#i wanted to leave the first images separate but it means they're not looking at each other any more......This aint right

[melshifting]

Shifting tarot reading ～ #02

❝ What does your S/O think about you? ❞

little disclaimer before starting:         remember that this is for a diverse collective, so take what resonates and leave what doesn't! don't force messages that aren't meant to be ^^

Choose an image below! ⤸

🫧 | For my pile one...

Hmmm... its giving mixed signals and a SLOW burn. This person has contradictory emotions or difficulties in expressing what he/she really feels BUT they definitely feel a romantic connection towards you. There are two possible scenarios: you both are good friends and this person doesn't want to ruin the friendship, or, your person has just come out of a breakup/BAD experience and is having a hard time falling in love/trusting others again. Relax babe, as I told you before: this does NOT mean that there is no attraction or interest, but that there is something inside this person that prevents him/her from opening up completely.  I see them as someone afraid of rejection (or being really prideful), that's why they have a hard time being open about their feelings. What is certain is that they appreciate you, and very much, but they're still not sure how to handle this bond? The good news is that this person is in the process of solving all those doubts and fears that separate you! YAYYYY

channeled lyrics ⤸

♫ ～ "How can it be? You and me might be meant to be, can't unsee it" - Ariana Grande (The boy is mine)

♪ ～ "I summoned you, please come to me; don't bury thoughts that you really want" - Elley Duhé (Middle of the night)

♩ ～ "I hope love is perfect with just love, may all my weaknesses be hidden" - BTS (Fake Love)

🎀 | For my pile two...

they are HEAD over heels for you, oh my… makes me think it was most likely love at first sight (awwww). Your person feels a special connection, even if they haven't expressed it openly or they try to downplay it. They may, in your presence, feel that electricity in the air, that little tingle yknow. But, they also feel kinda disconnected from you..? Like there's some kind of barrier that distances you both, either literally or not - is this an enemies to lovers trope? Maybe, deep down, they see you as someone who is somehow different or hard to reach; like an impossible type of love. This is why, at this moment, they don't know how to approach you - they could be acting erratically or sending mixed signals, because deep down they're not clear which way to go... They've never felt this way about anyone before, something so deep and genuine (so you're their first love huh?), which explains the confusing signals.

channeled lyrics ⤸

♫ ～ "Boy, why you so obsessed with me?" - Mariah Carey (Obsessed)

♪ ～ "I shouldn't have fallen in love, look what it made me become" - Chris Grey (Let the world burn)

💌 | For my pile three...

I'm hearing the part of this one song that says ' and I only have eyes for youuuuu', so you can assume that they're obsessed with you lmao. Not only do they like your personality and character, but they are almost fixated on your body and physical beauty. WOAH, this person has been looking for you between lifetimes and universes (or vice versa) - this is your SOULMATE bro im telling you. You may have met at a time when one of you was going through a significant emotional or spiritual crisis, or even in an unusual circumstance...? Its one of those bonds that start out explosive, as if yall already knew that you wouldn't see each other as mere 'friends'. This relationship is a big change in your lives, but a good one lol.  When this person looks at you, several naughty thoughts come to mind..! so expect your days at their side to not be very ''calm''. Even if there are some possible barriers in this relationship, your person is willing to fight for the person they want to share their life with <3

channeled lyrics ⤸

♫ ～ "Think I met you in another life" - Jungkook (Seven; but the whole song in general lol)

♪ ～ "But when there's two dimensions, there's only one I'm missin'. And if you feel alone, you don't have to feel that no more" - Jungkook (3D; AGAIN, whole song in general lol)

TYSM for reading!!

[lunarharp]

things.. uh... Gentry era au

[keitorin3]

Merthur Twins!

So I got obsessed with the idea of Merthur having Twin babies and made this. (It's still not finished but was impatient to show)

The idea I had for this was a typically slight(?) Angst Merthur plot. Where Merthur loved each other and then slept together. Shortly after, Merlin Confesses his magic.

Arthur does not take this well. Feeling lied to and betrayed, but unwilling to kill Merlin, he instead banishes him.

Both are heart broken as they separate. Unknowing of the lives resting in Merlin's belly.

7 years later, Merlin and his Twins, Allard and Irelene, are living in a cottage in the forest by the Perilous Lands.

Allard is the eldest by 10 minutes, and Irelene is the youngest twin sister. They are identical twins, the spitting image of both parents, with Arthurs Blond locks, and Merlin's slightly large ears. Their eyes are Heterochromia. One eye is the blue of the sky, and the other is the blue of the seas.

Allard is an extrovert, a Loving and very active and at times loud boy. Unable to stay still for long, unless calmed by his twin sis, and always coming back with dirt on his clothes.

Irelene is just as outgoing as her brother, but more focused, even if she doesn't act like it. Much like her twin, she is just as messy, if not more when she experiments with her magic.

Both Allard and Irelene are very talented children, both blessed with Merlin's magic and Arthur's fighting prowess. They all come to learn from each other and develop their own sense of martial arts. The kind Merlins never seen before.

They remind Merlin so much of their other father sometimes. It doesn't hurt anymore, and now makes him smile. Allard just had this protencial for leadership, while Irelene was his most trusted and valued advisor.

They were born to lead, and it scares Merlin.

He didn't want his babies to be taken from him, if word got out somehow about who's children they were.

But as stories go, something has to give for the plot to continue!

Allard born as the first son, inherited Merlin's Dragonlord powers without the need of Merlin dying to have them. While playing in the forest with Irelene, they come across some wyverns. To protect his sister he roared at them a command, making them leave, but also caught the attention of others who heard his roar from afar.

News got around that a new beast was lurking near the Perilous Lands and false rumours that it would head for Camelot.

It's how the twins came upon the knights in red and silver armour in their forest. The twins stepped before the knight, confronting them.

Allard: Who are you? 🤨

Percival: Children? *Confused* 😧

Leon: *Does a double take* (It'll make sense later)

Arthur: *Surprised, but calmly approachs the obvious twins* Hello there, we're knights of Camelot, it's dangerous for young ones to be in these woods. Where are you parents?

Irelene: These woods are not dangerous, not to us.

Allard: Yeah, we play here all the time!

Arthur: I see, then can you help us? There's been rumours that a monster is lurking around here.

Irelene: Not really, just some Wyverns, but Al told them to leave us alone.

Knights: What? 😧

Allard: Yeah! They were being mean so I told them off! Mama always told people off if they're being dollopheads!

Arthur: *Whispers* Dollphead... 😧💡But wait...

Arthur: Who is your Mama? *Trys to keep his cool*

Irelene: Mama is mama. 🤨❔What else would he be?

Arthur: He...?! 😳 🤯

Gwaine: *Cuts in* Is your Mama a man with black hair, Blue eyes and large ears?

Twins: That's Mama! 😃

Knights: *Gasps*

Leon: *Whispers* They look just like you as a boy. Arthur... 😳

Arthur: *Troat suddenly dry, but keeps his smile for the children* How... How old are you two?

Twins: 7! 😁✨

Arthur: *Thinking* 'Oh my god... 7 years. They have mine and Merlin's eyes... They're-'

Twins suddenly turn their heads, as if listening to something. Ignorant of the Knights internal turmoil.

Twins: *Hears Merlin calling them through mind link that Lunch is ready*

Irelene: Oh, it's lunchtime! Bye bye Red knights, Mama is calling!

Allard: Bye! *Turns and runs through the woods with his sister*

Arthur: No- Wait! *Chases after them*

Knights: *Follows*

And as much as the knights tried, they soon lost the three in the woods.

Yes, three. Because Arthur was still able to follow them.

And that's all I've got so far. Want to know more? Or have any ideas of what could happen next, let me know! I'd love to hear ♥️.

