#i want to just be able to draw consistently again at this point

[rei-ismyname]

UNCANNY X-MEN #5 From The Ashes

First of all, I should acknowledge that something I've been calling a missed opportunity has received an attempt on page - the X-Men killing in FotHox, specifically Kurt. It's a single line and doesn't make a lot of sense, trying to have cake and eat it too by nodding to it in issue 5 but not meaningfully engaging with the recent past. Kurt did NOT think he was a killer, ever. That's just a bad faith reading of the text. He was in a war against genocidal fascists, come on.

Cool new form for Calico, though.

Kurt putting his sword/s away doesn't quite cut it. Errol Flynn swashbuckling has been an influence on him since he was a child and he's been big on sword usage almost since the beginning of his publication history. It's his thing, and he badly needs personality in FTA. Also, he didn't kill anyone with a sword in Fall, he teleported them into space. Swords parry and block, they disarm and intimidate. They have use outside of combat. They look cool, and it's something Kurt is very good at. So yeah, the barest attempt was made, but it didn't land for me. There could have been space to set it up and sell it too, perhaps by toning down the Charles Xavier/Sarah flashbacks that were ultimately just a fakeout.

Speaking of things that were given lip service in issue 5 and could have benefited from more attention, Jubilee told us who she is - kinda. A panel or two of origin story that was established in the 90s, but nothing about why she's here or what she wants out of life. How she feels about the loss of Krakoa, where the hell her baby, Shogo, is. It fits in with Uncanny's overarching sense of unfocusedness and her role could have been performed by anyone - not a good look for the end of the flagship book's first arc.

We get the resolution to and defeat of Sarah Gaunt. 'She's crazy, always has been' is so unsatisfying. I can't think of any other description. It's nice that we don't have another sin to lay at Xavier's door, but attempted baby trap is not a frequently used trope for a reason. She acknowledges she was lying, but then blames him for the loss of her son years later in a different country - then transfers that hatred to all mutants? Comicsxf have criticised her characterisation as 'Monstrous Mother' and I agree. What was the point of giving it so much space, to the extent that we spent more time in the past than with most of our putative main characters? She beat the shit out of Logan and Rogue the last two issues, nearly killing them - only for Rogue to draw strength from deus ex dead kid and completely wipe her out. It's lovely that Rogue is able to summon empathy for her, it shows us why she's a hero, but taken as an arc she's rewarded with victory despite making bad decisions. Long time readers know Rogue can lead, but I think Gail Simone is going to have to do the work to convince new readers that she's right for this. It's well and good to have moral authority but leading your team to death isn't.

Harvey X was unexpected but felt unearned. Surprise is fun but internal and narrative consistency is better. I thought it was Charles moving people around, because it was signposted. Harvey X being the puppet master felt almost silly as he revealed previously unseen very powerful abilities. Why would he wait for Rogue and Logan to be nearly dead to act? Maybe that's the only time he can act, because he's dead? Idk, at least he didn't scream how hot Rogue is again. He speaks about a sacrifice he's making but what sacrifice is that? Is his power finite and burns him out, Proteus-style? It's not quite clear, and I guess we'll never see him again.

Precognition. Healing. Telepathy.

Gambit and the Eye of Agamotto was a Chekhov's Gun that mostly worked (and made me feel sah smart for calling it.) Remy prays (?) to it and then blows the possessed cultists away. I'm pretty sure Jubilee could make a bigger boom than that (I know she can) but rule of cool wins the day.

These are/were captured and possessed mutants. I hope we see them again, especially after Fawn's introduction in #1. They're not doing this willingly.

Rogue flies to meet Warden Ellis to give her Sarah back, further muddling Ellis' characterisation. I have no idea what she's about now. Nuance is good in antagonists, but for someone who wants to crush mutants with her government mandate she's awfully cooperative with them. No threats, no riddles, no ultimatum, just meekly accepting two threats? I want to give a fuck about the closest thing we have to an antagonist (for a crossover event right around the corner) but there's nothing there! This was an opportunity for something, anything. Gah! I don't understand this writing.

Rogue's threat is interesting, though I have to wonder what she and Scott are going to disagree about. It's implied Jubilee will get captured, and we know Beast already has been. 2/3 X-Men teams have their motivation to wreck Graymalkin I just struggle to see them coming to blows over it.

Rogue and her elocution lessons feel very out of character and came out of nowhere. If it was setup earlier and tied to insecurity or identity that would work, but being introduced and haphazardly paid off in issue 5 baffles me, frankly. Rogue's southern upbringing is never something she's been ashamed of, her angst has almost always been related to her powers. She's a confident woman. A story where she struggles with that could have legs, but that's not the story that's been told. She certainly doesn't need Gambit or Logan to tell her - I'd expect it to be the other way around.

I'm not sure what to make of the images we get from Harvey X's visions of the future. I'll write about them separately if I find an interesting hook.

So ends the first arc of Uncanny X-Men volume whatever. My main issue is that it doesn't meaningfully engage with what came before it, and it doesn't quite manage to establish its own identity either. What is its mission statement and what kind of book can we expect? I don't know, and I hope Gail Simone does. It's not the end of the world, mind you. Following Krakoa was always going to be tough, and the world was going to feel smaller, less connected. I can't help but wonder what it might have felt like without a lot of Charles Xavier flashbacks amounting to nothing. Maybe we'd know more about Kurt or Jubilee, even the Outliers. Ideally that'll be corrected. I don't do number ratings so I'll just say it was okay, higher if you are a Rogue stan.

[yuseirra]

I FEEL MY FACE BURNING..0/////0 oh, I feel so shy!! It's sad I can't understand your language well but it makes me feel many things to see my work as a part of a video!!// I actually had no idea that it would be used.. For something like it when I drew it out at first☺ oh goodness, you're welcome and I hope you had fun making the video! Thanks for sharing me the link, I appreciate it!★☆

Since the manga is over, it does mean that my interpretation of these two will now be pretty solid. That's really important for me! I was always a bit worried if something would happen in the plot that'd change what I took of them in a drastic way but, it managed to remain pretty consistent despite EVERYTHING HAVING BEEN FAILED TO BE EXPLAINED IN CANON!!;; I have no idea why they couldn't just give out any solid info!!!;; so WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED????

This means I'll be able to draw them with a lighter heart now. I was so tense every chapter. It's still extremely confusing but... At this point, Fatal being the song for that guy's pretty much a solid fact with all the lyrics lining up to his character and Mephisto seems like it too. I can really work with those. And none of the things Ai's said and felt about Hikaru would be a lie(I came in because SHE loved him. That's the most important part of this ship for me!! It went both ways)I'll be able to draw more~

♥ I'm really glad to hear all this from you!

I hope your video is loved!! 'v')9 cheers!

Thank you too for having consideration towards my work and for loving them!

I'll come up with more and wish to make even better things!! I want to make every new work my new fav.

You too, you're remarkable! 'v')9 See you again soon! This makes me want to draw more pieces and I'm happy to have met fans who love this couple as much as I do!

A farewell

they had two beautiful children together so.. they can cuddle and all

what I can't fully predict is what Ai would react towards him. That's something canon should give out but.. I have no idea if they will. For the time being I think it'd be a mix of Kana and Akane's reaction towards Aqua, something in between the two but who knows

I wish the writers would have some pity on him because his life was horrible...; He never had a chance to be happy even while having started out as a really good person; I still trust there is a reason why he's written this way but still, I find they handled him pretty cruel.

[akidachi]

Heya Doc

[sskk-manifesto]

!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[arolesbianism]

Doodle of my boy

[buckleydiazmp4]

do you mind if i ramble in the tags about my weird relationship with making art in fandom for a second

[the-maddened-hatter]

Alright so I pretty much said all of this verbatim on a reblog of someone else's post, but I wanted to put it here on my blog too.

As I've mentioned before, I would *very* much like to see Peri canonically having a disability that causes him to use his wand/cane and not just have it be an accessory, and so I analyzed the episodes he's in that I've been able to see so far and came up with a few observations:

As much as I'd be unopposed to seeing it portrayed, leg issues don't really seem like a major deal to fairies in general given as Cosmo misplaced his for most of an episode and a pair of sticks were a good enough replacement for him to have fun at the arcade in human form (without even drawing human attention)

And Peri can apparently use his powers as listed above without his cane since he doesn't always immediately have it on his person (especially since Dev & Hazel took his cane in Lost in Fairy World and he didn't have any power or mobility problems)

But!

I *could* easily see him having some kind of magical fatigue issue or magical equivalent of hypotonia or balance disorder, since he's shown to be

very tired after a morning spent magically creating cupcakes (a probably small but very repetitive task that leaves him running low on energy)

When his stationary float is disrupted he remains seated instead of floating back up again

3. A minor contact/startle reflex is enough to disrupt his hover and cause him to immediately fall pretty hard if not very far

4. speaking of distance, he is shown to sometimes float a bit lower than his parents, which, while not consistent and likely just an animation choice, could tie in with the other points to support the diagnosis theory

However, pain may admittedly be more of a factor than the above images suggest,

he may not just be tired from shape shifting like I'd thought since right before that he was walking (albeit in horse form) and afterwards (low) cloud float is apparently easier and faster for him than just quickly trotting past his parents

He also didn't really seem to be having too much of a problem at all before he hit the ground

Where it goes to a definitely tired and possibly more pained look.

Maybe he didn't want to tell Dev that it was painful either out of pride or because he didn't want to potentially upset him and just went with "tired" because that was what he assumed. It'd be interesting to see if it happens again in a different form.

Personally I think it'd be cool to see both and have it be a chronic condition (directly magical or otherwise) that he already had before the series began (diagnosed or not).

If he's the first fairy kid born in a long time he probably would have been monitored very closely, but it may have taken a while for doctors to notice a problem since there was little reference for comparison and may have even caused some potentially serious problems that gave Comso & Wanda a bad scare, which could tie in pretty well with their developing a high amount of over protectiveness of him, and that in turn leading him to try and behave too far in the other direction (not seeking help when he really does need it, pushing himself way too hard and suffering the fallout which he then tries to hide, ect)

If he's undiagnosed but having the problems it could be interesting to see sort of an inversion of the "character must learn to accept their disability" storyline wherein he's more connecting certain events & symptoms and we get to see him adapting to accommodations and letting himself try different approaches moreso than to having new symptoms (though we as the audience may see these symptoms more or behaviors contextualized as symptoms where they weren't necessarily before).

