myself neck-deep in- apparently one of my tls is some cursed trollstuck au of a different media and that has certainly made it difficult to figure out much of anything, really.

the timeline may or may not have been a descendant au- everyone had canon surnames from what i recall, although i can’t say for certain.

i’m fairly sure there was at least enough trolls to span the full hemospectrum, but i can only remember three: myself, my moirail, and the vantas.

i was an indigo, though i normally went hemoanon on the internet due to technically being a mutant. i was supposed to be culled as a wriggler on account of being hatched with a limb deformity as well as being a runt, but successfully made it to at least seven sweeps i think. i had some sort of prosthetic upper limb(s) though i can’t remember precisely which, but i learned the basics of bioengineering due to having to do upkeep myself. i had glasses (my source had round glasses while the equivalent of my moirail had rectangular ones, but i think they were swapped in this tl?) and an oversized lab coat about the length of nepeta’s coat i think.

my moirail was an olive whom i met due to him fucking up his arms in a flarping accident (i know for sure both of his ended up as prosthetics, which makes my confusing limb situation further strange). i don’t remember very much about his appearance other than the fact he wore tennis shoes, was taller than me, and potentially had white streaks in his hair for one reason or another. we had technically talked on trollian previously but it hadn’t been much more than formalities due to having mutual friends.

the vantas was a strange case due to the fact she wasn’t a mutant but a regular limeblood (obviously still dangerous, but less rare) on top of being one of the nicest people in our group. i remember the least about her, but she was pretty isolated for most of her life (i think we may have bonded over having to hide from most of troll society to avoid getting culled) and rarely spoke to anyone outside of trollian. she took a lot of things personally and had a really strong sense of justice so talking to her was somewhat taxing, but she really was genuinely nice to bond with. i don’t remember anything about her appearance other than she potentially wore a skirt similar to feferi but in green or grey tones?

uh. apologies for rambling, i’ve never really interacted with kin spaces so. this is kind of a lot. but i’ve been a long-time follower of the blog and it’s always felt very safe and comforting so :] yeah. this is kind of a mess my apologies

its super cool how you remember all this stuff. i have a soft spot for noncanon characters (as i kin MULTIPLE of them, which as u can imagine can be .... incredibly isolating haha) so i feel for you and how overwhelming it can be. hey, maybe there are people on here who remember similar stuff as you! that'd be cool wouldn't it? thanks for sharing, maybe i can do a sprite for you some day :)

[purpleturtle9000]

reality check ficlet 2: dinner edition

A metal three-fingered claw shoots out, landing on a bread roll and retracting just as quickly to its housing on the back of Leo's wrist.

"Hey, who taught you to do that?" Leonardo asks, appalled.

"Tello, duh," Leo says around a mouthful. He didn't even take it from the hook first, he's just biting pieces off between the fingers.

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

He doesn't expect to be listened to, and from the eyeroll he gets from Leo, it's clear his words are forgotten as soon as they're said. He'd be honestly surprised if Leo was paying attention long enough to realise what was said the first time.

Across the table, Hamato's disapproving expression clearly says what an uncontrollable gremlin. Currently, he's Leonardo's favourite, since he cuts food into precise pieces with a fork and knife before eating them one at a time.

Unlike the wannabe anaconda sitting at Leonardo's left.

"Alpha gets to eat with his hands," Leo mutters.

Well, that's because Alpha bites, and Leonardo has enough scars from his bastard twin without adding any by his bastard child. He's not going to say that, though, because it's definitely going to give Leo ideas. And Leonardo is not going to be responsible for that.

Instead he shrugs. Fortunately Alpha doesn't talk much over food, and there's little chance of him being the one to bring it up. There's also the chance that he doesn't want to encourage Cobalt to keep biting, even though Cobalt has never tried biting Alpha, as far as Leonardo can tell. Why would he?

"If you use a spoon, you can launch food at people," Baby Blue says, and promptly demonstrates with a piece of broccoli.

"Don't do that," Hamato says, and takes the spoon away from him, to replace it with his own fork that he hadn't yet used.

Leonardo's pretty sure that Blue could find a way to do the same thing with a fork, if he so chooses, but apparently Hamato is a good influence. The little guy seems to look up to him. And apparently Blue could use some positive role models.

All things considered, Unicorn's habit of reading at the table is now less aggravating than it was last week. Sometimes Leonardo swears that there was a blue-purple mind swap before they found her, with how often she's got her nose in books. At least she's getting an education. Although she doesn't seem to realise the argument going on just two seats away from her, so they might have to work on how much situational awareness she has.