And just a sneak hint, the twins know what they're doing 😉

Until next time fellow dreamers~✨ 😁

[doctorbunny]

A little speculation about Corpse Disposal and J-horror

But I'm a little bored so sharing a part-theory, part-headcanon on Muu and Rei

So we unfortunately don't see much of Rei in "Its not my fault" but I want to point out three key times we do

The first time we see Rei in the MV, is her wet sleeve (we know its not Muu because Muu wears a pink jumper under her blazer)

Then, after a lot of bug stuff, we're finally back in the real world, where Muu has just killed her Post-After Pain. In INMF, we don't see the surroundings as well, just the dirt track and bushes. But in AP, we see this is right next to a rushing river (Muu's undercover card also features a bridge as a landmark)

The next time we see Rei after her corpse, is a flashback to the start where she turns the hourglass over. Then it cuts just further back to before Rei stood up - as she pulls herself up off the floor She's alive and absolutely soaked after a session of intense bullying (which we saw Muu insert herself into in AP)

However, I want to now switch a little to talk about cinematography and a concept called the Kuleshov effect The video I linked is pretty concise but the gist is that if you put two shots next to each other, even if they were filmed separately, the brain interprets it as a continuous scene (so if you film a character looking off screen, then a picture of an apple on a table, we're going to assume they're looking at the apple)

Therefore while we understand chronologically that the sequence of events is Rei (wet and alive) -> Rei's murder on dry land ↺ Flashback to Rei still wet and alive Which I think everyone understood as a commentary on how this power struggle was a constant cycle of the hourglass being turned over

I think visually, it also implies a sequence like Rei was bullied -> Muu kills her -> Sopping wet, Rei crawls back to the classroom

But wait! That sequence suggests a missing step How did Rei get wet again?

Well, we know Muu killed her next to a river And if you were a scrawny teenage murderer with a body on your hands, would you leave it there where someone could see it while you grab a shovel and stand in broad daylight digging a hole in tough ground??? Or try lighting a fire in public??? Of course not!

It'd be much easier for Muu to, in a panic, just roll her body into the convenient river and let all the evidence wash away!

(Of course, if Muu was panicking, she might not have been very careful. Given she ended up in MILGRAM, there must've been something tying Muu to Rei's death and in T2 Muu seems to have finally remembered losing her left shoe...)

Fun fact: this is the same shoe Cinderella loses in the animated Disney film (and the best known version of that story came into English from France)

Shoe break over, back to the Endless Queen's Game

So, if we assume Rei's corpse was thrown in the river, what does it matter? Its just a pointless headcanon

But I speculate the meaning goes deeper!

So that image of Rei, soaking wet, crawling off the floor reminded me of something: J-horror ghost girls! Specifically the most famous of ghost girls Samara/Sadako Who became a vengeful spirit after being thrown in a well and now crawls out of TVs to kill people who watched her VHS tape

Her story too is a cyclical one (its called 'Ring' for a reason), the only way to break the curse is to copy the tape and have someone else watch it, who will then become the victim unless they can themselves copy the tape and show it to another unsuspecting patsy

The story goes back further because this movie is based on a novel, which is based on the legend of 番町皿屋敷 Banchou Sara Yashiki. There are many versions but generally a maid girl Okiku is proposed to, and when she rejects the proposal, her master breaks one of ten plates and promises to forgive her if she marries him. When she declines again, he beats her to near death then throws her into a well (sometimes it's a jealous mistress instead of a master)

Interestingly, Atrophaneura alcinous (swallowtail butterfly) larvae found in Japanese wells became known as Okikumushi お菊虫 (Okiku bugs), tying back to the whole insect thing...

It's been said a bunch now, but the name 'Rei' can be read as 霊 meaning ghost (seen in words like Yuurei 幽霊, a more common word for ghost than Rei on its own)

We know Muu is afraid of ghosts too (though I must admit she says Obake, not yuurei, but both words refer to ghosts)

Remembers the i/井 in Sakurai/櫻井 can be read as 'well' I'm sure that has nothing to do with anything

Uh, I can't think of a conclusion because its 1 am and I had to look up a bunch of spooky images

TL;DR: I think Muu may have quickly shoved Rei's body into the river next to where the murder happened (maybe forgot her shoe at the scene of the crime) and now she's scared by the cycle continuing and Rei coming back to haunt her

[smytherines]

This is such an interesting like 20-30 seconds to me. We go from this wholesome Sears portrait studio setup where Cynthia asks "is that Owen??" and they both grin like lovesick fools

Then Cynthia insults Curt and praises Owen and tries to recruit him. Owen looks surprised and shuts her down immediately, but Curt is (understandably) not thrilled about it and ends the call in a hurry

Owen says "what are you, jealous? You know I'd never work for the Americans," but Curt is already getting the flask out (hello rsd spiral my old friend)

And then we have Owen seeing the flask and saying "Oh Curt, no, not until we're out of here," and Curt responding defensively by mocking his accent and his concern, and then handing him the flask

Whenever I listen to 54 Below and hear Tessa say "when these two spies are together they are gay and unstoppable" I imagine that first image, and when Lauren says "until Curt's ego gets in the way" I think of the flask

I just find it fascinating because, to me, this is the moment it all starts falling apart. When it was just the two of them, before this call, they seem pretty happy to see each other. You certainly get the sense that they're competitive, and Curt initially seems a bit annoyed or embarrassed about Owen rescuing him, but uhh. I mean just look at them:

It isn't until Cynthia sort of pits them against each other, until the outside world starts to intrude on them, that things start to get tense. Curt starts dismissing Owen's concerns and taking bigger risks to prove himself, lying to Owen to take a bigger risk than Owen agreed to (Owen saying "make it four," and Curt deciding to set the timers for three minutes instead)

Just. Something about how painful it must have been for Curt to believe that he lost Owen not to some grand fateful accident that he never could have seen coming, but over something as small and petty and ultimately temporary as his own insecurity. That he wanted so badly to save face in front of a partner he loved and respected that he ended up getting that partner killed

And how painful it must have been for Owen to love Curt and trust him, only for Curt to lie to him and leave him for dead. How Owen must have thought back to this a thousand times and believed that it happened because Curt cared more about being the best than about him (which I don't think is correct, but is understandable from his perspective)

To have the kind of relationship that seemingly survived being separated by an ocean, and being property of two different governments, and being gay in the 1950s, and they still look at each other like that, and then to lose it all because you're so used to having to maintain this stereotypically masculine role in your hypermasculine profession. That seeing the man you love is dependent on you being the best, and trying to live up to that impossible standard is what ends up destroying the both of you

There's just something so fucking... tragic and futile about it

[intimacyequalsdeath]

Bubz's Slasher Fictober Apple Crumble NSFW Alphabets Day 22: Billy Loomis

For day 22 I decided to give the ghostface girlies another treat for this month. Plus since I've only done Poly ghostface so far technically this isn't overlapping and it's an entirely separate person (I've been running out of people to write NSFW alphabets for without too many characters getting two or three fics)

Notes: Minors DNI, NSFW, Smut.

A is for Aftercare (What they're like after sex):

Billy loves pillow talk, he could stay up for hours afterwards just talking to you about anything and everything going on in your lives. If you know about Ghostface he enjoys telling you about what him and Stu get up to when you aren't around.

He also likes to clean you both up too, not much lovey dovey shit though since he wants to focus on cleaning the mess and being able to relax with you.

B is for Body Part (Favorite on them and their partner):

His favorite body part on him (Besides his hair) are his arms. I've always taken him as the guy who works out at least a little. Plus with all the Ghostface stuff he's gotta have at least some muscle there. He's overall quite proud of his body.

On you he loves your thighs. No matter how thick or not they are he thinks their great. No matter if your sitting in your bedroom or next to him in the cafeteria he's always got a hand on them making sure everyone else knows who you belong too.

C is for Cum (Anything to do with cum):

Billy's not trying to risk anything at all even if you can't get pregnant so he always pulls out. He likes to cum on your chest but your face is also a close second for him.