Idk either way I just think it would be cool (and I've probably put away more analysis into this than will ever pay off lol)

also to everyone who draws him as a disabled mobility device user: ILY please draw more of it it feeds my soul

[artificial-transmutations]

Historically Accurate

"I'm telling you, Hollywood is going down with all the woke crap! You know what they say: Go woke go broke!"

Julian and Wallace were on their way back from the lunch room and the former was listening to the latter complaining. Julian had tried to avoid any topic like this, but, really, it was a mine field with Wallace. Just about *every* topic had the potential to turn out political.

"I don't see what's wrong with a little inclusion in pop culture." Julian said, not wanting to argue but also not wanting to leave that opinion unopposed.

"Everything! It's just plain wrong, and it's brainwash, too. I mean, it's like a mind virus, poisoning everything! There's a western coming out next week. But it's all bullshit woke agenda again. The cowboy is black and gay! Literal brainwash and historical rewrite."

Julian frowned. How could an intelligent person like Wallace be so stupid at the same time?

"Why does that even bother you? I thought you hated westerns."

"Yes, that's not the point. Fact is, it's historically inaccurate and just pushing the woke agenda."

"Actually, I think it's not even historically incorrect." Julian pondered as they entered the lab using Julian's keycard and an iris scan of both scientists.

Wallace was borderline angry now.

"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that cowboys were the whitest and the straightest people there were."

"I'm not quite sure", Julian said. "Weren't there freed slaves and so on? And I would guess if you were underway with another guy for prolonged periods of time, not everything staid straight, too."

"Bullshit! Everyone knows cowboys weren't fags, and they were white."

Wallace seemed agitated now, and his usual stiff demeanor became even more pronounced.

Wallace was in his mid-forties, but the way he was talking, he seemed way older to Julian.

Julian on the other hand was awfully young for the position he had. Being 25, he still didn't look like he had finished college, even though he had his doctorate already.

It was really a bit sad, he thought. Two of the brightest minds and they were bickering over basic, meaningless distinctions like ethnicity or sexual orientation.

"We could just ask the computer." he proposed, but Wallace frowned.

"We are not supposed to use the equipment for private research." he said.

'The computer' was part of the highly secretive project they worked on. When finished, it was supposed to be a time machine, simple as that. The actual time travel device didn't work properly yet, but a part of it, a chronoton boosted quantum computer that was able to access history itself to answer questions about the part, was already functioning quite well.

"But we are supposed to test it from time to time. Are you afraid of the answer it might give?"

"Of course not." Wallace grumbled. "Fine. Computer! Is there any historical evidence of gay black cowboys?"

The voice activated system acknowledged the request with a beep. While waiting for the answer, Julian checked the parameters of the system and found them in near-perfect condition.

Finally, the system answered, with the neutral male voice it was programmed with.

"A significant portion of cowboys consisted of people with African heritage, especially after the freeing of slaves after the civil war. Homosexual acts and attraction were common among cowboys, especially during the trail drives. Demonstrating..."

"Hrmpf." Wallace said, clearly not happy.

Julian, who was still checking the readings, scratched his head.

"Did you remember to disconnect the capsule before making the query? It seems to be drawing power."

"Ah, crap. That's just because of all the bullshit talk. Computer, stop!"

"Unable to comply. Demonstrating... Target: Montana Frontier Area, June 1865..."

The white walls of the chamber started to glow in an ever brighter white that was beginning to hurt the eyes.

"Crap. Julian, cut the power!" Wallace said, now with a clear notion of fear in his voice. The younger scientist didn't answer but tried to do as he was told - but did not succeed in time.

Suddenly, with a flash, their surroundings changed and the two of them found themselves in the middle of a rugged mountain range, on the border of a pine forest. It was late afternoon and the scientists found themselves in a just set-up camp. Two horses were standing nearby, and a small herd of cows was grazing at a meadow.

Wallace sighed and shook his head angrily. "Just great. Look at the mess you just put us in. Now we have to wait until we're rescued. And, apparently, we have to meet some black homo cowboys."

Julian looked around but couldn't see anyone around.

"I would have also guessed so, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there."

His heart sank as he had a terrible suspicion. He had been experimenting lately with a normalization circuit that would embed the time travelers into history instead of superimposing them onto it. That was - according to his theories - a rather elegant way to resolve the repelling effect the historical structure had, but it wasn't finished by any means. It had never been tested and even theoretically, it wouldn't be able to achieve a partial embedding, only a full one at best. And the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that it had still been connected to the system.

As Julian thought about how to break it to Wallace, he noticed something strange about the other scientist. It could be a trick of the light, but he looked way more tanned than before.

"Uhm... It might actually be somewhat worse than that. I think my normalization circuit was still active when you activated the machine."

"What? What does that mean?" Wallace looked at him, furiously now.

"Well, I would guess..." Julian struggled and gave up. "Look at your hands, I think it's pretty self-explanatory."

Wallace looked down at his darkening hands and paled. Even now, he still had a considerably darker skin tone than before, darkening with every passing second.

"Shit." he said. "That's what you get for fucking around with a half-finished experiment."

Julian didn't even dare to mention his suspicion. If his normalization circuit was really active, that would make Wallace an actual, black cowboy, and not just him. Julian was also a time traveler, so he, too, would be affected.

Meanwhile, the changes in Wallace seemed to have proceeded. His facial structure looked like it was in motion before finally settling on a generally broader, manlier shape: The jawline became more pronounced, and his cheekbones raised.

"Is there... anything going on with me as well?" Julian asked.

Wallace looked over at him.

"Yeah, your hair color is changing, and I think your eye color. Blonde and blue-eyed, how cliché. But most importantly, you're not becoming fucking a fucking Black man."

Wallace didn't say Black man.

For some reason, this didn't bother Julian half as much as it should have. He felt rather at ease, and the untamed wilderness around him awakened a sense of adventure inside of him that he didn't know was in him.

Meanwhile Wallace was also feeling a change within. A surge of confidence emerged from within him that was entirely alien to the deeply insecure man at first, but quickly became more and more part of his personality. It was like his core was solidifying into a confident and assertive nature, a boldness and quiet he secretly always wished he had. At the same time, his body structure changed considerably.

Where before, Wallace had been a physically unimpressive mid-forties man, it now seemed like the years melted off of him, and for every year that he lost, he gained three pounds of muscle mass and beef. His shoulders widened, his height increased, and his frame expanded in order to accommodate the new body mass.

"It's not that bad, ain't it?" While Julian's body had not changed much besides the hair and eye color, his voice sounded entirely different now. It had a southern lilt to it, but it was charismatic and charming. It was the kind of voice you could listen to for hours without end, perfect for reading an audiobook - or telling campfire stories.

"Well now, I ain't too sure 'bout that." Wallace's voice had changed even more considerably when he answered. He had gained a thick southern accent, and his voice had dropped to a low and smooth voice that sounded commanding even if he didn't intend to.

"Ha, look at that, your skin's startin' to change now, too!"

And really, Julian's skin had started to adapt as well, but it was quickly becoming apparent that it went a different route than Wallace's. Instead of darkening to the almost black tone that he was sporting, Julian's skin became rougher and got a sun-kissed tan instead. His facial features sharpened, as his cheekbones looked chiseled all of a sudden and a rugged beard texture was adorning his chin. Julian seemed to notice it, too, since he started touching his new face immediately.

"Cool! Always wondered what I'd look like sportin' a beard." he said, apparently not too unhappy with the changes.

There was no denying Julian looked good, which made Wallace feel a touch of jealousy. In his opinion, it wasn't fair that he was the only one having to deal with the black skin. That feeling quickly faded, though, as his changes continued. His hair became very short, curly and dark. At the same time, a short beard formed on his chin and upper lip, giving him an even manlier appeal. At the same time, chest hair sprouted, sparsely of course, as it was normal for a man of his heritage. A strange feeling overcame Wallace. He wasn't necessarily *proud* to be Black now, but he also didn't mind it anymore. He was proud of a lot of secondary assets, though, like his bulging muscles or his handsome face. As his eyes became a dark brown, he had to smirk as he sat down by the fire, readjusting himself in the process. And, of course, his big cock, which might also have been positively influenced by his new ancestry.

Wallace watched as Julian turned around and tended to the horses. His body was now, finally, also changing. It didn't become nearly as bulky as his own, but instead lean and agile, with narrow hips and a well-distributed surprising strength, as Wallace knew. While Julian was busy with the horses, Wallace had a good view of his ass. It filled out the jeans just so well, and Vallace only noticed now that the other man's attire had changed. He was clad in a pair of blue jeans, a vest and, of course a Stetson now, and Vance always thought that this outfit accentuated the best parts of his partner quite well. He preferred black leather, himself, since the material was sturdier and felt better on the skin.

Vince felt his cock hardening in his leather pants and readjusted himself again while also leaning back and spreading his legs to make more room for the erection. He wasn't afraid of anyone seeing his rude behavior. The only other man within a wide range was Jesse, the owner of that juicy ass. And he was allowed to see... well, everything.

Vince waited patiently until Jesse returned to the campfire, with a big smile on his face.

"How them horses holdin' up, partner?" Vince asked.

"They're good. Just a tad worn out from today's ride." Jesse answered.

"Well, there's somethin' else needs tendin' to, if you're free to lend a hand. Or an ass." Vince grinned and made his cock throb in the confines of his tight leather pants.

Jesse grinned at the display of masculinity and massaged his own cock.

"Hell yes!"

As Jesse moved over in his usual graceful movements, Vince leaned back. There really wasn't anything better than being a big, black cowboy. Especially not with a partner like Jesse, who was always happy to make the nights in the wilderness a little less lonely.

Certainly not poor and lonesome! Also check out this awesome writer!

There are a few more versions of Jesse and Vince, over at my tip jar.

[deadbeat-motel]

ᑕᕼEᖇᖇIᗷOᗰᗷ ᗩᑎᗪ ᔕIᖇᑭEᑎTIOᑌᔕ ᖇEᗪEᔕIGᑎ

The last two designs for the main cast. With these two done, I can finally work on miscellaneous characters that I've been eyeing the most.

