#i'm gonna use their designs for my own stories one day!

[s2pdoktopus]

Since I have been rambling here a lot I will also ramble about my dear mdzs children

So these four are made because I joked about populating the female species in MDZS and then I made more...

Disclaimer: I am not Chinese so these names are very much like when Anime grabs random names for English characters. They don't make sense.

First RongQuan

I completely forgot what Chinese characters I grabbed for her name (something that means melting, I think?

The design idea for her is that of a simple looking woman

She became a disciple because she wanted to and her father loves her very much he used his family ties to get her in. Upon entering, it became very clear that he has absolutely no talent for cultivation. This, and the well known fact that she's here because nepotism, made her the subject of many disciples' teasing. To compensate for her lack of talent she became a push over, doing many menial tasks to contribute to the sect. She's too tired to feel mad about the treatment most of the time.

Post-canon:

She's doing the same thing she's always done. Her mother fears that being involved with a sect riddled with so much scandal might ruin her marriage prospects. She thought about agreeing with her mother for a solid minute but ultimately decided that if men can't handle being involved with her as a Jin disciple, they can't handle her at all and politely rejected to do as her mother asked.

Lan FeiRi

I also completely forgot what her name's Chinese characters are. (One of them is the character for sun, I think)

Her design idea is that of a fairy, I tried to make her hair have the silhouette of a butterfly for this. It's also why I chose something that would spell FeiRi lol

She is a child orphaned by a demonic cultivator and adopted by a Lan couple. She cultivated a little late so her cultivation isn't as good as it could've been but she's average on power, overall. She exudes nearly the same tranquil energy as Lan XiChen. This is just a facade though, she absolutely loves it when people she deems evil get the justice she thinks they deserve, she can be sadistic. The ultimate two-faced individual, she could be smiling on the outside but seething on the inside, caring on the outside but laughing out in joy over others' suffering on the inside.

Post canon:

She absolutely hates that the grandmaster of demonic cultivation is living just a few minutes away.

(she has one of my favorite designs among the mdzs ocs I made)

Nie QiaoLu

Again, I forgot what her name means.

I designed her last. I didn't know if my designs are outrageous already so this is me dialing back down. But she looked too simple with straight hair so I made it wavy.

She is the strongest female cultivator in her age group, She is a distant relative of Nie Huaisang. She used to be a quick-tempered child but when the reality of the Nie cultivation sunk in, she sought to find a way to minimize the possibility of qi deviation. Instead of finding some new techniques she found Hanguang Jun. She thought, surely, by imitating him she will be less susceptible to qi deviations and so she went ahead and lived her life with such belief. As if the natural consequence trying to imitate one of the twin jades, her social skills were stunted and she is disconnected from her emotions.

Post canon:

She came back to rejoin society and the first thing she heard was Hanguang Jun's recent marriage. Her reaction was, "Oh. Congratulations to him, I guess?" She's still unaware of the things happening around her. Someone needs to anchor her to the ground. (Her head is so empty she might just float away, never to be seen again...)

Ok. The Jiang kids I made plenty of first of all:

Yu Lilai

I do remember that her name is supposed to mean "beautiful future".

Lilai already has a whole post explaining her. She is my favorite to use of the bunch in the silly comic stuff I made because there's no stake in her. She's the kind of gag character you will see in an anime who has an eccentric yet loving and supportive family.

She's also my favorite of the bunch :3

I have no height chart for these kiddos anymore

Jiang Lian

Jiang RenJi (courtesy name)

His given name means "to unite" and the courtesy name means "sturdy foundation"

He is a distant relative of the main Jiang family. His great great grandmother left the sect to live a civilian life away from Yunmeng. He reentered the Jiang sect when he was eight because he heard about Jiang Cheng's story and felt really bad for him. He wanted to help rebuild his ancestral home.

He is the responsible and ever-so-reliable Shixiong! He is the guard dog to the sheeps that are the baby disciples. Though he lacks Lilai's talent in combat or XinXue's silver tongue, he is the person the baby disciples trust the most. A sturdy leader, fitting his name.

Xiao XinXue

You know how Wei Wuxian is abbreviated to WWX and Jiang Cheng is JC? Yeah. XinXue's name is just so it can be abbreviated to XXX. XinXue name means "new blood" I forgot what Xiao is supposed to mean though.

Her family was killed by demonic cultivators and Jiang Cheng saved her. She is also the first orphan the Jiang sect save whom they eventually took in as a disciple.

. She harbors a deep hatred for demonic cultivation and doesn't think anything is wrong with punishing them. In essence she represents the irl people who just hate Wei Wuxian and an answer to people who think demonic cultivation users are just poor unfortunate souls who had no choice.

She's wrong in some points and justified in other points. No one is telling her to let go of her anger but her friends, Lilai especially, are quick to tell her that she needs to direct that anger to the right place (and not to a man who was dead during the death of her family). She goes to RenJi to vent whenever she needs it.

(and RenJi is always there to tell Lilai that she really needs to be more gentle with her wording)

She's usually very mischievous. It's difficult to be mad at her because seeing her happy is a far cry from the catatonic girl they nursed back to consciousness. Surprisingly, she is the most nurturing of the disciples. It's an unspoken agreement that she handles the other traumatized kids they will save.

I planned to make more characters with funny abbreviations like, XD, LOL, OWO, etc but it's tiring to look for Chinese characters...