D is for Dirty Secret:

Before you and Billy got super close to where the two of you began a relationship, you were probably close to the top of the Ghostface list. He'd never tell you but he thought at first you were just like everyone else at school so he had no qualms with going after you until he realized you weren't and found himself becoming attracted to you.

E is for Experience (How experienced are they?):

Billy is Billy. He's got loads of experience in both one night stands after parties and actual relationships. That doesn't make him the best boyfriend in the entire world, but he's not entirely stupid on how to make the relationship work.

F is for Favorite Position:

Billy surprisingly is a simple guy. He likes missionary cause he loves looking into your eyes and watching what he does to you as he whispers gentle praises in your ear.

G is for Goofy (How serious are they?):

He can laugh a little and get cocky during sex. He's not the most serious person ever by a long shot but he also is gonna stick to his goal of making you both cum.

H is for Hair (How well groomed are they?):

The king at taking care of himself. He keeps himself well groomed pretty much everywhere. I mean he does have an image at school to upkeep.

I is for Intimacy (How are they during the act, romantic etc):

Billy has romance down to a science. He isn't afraid to break out all the bells and whistles to really knock you off your feet. Like I said he's good at this shit both putting on a facade and actually meaning it.

J is for Jackoff (Do they masturbate and how often?):

He does it pretty regularly whether he's with you or not. It's something to pass the time when he's board waiting for Stu for Ghostface shit and he just actually enjoys doing it so why not.

K is for Kink (Their kinks):

Bondage, Billy loves to tie you up and leave you desperate for him. Bonus points if you cry and beg him to fuck you while he's doing it.

I could also see him having a slight daddy kink, or maybe at least calling him sir or something. He loves having that sort of power over you. He's also got a major corruption kink that I think is pretty self explanatory.

L is for Location (Favorite places to have sex):

He like it best on a bed or a couch. He also really enjoys the times neither of you can wait till you get to either of your houses so he pulls over to the side of the road and you do it in the back of his car.

M is for Motivation (What turns them on?):

He loves when you surprise him with skimpy outfits. He also really enjoys when you wear these outfits to school or out and about with him so he can stare at you and get a list together of everything he's going to do to you later.

N is for No (Something they won't do):

He's not gonna share you (Maybe with Stu since I am a fan of Poly Ghostface), You're his and he's not willing to let anyone else touch you.

He also won't ever like physically strike you, He just isn't into shit like that and doesn't think it actually has any purpose besides hurting you.

O is for Oral (Oral Preferences):

Really big on both giving and receiving. Is maybe just a tad more into receiving since he thinks your amazing at it, but he's not afraid to have you for a meal here and there.

P is for Pace (How fast or slow? Are they rough?):

Billy loves to be a bit rough around the edges but he likes to take things slow. He's really into savoring the moments the with you and making it a nice experience for the both of you.

Q is for Quickie ( Do they like quickies?):

Billy likes quickies, if you can't make it to a bed or anywhere to do the whole shebang he'll go for a quickie in maybe the back of his car or a random janitors closest.

R is for Risk (Are they down to experiment?):

He has his particular things he's just not into and not going to try but he is down to experiment with some things. I could see it also being something you have to bring up for him to even give it a second thought. He just knows what he's into and is satisfied with it.

S if for Stamina (How long can they go for?):

He can go for a while, maybe a good few hours. He does like to give you breaks though as he knows he can get rougher especially when he starts to get tired towards the end.

T is for Toys (Do they use toys and do they like them?):

I could see him having a few things himself to use when he jerks off and stuff, but most of the hardcore toys he saves for you if your into it. He will also be really into buying you toys to try out that caught his eye.

U if for Unfair (Do they like to tease?):

He teases a good bit cause he likes to rile you up, but he's never gonna be to terribly mean about it. It's more so just playful teasing to get you worked up.

V is for Volume (How loud can they get?):

Billy audibly moans a lot but he's not the loudest with it. He likes when your loud so anyone who's around knows who makes you feel that good but he himself doesn't get that loud.

W is for Wild Card (Random things):

Out of all the outfits, he likes pink frilly things the best. There's something so innocent about it to him that he likes to corrupt. That if you really wanna get him worked up show up in some pink frilly shit.

X is for X-Ray (What are they packing):

A good six inches. He's about medium in girth too and the shaft itself is pretty straight. Perfect for hitting all the good spots.

Y is for Yearning (How high is their sex drive?):

It fluctuates, it can be high if your working him up, but he usually isn't ready to go at the drop of a hat.

Z is for ZZZ (How fast do they fall asleep?):

Like in aftercare he likes to talk to you afterwards so he's not gonna fall asleep for awhile. You'll most likely be the one to fall asleep first and shortly after you since he'll have no one to talk to he will fall asleep himself.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Proxies with a fem reader going to a pumpkin patch so she can pick out her pumpkin? :>

Proxies and Fem!Reader going to a pumpkin patch!

obligatory toby is platonic but tbh i dont think romance ties too much into these specific hcs also i havent been to a pumpkin patch in years so im really scraping my brain trying to remeber what people do asides pick pumpkins...and google... a lot of google... i admit i had to fight myself not to make this a group thing where it's all together but im 80% sure you wanted these separate no unique gifs for each character, too eepy (its 6am rn and i couldnt sleep for the life of me SOBS)

Masky:

I feel like out of the three he's probably going to give the most resistance, he just doesn't like being around where loads of people may be; too much noise you know? But with enough coaxing and reassurance I do believe you can convince him to tag along

Most straight forward about it, wants it to be in and out, so he kinda beelines and tries to find a pair of pumpkins that'll do

"Babe... those ones are too small to carve..." "They're. Average."

Sorry I had to make that joke

Anyways

Out of all the activities there you might get him to sit down for a hayride if it's not too too packed!

Overall it's an okay experience, but really this guy would prefer the pumpkin carving at home after the fact; out on a porch sitting next to one another, alone in comfortable silence! He saves the seeds to make into snacks later

Hoodie:

A little more willing to go out! I feel like he's the easiest in terms of talking into stuff! As long as it's not anything dangerous he's more than willing to spend time with you.... all the better to keep his eye on you.. both in a cute aww he wants to protect you way and a creepy way but hey that's creepypasta for you

If they're offering shitty quickly constructed rides count him in, he's going to be the one dragging you!

While I'm not sure what rides would be there I'm sure there'd be but you're gonna be there for way longer than originally planned

Saving this for another day but Ferris Wheel trope where it gets stuck, one of y'all totally shouldn't send in a character for me to do that for wink wink nudge nudge

Probably the most emotive you see Hoodie, ever, it's actually a little jarring at first but it's cute in it's own way that he's getting all hyped up over some rides

overall? y'all forget to actually. pick pumpkins so you guys have to almost immediately return to go browse at the pumpkins that remain. Does the thing where you knock on produce to make sure it sounds right. Does he know what he's going or what he's looking for? No clue but hey there's that mental image, Hoodie kneeling down on the ground, head pressed against a pumpkin and tapping it

Ticci Toby:

Pretends to not wanna go but really he's totally fucking stoked that you wanna go somewhere with him, him? like him him? Toby? Well if you insist-

That bit sounded mean but I believe Toby feels.... I don't know how to put it but like I think it's because he used to be bullied and left out that he still gets a little surprised when you willingly invite him to hang out; not that he's complaining though

Haunted corn maze. This fucker beelines for the corn maze. You have lost your silly friend with an affinity for collecting empty snail shells (hc)

Good luck trying to find him, if it's one of those mazes with scare actors he's not going to flinch or scream so there goes your audio cue

Eventually you do find him though! So it's not totally disastrous! It just takes you upwards of fifteen minutes because you yourself got lost before looping back to the entrance, only to find this little shit sitting right by the entrance

Seriously how the fuck did he do that?