Again, thoughts below the cut:

My issues with their Original designs:

Sir Pentious:

I thought I would only have one thing to say about him (the unnecessary eyes) since he was my favorite in the entire original cast but having taken a closer look at him for this, I saw a lot of things that bothers me.

Too many eyes. specifically the lower half of his body has too many eyes and it seems detrimental to him. It's kind of painful to think about it since I do not think we ever see those eyes close. Is he just slithering on the ground with those exposed eyes? That's got to be irritating at best and damaged at worst as he continuously slithers on them.

There are eyes on the bowtie and the hat? There are already 4 extra eyes on his hood, so why have even more? I get that the original Pentious design was basically a monsterous amalgamation of eyes but the eye thing could have been scrapped altogether.

While his palette was the least red out of the cast (More so composed of yellows), it still blends in with the rest of the reds.

The claws are an unnecessary repeating design trait (Alastor and Vox notably have them too). I don't think it would've been too big of a difference to just keep his fingers fully black.

The stripes on his suit are too thick. It's called pinstripes for a reason.

I don't like how the hat is shaped to fit the head, It's awkward.

not a point, but I just wanted to say how the blue color palette works really well with him in that last episode.

CherriBomb:

She's not that bad of a design (She's sort of bland in my opinion) but it's the little small details about her that makes her so simple and also so complicated at the same time. There are so many batches of freckles scattered everywhere, little explosion lines on her skirt as well as the X on her chest, the tattoos are a jamble of random loops and bombs, and her tattering doesn't have an easy shape to consistently draw.

The thought process for these two:

Mx. Pentious:

Pentious goes by both Sir/Miss/Mx. but uses she/they pronouns.

Minimized the actual amount of eyes on her, I kept it only to her actual eyes and those on her hood.

Gave her a butterfly-shaped hood. It's nothing deep since it stems from the fact the notches in Sir Pentious' hood almost looked like one to my bad eyesight. I decided to play more into that idea.

I read some posts where people talk about how Sir Pentious should have a snout and while I understand why and fully support people giving him one, I really didn't want to add the snout to this design. It drove me crazy since I'm not a big fan of it. I tried a compromise where her head was shaped more like Phineas.

Kept the tophat but removed its eye and mouth. If I remember correctly, Viv took that from one of her co-workers from the pilot. I decided to just have it as a regular tophat.

It doesn't have all the colors, but her design does have the Neptunic flag.

I'm not sure if this even is a real snake but I based Mx. Pentious' design on this:

CherriBomb:

Scraped most of her features in exchange for a sukeban theme. I personally have zero knowledge about the punk scene in Australia.

A majority of the suggestions I received for her rough draft had something to do with the skirt. I elongated it and gave it a slit in which the magenta from the inside is able to pop out.

Thought it would be a cute detail to have her hair explode if she's angry.

----

Apologies this took too long to be posted, Life got in the way as well as the fact I was feeling shitty about Pentious' first draft. Her skin was an awkward and ugly shade of green and seeing some posts critical of Pentious' design got me to think a little bit more about what direction I'd like to move her redesign.

You could see this in the earlier rough sketches but this was how Pentious' first redesign looked like

[a-reader-and-a-writer]

Addicted to You

AI-Less Whumptober 2024: Day 19. Losing a Sense Fandom: Batman, Jason Todd, Red Hood, f!reader, dark!Jason Todd Summary: Kidnapped and locked in a room for months, your life has become nothing but Hood, the drug he gives you, and the pleasure you receive from both. But this time when it is time for your next dose, Hood is nowhere to be found... Word Count: 3073 TW: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Whump, Addiction, Drugs, Poison, Forced Drugging, Kidnapping, Locked Away, Extremely Dubious Consent, CNC, Sex Pollen-Like Drug, Thigh Riding, Getting Off in Front of Others, Withdraws, Pain, Sensory Loss, Sensory Overload Notes: Thank you to @ohtobeleah and @mayhem24-7forever for reading this over and encouraging me along the way 💗 Part of @ailesswhumptober's whumptober event

Whumptober 2024 Masterlist

It’s been too long. 

Hood should have been back to give you your next dose hours ago. He hasn’t let it get this bad since the beginning, back when this was meant as a punishment and not part of your normal routine. Ever since he realized his mistake, what the poison he fed into your system had done to you, he never pushed you past a mild discomfort. 

But right now, you were in agony. 

You look desperately towards the door as if you can somehow will him to appear, but it remains firmly shut. A low moan is pulled from your lips as the ache in your gut begins to shift into a stabbing pain and every nerve ending begins to prickle like needles under your skin. The short silk slip you always wear feels like sandpaper as does your satin sheets as you writhe against them, desperately seeking relief. But it’s not just the drug you need, it’s him: his skin pressed against yours, his heart beating against your cheek, his scent soothing your aching body. He has become as much of an addiction that your body craves as the liquid he injects into your veins. 

But he’s not here.

Curling into a ball in the center of your king-sized bed, you try to remember what it was like before he brought you here, before the endless cycle of euphoria and torment. But your brain can barely remember to keep breathing right now, let alone try to recall who you were before this room. No, for the past—had Hood mentioned it had been four months already?—your world consisted of this room, this bed, the drugs, and Hood. Nothing else mattered. 

But where was he?

Suddenly, the metal door to your room heaves open and you try to lift your head, only for it to fall limply back against the bed.

Struggling to gather enough strength to try again, you hear a voice call out, “B! She’s in here!”

“Hood….?” you whimper, your vision swimming too much to clearly make out the figure standing across the room.

“Oh my god.” 

As he hurries over to the bed, you are finally able to see this newcomer is— unfortunately—not Hood. This man is in a tight, dark one-piece costume with a splash of bright blue at the top that matches the mask he wears over his eyes. His dark hair falls across his face as he leans over to examine you. But as soon as he places a gloved hand on your head, you cower back as fresh pain rips through your body. It’s as if his hand is blazing hot and has seared its mark onto your skin. Even as he draws back, the pain remains, throbbing and burning with every pound of your racing heart. 

Unaware of what his touch has done to you, the stranger reaches out again as he coos in a soothing voice, “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to help.” 

You brace yourself for another wave of pain as his hand nears your shoulder, but then a familiar modulated growl pierces through the air. “No! Don’t touch her!” 

Your eyes snap to the door and you let out a small cry of relief as Hood storms into the room. As always, the sight of his smooth red helmet and glowing white eyes causes the painful knot in your chest to ease slightly. However, that relief quickly evaporates as you realize something is wrong. A man in yet another costume—this one black with a cape and pointed ears on top of his mask—has a tight grip on Hood’s arm and is practically dragging him into the room. He looks familiar and some sort of recognition stirs in the back of your mind, but you don’t care enough to focus on it. Right now, all you want is Hood and the drug.

“Hood…” You stretch one hand out, trying to reach him, but you’re in too much pain and he’s too far away. 

However, the movement is enough to spur Hood into action. He drops low and spins, freeing his arm from the man’s grasp. Then he sprints forward and dives onto the bed, gathering you into his arms in one fluid motion. Immediately, the painful prickling across your skin lessens and you snuggle your face into his chest. 

Weakly, you moan, “...gone so long…hurts…”

Hood rips off his gloves and runs his hand over the bare skin of your arm. It feels like cold water washing over a burn. You crawl deeper into him, curling like a kitten in his lap, as he whispers, “I know, baby, I know. I’m sorry. But I’m here now and I’ve got what you need.” 

He reaches into his jacket and pulls out the familiar glowing syringe. The need in your system now outweighs any pain. Eagerly, you push up your sleeve and hold your arm out to him. 

But as he takes it, the man with the pointed mask growls, “Jason!”

Hood looks up at him and you swear you can almost hear tears in his voice as he says, “I know, I fucked up. But if I don’t do this, she’ll die.” His glowing eyes drop back down to your face. His bare fingers trace the line of your jaw, and your eyes flutter closed with a wanton whine. “Please, just let me help her and I’ll go with you. No more fighting, I promise. I just have to save her…from what I did to her.”

The man hesitates for a moment—another moment the drugs aren’t coursing through your system. You squirm in Hood’s grasp, groaning as the mix of need and pain once again begins to become unbearable even with his touch dulling it. Finally, the man nods and Hood drives the needle into your arm.

The relief is instantaneous. You throw your head back with a euphoric gasp as the drug surges through your bloodstream. The prickling of your nerves shifts, where before there was pain, now there is only pleasure. Each brush of the bed sheet or your slip on your skin feels like a lover’s caress and you moan as the fiery tension begins to build in your core. It quickly reaches its peak and you wail in blissful relief as your eyes roll back into your head, your body collapsing forward against Hood. 

Panting softly, you bury your face into that small space between where his jacket and helmet meet. The small sliver of skin showing floods your senses with his essence. Your tongue slides against his skin, savoring the saltiness of the sweat formed there after his scuffle with the other two men. Already feeling the pleasure in your core building once more, you hum hazily against his neck.

Watching your lurid display, the man in the pointed mask asks, “What have you done to her?” The horrified disgust is obvious in his voice and though you know it is at least partly directed at you, you can’t make yourself care. Not with the drug flowing through your system and Hood cradling you in his arms. 

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I swear. She’s the one who told the Joker about my mom and how to lure me to that warehouse the night he killed me. I just…I just wanted her to have a taste of the pain, the hell, she put me through. But I never wanted this.” 

“What happened?”

“I paid Ivy to make a new toxin for me. It was only supposed to give her an unbelievable high with an even worse crash when it wore off. I was planning on giving her a few doses and then letting her go. I didn’t know she was already high when I grabbed her and gave her the first dose. She couldn’t tell me what it was but somehow the two drugs mixed together and altered how she responded to it.” 

You are barely listening to what Hood is saying. You’re annoyed he is giving these other two all of his attention and barely even touching you while the drug is at its most potent. With a frustrated huff, you swing one leg over his beefy thigh and begin grinding against him. Yet Hood barely reacts. His only acknowledgment is to place both hands on your hips to steady you as he continues speaking.

“This stuff was supposed to wear off after a few hours but only…it doesn’t. I tried to wait it out between doses as long as I could, thinking she might eventually come out the other side, but each time she almost died. So now I just keep giving her more when she starts to come down and before the after-effects get too much for her. She wasn’t supposed to go this long between doses, but you two got in my way.” 