"I don't think it's that rude," Lee pipes up. They shoot a grin at Leonardo, then get up, one knee on the tabletop, to reach across and grab Leo's wrist for a better look at his prosthetic. Leo lets him.

"Not rude," Echo agrees, though he makes no further contribution. At least one of them is eating his hamburger quietly. For the most part, anyway.

It's better than the time Lee hollered a swear word at the top of his lungs and Echo repeated it even louder. Twice, in fact. And neither of them had gotten in trouble for it, because the rest of them agreed by popular vote that neither of them had done anything wrong.

Heiwa, for their part, is staring at them all like they're a set of exotic animals that were air-dropped into their bedroom. They eat a broccoli floret with a fork every so often, chewing slowly, but for the most part they're just staring at one of them.

Must be the consequences of growing up as an only child. Leonardo finds all this strange enough, and he grew up with three siblings. All things considered, Heiwa is doing pretty well, adjusting to a sudden family of seventeen.

Right now Tello's being awfully quiet, and Leonardo wonders how long it'll be until they try to make a break for their lab. They know Leonardo won't yell at them in front of the others, but it's only going to be so long until the blueberries disappear and Tello is left to his mercy.

"Who wants dessert?" Sunflower asks, glancing around. They've got a sweet tooth, and a set of sunflower-themed dessert plates to go with it. Most of their dishes and cutlery are mismatched, picked up one or two at a time, but Leonardo hadn't been able to resist surprising them with the plates when he'd seen them.

They'd hugged him for a full two minutes, and made him (and only him) cinnamon rolls. Leonardo had been the envy of the entire family, and had only been a little bit of an ass about it.

Now there's an idea.

"Whoever misbehaves, from now until the end of dinner, is going to be forbidden from Sunflower's desserts for two weeks. Am I clear?"

There's swearing from Leo, and a collection of politer objections from other turtles. Even from Alpha, although Leonardo thinks that Sunflower might just object to being barred from giving Alpha treats. Sunflower is one of exactly two people who can get him to smile, and considers their bond extremely important.

Leonardo agrees, but he does wish there was some way he could get Sunflower on his side when it comes to keeping Alpha in check. Then again, Alpha doesn't ever misbehave, that he can tell. The biting isn't actually a problem, considering how many of them have that habit.

"If you behave, you have nothing to worry about," Leonardo says, and grins to himself at how the vocal objections have been reduced to a couple quiet grumblings and one equally quiet hiss.

Good enough.

There is no more claw use during dinner, and Leonardo considers that a total victory.

[charissekenion]

'90s Beauty Moment: Alexander McQueen's No.13 show, with Paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins

If you’re a regular listener to the BeautyMe Podcast or follow my TikTok then you might know that I produced a series of ‘90s Beauty Moments as an alternative Advent Calendar for the month of December. I don’t really enjoy ‘enforced content creation’, but, I did that series because I wanted to see if I could. As time passed and I became more accustomed to sitting in front of my phone camera and sharing moments I truly felt anyone from any generation could love, I realised once again, just how much I loved beauty, in all its forms. Now that the series is over, I’ll be picking out certain episodes and adding a little more meat to the bones I provided, so today, I’m sharing a little bit more about my beloved Alexander McQueen.

I’ve always been attracted to pretty things, but I also believe there is beauty in everything, even in decay - I’ll just as likely photograph some dying flowers as I would some new Pat McGrath makeup. Beauty isn’t just about glowing, youthful skin; it’s also in the lines and wrinkles that hint at our life stories. I feel like Alexander McQueen had a real obsession with the darker side of beauty; so many of his shows featured references to animals - from feathers to skulls - and for his 13th show, No.13, he showed the fashion world how his fascination with prosthetics created for the First World War inspired an entire collection.

No.13 was the name of McQueen’ SS99 collection, shown in 1998.

If you know your fashion then you’re probably thinking you know exactly which moment I’m going to talk about when it comes to this beautiful, ground-breaking show. You’re probably thinking I’m talking about the finale, where we see model (and former ballet dancer) Shalom Harlow wearing a cotton trapeze dress that’s being spray painted by two robots hired from a car manufacturer. It’s definitely a striking moment in fashion history and came up in conversation again recently when Paris-based designer Coperni’s SS23 show featured two men spray-painting a dress onto top model Bella Hadid.

Bella Hadid onstage for Coperni’s SS23 show

But for me, there’s another moment – the first time a designer casts a model with prosthetic limbs to walk on the catwalk. The show itself was a romantic yet sinister tribute to the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 1800s, something that inspired McQueen throughout his short career. So many of the designs featured ruffled leather and lace, laser cut wooden corsets, with many of the pieces being inspired by the workshops of Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton, which pioneered prosthetics for those injured during the first World War. This is also a show where we first notice McQueen’s evolving approach to footwear as he sends Paralympic champion Aimee Mullins down the runway wearing a beautiful pair of cherry wood prosthetic legs that were hand-carved to a design of McQueen’s, said to be inspired by the work of Dutch-British sculptor and wood-carver, Grinling Gibbons.