No clue

You know how sometimes pumpkins are bumpy or a lil... off looking? Leave it to this fucker to make several jokes about how they look, primarily ragging on the bumpier ones

"Hey look, it looks like you" "shut the fuck up"/j

Generally a very good time as long as you ignore the small heart attack you got when Toby disappeared! Good luck cleaning the mess after carving up your pumpkins

He probably tries to see what the guts taste like

idk what raw pumpkin guts taste like

not sure if its any good because ive only tried pre canned pumpkin puree and used it for baking so idk if it tastes good straight from the source

[hellofeanor]

Who wants a cosplay breakdown of the Annatar outfit from the Rings of Power trailer, based on all information I've been able to find so far? Nobody? I don't care. You're getting it anyway. With a bunch of poor quality over-zoomed reference images.

COME OVER-ANALYZE THINGS WITH ME!

What colour is this fucker? At first I was convinced that black and gold was a bit too on the nose, and thought that surely it had to be extremely dark brown or blue or something. But then I saw some higher res images and remembered that this is also the show that put feathers on Elrond's shirt and made Gil-galad All Gold All the Time. In this pic below, you can see some subtle colour variations in the leather bits, but the robe still looks black. So I'm gonna go with yes, this outfit is indeed black and gold.

2. What's it made of? Shoulder feathers/leaves: leather. Robe: looks like a low-ish pile velvet to me, painted with a large gold linework pattern. Under sleeves: possibly a lightweight wool? Sash: unsure, might also be velvet but of an even lower pile cotton variety. Belt: probably leather.

3. What do you mean by 'sash'? Okay so this is a weird detail. At first I thought this was a robe with a qipao-style side opening, and the bright vertical stripe of gold we see is trim on that opening. But no, I don't think that's trim at all. You can see it kiiiiiiind of move and ripple in a way that indicates it's not actually attached to the garment at all, and from the back, you can see there's a piece that drapes over his shoulder and ends in... a cute lil tassel. I think this is literally a table-runner style sash that hangs over his right shoulder and falls down the front, tucked into the belt. What does it look like at the bottom? No clue yet, since we haven't seen a full length view of this outfit. But I'm sincerely hoping it's another goofy tassel.

4. What's the sash made of? As mentioned above, base fabric may be low pile velvet. And it's covered in highly reflective gold leaf. The design looks dull in some lighting but very gold in other cases. You can see that the gold leaf looks worn and is less intact in some places than others. There appears to be a short repeat to the design.

5. Shape of the robe? This one's tough since we don't have a view of the whole thing yet. So this is me guessing based on a couple clues. I'm going to guess that it's floor length, if he's trying to fit in with other Eregion elves here. It's a similar slim silhouette to what we see on Celebrimbor. And another Celebrimbor-adjacent detail is... I'm not sure if this robe has separate sleeves or if they're just built right in and extend from the shoulders. Celebrimbor's ep 8 forge outfit has contiguous sleeves, and based on the way the shoulders lie and the underarms kind of bunch up, I'm wondering if this is the same.

6. Continuing on with the sleeves: they have a little T-shaped cuff detail, with trim around the edge that originally thought was large beads similar to what we see on Halbrand's ep 8 shirt, but I now think might be braid. Large, reflective black beads are scattered about the cuff as well.

7. The under sleeve looks like a matte black fabric with a very slight fuzziness to it. It's somewhat elongated, covering the entire wrist and wrinkling up over the forearm. More black beads/rhinestones concentrated around the cuff, thinning out as they move upward.

8. Finally: belt. Wide gold leather(?) with interwoven braided detail and circle/ring motifs inside the gaps of the braid. Fastens on the front left with a mechanism that isn't visible. Possibly hooks. Belt is snug enough to cinch the robe and sash in place, and sits above the natural waist.

9. In conclusion: how does this all go on? Well, the belt is the only thing we can see that has a closure. Everything else is guesswork. Those undersleeves are fitted enough that they may actually have an invisible zipper in the seam. A little seam divot is visible on the inner arm.

No visible closure (yet) on the robe or leather shoulder armour. My guess is the leather fastens up either the right side or the back, and the closure is hidden by his hair and the overlapping feather/leaf pieces. As for the robe, it could either fasten up the back (as most of Celebrimbor's outfits must do) or have a small opening at the front neckline (like Halbrand's ep 8 shirt). Either option would be hidden by the leather. But since the front of the robe is so perfectly flat and the leather doesn't extend down all that far, I'm going with back opening as the more likely option.

And there we go. Everything I've been able to figure out about this costume so far in the (checks calendar) six days since it dropped and I became obsessed with it. There's a very high chance that after I post this I'll either think of something else I forgot to mention or discover another new and infuriating detail, but let's leave it at this for now and I'll reblog again with additions as they come up.

Also with my progress because obvs I'm going to make this.

[fresita08]

Silhouette eyes

*English is not my first language, I apologize in case of errors*

Resume: In the search for your friends you arrive where they are trapped without knowing that this would define your destiny.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Gon and killua They had been missing for a long time, they were supposed to follow the ghost company and retreat in case of emergency but that had already been 2 hours ago.

Worried, you decide to go look for them, a tarot card appears in your hand. The world materializes in your hands and immediately with the image of kilua in mind you can follow the course that guides you

After a while you arrive in a strange space with destroyed buildings with a chill running down your spine two more cards appear in your hand the star And the madman materializes and while your aura lights up you immediately appear on top of the building where you felt the two children falling in the middle of the room along with various debris while at your side Several flashes fall trying to get those people as far away as you can from the children you certainly didn't mean to fight you weren't that crazy you just wanted to grab the children and

—Gon killua— Before you know it you take the children away from those people who were still in a little shock because they had to dodge your stars — I'm glad they're okay — you look at them Trying to look for wounds and seeing nothing, you sigh and your gaze falls again on the eccentric characters who are in front of you, already in a position to want to end your life.

You raise your gaze and pass it from one to one until something falls on a boy under his eyes. They look at each other and you only feel a greater chill while sweat falls down your back. You were terrified by that look. He said a lot of things and all you could think about was that you were really afraid of him.

You smile trying to lower the tension - hello, I'm really sorry but I'm the babysitter of these children and it's their bedtime so excuse me - you try to turn around while grabbing my boys But before you can leave, a guy with a sword is pointing it and you're sure he wants to cut your head off—that's dangerous, you shouldn't play with things you don't understand— You say as you activate the card you had left and a jester appears next to you and immediately separates that man from you. His face is in a half sun which means that as long as there was light everything would be fine

—my deepest apologies— You address the man who looks at the creature that appeared out of nowhere —he will do nothing as long as nothing is done to me —you keep some of the information to yourself although you are still afraid

Your gaze is directed again to the boy who watches curiously as your jester spins around his companion and then turns his head to you.

You hold his gaze as a feeling of electricity passes through your entire body, you smile at him as if you were old friends before pushing your luck. — My name is Laena, what is yours?— You formulate before you can think clearly, he gives you a heavy look as if you were a circus animal.

— I... Feitan— To your surprise, you smile at him with a certain blush on your cheeks.

—Nice name, it's a pleasure— You speak again while everyone watches that 5 second interaction pass by as if they had gone crazy Feitan didn't know but your eyes reminded him of the sun of his ability something beautiful But at the same time painful — I would like to stay and talk but I really have to go now.— And as if it were magic, the sparkles that fell on the ground rise and return to the sky where they came from while you and your friends disappear at the same time.