“Why does she only respond to you?” The first man who entered the room finally speaks up. “When I touched her, she acted like it hurt her. But with you…” The man glances away as you continue to rut against Hood’s muscular thigh. 

“It’s my pheromones. Ivy said because I’m the one giving her the drug, whatever Ivy put in it is also making her addicted to…well, to me. And when she doesn’t have enough of the drug in her system, my touch helps ease some of the symptoms.” He runs his hand over your hair and it sends a shiver of pleasure through you causing you to tense up around his thigh. “But even that’s not enough. She needs regular doses or she’s going to die.”

“Does she know who you are?”

Hood shakes his head. “No. She's never even seen me with the helmet off.”

 “B, what do we do?” the first man asks.

The man in the pointed mask stares at you for a long time. You continue to grind on Hood’s thigh but you stare back at the man, cocking your head to the side. The familiar feeling you had when you first saw him returns, tickling at the back of your brain. “B” the other man had called him. Ba…Bat…Batman! The name suddenly pops into your blissed-addled brain. But that made no sense. Why would Batman be here? He helps people and you don’t need help. Not now that Hood was back and you had your drug. 

But he continued to stare at you for a long moment. Then, with a sigh, he says, “We take her back to the Cave. We’ll see if we can create some sort of antidote or cure for whatever Jason did to her. Hopefully, we can reverse this.”

“And…Jay?” The other man looks anxiously at Hood and you feel him tense beneath you. 

But Hood shouldn’t feel tense. He should feel just as amazing as he makes you feel. You begin to reach for the zipper on his tact pants but he gently pushes your hands away. You look at his helmet, staring at his unblinking glowing eyes trying to understand what he is doing. 

He cups your face—sending another warm bolt of pleasure through you—and he whispers, his voice modulated as always, “It’s okay, baby. It’s all gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.” Then he presses his helmet to your forehead, his version of a kiss, and lifts you off his lap so he can climb off the bed.

The sudden loss of his presence feels like a bucket of ice water has been thrown on you. The drug is still causing your pleasure sensors to go off like fireworks, but there is an emptiness without him near you. 

“Hood?” you ask, voice trembling as you reach out to him. 

Turning back to the bed, he gently scoops you into his arms and all is right in the world once more. You snuggle into his chest, your fingers digging tightly into his jacket so he can’t leave you again. He carries you past Batman, pausing to give him a slight nod. Then, for the first time in four months, he takes you from your room. 

Three months later, you stand before one of the cells in the Batcave containing the man who not long ago was more vital to you than food or air. Yet as you stare at him, he could be a stranger from off the street for all you knew. You had never actually seen his face since he never took off his helmet, never heard his voice not masked by his modulator. For the first time, you look into the eyes of the man who had destroyed your life and held you captive for so long. 

With a small tilt of your head, you say, “So…you’re Hood.”

Jason Todd nods from his seat on the floor of his cell. “I am.”

You hum slightly, your eyes shifting across his face as you soak in every detail. He’s so much younger than you expected—probably no more than twenty or so years old. The dark hair that falls across his face is marred by a thick streak of white on the left side. His blue eyes bore into yours, and you can tell he’s searching for something, maybe a spark of what you once felt for him or a raw hatred for what he had done. But you know he will find neither in your face. 

Clearing your throat, you say, “I’m not sure how much Bruce told you, but he managed to find a cure for what you did to me.”

Jason nods again. “He told me. He said it almost killed you a few times but you’ve made a full recovery.”

A soft smile pulls at your lips. “I wouldn’t say that.” But then you change the subject without elaborating. “Bruce also filled me in on our connected history. Apparently, when I was sixteen, I gave The Joker some information that he used to hurt you.”

Jason scoffs. “‘Hurt’? Is that what he told you?”

“Yes,” you reply. “I’m not doubting this didn’t happen but I don’t remember any of it. But that’s not surprising. Drugs had already taken over my life at that point and I was either high or looking for another way to get high 90% of the time. If The Joker offered me money or drugs, I’m pretty sure I would have done anything I had to to get my hands on it.”

Jason pulls his legs into his chest and wraps his arms around them. “That doesn’t excuse what you did or what happened to me because of it. But—” His eyes dart to your face then to the ground “—it also doesn’t justify what I did to you. I’m so sorry things turned out the way they did. I never wanted to hurt you like that, bab—” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I-I shouldn’t call you that anymore I guess. It’s just that after a while, with us in that room together, I actually fell for you. The things I said, what we did, I meant all of them. I know it’s crazy and you probably despise even looking at me right now, but it’s true.”

“I don’t hate you.” 

Jason’s head shoots up. “You...you don’t?”

“No,” you say flatly. “I guess I’m supposed to hate you or be disgusted to be standing here in front of you or something, but I don’t. I don’t feel anything when I look at you…because I can’t. Whatever Bruce did to save me from those drugs you gave me, I’m now just numb. Like all my senses were overloaded and now…there’s nothing. I can’t even feel physical sensations. I burnt my hand yesterday making tea because I forgot the kettle was hot.” You hold up your thickly bandaged hand then let it fall. “Luckily, Dick was around and noticed before it got too bad.” 

His face contorts into sheer horror as the full ramifications of what he’s done hits him. Half sobbing, he cries, “I’m so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. I just…I just wanted you to know how it felt…”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” you say. “And you don’t have to apologize. Like I said, I don’t feel anything. There’s no hate, no pity, no longing, no shame. I’m just…” you hesitate as you search for the words. Eventually, you just shrug. “I don’t know what I am. But Bruce thought it might give both of us some closure seeing what has become of the other so that’s why I’m here. But, honestly, I have nothing more to say. Goodbye, Jason.”

As you turn and begin to walk away, he cries out, “Please!” His hand juts through the bars of the cage as he presses his face against it, his eyes pleading and wet with tears. “Just…can you accept my apology? I know it means nothing to you, but it’d mean everything to me. I can’t…I can’t live with what I’ve done to you without that.” 

He’s right. It doesn’t mean anything to you so you figure why not. Reaching out, you take his hand.

And immediately drop to the floor as an immense rush of pleasure floods your body. Every nerve fires at once and your vision goes white as you come with the most intense orgasm of your life. Not even the combination of the drug and Jason buried deep inside you had ever felt like this. After so long feeling nothing, feeling that much pleasure at once is overwhelmingly euphoric. When your vision returns, you find yourself drooling and twitching on the Batcave floor.

He releases your hand and everything begins to fade until you can’t feel anything again. Yet just as the numbness begins to overtake you, he grabs your hand again sending the overwhelming sensation through you once more. It’s not as intense as the first time, but it still leaves you gasping and moaning in pure bliss. 

“God damn…I can’t believe it worked.”

Slowly, you lift your head to stare at the man still holding your hand. “H-Hood?”

The tears are gone from his eyes, their blue flashing dangerously in the dim light. Slowly, a cruel smile creeps across his face and he coos, “There she is. There’s my girl.” His hand cups your cheek causing your eyes to flutter as heat rushes to your core. “Now, how about we get outta here?”

Tag list: @green-socks, @mayhem24-7forever, @blue-aconite, @ohtobeleah, @writercole

@sunshineflowerchild789, @wildbornsiren, @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy, @schaarfyx, @merlehs

[lopposting]

The major question of the story that we are now asking:

Why, exactly, does Carlo never "wake up"?

[long post]

[Spoilers ahead]

Well, simply put - Because he is dead.

OK, that seems like too obvious an answer, but I'll elaborate, and bear with me here. I want to recap some elements first so you know where I'm coming from, but I'm also trying not to completely explain everything because that's way too hard and would be too long.

[Currently, we don't understand everything about the story or its meaning. Because of some of the shrouded nature of the lore and narrative, it leaves much mystery. But from viewing these questions and the story from a thematic standpoint, something unexpected and really cool happened. I found that the story and the lore opened up in reverse.]

The easiest way to explain the plot (in my opinion):

It was my impression that Geppetto never “started” the puppet frenzy. The puppets were NEVER breaking the grand covenant, interpretably they are protecting humans by stopping the spread of the petrification disease, it’s just that everyone in the city was infected by that point. 

Now with the puppets killing everybody in a city where everyone was infected (ergo being the result of the disease) Simon can go around harvesting all that ergo and Geppetto presumably plays him by letting Simon collect the Ergo first, and then sending P to kill him. [again, these details may not be completely accurate, but bear with me here]

Why create P in the first place?

He's made in Carlo's image so to speak because Geppetto hopes that Carlo's spirit will awaken. This is also why P is never bound to the covenant (it seems that not being bound to robot laws makes puppet egos awaken faster, since awakened puppets can break the grand covenant). So that is the two functions of P, to destroy puppets for ergo to harvest and so Carlo's consciousness can restore. I was just guessing that the arm of god was enough to get Carlo to revive, and Carlo's mental spirit reviving would be helpful but not entirely necessary. But for reasons we don't understand, Carlo never does regain consciousness.

Geppetto bitterly tells us that we don't seem to have inherited Carlo's memories. There is no big moment where Pinocchio or Pino or P reawakens, fully, as Carlo. He isn’t treated by the story as him. During the course of the game, P struggles to forge his own identity, to become a real boy, despite starting as a copy of the original. It’s a very fitting parable for the genre identity of a soulslike.

However, there are other successful re-incarnations of people through puppets, namely Sophia at the end of the Rise ending. We ask, for consistency's sake, why are puppet-form Romeo and puppet-form Sophia assumed to have retained their original identities, but not Pino? This is just my personal interpretation of why Carlo just couldn't or doesn't wake up. It isn't really based any lore or deduction from story details, this is from more of a philosophical point of view. And it isn't just the luck of the draw.

I had some initial thoughts about Carlo's failure. Romeo was made with intention of continuing to fight against the disease, as it's told that he "made a deal with the devil". Sophia may have been a special case, as she is a listener (Arlecchino even refers to her as the goddess in the tower), she may have had an ergo identity so strong that her essential self could retain this process. But either way, the implication is that Pino may have been able to recover her not long after that final fight. Look at the nameless puppet. The state of Carlo's body is so poor, that more than not his body seems to have been replaced with puppet parts. I think the implication was that Geppetto had been replacing parts as they rotted away. Maybe he had simply been dead for too long. But again, this isn't exactly why I think he couldn't awaken.