In an interview with Another Magazine, Aimee Mullins said she wanted to be involved because it was her ‘mission’ to challenge prevailing attitudes towards beauty.

The cherry wood prosthetics, designed by Alexander McQueen for Aimee Mullins

"I want to be seen as beautiful because of my disability, not in spite of it," she said. "People keep asking me: 'why do you want to get into this world that’s so bitchy and so much about physical perfection?' That’s why. That’s why I want to do it," she said.

McQueen himself said: "I wouldn’t swap the people I’ve been working with for a supermodel. They’ve got so much dignity and there’s not a lot of dignity in high fashion."

This is also the first show that made Alexander McQueen cry, and I can really see why. If you want to hear more, listen to the mini podcast dedicated to the show below.

For more ‘90s Beauty Moments, you can listen to BeautyMe Podcast anywhere you like, or watch the videos for all 25 moments, including this one, over on my TikTok @charissekenion. Thanks for reading.

[the-technicolor-whiscash]

Having now seen all three of the Stuart Gordon-Jeffrey Combs-Barbara Crampton horror movies I can conclusively say a number of things.

Number one, Re-Animator is the best of the three obviously holy shit it's far and away the most movie movie of the three.

Number two, the special effects in all of them are often pretty good. Sure there's some really bad parts like the frequently unconvincing cat puppets and the fact the resonator in From Beyond looks like a child's science fair project but a lot of the gore sfx work and like the full-body prosthetics they do in all three of them are really good. Giorgio in Castle Freak looks amazingly horrifying and I think that monster thing that Pretorious turns into in From Beyond is really good it's super gross body horror which is what it's supposed to be. And in all three of them, injuries and blood look fairly realistic and ik it's cause they often had like, actual medical professionals they referred to to make it realistic. With these low-budget schlock pieces it's easy to criticize many aspects of them so I wanted to take a minute to point out something that was genuinely well done.

Number three, the actors are so much better than the material and I think in a lot of cases could have been given more to work with. I think Crampton's performance in From Beyond showed that she's just as capable at playing a scientist as Combs and I think they could have done more with her character. I think Jonathan Fuller could've handled more as Giorgio, perhaps to add more nuance to an extremely black-and-white character. And I think Combs time and time again has shown that he is a very skilled actor who can bring dynamic range and physicality to a role, but in every single one of these three movies, his character ends up either dead or presumed dead at the end. Give him a fucking break. Give him a character who doesn't end up tragically and brutally killed. Hell swap his roles with Crampton, make him the nervous househusband and make Crampton the breadwinner who has to fight the freak.

All of them are enjoyable films if you're someone who enjoys movies of this caliber. I think if you're going to watch them, start with Re-Animator, and your next step depends on what you're looking for. If you want body horror scifi with some really gross looking shit, From Beyond is your man. If you're more into a traditional exploitation horror "there's a guy in our house ripping boobs off with his teeth," Castle Freak is the way to go.

Should you watch any of these if you're not prepared for horror beyond what you see in like, Halloween or Saw? Probably not, unless you're comfortable with not just gore but heightened elements of sexuality as well including some fairly rough assault scenes. And therein lies the issue with so many films like these. It's a critical failure of the industry I think. So many assault scenes are completely irrelevant to the plot and are just there for gratuitous nudity and violence against women and it's like come on guys. If you want gratuitous nudity you can get that with consent. It's more fun that way. I do try to look past these issues when looking just at the plot or craft of the movie obvs, but it's something that plagues a lot of b rate horror and you can't talk about these movies without acknowledging these problems entrenched in the history of the genre.

Again obvs Re-Animator is the best of the three but in regards to the other two. Frankly, I think I prefer Castle Freak to From Beyond, if only because some of the effects in From Beyond were so gross I could not bring myself to enjoy them, particularly with the shit they have coming out of Jeffrey Combs's head holy shit that's so gross, but that's just me. I've never been a big fan of that style of body horror, and the scifi elements weren't enough to keep me engaged beyond that. Castle Freak is a style of horror which, while absolutely an acquired taste, is often easier to ingest because most of the time you know what's going on. It has a castle and it has a freak. That's the movie. I think they're equally as poorly executed as each other so no matter what, you're going to be in for A Ride.