—Who the hell was that girl?— Nobunaga exclaims even in his annoyance

—He has an interesting ability maybe the boss would like to know about it— Shalnark says as he approaches where you were just a few seconds ago, noticing a letter on the floor in your place "the lovers" — What is this— he says while looking at the card. Feitan goes to see the letter while examining it and continues thinking about that eye color

—Mine... — Express as he returns to his place with the letter in his hands and the thought of your expressions in his mount. What I could do with it, the pain it could cause you and I definitely would once I had you. — From now on no place will be a refuge until I find her— If your smile is noticeable as you leave the room

—He's already gone crazy— franklim He says while everyone laughs with the thought that you would surely cause problems if Feitan was so interested in you. —He only saw her for a second and he already fell in love HAHAHAHA—

[azumasoroshi]

minidura chapter 4 react

simon i SWEAR ill get you out of there and that horrendous art style

also though. TEENAGE SHIZAYA CHAPTER LETS GO???? idk if narita made the minidura or if it's a separate illustrator but they are giving the FOOD rn

i was wondering where the official knowledge that simon forced izaya and shizuo to eat sushi together came from. i mean i guess this isnt official and it was probably stated in the anime somewhere but still, good to see it illustrated pff

AAAAAAAAA ive seen this image around tumblr but i didnt realize it was from minidura 😭 i thought it was fanart or smth (<-dumbass)

wait im actually going crazy over this akwjhkjdshs they're washing dishes together!!! now we just need them to do laundry and taxes and-

im going to go over the image limit this time on god

wow cant believe they're bathing each other too (<-delusional)

something about the first shizuo panel reminds me of aggretsuko. which is. actually. huh. arent they both like adults with anger issues. durarara aggretsuko au when

also deadass i forgot dennis existed until i read about him in a shizaya fanfiction and i was like "who's dennis" pfgfkhkd

so true though never throw kitchen knives kids

LMFAO HE JUST GAVE THEM MORE WORK INSTEAD OF RESPONDING

they're gonna be here all day at this rate. actually shizaya as fast food/restaurant staff au when because they'd have the stupidest rivalry known to man and i need it

fucking imagine shinra walks in and sees shizuo and izaya working by the counter

i hope izaya gets to eat fatty tuna by the end of this though. god knows he's gonna look cute as hell

made funnier by the fact that izaya at least definitely knows how to cook with how long he's been on his own and needed to feed his sisters

damn ive actually never seen someone's vein burst in a way where blood sprays out in anime akshGKJHJKSD thats impressive actually

dont look now but this may or may not inspire me to make a mermaid/pirate au (<-obsessed)

who needs kaiju battles when you can have blue fin tuna vs crab

they're literally never leaving this place bro they're gonna be stuck here for eternity. anyway here's a literary analysis of durarara pointing out why russia sushi is actually representative of dante's inferno /j

i want to read those blurbs so baddddd screams sobs bangs table

rip dennis dude he doesnt get paid enough to deal with shizaya

rippp time to listen to izaya pine hopelessly for the man he cant stop annoying for five seconds

simon had the right idea. too bad shizaya are shizaya

what is that face izaya. i cant tell if he's irritated that simon's right or irritated that simon cant understand how instinctual their hatred is or amused that simon thinks he and shizuo could be friends or amused because he thinks meaningless fighting is hilarious

oh......that kind of hurts actually

i can imagine izaya suggesting it as a joke and then lying in bed that night thinking about how it's never going to happen and it really sounds like a funny joke huh? (he is not crying)

i cant believe simon's been dealing with these bitches for like 7 years now like dude has the patience of a saint

😭give him his 50,000 yen simon

we can see that the crack in the sign is actually fixed now too ahhh time really flies when you're stuck in a relationship of mutual hatred

chibizaya is so cuteeeeeeeee

im sure he intended to paint himself that way in his recollection though pff

THATS RIGHT SHIZAYA BE THE PORCUPINES. SNUGGLE. DO IT

step aside erika, simon is the face of the shizaya nation now. especially with that "you just have a shizuo complex dont you" quote that i found the other day which i still havent recovered from

HAUDGHUSDH orihara izaya, pro unreliable narrator

hilarious how we never see tom's face. just his dreads lmfao

dennis and simon are so done with like izaya bro i think they can tell at this point that he's horrifically pining and has no healthy outlet for it. the bills go to him because they're bullying him

it'd be funny if they billed him 50,000 at the end actually pft

I KNEW WE'D GET THEM EATING TOGETHER!!! I HAD FAITH

they're so cute oh my god can i make that my header or something

10/10 chapter im going to punt izaya into a wall and get simon flowers

[tam-ezrac]

[Re:conceptualizing LoR and LCB Systems] Part 2!!

Part 1 - For convenience

My procrastination strikes again, tho this time it's only a month. In that time I realized that, I'm not making a game, I don't need to worry about every detail, as long as it's believable, you guys can fill in the details.

That means I can be both John Limbus AND John Ruina!! Let's fuckin GGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

also I'm separating all this in multiple parts before combining everything into a mega post on Reddit, so look forward to that.

Partie 2: Identities, E.G.Os & Panic

Here is the reference image for your sanity, looks cool right?

–Keypage/Core ID

Your bread & butter equipement for your Librarian/Sinner(I'll refer to them as Nuggets from now on), obtained either from the Gacha/Book Burning or as story rewards.

They determine your HP, TP, Speed range, Weapon Resistance, Sanity and what Core Skills you have.

They come in 3 main Rarities with 2 extra ones, which are:

Base(0): Default ID for every Nugget, most of the stats are determined by the skills & passives it is equipped with, or story progression

Ain(0̸): Filler IDs, cannot be equipped as a Keypage, but does provide general skills and passives for an associated faction

Soph(0̸0̸): Can be used as a Keypage by all Nuggets, generally not the strongest or most unique IDs but provide a good support for other IDs

Aur(0̸0̸0̸): Core part of most teams, can only be equipped by a select few, usually has a unique gimmick or playstyle and teams are built around them

Unique(✦): Reserved for select few like Colors/EGOs/Distortions, Deck cannot be changed and you can only bring 1 Unique per team

They can also be Levelled up and Uptied, but I'm leaving it to your discretion for how that works.

–Core Skills

Are the minimum skills that an ID needs in order for it to work. By default the skills that are associated for that ID are equipped but can be swapped out if they met the requirement.

Ex: W-Corp ID(s) would have Core Skills that gains and or use charge but can be swapped out for those that do the same.

–Skills

The details can be found in Part 3 but the general gist is:

You can equip up to 9 skills(incl. Core)

They come in 4 rarities: Paperback(no Sin Affinity), Hardcover(S1), Limited(S2) and Object D'art(S3)

You have an infinite Defensive Skill associated with your Keypage and may gain more depending on what you have equipped

–Passives & Attribution

Each Keypage as atleast one Passive on them which can be triggered through EGO Resources.

You can equip more through passive attribution, each of em cost as much as the rarity of it's associated ID (I.e Ain(0̸) Passive cost 1 point, Soph(0̸0̸) cost 2, etc.) You cannot attribute passives of Unique IDs.

Fuckin hell that was a lot to type, go grab a bottle water if you haven't already, cause that means you've made it through 1/3 of this post! ...yippie

Ah– we will now begin

The E.G.O Section!

Abnormalities... Monsters beyond human comprehension... representing different aspects of blah blash blegh! You already what they are!

And neither of us care about that lore(rn) what we want is to harness they're power in combat

And! Uh, I have some good news and bad news about that.

Let's start with the bad, you may only equip 5 Abnos(1 for each Risk Lv) per team

I know kinda shitty, good news it's a Fusion Between LoR's Abno Page and LCB's EGO Skills, which is the entire point of this series thing...

Can you tell I'm Tired? Cause I've been sitting here for like 6~8 hours as I'm typing this line. And this one is after another 3 hours, 38 minutes, 14 second yea I came back just to type that, what of it??!

...for the sake of my sanity we will be using Telepole/Alleyway Watchdog(O-02-11-26) and the associated Sinners for the majority of this section.

–EGO Skills

Starting off, Abno EGOs acts as both your special moves and additional passives(for that encounter) and they come in 4 different flavors.