Simon and Geppetto

Lies has two main antagonists, although one isn't completely revealed until the last section. Both Simon and Geppetto are the perpetrators of Krat's destruction, but for what seems like different reasons. Simon is trying to be reborn, and Geppetto is trying to revive his dead son, Carlo. Interpretably, they are both trying to become Gods. Simon by grasping the supernatural, cosmic power of one, and Geppetto by raising the dead. They have destroyed Krat in their attempt to become a god, or more succinctly put, attempting to become God, singular. Geppetto's goal is, in essence, the same as Simon's goal - Because bringing back the dead would make him God.

That's why it seemed all so confusing. Haven't Geppetto and the alchemists already raised the dead, as Pino does at the end of the Rise ending with Sophia? Sophia, Romeo, and Carlo were all afflicted with the disease. Their Ergo were all made into puppets, but there's a minor but important distinction here. Sophia is still alive in her condition and actively suffering, this is the reason why she asks us to end her life. It seems as though Romeo lost his friend to the disease, and then made a "deal with the devil" to continue fighting, this implies being made into the king of puppets. We collected Sophia's ergo while she was alive, which we then used to animate the puppet. So the three of them were afflicted with the petrification disease. Sophia perished, Romeo perished, but Carlo died.

Now if we see the sand memories section of the beach, the stalker's words start to gain some clarity. If Carlo died from an incurable disease that the stalker couldn't prevent, why is she too late? Perhaps the goal was never to "save" Carlo's life. She laments; That she was too late, NOT to "save" him, but for him to be able to be restored. The stalker seemed to understand that whatever procedure needed to be done would be useless past the point of death.

I have to admit that there was something that I thought could override my theory. It seems as though the alchemists already were able to bring back both Champion Victor and The Eldest of the BRB, and from the dead no less. We read from notes in the Grand Exhibition that Victor had caught the disease, died to the despair of his adoring fans, but then miraculously made a comeback somehow stronger than ever. But maybe - he had only appeared to be brought back from the dead to the public, as Victor sought the help of the alchemists. And when it comes to the Eldest in the coffin, I'm wondering if he was actually only mortally wounded, leading the brotherhood to consult with the alchemists. [The way he was carried out by his brothers too (shouldered on either side) isn't typically the way you would expect people would handle a dead person]

Mirroring Sophia, Romeo, and Pinocchio, who were made into puppets: There is Champion Victor, The Eldest, and Nameless Puppet. We can see the former three as Geppetto's method of "cheating" God (cheating Death), and the latter three as alchemists' method. Only "Carlo" has a form in either one - The Nameless Puppet and the player, P. The Nameless puppet appears to share a similar undead quality with Victor and The Eldest of the BRB (including the tubes). We know that the collected Ergo can animate puppets, They are puppeting around their own dead bodies.

I feel like the Nameless Puppet tells us in a poetic way that Carlo is gone. My thoughts on this are more abstract. Again, this isn't from a factual analysis, but more of from viewing the Nameless Puppet itself as a metaphor. The Nameless puppet has qualities similar to the other undead bosses, yet the game doesn't describe it like it does Victor and the Eldest. It's not a body. It is a puppet [Human on the outside, mechanical on the inside - the inverse of our protagonist]. And straight in the text, we are told this is "The Nameless Puppet". But we know who Carlo was. His name was Carlo. We split open its head, and there are only cold, mechanical parts, instead of what we in the modern world now regard as the very most essential self (the brain). Because there was nothing to recover, there is no one there. Carlo's spirit had long, long since departed the world.

We are also told through one of the game's narrative devices that the Nameless puppet was the first puppet fitted with the organ. Ostensibly, Carlo's body was being prepared for whatever procedure that needed to take place, but Carlo died before that could happen (perhaps thankfully), and Geppetto pushed forward with his plans anyway, perhaps past the point of no return.

There are two forms of revival and we represent one of them, as in, there was the puppet form of Carlo and the undead form of Carlo. Presumably, the undead form was incredibly destructive, and thus stored away; We are the second try for Carlo's rebirth, this time in the puppet form, but we cannot even wake up without the aid of Sophia.

Lies, God, and the Finality of Death

But doesn't Geppetto actually succeed in one of the endings? Simon fails to become a god, (well, presumably only because we kill him in the process of doing so) and then we confront Geppetto. If we hand over our heart, Geppetto actually does revive Carlo. We see the resurrected Carlo, but with one simple smile we realize this isn't the Carlo the game has been leading us to believe existed. This ending leaves us with distrust and unease rather than a sense of peace and resolution. Simon fails to become a god, and at the bad ending - even if he "wins" - the game makes us wonder if So does Geppetto. No matter what, Carlo could NEVER be truly, and in both senses of the word, honestly, be revived.

[Simon Manus - like Simon Magus, the biblical figure who tries to buy into the supernatural power of God. And Geppetto, of course alluding to the 1883 italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio - a puppet master, a creator indeed, but of wooden imitations of life, and a poor imitation of God]

So, why I think Carlo could not wake up? Because whatever needed to happen could not be done after the actual point of death, and Sophia and Romeo's hearts were both transferred before they actually died. His spirit had long gone from this world. Krat has methods of eternal life, but these transfers happened while they were still alive. While the alchemists and Geppetto could certainly cheat death (as we maybe even would with modern day medicine), they could not defeat it. Carlo can no longer wake up, Carlo can never wake up again, because he is dead.

[marciabrady]

here are some sleeping beauty plot points/general details that i love and i would love to see more discussion around

the story team did such an incredible job with fleshing out aurora while still making her feel true to the mythos from which she was derived. in every novelization i've ever read that predates the disney film, she's only ever given one line of dialogue (something like: "what is that thing that spins so merrily?") before falling asleep. disney took that same princess and successfully expanded her into a living, breathing dynamic human who is filled with everything- ethos, pathos, everything, but is also authentic to her origins. they also did a genius job at creating a basis for why love is so revered in this tale. true love conquers all, we're told, and it's indeed what keeps aurora safe from maleficent for all these years, as it's the one thing the evil fairy can't understand. yet, the fact that the princess grew up surrounded by the love from the three fairies, which instills that care in her heart, along with the fact that she grows up in isolation, so connected to the universe around her and allowing her to be introspective enough to observe the animals about her and draw a connection to the human condition and that of the consistencies of nature is so...deep and profound and develops her and makes her an evergreen character that will always represent people, for as long as we're around, because aurora's struggle is one that speaks to everyone. she isn't just some "lovesick princess" but a character that's growing up and longs to be able to find her soul's mate and to express the love in her heart in a universe where she was socially excluded and deprived of others outside of her three guardians. as humans are tribal creatures, social inclusion is one of the main pillars of wellbeing. so to take aurora, who is already an innately romantic person, and to deprive her of that just gives all the more reason why the kiss of true love really would revive her. she isn't just some princess who grows to be fifteen or sixteen, pricks her finger, and then is awakened by a prince she never meets. she is someone who was raised in love, grows up and wants to become a woman and share that love and express it with someone else. when she finds it, it's suddenly stripped from her and she's induced into a magic slumber that's meant to symbolize her transformation from girl to woman. then, she's awakened by the same love she'd thought she lost and it's just...the structure of it is genius and incredible and they retain all of the qualities about her in the fairytale and storytelling devices but they develop it so much further and round her out so well but still maintain a reverence to her source material instead of condemning it or outright changing it and i just LOVE

i don't think enough people realized that, it wasn't until maleficent visited prince phillip in the dungeon and showed him the vision of aurora in slumber repose that he knew that aurora and briar rose were one in the same!!! like this is the moment it all clicked for him and it gave him the drive and determination to slay the dragon in her honor. he realized the woman he loved and the princess he had been betrothed to were both one and that's so important and it's just such a plot twist that, again, was so genius of the writers. it proves to us that he loves her enough to leave the kingdom for her and risk damning the princess he had been betrothed to to the curse she was under and he'd take her as she is, even if it were a peasant, but also that his love is so steadfast and true that he'd defeat a dragon for her. 10/10 and it sooo runs along the vein of the lyric "visions are seldom all they seem." this is a plot twist done RIGHT but with so much sophistication that it tends to fly under most everyone's radar because it isn't like loud

something i love about the original princess movies is how the female characters are forever in the forefront, and the fact that this film opens with the celebration of the birth of a female child is something that's so special! instead of having to think about how female children weren't celebrated in that time, or it was a disappointment she hadn't been a son, or something of the like, the fact that the spotlight is on their daughter and the opening of the film continues this matriarchy, where all in the land praise this female birth, before the fairies are introduced as their most "honored and exalted excellencies." we need to see more worlds like this instead of pixar films where there's like not a single main female character lol

THE FACT THAT PHILLIP WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP THE THRONE AND THE KINGDOM "for some nobody" and told his dad flat out to his face without hesitating makes me love him soooo much?? he loves aurora for who she is, not just because she was a princess to whom he had been betrothed to his entire life, and this proves how genuine his love is. it also paints how progressive and open-minded phillip was, seeming to be the first that would ever break the tradition of princes marrying princesses and opening up his country for a new type of culture and reign. love me a freak like that

one of the biggest facets to aurora's character, and something that further develops her relationship to phillip, is how differently she reacts to her guardians when told of the betrothal. where phillip already knows, and is aware of the king and queen and how his duty is to marry their princess daughter, aurora is just finding out that she has living parents for the first time and the future of a nation rests on her shoulders. she discovers she's to be married to a prince and must give up her true love forever. again, before i hear anything about "she just met this man for two minutes in the woods, why is she crying," this is a fairytale with magic that's meant to be archetypical. in the narrative of the film, and in the universe of this world, phillip is her true love- and this is confirmed when it is his kiss that awakens her from the curse. so to leave the one true love who was meant for you, when that's all you ever wanted in the isolation you were raised in, to accept your duty and responsibility over parents you didn't even know you had and to assume the obligations of a nation you aren't even prepared for...it's astounding. aurora does everything right, she even leaves love behind for the good of her people and puts everyone above her own personal desires, and yet people still criticize her and say she's dependent on a man and all she cares about is love. meanwhile, phillip never receives any hate, and he's literally willing to give up the throne and the kingdom and start a war between two countries for the girl "he just met in the woods for two minutes" but he's one of the most beloved princes...it really just makes me think about how misogynistic our society still is, without even realizing it. aurora literally couldn't have done anything better, by our modern standards, but people still condemn her just because? this is definitely a discussion piece i want to hear more about and, in general, i think it would behoof us all to understand why aurora has been so demeaned culturally as a character when her actions, in and of themselves, are exactly what we say we want and would appeal to modern sensibilities