[nannycanes]

A lot of awesome ideas here, including ones I wouldn’t have thought of. Some questions and comments I have:

• I may or may not have laughed at how you’ve basically taken everything Zonai/Sonau-related and just flung it back into space from whence it supposedly came. BUT! What if instead of being goat-dragon-critter things, the Zonai in this setting were descendants of those who remained in Skyloft? Maybe even a branching culture, since in SS they never had skyloft come down from the sky, just Link and Zelda? That may limit their tech to just the air, but it can also be explained as the Sheikah or Zonai making contact at one point in history. The contact didn’t have to be lasting or meaningful beyond swapped tech, it just explains its presence.

• The ONLY issue I see with a Zelda companion is the climbing. How do you account for her following you up cliffsides and whatnot? Obviously this is pure mechanics, but I think one could handwave the issue with some “light powers” excuse of just teleporting to the top.

• Imagine idling near a pond and watching her pounce after a frog. If she catches it, it’s added to your inventory. Would she also point out shooting stars, or try her hand at breaking ore deposits?

• Vah Narisha/Vah Leviah’s music contains the song you had to learn from him :>

• Do you think those flashbacks would be given in pieces from beating the various bosses? Like you see a flashback after clearing one of the temple enemies, and in the death knell of the miasma, you see it before Zelda banishes it.

• The companions having secret/enigma stones could be enough to simply grant you the power to summon their shades, but I think it’d be more fun and sentimental if they housed that power in a trinket that’s more personal, like Yunobo giving you a Goron belt buckle, or the Zora giving you a bracelet. Maybe even little charms that Zelda inlays in the prosthetic arm itself, so you can see what colors are on it for visual progress!

• idk if you have any ideas yet for it, but if Zonai are completely removed from the equation, how would you personally reassign the Spirit Sage position? Gerudo already have the lightning position, it stands to reason a Sheikah may have the spirit spot IMO. You answered this already nvm

• [EDIT] Consider: Really big brightblooms instead of lightroots. The big point of the lightroots was to give you some place that you could remove the corrupted hearts, but when it comes to making light, maybe it can be argued that you have to do something to care for native brightblooms to make them bloom again- it's rare for one to get so big without being eaten first, and perhaps those large ones came to be in ancient times (maybe even as Sheikah gardens?) idk how the hearts thing can be resolved, I think it a little much to remove that convenience entirely. Then again, I'm a gremlin who has to be dragged out of the depths kicking and screaming half the time, so...

I’d include more but I’m on mobile and in the midst of chores, but I wanted to say somethin’!

totk rewritten (for me, specifically)

since i dont have time to get to drawing it right away AND im worried people might take this the wrong way, i thought i could write out some bullet points about my rewrite of totk (meant as a fix FOR ME not saying its inherently better) to give you a better idea on what im going for:

the core structure largely remains the same, the biggest change is no time travel, thus making zelda your travel companion, and zonau tech being lagerly gone/broken with shiekah tech instead

it is not shown but said in dialog that shiekah tech, such as the ancient furnaces, shrines and towers are either turning off or have flickering power supply and purah having calculated that all their connections point towards beneath hyrule castle

game starts pretty much the same as real totk, most zonau ruins are so withered away that they are barely recognizable and the further you get down theres more and more shiekah tech pipes and occasional a miasma vein, some pipes are broken and spill miasma, others flicker

instead of the room with the wall carvings theres one with old ancient shiekah research remains, old broken tech and prototypes you dont what their purpose was, all documents are too withered to read but zelda finds one that was sealed in a container and takes it with her (she got a backpack now)

theres a structure similar to the bed thingy of the shrine of life from botw but its working in reverse; within it is sealed ganondorf (i gotta work out the details around it still)

(details still missing) it breaks and zelda takes the enigma stone but doesnt touch it directly and puts it within a sealed container (you know kinda like you should do with soemthing you have no idea of what it is and was alsO LOCATED ON A CORPSE)

ganondorf isnt the elegantly talking villain type in this version but more of a mess, talking in different languages both modern and ancient but you cant make out any clear sentences, struggeling with suddendly being awake and half alive after spending thousands of years in an agonizing limbo, having witnessed every second of the passage of time yet also it feeling like everything just happened all at the same time

the ground breaks as he recognizes zelda (bc of her fighting calamity ganon in botw) but also not really, still sees her as a threat (also bc of the enigma stone in the container she still has in her hand) attacks her, link deflects with the master sword, it breaks and damages his arm, zelda drops her torch and pulls link away towards where they came in from and both run as the caves fill up with miasma like a flood with arms starting to reach after them while they both run back through the tunnels (creepy chase sequence anyone?)