First and foremost is Dormant EGO Skills, only those who can not Resonate with an Abno can use these. They do not trigger the Abnos Passives, roll lower and deal less damage, But they also cost less SP and Sin Resources than other version(s) of the EGO

Awakening & Corrosion(Overclock too) are Exclusive to those who are able resonate with the Abno(Faust, Don and Heathcliff in our case), I.e if you played Limbus you know what they do.

However, before moving to Synchronization let's talk about—

–EGO Passives

After using an Awakening or Corrosion Skill, at the beginning of the next turn, you are able to pick 1 passive from the Abno EGO you used.

In our case it would be between Faust's [Adaptive Release], Don's [Haphazard Discharge] and Heathcliff's [Roar], after which depending on the passive, you may(or may not) select who gets the passive.

This can range from random, 1 unit, multiple units, anyone who isn't the user, everyone on the field, only your enemies, etc, etc.

If you want another passive from the same Abno you have to use a different version of the Abno EGO I.e if you used Don then you have to use either Faust or Heathcliff

There's also a limit to the amount of Abno passive you can have per Nugget but I'll cover that in the last section.

–Synchronization

Upon meeting all criteria and using an Overclocked EGO the selected Nugget Synchronizes with the used Abno and is overwritten with a Unique ID for the rest of the Encounter *Conditions may apply.

The secret? Well, you don't know what the criteria is of course! It could be a 13 step plan, maybe you need to not bring something, maybe you just need 100 EGO resources or vice-versa!

In the end, it will stay an enigma until you use it for the first time, of course I'm a benevolent moron so I'll atleast give you an example.

We'll be Taking Little Red(F-01-57) for our test drive. Now using our knowledge of the Abno's Story what they represent, in this case revenge, we can deduce that it probably has something to do with the Bad Wolf(F-02-58).

I'll expedite it a bit here, but either have the Bad wolf on the Field or someone who used it's EGO Skill last Turn, pay the toll(Resources) and unleashing the Skill will have the Nugget Sync with Red Hood! Of course you made sure to read the fine print right? ....right??

sigh, alright I'll tell you about the added conditions too, in our case it requires Red hood to land the finishing blow on our To be Bad Wolf fail to do so and the Synced unit turns Indiscriminate, if you kill all the enemies but fail to suppress them, then you lose. Ah–, btw you can Sync with Every Abno if you wanted to, it's not always the best choice let alone a plausible one so be careful of that.

You can Obtain Abno Skills has Story Rewards, Side Content or through the Gacha, and their passives through Uptie and or Supressions (again up to your discretion)

NOW we finally made it the homestretch the final section(of this post)

–Panic/Mental Types!!

You gain different effects depending on how high or low you SP is, hitting either extremes results in a Panic/Bliss state where you(usually) can't control that unit.

Mental types are determined by what Keypage you have equipped but can be changed under certain conditions.

–SP Gain & Loss

Winning/Losing a Clash

Max/Min Rolling

Enemy Kill/Ally Death

Skill Effects

Or Keypage specific thing

–ID Possesion

It's quite literally the opposite of Corrosion, but with IDs instead. I.e, when you hit max positive SP a wheel is turned based on Nuggets currently equipped Skill.

Let's say it's a 3-way split between W-corp, 7-Assoc and The Ring. So it would be a 30%:30%:30% for any of them to be chosen with the remaining 10% being nothing happening

Once something is chosen, all of your skill will be turned into a skill from that faction that is of the same rarity and is then shuffled.

After 1 turn has pass in that state your SP resets to 0 and you turn back to normal, the catch here is that you don't know which one of your skills you've used until the Possession is over, making it act as a punishment or reward depending on how you use it.

And with that...

IT"S THE END FINAALLLY!!

it took so, so damn long!!!! Im never doing this ever again(in one sitting)

I still have part 3 to do so i'll crawl towards that eventually with that I Hoped you enjoyed reading my ramblings

Until next time,

Toodaa loo!!

oh am i kidding

SANITY II: EMOTIONAL BOOGALOO!!

yeah...! YEAH!!!

YOU TOUGHT THIS WAS OVER DIDN'T YoU?? Well, its not, so strAP THE FUCK IN!

Here's the emotion bars reds negative greens positive

Number in the middle is the Emotion Level, you increase it by using EGOs in ascending order(1=Zayin, 2=Teth, etc.) up to a Max of 5. In normal gameplay. it can go up to 6 if you use a Unique IDs mechanic or EGO Sync, and 7 if you do both, good luck with that one

What does it do? Buffs you obviously, Action Slots, Card Draws, Number of Abno Passives, ID Mechanics.

Really whaterver the fuck you can think of, and I already did my share so show some of your creativity

See the Yellow bar on top? that's Grace, your max SP(- & +). If the colored bars reach it, shit happens, I think you can figure what.

you can also sSSSssPppiIiIiiInNnN it with Sinking&Floating(counterpart) so watch for that.

that does it im not writting anyomre of this, part 3 the finale where ill covver encounters skills, clasehed skill check resources status effects, gachaas SIN realixataon your mu,m UUUUUUUOO OOOOOOGGHH HHHGGH KANI REoRoEoRoEoRoER EREoooooREoRoERoEoRoEoRoEoRoeoroEoReooroEoRoeorEoRoeoroEoRooerooER thisisthisthatisthat youmustJUDGEMENT likeihave PALpalpALPlapLAPlapLAPlaplPALpalPALpalpALPalpA getgETperebhzcbcdGetwkjofndjlnklwdfgETGETGewjfdbu bfjwdtgeTEGte baitused tobelivable*giutar riff*HoLydhItisT HtAA ThE rEd MiRsTtHk

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

I have a species in one of my stories that is essentially a humanoid, carnivorous pursuit predator. They have digitigrade legs with a large dewclaw used in hunting (think almost raptor like), long forearms, long tails and tusks/fangs. They're meant to hunt in small groups for long distances. Size and health of tusks and dewclaws also tend to be a status symbol within their species- with larger and sharper tusks and claws being a symbol of good health.

I don't think my design is the most realistic in the world, just because I like how my characters look as they are but I do enjoy trying to play with a more realistic version of them. I've been trying to separate them a little more from just standard humanoid monsters like tieflings (just as an example, they're not for D&D). Cause I'd like them to look very similar to humans while also being uncanny in proportion. My inspirations were cheetahs and extinct dromaeosaurids. I would love to know your take on something like this- and if you have any suggestions?

it sounds like a really fun design! I can't offer much in the way of specific critique without seeing it myself, but I can talk a bit about the matter of "looking similar to humans, but Different". first, let's identify the visuals that make humans look Human.

(image description: two simple sketches of a human. one from the side, one from the front. the sketches are labeled to point out various human features. flat face, short torso, upright posture, round butt, long legs, expressive brows and mouth, broad shoulders, dexterous hands, and flat feet with small toes. end description)

in order to have your fantasy people species "look human" they need to retain some of these traits. the easiest thing to retain is the expressive face, which is why even a cartoon animal can feel "human" without actually being human. dexterous hands also means very gestural hands. humans tend to gesture as we communicate, though the level varies by culture. this is why cartoon birds will move their wings like hands, it gives them that human-like expressive body language (though it often comes with the very unrealistic effect of having their feathers curl like fingers and personally I absolutely hate that. stop doing that. I understand why it's done but it still bothers me.)

The other thing of course is the skin. humans have little body hair and no scales or feathers, so if you want a design to look more "human" it helps to leave a lot of bare skin.

with all of that in mind, it's up to you to decide how many human-like features you want to keep and how far away from human you want your design to look. you can also check out my guide on making humanoids less human.

and for a little bonus example: here are a few of my own fantasy designs compared to a human.