this is a slight sidenote but i always was tickled by merryweather proclaiming, if she had it her way, maleficent would be turned into a "fat old hop-toad." i always felt like this was a nod to the original tale from which this movie was based on, where a magical frog tells the queen that her wish to be with child shall soon be granted and that it, just generally, was a very clever easter egg/allusion

in this film, they have enough action and movement to appease the more restless demographic/traditionally "masculine" crowd, but i love how the basis of maleficent's defeat lies still in the femininity of the three good fairies. it's these elderly women that save phillip from the dungeon and arm him, not just with weapons that will kill another being and are predicated upon violence, but with symbolic weapons that are laced with truth and virtue. i think it really reminds us all how transformative these values are and how, in arming ourselves with them, we'll alone be able to navigate the road to true love (whether that be familial, platonic, or romantic love) which will be "barred by many more dangers" and how it enables us to have a sense of autonomy where we'll be able to overcome anything that's thrown our way while still retaining the core of who we are

i wrote about this moment previously, but to piggyback off of what i wrote about phillip just above...i love how aurora is the most competent human in this world? much has been said about how the plot of sleeping beauty is essentially the fairy worlds dueling with one another and, in that, many of the mortals are somewhat...inept, to put it for lack of a better term. king stefan is unable to protect his daughter with the burning of the spinning wheels, even with all the power he harnesses within his kingdom, and the fairies are quick to see his folly. prince phillip would still be rotting in the prison had the fairies not interjected, and he would be burned to a crisp had they not sprung a final chant of magic upon his, already, enchanted sword. yet, maleficent has to hypnotize aurora for the princess to even succumb to her plan and, even then, aurora is temporarily able to snap out of the magic hypnosis she's put under. i don't think people realize how powerful that is? yes, i understand it's a minor moment, but the hesitation and the ability to counter magic while remaining totally unarmed is something that reminds me why aurora is our main character, despite what anyone else might say.

going along with what i said above, while many are quick to point out aurora's lack of screentime, the film begins with her birth, the plot is sprung forth with every character wondering what they could do to protect her, then when she pricks her finger upon the spinning wheel, she and the entire kingdom are put to sleep. it isn't until she wakes up, that the entire kingdom does, too. she holds the key to this entire universe in a persephone like way and i just love how important it is in the narrative of the film to wake her up. she isn't just this beautiful creature who's valuable because she's pretty, because if that was the case, her being a lovely figure posed to perfection in her slumbering mode would be enough...but the people of her universe value her so much more when she's alive and active and being her own person, that it ensues a fairy war, practically. she's also involved in every single plot, even if she isn't physically present. this is her movie and no one can take that away from her. but, just to restate, the fact that there's so much emphasis in aurora being alive and well is something that's so important

so, it's kind of a given at this point that every princess can sing, but i think the role that music plays in sleeping beauty is the most meaningful and well done? sleeping beauty makes much to do about its classical score and it skillfully combines realistic characters and storylines (like the fairies not knowing how to cook and clean, phillip being captured with no way out, the kings toasting to the impending nuptials of their offspring before getting into a quarrel centered around a misunderstanding) with the fantastical world of fantasy and opera. by giving aurora the gift of song, the narrative is creating a framework that explains her relationship to her singing voice in a way that's even more profound than that of ariel's connection with her singing. it explains why aurora sings more than she speaks and ties in perfectly with the thematic style of the operatic presence in sleeping beauty, which is that in the opera, instead of speaking about it, you sing.

OK but this scene of hubert's/his general plotline and character motivation that results from this is genuinely perhaps the best comedy disney's ever done? hubert is coming off of declaring war upon his best friend stefan, because he misunderstood stefan's caring for his own daughter as a snub against hubert's son. after challenging aurora's father to a duel, they quickly make up, before hubert hears phillip has arrived and rushes off to greet his son. there, the news is broken that phillip is actually in love with a peasant and that he plans to renounce the throne- which will actually cause a war- so that he can be with his beloved. hubert is convinced phillip is joking, especially as he happens to meet this mystery maiden on the date that aurora is set to come home- the most anticipated date for these past sixteen years in the kingdom- and his son is set to be a central figure in the celebration for the princess's homecoming! before he can reason with phillip, his son escapes, leaving hubert to be the one to break the news to stefan. heavy-hearted, as hubert tries to tell stefan, he keeps being interrupted by trumpets and the musical notes that are meant to accompany the princess in her debut to her country. then the fairies literally put hubert to sleep when he finally gets a chance to explain it to stefan and, when they're awoken from this fog like slumber, the first vision that greets hubert is that of his son and the princess??? the same son who said he had no interest in aurora, but was set to marry the peasant maiden. the whole thing concludes in a very charming "all's well that ends well" but i still think the whole "how am i ever going to tell stefan" dilemma, while continually being interrupted, and this king who declared war in 2 seconds flat and minced no words in being so short-tempered was suddenly at a loss for words and so hesitant and fumbling and nervous about this news his son sprung on him lol

one of the most haunting sequences in film is the one above. the three good fairies have endeared themselves to their mortal charge, even giving up their magic for her for sixteen years. their bond is so much deeper and meaningful than it would've been otherwise, as they probably would've blessed her at the christening and then only appeared in her life intermittently, at a distance. they clearly aren't close enough to humans to know too much about their customs, and their magic always gives them away as outsiders, which indicates they were always content to live in their own fairy-world. but then they give it all up for this baby, this child, and they change their entire world for her. she is their world, to the point where their sole purpose is protecting her, until that's all they can think about for close to two decades. they would do anything they could to make her happy, to give her a fighting chance at life. they're so protective over her- and the fact that they got this close to the finish line...only to leave her alone because they want to be respectful of giving her privacy as she's still reeling and processing from all the news they sprung about her at once. they were even discussing going to king stefan and attempting to convince him to let aurora out of the arranged marriage so that she could be with the boy in the woods. and this all leads to maleficent enchanting aurora to her demise. as the fairies place her in a bed for the last time, looking upon her in her princess form, all of the time they've spent with her runs through their mind. how this isn't their little briar rose anymore, but a princess who inhabits, not the woodcutter's cottage, but king stefan's castle. someone who will never be with them the way she once was ever again and who, presently, is dead for all they know. as they look upon their lost daughter, the faint chimes and musical notes of the celebration of her homecoming is heard in the distance. i could talk about this forever but it's just such a heartbreaking and sad but also eerie mood

in 2023, it's time king stefan gets his flowers. while, in the time period in which this film is set, it'd be totally realistic for a father to set his daughter up in an arranged marriage to further the prospects of his land, stefan displays an understanding that seems more contemporary than his counterpart, hubert. hubert doesn't think about prince phillip's feelings for a beat and concedes that the "children" are bound to fall in love with one another. meanwhile, stefan seems to display a much more well-rounded paternal instinct, even exemplifying a degree of care and concern for both aurora's emotional wellbeing and her consent. he urges hubert to calm down and remember that this might come as "quite a shock" to aurora and to not push all of these political arrangements upon his daughter before she's had a chance to react to them and digest them.

the duality of briar rose and princess aurora is so fascinating, but also the moments in which they overlap is more enchanting still. this is a fairytale that is meant to be archetypical, and aurora's enchanted slumber is meant to be symbolic for her transition from girlhood to womanhood. briar rose, the girl, is anxious about her future, the prospect of meeting her love and settling down and getting to the next stage of her life. she loves her guardians, but is frustrated at their inability to see and treat her as anything other than a child. she goes to sleep a scared, shy, unsure teenager and wakes up as a self-assured, mature, gracious woman- the princess aurora. she's a vision, descending the staircase on the arm of her beloved, and she paints quite the picture as she gracefully curtsies to her parents, the king and queen. yet, true to the girl from the cottage, briar rose takes over. unable to contain the love she feels, she bolts forward and rushes to embraced her lost parents. i love this because, for as calm as a character as aurora is, i've always been so mesmerized by the breathless excitement with which she speaks when she returns to the cottage. this is a girl that has more love inside her than she can contain and it renders her a beacon of light. her running into the arms of her parents, instead of resenting them for giving her up, putting her in an arranged marriage, or even pausing to question whether or not she should be so warm with these figureheads of state, is such a tender moment that i don't think i've ever heard anyone speak of.

i will never get tired of singing the praises of the three good fairies. this film placed three older, conventionally unattractive women at the forefront- without pushing forced hetero ships on any of them- and allowed them to be bad ass (ie saving phillip from the dungeon, providing him with the tools and guidance with which to defeat maleficent, coming up with all the plots and actions that propelled the plot forward), while reminding us that love and kindness is truly the most powerful force on earth and placing an emphasis on the strength and power of femininity. the entire transition, from them being business women in the kingdom essentially (this is more in modern jargon; them being the fairies who are invited to political organizations for their contributions and not knowing anything about things like cooking or cleaning or rearing a child) to learning how to raise a baby and the film ending with them beaming over the shining achievement of their assigned charge finally being safe and happy is...it's everything. how beautifully the film focuses on them and the relationship with their adopted daughter and how that's the driving goal in all of this is something that's been unable to ever be surpassed

[domainedewinter]

A night to learn - Part 2/2

Summary: Aemond woke up in the middle of the night to hear his brother running from the house, again. He found him and decided to give him what he needed to keep him with him.

Warnings: DUBCON, TYPICAL TARGARYEN INCEST, profanity, innuendo, he/him pronouns, , fingering, oral m receiving, toxic behaviour, SoftDom!Aemond, MxM, begging, nsfw.

Rating: 18+, MDNI

English is not my first language.

Aegon's moans filled the room in an utterly humiliating manner; If a few hours earlier he had known that he would find himself under his little brother, moaning like this, he would never have believed it.

Aemond was in private as he always was: meticulous and perfectly in control of himself and of the one in his hands. Aegon even wondered what experience his brother had to do this with such ease.

Because the very thought that his brother had slept with other people seemed incredible to him.

Aemond's hand had left the elder's cock to pull down his pants, growling in frustration, as if the fact that he was wearing clothes upset him. He took a moment to pull back his body and head, just enough to look at him and his gaze only burned Aegon’s skin in a new way. He felt his cheeks flush violently and turned his head over his shoulder when his mouth was free. “Aem.. what... are you..?”