cataclysm happens (ground breaks, miasma bursts out of the ground, especially where shrines and towers where since they were still connected to the pipelines) ground shifts massively in some places giving alot of the map a whole new structure; all shiekah tech that was not independent stops working due to power loss

links arm is amputated since otherwise the miasma would spread to his whole body; purah, robbie and zelda work out a prosthetic arm prototype to give to link (protoype at first will be upgraded at halfway point of the game) that can switch between multiple modes, like a hand to hold normal items or a weapon that isnt crafted, and a fusing ability (though maybe limited in the prototype) that lets you make weapons similar to the weapon fusing in canon totk (potential upgrades including an extendable guardian arm that doesnt break, grapple hook anyone??, also the ability to build stuff out of shiekah tech parts, not glue needed you actually screw it together, maybe zelda even helps)

now you are given free roam of hyrule, the goal is to explore and find what has changed and check on people, see what the underground has, new monsters have spawned etc.

zelda is your companion the whole time, she can use the shiekah stone/purah pad to analyze enemies for you, she also carries at least a dagger for her own self defense but doesnt contribute much to the fight (subject to change maybe), you can talk to her anytime and she usually has something to comment on depending on where you are or what you just did, can give you tips and advice IF ASKED FOR IT, when you discover ancient ruins, whether zonau or shiekah, she can either decipher it for you or take photos for later to find out more about everything that has happend and what it means, she also takes part in conversations when you talk to someone, her outfit changes with yours (meaning when you wear the tingle set she wears it too, opens up alot of funny interactions njfkdk)

purah has built new towers but they function different (still working on the details) mainly that they function independent from the energy source in hyrule castle

there are floating islands but they are bigger and in more connected clusters, when reaching them its ancient withered ruins that the ancient shiekah built support around (like the platform used by monk miz kyoshia) to keep them afloat; there are building like observatories and research labs, but all very overgrown due to being up there for so long, theres a titan prototype on one of the islands, its shaped like a whale and zelda deciphers it was called vah narisha (reference to the whale deity in skyward sword) (i havent decided yet if its fully broken and just a big piece of enviroment to explore or half functioning floating around, or maybe first broken but later half repaired so it can fly around at least giving you an easier way to reach other island, you cant steer it tho) some of them are falling bc of energy loss but the bigger ones have independent energy sources (work in progress)

the underground has more diverse zones depending on which part of the map it is located on, there are old mines (for luminous stone) from the zonau but all is extremely withered, in each one its been mostly built over by the shiekah but there are construct remains that were clearly dissected and studied, half built shrines and towers, you can find collectibles and lore there (working on more details, but an idea was to include remains of ancient shiekah tha fled there when they were persecuted by that old king of hyrule, adding to the eery vibe)

some titans (maybe two, and the other are still on the sruface, like vah medoh) feel down during the cataclysm, broken apart or malfunctioning/ possibly being a boss as in they were used by a big cluster of miasma hands like a hermit crab uses its shell, the inside filled with eyes and different sized hands dragging itself towards you like a drowing man grabs after anything to save him)

dongos are your go to transportation here and a little different, when you call one they dig a path to you (not permanent, just so they can always spawn near you) they glow in the dark and can climb on walls (bc why not), and can point you towards the next objective/point of interest, likely where theres a high concentration of luminous stone since that is what they eat and its usually where old mining/construction sites are (still working on a replacement for light roots that are less invasive)

the rat from the trailer is a miniboss/boss you need to defeat in order to get the broken mastersword back into your possession

(im still working on how the sages work, but the idea is to incorporate their abilites for more efficient and reliable use into links shiekah prosthetic, so you can still use their abilities but only when you actually want)

(again still working on details) halfway point of the game is you trying to find out where ganondorf went, not intending to fight necessarily but just to find out more but it devolves into you fighting some sort of miasma monster (either him or some sort of manifestation he made) and you get a bunch of short memory flashes from him, all vague and a wild mess from both the time he was sealed and from the time afterwards, maybe even a perspective shift from when link was fighting dark beast ganon, but from ganons view, from zelda when she was keeping that manifestation in check, random views from the malice eyes from botw, from the blights, maybe even from the fight with the old and new champions, from the point when shiekah built their tech around him while he had to watch not able to do anything etc.)

links arm gets upgraded from prototype to a full prosthetic, opening up more fusing abilites and other things (like the grapple hook, again working on it, im open for ideas lol)

i will reblog this and add more over time if you want, but do let me know if you like it thus far, bc im still unsure if its worth the effort of working more on this QnQ

(also if you dont like just keep scrolling, i dont need to know that you hate it, it literally changes nothing but make me annoyed xD)