(image description: four sketches of people comparing their different bodies. from left to right: human, elf, gnome, and quetzalin. the elf is the most human-like, with features more like a monkey, including a long tail. the gnome has a human-like posture but their features are more pig-like, including four-digit hooved hands and feet, as well as a snout. the quetzalin has a posture more similar to a raptorial dinosaur, with both wings and human-like arms, as well as a protruding beak tooth and a stiff tail. end description.)

i hope that helps!

[zalrb]

we already talked a bit about this in private, but now that you had some time to think about it, i think you might be able to give a more detailed response so here's my question - do you think bojack losing diane was enough of a consequence for him? how do you feel about his dynamic with diane vs pc?

1. This will be long and all over the place since I'm writing my thoughts in real time. Because of the 30-image limit, I'll probably answer this in two posts.

2. OK so, as you know, I'm not in the Bojack fandom, I just watched the series for the first time and finished it a couple of days ago and we've been talking about my impressions and you've been sharing trivia with me so my view feels like it's probably an unpopular opinion especially because what you indicate

is certainly meant to be illustrated. I'm not saying that it's narratively untrue because it isn't, I just don't believe it the way that I should because while I was watching the show, I was like Diane's relationship to Bojack is like a 2.0 version of his relationship with PC

and so I became interested in what it would've meant if the person he "lost" at the end of the series was PC because I do think that would've been an appropriate and big enough emotional consequence for him and his actions and I do think it would've been more narratively resonant. So, you wanted me to expand a bit more on the 2.0/two sides of the same coin thing and why I thought PC and Bojack were more "entwined" than him and Diane -- I'll do this part in another post.

There are just a few things I don't think we can ignore, like the 23-year history between Bojack and PC because, of course, knowing someone for a long time doesn't automatically mean that your relationship with that person means more or is more profound than someone you met later but while I was watching the show, I did draw parallels

or things like

that made me go, I don't think his relationship with Diane is more profound either or that he treats her with more reverence in a genuine way, I just think he knew her for six years

while he knew PC for over two decades

and he's restarting a cycle.

even the way that Bojack would leave drunken, long-winded messages on Diane's voicemail parallels the way that he would drunkenly show up on PC's lawn.

To be fair, I don't think we can ignore the way in which Bojack expects the people in his life, particularly women, in general to emotionally labour for him. PC says it herself, "You want a mommy you can slide your dick in and out of" and we could of course talk about the cyclical nature of his self-hatred which can then create the same type of relationships with other people in general, over and over, and obviously because Diane and PC are different people, their relationships to Bojack aren't exactly the same. There are similarities between them with how they get sucked into Bojack's orbit

but they do respond to him differently, one major difference being that Bojack and Diane never had sex and were never together romantically but that again reinforces to me that they're two sides of the same coin

even the way that Bojack desperately begs Diane to tell him that he's a good person

is just the other side of Bojack lashing out at Princess Carolyn for making him feel like he's a bad person

and both instances sprout from him thinking that they know him too well and while some of the scenes with Princess Carolyn happen after they happen with Diane, they're also contextualized by their long history.

So, for me, while obviously he has two separate relationships with each character and while obviously the Original Relationship(s) Bojack has is with Beatrice (and Butterscotch), which impacts all of the relationships he has afterwards, I ended up looking at his relationship with Diane through the lens of his relationship with Princess Caroyln, which made Princess Carolyn and her relationship with Bojack the more narratively compelling and why I ended up with this as my takeaway

because I actually thought that it had already been established that Diane moved on and coming back to that in the finale felt like an unnecessary rehash but more importantly, what Bojack said about Princess Carolyn was right, I do believe that she was this person in his life and had been for nearly thirty years

“You're the little plastic table they put in pizza boxes to keep the pizza from getting smushed."

and to have that table removed, would've been emotionally resonant and a well-earned consequence that also isn't a punishment, it's just life.

I don't know if any of this makes sense.

[anmechokola]

Expectations vs Reality in the Land of the Giants

(spoilers for up to chapter 1141)

The first time we learn about giants in One Piece is in Little Garden, where there is a passage about its name by "Louis Arnot, explorer". So our first association with giants is a misdirection, something that is not what it seems at first glance.

Recently we learned that Louis Arnot has also been to Elbaf, and after he spends some time talking about its beauty, and how amazed people would naturally be about a place so majestic, he again halts us with a misdirection:

(chapters 115 and 1132)

In Japanese, what he says is この地に長居してはならない, which means roughly "do not overstay on this land". 地 refers specifically to a plot of land, the ground, the earth, etc. So he could mean it literally, like the act of touching the actual soil of Elbaf is somehow dangerous. Or maybe something else related to the ground, like the food grown there.

This arc so far has been heavily implying that things are not what they seem. Even before they get to Elbaf the Strawhats are separated when everyone passed out and the Sunny disappeared. In Rodo's memories he ponders if they went through the Sleeping Mist Belt (chapter 1129), and before that a giant gives them Absinthe and claims it'll make them hallucinate (chapter 1126). Not that I think they literally are hallucinating, but it's still the theme of illusions and misdirections.

Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy then wake up in the Land of the Gods, a fake land, with a fake sky, and fake trees, and a fake castle. (I know that these Strawhats are the ones to go missing because they're the ones who would recognize Vivi's mark in the papers and it wasn't time for that yet in the story and that it doesn't mean anything, but I just want to point out that it's the East Blue crew specifically that's in there, aka the ones who had met Dorry and Broggy in Little Garden - Chopper was kept out)

(chapter 1127)

It's slapstick comedy, all of them having attacked the animals in the castle, but it is interesting that the first thing they did when they arrived on the so-called Land of the Gods was kill the "gods", isn't it? And specifically killed them with fire and lightning. Nami also defeats the "Sun God" with a "divine retribution" 天罰 of lightning.

(chapter 1127)

This is one of the first shots we get of "Elbaf" and, coupled with what Ripley said in the latest chapter, it feels like a bit of foreshadowing.

(chapter 1141)

When they try to leave the fake land, they find out that the apparently endless horizon is actually bordered by mirros, giving it the illusion of being bigger than it really is.

In chapter 1130, Franky mentions that "they're always changing the narrative" and he's talking about how the story was twisted so that Luffy is being blamed for what happened on Egghead, of course, but it's also the panel where Vivi is trying to send a message. "Vivi is missing and her father was supposedly killed by Sabo" is also a false narrative that misdirects from what actually happened at the Reverie.

So maybe it's good for us to keep that in mind and think about what other stories might not be what they seem.

(chapter 1130)

If, for example, every single giant on Elbaf says the same thing, that King Harold was a great ruler who wanted to bring peace to the country and he was slain by the evil, wicked, absolutely irredeemable Prince Loki, it sounds very much like a narrative shift, like a story.

We know that Loki is the name of a trickster god. We know that Loki has always been looked at with suspicion by the other giants because of a prophecy from before he was even born. His bad image was only reinforced by things that happened around him but were beyond his control (the "Horse of Fortune" dying, Big Mom rampaging on the village, the queen dying) and then, by the age of 10 - which is how old, in giant years? - he is already an evil fiend who releases monsters in villages and is an arsonist (chapter 1136). Of course, after all of this, when there are 100 soldiers and a king who is renowned as a great warrior, all of them against Loki, he obviously and deviously killed all of them, except Jarul. I'm not saying it's impossible for him to have done it, but the way it's framed is suspicious, at least. Especially since apparently no one has been back to that castle in 14 years for some reason, but there are guards stationed inside and still looters have been around enough to pillage it clean.

(chapter 1131)

As an aside, the self-proclaimed Sun God was, in his words, "hoping for liberation" (解放を望む), when the Sun God Nika is known as the "Warrior of Liberation" 解放の戦士. They translated it as "release" but the word he uses is the same as the one on Nika's name. Also, after all that supposed praying, who is it that appears to try and free him?

Another nice mirror framing of Loki and Luffy is when Jarul is explaining about the different interpretations of the Harley text, and how that sprouted different versions of Nika in people's minds.