“Shht, let me look at you. You’re not usually modest, why be so now.”

Aegon was not suffering from excessive modesty, he was simply not reassured to ignore his younger brother's thoughts.

Aegon swallowed hard, jumping when a hand wandered over his back and down to his ass, the fingers he himself had moistened coming to caress the entrance to his body. A breath caught in his throat and he tensed, but soon Aemond grabbed him by the hair again to pull his head back, making him groan.

“Relax. Since you run into dangers and strangers every night, I’ll make sure I find a way to put an end to this.”

As he spoke, his thumb pressed harder against his brother's puckered hole and Aegon wanted to lower his head and muffle his moans against the mattress, something Aemond did not allow him.

“Please…don’t…don’t hurt me.”

For a second, Aemond stopped moving, looking at him almost in shock, then furrowed his thin silver eyebrows. But soon, he regained consistency and pressed his burning chest against Aegon's stiff and almost trembling back, now drawing small circles against his entrance, forcing the elder's body to open for him.

His lips came to curl against his ear.

“If I want to hurt you, if I want to ravage your ass to the point you're unable to walk for the next few days, then I'll do it, again and again until you learn your lesson, brother.”

A sob of fear escaped Aegon who wanted to turn around, but once again, he was not allowed to do so, placing his hands against the mattress ready to struggle more if his little brother followed through on his threats. He was scared now, as scared as Aemond wanted him to be.

“But that’s not what I want to do to you. It will only be the last solution if the first does not put you in line.” With the tip of his tongue, he gently licked Aegon's earlobe, who shivered, this time with pleasure, and bit his lip, impatient to know what Aemond had in mind. “I’m going to take care of filling your pretty little ass, so full of me that you won’t be able to think about anything else. I’m going to make you cum so hard, feel so overwhelmed submitting to me and loving it, that you’ll never run outside again.”

As he finished his sentence, Aemond gave the elder no chance to respond, pushing his thumb fully into him several times before replacing it with his index and middle fingers, but Aegon leaned further on the bed, trying to escape the intrusion.

“Aemond, it’s too fast…slow down…you’re going too fast.” His voice was hoarse and breathless, the sensation making sweat bead on his body and it only made Aemond's predatory smile widen. “Nothing is ever too much for you, you always want more so believe me, I won’t stop until you are ready to welcome my cock inside you.”

Nibbling his ear now, he reveled in the way Aegon's ass clenched around his fingers and how, when he made a movement that was as calculated as it was precise, Aegon almost cried out with pleasure.

“Shh, there it is, that feels good doesn’t it? Now relax. I love hearing you scream but I want to make sure you're ready to take me inside you, because that's what you're going to do, right? Let me open your perfect ass until my cock can burn you from the inside out.”

A sinister, impatient laugh escaped him. “And you’re going to love it.”

Violently withdrawing his fingers, causing a certain frustration and incomprehension in Aegon, he stood up and quickly freed both of them of the last barriers that the clothes created around their bodies, the last barrier between them.

Aemond's long, thin fingers returned to tangle in his brother's shaggy hair as he stood up, placing the latter's face right in front of his manhood.

“Now make that mouth useful and make my cock nice, hard and wet enough to split you open.”

Aegon knew the moment he met his brother's gaze that this wasn't going to be gentle, that he wasn't going to take the same precautions with his mouth as he did with his ass but decided to not provoke him despite everything.

“Open your mouth, tongue out.”

He obeyed, and when Aemond's cock slid along his tongue, he could taste the salty taste of desire that must have been building in the younger brother during the last few minutes. Finding it strange at first, he began to close his lips around his brother's length and sucked, loving the weight of his desire on his tongue and the murmurs of pleasure it created from him. His hands came to grip his angular hips and quickly, Aemond made him speed up the movement, guiding his head as he wanted, and when he hit the back of his throat, he felt the heat tightening on him but was surprised not to see Aegon try to fight him off. Instead, he welcomed him as much as possible and let him fuck his face, tears rolling down his cheeks and his lips red and bruised from the assault.

“You do this very well, brother, really well. If I had known that your mouth could one day bring me so much pleasure.”

He chuckled darkly before picking his brother up and throwing him onto the bed. Aegon fell onto his back, panting, his face turned messy just as Aemond found he liked it. “Lie down, grab your legs under your knees and pull them up.”

Since Aegon seemed hesitant, understanding how open and vulnerable the position would make him, Aemond decided to take matters into his own hands, putting them under Aegon's knees and pushing until his knees touched his chest.

“Hold them.”

With an uncertain nod, Aegon obeyed and looked down to see his cock throbbing and leaking, his legs spread and his entrance on full display for his brother. He would then be able to use it exactly as he wished, his shameless eye looking where it would very soon sink into him.

Aemond spat into his hand, making a mental note to bring a more suitable lubricant for the next time because, next time there would be, and spread his saliva along his shaft, slowly before positioning the top of his cock to the entrance to his body.

“Eyes on me when I take what’s mine, watch me fuck you.”

The boldness and confidence of this man would always amaze Aegon, especially after knowing the uncertain and frightened little boy he had sometimes been.

Aegon's gaze locked with his, staring into his single lilac eye as he entered him, pushing all the way in, slowly but without stopping, not giving him time to adjust before he was completely in him, up to the hilt.

The vice of flesh around him was velvet, vibrating and burning and it was the best feeling Aemond had ever experienced. If until now he had already thought about starting again, he was now certain that he would never want to stop.

“Aemond!! It burns!”

“Breathe, love, breathe.” With his fingertips, he brushed back some silver curls that fell on his brother's forehead, caressing him gently just before leaning down and kissing him, swallowing the moan of pain that escaped his lips.

“Your body will get used to me. Let me make you feel good.”

His other hand snaked between their bodies to find his brother's cock and begin stroking it up and down, already finding it hard. With his thumb, he came to play on the top before starting again but still without moving inside of Aegon. 

He gave him a few indulgent seconds to adjust, his breath short and his heart pounding, until Aegon's tear-filled eyes soothed and his body relaxed, his hands roaming over his shoulders and he clings to him, nodding gently, giving Aemond the sign he had been waiting for to resume.

His thrusts were precise and deep, as if he were looking for something and, the minute he found it, a catlike smile appeared on his lips as he heard Aegon groan in surprise, his large lilac eyes wide with astonishment, questioning. 

“It’s good, right here, hm?

Another thrust and Aegon wondered why he found himself unable to contain his pleasure, why his whole body was numbed by this sensation he had never felt before and which electrified his body with desire.

He could feel his brother's manhood thrusting in and out of him with such force that he wondered if he would ever get up again. “The next time I fuck you, it will be on your hands and knees, and I will make you scream loud, so loud, I can’t wait to ravage your pretty little ass on display just for me.. but for tonight, I want to see your face, and I want to be sure that you see mine at the moment when you are completely lost in pleasure.”

A strange apprehension passed through Aegon's body, a pleasant fear, a promise that made him long for that next time to come.

But soon his thoughts had to cease their wandering, forcibly, because only pleasure had a place in his mind, completely clouded with it, having eyes only for his little brother who had become such a fierce man.

Aegon nodded frantically, tightening his grip on Aemond's shoulders.

“Aemond.. I.. I can’t hold on any longer, I feel weird.”

Of course he felt strange but since no one had ever done this to him before, he could only guess that he was going to cum, not used to feeling it from the inside.

Aemond's smile disappeared, giving way to the seriousness that usually characterized him when he relentlessly tapped, again and again on that spot that made Aegon scream.

“Hu-hu,” he scolded, “If you want to cum, ask politely.”

Aegon growled, hating being ordered around and never having had to belittle himself like this during an intimate act, usually being the one to say his words. However, he obeyed, feeling that Aemond's authority sent other electric and exhilarating waves through his body.

“Please, let me cum, please, please..” he began to whisper like a prayer and it was with indulgence that Aemond responded to his desire, fucking him and stroking his cock on the verge of exploding faster as he was pounding him from the inside.

Aegon arched his back, his breath caught and his moans swallowed by his brother as he came.

He didn't know how long the pleasure lasted through him but he could have put his hand to it as he had never had an orgasm so long and so good, so powerful.

A muffled moan from his plump, bruised lips echoed as his brother withdrew, and when he was finally able to open his eyes again, Aegon rolled onto his side, turning towards Aemond who was lying on his stomach, near him.

“Are you full enough of me to be calm now? Just know that if you’re not, the minute your unruly little mind wakes up again, I’ll be there to fuck you again.”

A slight and almost shy smile appeared on Aegon's face. "Is it a promise?"

This response surprised Aemond who chuckled, crossing his arms under his head to rest his cheek on them and look at him.

Aegon ran his hand through his hair to brush back his light curls then sat up on his elbows, running his fingers over his brother's shoulders.

Since he let himself be done, Aegon continued, going down on his back then placing his hand on his little brother's ass, looking up at him.

“Hmm?” the youngest asked, seeing the interest flash in his brother's eyes but wanting to hear what was on his mind. "What's up?"

Aegon seemed to hesitate for a moment, coming to press a little closer against his brother while continuing to caress his back and ass. “And you, will you let me do it? Will you let me take you?” He had lost his temper at his brother's directives, had let Aemond drag him to their house and use him, use his body as he wished, but now that he was completely sober of fear and apprehension he had felt, his body warming and calming after Aemond had taken care of it, he was regaining confidence.

“After all, baby brother, I’m pretty sure the only gift our parents gave me was a perfect little brother to fuck. Just for me.” Aemond didn't show it visibly but a little smirk appeared at the corners of his lips, amused at the idea of ​​exchanging roles and even if he had said nothing, neither nodded nor refused, Aegon already knew that the answer was yes.

[xxfrankiesteinksxx]

small details in the dnpc video no one is mentioning

okay, look, i'm gonna admit it, i'm a game/film theory girly and a whore for lore, so i pick at details i shouldn't be picking at, so here's some things i see in the video that i don't see being mentioned in theories/analyses. also keep in mind my brain consists of a single cell encapsulated in aspic (i know what the actual deeper meaning is this is just a bit of fun for me)

the thing underneath the piano - the camera falls off the piano in one scene and something (i still cant figure out what exactly it might be) is visible, oddly clear-looking for something underneath a broken piano in shoddy lighting (actually looking at it again it might be a corpse, is it possibly phil's old body?)

dan telling phil not to film him drawing the sigils but phil still filming - you might be able to also throw in the part where phil screams "NO" when the camera's on him sitting in the corner; they don't seem to want things to be filmed but it feels like they're obligated to record everything to some extent

phil's very explicit control over dan - this is to the point where he even has to tell dan what and what isn't food, and takes away water privileges for some reason (btw this is your reminder to drink some water) and overall very demanding tone when instructing him

SOFT AND NEAT - there's a lot of reinforcement of this, its clearly a joke but i'm overanalytical and will blatantly ignore this. there's heavy hesitation with any sharp object around them (when dan has to cut his hand, kill phil, take out phil's heart, mentioning razor blades when using the shaving foam)

dan still primarily uses his left hand - people have mentioned how he's been "fixed" but him using his right hand seems to be performative since he pours most things, mixes with his left hand, and even primarily uses his left hand to spread the blood (plus he never sacrificed himself unlike phil who seems to have died in potato stamps and been resurrected with perfect vision) there's also old superstitions that being left-handed means you're somehow cursed by/connected to satan, speaking of which...

dan has a much better connection and the ability to communicate directly with Him - he seems to be a conduit, possibly being used by phil to properly perform anything (which also probably helped with his resurrection and eyesight improvement), he has uncontrollable actions from time to time

the sigils themselves - what do they all mean? what could they mean in a bigger, symbolic context? anyone that understands them pls explain to my aspic brain

the entire place fucking burns down after the ritual is complete and they're embraced by Him - it's clear at least to me that the shed is set on fire at the end of the video, cutting off further possible footage

dan doesn't put blood on phil's forehead during the ritual - might've just been a slipup during filming but we also dont see the blood dan put on his own forehead once he arrives and theyre all standing up in the pentagram

also just a couple fun facts:

the number on the case file when converted to corresponding letters of the alphabet spell out "satan"

what dan says in his reversed clip is just "thanks!", nothing is really said in the reversed clip of phil opening the shed door its juts kinda a random noise someone made

Aaaaand some misc nonsense crackpot theories/ideas/thoughts/brain vomit that my brain keeps me awake at night with (optional reading):

if the demon taking them at the end is actually baphomet and not just some generalized idea of satan, then "mother" could be another way to refer to "him" since baphomet is portrayed as having both female and male characteristics (bobs n pennies)

personally this is scarier/more unnerving than the actual blair witch project for some reason

my bathroom sink is the one sink you cant ship

i want a dapc for those dolls they hung everywhere

is cataloguing all of the ritual setup part of the craft channel's purpose?

what was the reason for summoning him? did they bring him to our plane of existence to just let him absorb these two brink-of-twinks and then use their gay power to torment the straights?

oh that rope is just his belt thing not rope tying dip and pip together

i think this is a good wrap-up idk what they could do in a part 5 to conclude things better

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Sorry again! Just realized a bit of a plot hole 😅

The black liquid that comes out of Killer is determination right? The DETERMINATION from Chara that’s corroding and eating away at the essence of the ghost child because monsters absorb human souls? So does Chara eventually “die” but Killer hallucinates them, and an example of this is when Killer is kidnapped to work for Nightmare? Or does Chara still remain with Killer but will eventually “die” away?

(I may or may not have to delete at least 5k of things depending on the answer sldhdlfhdke xD)

You can go with any answer you want, Killer’s creator certainly wouldn’t mind. Whenever anyone asked about Chara however, we’ve gotten answers such as “he feels like they’re always watching him,” in Stage 1 he’s able to see and hear and talk to them as if they are outside of himself—like a hallucination. And it’s highly unlikely Killer in Stages 1 or 2 would tell anyone about Chara, so they’ll never be able to reassure him if they’re real or not.

In Stage 2, Killer merely points to his head when asked where Chara was, and he hears their voice from inside himself—but ultimately attempts to ignore and tune out their voice. I don’t recall ever seeing him directly talk face to face with Chara in this Stage, in any of the canon drawings or comics.

Rahafwabas has referred to Chara in an ending where he has turned on them as “not real,” although I highly doubt Killer himself would be able to convince himself of such things consistently. His grasp on reality, if anything is real or not, is tenuous; and he cannot touch Chara to be sure. Neither would he want to.

Basically, regardless of if you view them as real or not, Killer has internalized his abuser as apart of himself, inside himself, watching him and making sure he is still compliant. A part of him that is tied to the Deal, and terrified of the consequences of not upholding it.

On a more headcanon level, this may have even been a deliberate thing, via gaslighting and manipulating Killer at his lowest moments to ensure that Chara is still wins if they arent physically around anymore for whatever reason. (And Stage 4 is referred to as “Chara wins.”)

I suppose you could say the Chara in the head is an internal handler, either deliberately implanted and/or a trauma induced hallucination here to provide guidance and order to parts of Killer that need it to function via fear and commands—perhaps even as a form of self protection, to not allow himself to have hope that escape from his circumstances is possible. Because having hope is viewed to be dangerous.

It’s be easy to control Killer through convincing him that Chara is or isn’t in real, in the latter case. If anyone can convince Killer that they can hear and see and talk to Chara, then it’s an easy way to have control over Stage 4 without the need of a heart locket.

Ultimately, however, you don’t have to edit or change a single thing if you don’t want. Want them to be real? Go ahead. Want them to be a hallucination or something of the sort? Go ahead.

Killer himself is unlikely to ever know for sure. Not unless he meets a therapist, or he finds the courage to talk to someone about them—and this person starts sharing their own thoughts on Chara.

{ @zuzuelectricbugaloo }

[babyrdie]

Achilles if he was the Champion on Olympus instead of Theseus and Asterius, inspired by a fic (by @baejax-the-great) I read recently.

I ended up drawing Achilles because I wanted to train more metal and Patroclus in this fic doesn't have much metal in his design. Maybe I'll try to do Patroclus too, but I can't promise anything because trying to imitate Hades has already taken me a long time for a train.

I tried to use Hades' style as a kind of observation study. Honestly, I already knew it was going to be difficult all along because I don't have stylization as my strong point, and also the style of this game seemed so unique that it gave me the impression that it would be difficult to replicate. All said and done, it really is. Even if I cheated by establishing a firmer pose on Achilles to avoid the need to draw a good gesture, it doesn't change that the rest is still outside my comfort area.

My conclusion was: the head is the hardest part for me, which I didn't expect. My facial style is very different from Hades' style, so it complicates my life. Plus, using just one brush for the whole thing is surprisingly good. I should practice gesturing instead of avoiding it.

And here I'm going to put some notes about Hades' style that helped me try to replicate it, but that's it: in Jen Zee's case, perceiving characteristic X is more complicated than doing characteristic X! I still think I need to train a lot to really be able to replicate it, especially in the head area. I don't know if this counts as a tutorial of sorts? But that's it, expect lots of images and explanations from here on in this post.

SHAPES

You can easily see "geometric" aspects of the drawing. It's easy to "disassemble" characters into shapes, which is a kind of basic concept often used in drawings.

I think that trying to be "sharp" is a good thing, as most of the shapes I saw on the characters were more sharp than rounded.

I got the impression that Jen Zee focuses on the macro and then goes to the micro, not micro for macro. In other words, she first establishes a visible and well-made shape and then cares about details.

This is very good in terms of anatomy, because a common mistake artists make, for example, is to care too much about detailing things like the face and muscles instead of creating a well-done silhouette. It turns out that the detailed parts are realistic, but the character as a whole has questionable anatomy. Typical case of a perfect face, but too big or small for the body.

I think the most obvious example of Hades' style is its hair. There is no separation of hair strand by strand, but rather making a large, recognizable shape that will later be further molded.

LINEART

The line is always black. Don't paint!

Lineweight: the outer line is thick but the inner lines are thin. There isn't much more line weight variation other than that.

It's mostly consistent but, in some parts, it's purposely interrupted or less polished. It's nothing so noticeable that if you do it completely polished it will greatly affect the result, but if you intend to get as close as possible I would advise you to purposefully "fail" in some parts.

Even with these "flaws", it's a CONFIDENT lineart. This means that you will have more luck copying the style of making your drawings in firm, quick strokes at once rather than slowly retouching stroke by stroke. Draw a line and if it looks bad, just do it again. I don't recommend drawing over it to fix it.

I don't know if this fits in line, but I'll put it here. There are some random lines of striking colors here and there. At first glance, you don't even notice them, although they actually help the drawing stand out, but they are there.

COLORING

Color blocking is your friend.

Don't use blending tools, and use a hard brush and hard eraser. I used one of CSP's default brushes for the entire drawing. It's a style that doesn't require fancy brushes.

From what I saw, Jen Zee doesn't paint this style in grayscale but directly in color. If your fear is getting the color wrong, using layers is a faithful companion because it's easy to change a specific part.

It's IMPOSSIBLE to do the Hades style without inking, which is that part where in the traditional drawing you would apply the ink. In Hades, this is visible in the parts that are shaded black.

Inking is MAINLY used in areas where there is less light, such as the neck, but it's also widely used on metal surfaces.

Don't insist on gradients and blurring the drawing! The shadows here are more solid, quite easy to point out where they start and where they end. In some parts, the transition is made by putting an "edge" on the shadow in a tone that is between the shadow tone and the base tone, not by blending. In others, there is no transition at all. Faces, in particular, seemingly have no transitions.

In the illuminated parts, I particularly found it easier to use rubber to shape them. First paint straight and then start erasing and making the shapes.

Highlights are very important in this style, and they are generally in a more saturated tone.

It seemed easier to follow the order of base color > lighting than base color > shading. That is, first paint in the darkest tone and then add lighter tones instead of painting light and then making it dark.

-Use of complementary colors and analogous colors in certain palettes.

Color picking can make you a little insecure about the base colors, but trust the process because color theory is crazy. The base skin tone of Achilles in Hades is a yellow that is strange at first glance, but together with the other added tones it simply looks like a normal tan. Believe me, I was surprised at first! But, sure, it doesn't all have to be color-picking.

SOME EXAMPLES IN IMAGES

And now trying to explain what I already said, but visually. If you look at the images, I recommend zooming in. Very simple images because some of them were actually loose studies and not something made with the intention of posting so don't expect anything beautiful lol