(chapter 1136)

世界が壊れぬ様現れた英雄か

the hero who appears so he can find a way for the world not to break

全てを壊した破壊者か

the destroyer who breaks everything

Both of these are images that the giants have of the Sun God. And we have already seen more than one Sun God at a time, with Luffy and Bonney in their "freest form". Maybe now we'll see more than one Sun God again, one who doesn't want to break the world and one who does.

All interactions with giants so far have involved misdirection in some way, like the name Little Garden, Mother Carmel actually being a slaver, the Strawhats and the giants being accused of murdering Vegapunk.

And speaking of Mother Carmel...

(chapters 1134 and 866)

Mother Carmel says

略奪より交易

trade over pillaging

And King Harold says

戦いより他国との交易

trade with foreign countries over war

Mother Carmel claimed to believe in trade over pillaging, was considered good and saintly and was beloved by all giants, but she was actually a slaver and even sold giants to the World Government.

King Harold claimed to believe in trade over war, was considered the greatest monarch Elbaf ever knew, was beloved by the giants, but...?

[bloodgulchblog]

I have no jokes for you this morning.

S2E06.

We start off with a group of Spartan-IIIs engaged in a simulation training exercise to board and take down a Covenant ship.

We find out that it's a training simulation because they get pulled out of the dumb VR zoom call technology from last season (y'all remember that? I barely did) and Kai tells them how they fucked up and that they need to be more like a swarm of bees when they're in space to not get shot.

Insanely, one of these trainees is apparently Perez.

We also get a ton of these in-helmet face shots I hate.

While Halsey and the Gang have been busy on Aleria, Spartan-III is.... proceeding with a bunch of adults who survived Reach.

Apparently.

I feel like anyone reading this post has been here long enough to understand my annoyance without my efforts to belabor the point. Maybe I'll get agitated enough to make a whole post out of it later.

But this also feels like the kind of thing a writer does when they've heavily foreshadowed something (the Kessler subplot, whatever the fuck was up with Ackerson having a dead sister clone) but want to make you think you didn't see it coming, so I am expecting we are not out of the child soldier woods yet.

You know how it is.

The children yearn for the child soldier woods.

Anyway, there's a ~thing~ with her and Kai where Kai clearly doesn't like her and Kai's like "I don't have a problem with you I have a problem with failure" while Perez is all YOU'RE JUST MAD YOU WEREN'T THERE AT REACH.

Anyway there's this fucking amazing line after Perez says she "knows what she signed up for."

Then, we cut to Parangosky and Twinkerson having a conversation about ONI (sorry, THE ONI), tea, stories, and empire because of course.

But actually, the point of the conversation is that Parangosky has heard someone snuck a ship through their security protocols and landed nearby, and also she has heard from a source that Halsey is probably alive.

And was seen traveling with a huge scarred man on a ship of the same description.

God dammit, roll the title sequence.

I've survived the first 10 minutes without needing to spit 30 images at you so you can understand my anguish, so maybe things are looking up.

Sort of.

For now.

God I need to fucking know how bad the Spartan-IIIs actually are because this is already so stupid.

Luckily, Halo show is going to leave that Jimmy Rings teaser alone for now. Hop over to Kai and Ackerson.

Kai has been using the VR zoom call software to make herself more miserable about how she wasn't at the battle of Reach by simming herself there, and Ackerson is calling her out on it. She believes her whole team is dead and she's having a very bad time.

She is not confident about the Spartan-III trainees. She says they're not Spartans.

Ackerson is like lol well that's your problem, they are Spartans...

10/10 #1 best boss of the year award.

OKAY NOW we get to go see Halsey and the gang, who are of course on Onyx.

Halsey casually does not explain her plan. Kwan wanders off into the woods and starts hallucinating the spooky woman again while Soren and Jimmy talk about how Onyx is a ~mysterious planet~ with ONI history or something, and how Laera and Soren want to go find/rescue Kessler.

Kessler is somewhere in that building, they think.

Security forces show up and they fight armorless Jimmy in the snow in a scene that Paramount Halo probably thinks looks cool but I just thought looked very silly.

Kwan follows her vision and jumps down a well, which we find out has weird Forerunner Stuff at the bottom and Halsey is already there.

Halsey apparently used to work here 20 years ago.

The funniest thing about the sequence is she credits meeting Kwan specifically for how Jimmy Rings stopped behaving "like a Spartan," which feels super un-earned because of how quickly season 1 separated these characters and how little they ultimately actually seemed to mean to one another. Kwan is about as bewildered as I am with it.

Then, we have THE MOST HILARIOUS SEQUENCE IN THE SHOW TO ME SO FAR.

Okay.

Setting the stage for you.

Lovingly fighting with how tumblr won't let me upload two videos in one post.

Remember this cutscene with me, how they show us the Arbiter's punishment, how it feels to watch that.

Remember it? Love it? Good.

Here's what we get in Halo TV Show.

[EDIT: tumblr had its chance to host this but I think it thinks it's content matched, porn, or both. So. Youtube.]

The prosecution is wheezing. The prosecution rests.

(And by that I mean I should probably go eat something besides bad tv show for breakfast.)

[peanutrat20]

Welcome, to Warriors Heart

About Warriors heart

Warriors Heart is a separated au where leo and donnie get left behind when splinter escapes draxums lab (so original i know).

thing is in my au big mama actually agreed to let splinter participate in draxum's experiment. as long as she could have one of the turtles when he was done. she chose leo before the mutation so when he was left behind he was handed over to big mama while draxum kept donnie.

leo and donnie meet for the first time when they're four years old. when big mama comes to draxum asking him to train leo to fight. they spend as much time as possible together when leo comes over for training after that.

two years later leo fights in the nexus for the first time. he wins. but he was so censored to the nexus fights before that he doesn't realize what that means until too late. he runs off to draxum's where donnie sits with him while he breaks down.

while donnie is sitting calming leo down draxum goes to have a chat with big mama. upon his return he tells donnie he has to leave immediately. tells him to find splinter and the rest of his brothers.

unsurprisingly donnie does not want to leave. draxum tells him he has to because he is unsafe otherwise, leo will follow at a later time.

donnie reluctantly leaves. he finds splinter living in the sewers with mikey and raph. he makes himself a new home with them.

eight years later donnie still makes regular visits to the hidden city. he avoids the battle nexus and anywhere that has ties to draxum and big mama.

he has become not only an incredible scientist but a master of mystics as well. every piece of tech he builds has some kind of mystic element built in.

he has no idea what has become of leo.

until mikey joins him on an out to the hidden city and finds a flyer for the battle nexus with leo's face printed on it.

furious of the mistreatment that he can see obvious from the flyer donnie plans a heist to break leo out.

the only things he needs is the human world entrance to the nexus, and some hidden city money.

both of which he can get from his dads.

donnie gets to see draxum again, and bring leo home on the same night.

What to expect to see with this au

here on tumblr i'll be posting art, reference images, and any small stories that don't fit the main narrative.

anything written will be posted on ao3 (links will be added here as they are posted)

Want to interact with this au?

if you see Warriors Heart and decide you want to make fanart or whatever else you are 100% welcome to. there is only one rule no t//c3st besides that you can do whatever you want with my au as long as you tag me so i can see it.

i will also answer questions sent to my ask box about Warriors Heart

Other Links:

Art

first reference to WH

leo might have stabbed someone

some twins doodles

late nights with donnie and mikey

leo accidentally adopts a cat??

what could this be?? i refuse to tell

donnie's prosthetic and how he got it.. sort of

Writings

this was originally supposed to be for WH so i guess it counts

Other things

assigning witcher songs

who's up for some spoilers??? .. more spoilers because i said so

donnie's favorite snack .. and another one .. oh look more pretzels

quick! before the ref sheets come out!!!

tentative timeline