Finally, the nebulous existence of

Jiang Xie

She never had a name first, then someone asked and I had to give her a name. Then I forgot what the name was and I have no internet to look. For the first time she's gonna get referred to by name in a drawing so I just put Xie and was done with it. Then I forgot that it was Xie lol. I finally looked up Chinese characters to make names for others and I named her MiFu (overflowing blessing, something like that) then I saw the comic again where she is Xie and well Xie it is. Thankfully it could mean harmony which fit her despite her chaotic tendencies.

She was never planned to be anything beyond the first comic thingy. As someone who only watched the worst version (the anime/manhua) finding out that the temple scene is different from what really happened, especially people's outrage about it compelled me to both make something silly about it that can comfort the traumatized grape. Lol.

Then some people really liked her, I did have some not funny ideas in my head so I just drew that. Sometimes others would comment stuff that gave me ideas so I made those. In a sense she's a group effort I guess. She just developed like that. She is a joke character at her very core though. I wanted to hit a balance of funny innocent children stuff without making her just a walking ball of gags.

Ultimately she's a good kid who likes helping people by suggesting solutions only children would think of (Jin Ling has no dad? Swear brotherhood with her so they can share her dad!) It usually doesn't help but it makes the receiver of the advice feel better more often than not. Promising to break the legs of her loved ones' bullies is her love language.

[kakusu-shipping]

I am once again making a long annoying post but after posting my Overwatch S/I references I kept rattling the timeline of events for them around until I finally sat down and made it

This is the most bare bones way I could write out the current string of events I have, To Be Continued due to current lack of actual in-game story events

[bonny-kookoo]

BONNY-NIMMM PRINCESS IS A KWEEN STORY, NO WORDS 🤷‍♀️🙌🏼 EASILY ONE OF MY TOP FICS SERIES ALREADY 👀 itbemyromanempirenglthisischefskissyourhybridstoriesaresomethingelseforcefeedusallyouwant 🍽️🍽️🍽️

It's currently one of my favorites I won't lie. Warning for slight angst

"Whats-" Jungkook starts, watching you put bag after bag of snacks on the small table in the corner of the practice room.

One after another you keep piling them up, and he realizes most if not all of them are snacks he's eaten before when you were around- so you just bought those you know he likes. But why?

"Where'd you even get all of that?" Jungkook wonders when you put some small boxes of banana milk on the table as well.

"The store." You roll your eyes, before your tail lowers between your legs in.. embarrassment? "..I asked for my credit card and.. complained until I go it for today." You say. "But I was only allowed to buy stuff supervised, so.. this is all I could do." You say.

"Okay.. but why?" He asks, still unsure while you keep jumping around the topic, sitting down on the floor now while playing with the empty plastic bag in your lap.

"...cause you bought me those warm tights yesterday." You mumble. "...and the fluffy socks.."

True, he did do that.

He's noticed you either just wear leggings or otherwise just dresses and skirts- and after you explained to him that you simply don't like pants, he's found that you don't own any warm clothing that would work with something like that. All you have is designer stuff made to be worn on special occasions - but nothing for the cold weather outside. Nothing that's gonna protect your skin against the biting temperatures.

He just.. felt like you needed it, and he could provide it. It wasn't really that expensive, and really, he did kind of went overboard on the small shopping spree all by himself.

"I told you, I don't need anything back." He chuckles, sitting down next to you on the glossy wooden floor. "I did it because I wanted to."

"..still." You shake your head. "I felt bad."

"Hm, okay. I'll take the stuff then. Will that make you feel better?" He asks, and you nod, one of your ears floppy again. It's kind of cute, and it fits you- but he's still curious. "Say, why does.. one of your ears sometimes stand up, and sometimes it doesn't?" He wonders, reaching out to touch it when you look at him.

"Oh- the stylists make it stand up. But it doesn't, normally." You explain. "It's always been like this since I was a pup. But it's ugly, so they.. you know, force it up when they film." You tell him.

"How?" He wonders, confused- when his fingers feel some very small starring almost.

"Uh.. They're like, tiny wires?" You say. "They have tiny little teeth on them. The stylist puts them in here-" You tap a point forward from the side of where your ear sits. "-and then pull it back, so it like, tightens. And that makes it stand most of the time."

Jungkook pauses. That's illegal.

"Do they numb it?" He wonders, trying not to let his anger about it show.

"No, but it's not that bad." You deny. "They've done it since I was small, so I'm used to it. And the little wires dissolve after a day or so, and then it's just a little itchy." You shrug off. "How did your ears stand up like that? They're kind of big.." you joke, and he smiles- though he can't stop thinking about all the things you think are perfectly normal, when they're not.

"You're not ugly like this, alright?" He tells you, holding your folded ear, before he lets go, and looks at you. "With your ear like that, and no makeup, and no fancy designer clothes, I mean."

"I'm not though." You answer. "And that's fine. I like being like this- no one's looking at me when I look like this. Like I'm nothing special, you know?" You say and he sighs, accepting that for now.

Though he already knows, especially when you are like this-

You're very much starting to become someone very special to him.

[random-tail]

My mind has just been swimming latly so I'm just gonna plop this here.

Enjoy this lil short for My Fluffy SCP (weather I make a more flushed out story I do not kn. )

In all honesty, you saw this coming. The orange jumpsuit, the cuffs on your wrists and feet so you couldn’t run. The soldiers holding their guns at the ready in case you tried to even consider escaping. All because of a few photos. But again, you new this would happen.

You signed the agreement when you were first introduced to this place after all. And in bright bold letters it told you the consequences of braking any of the rules. I mean this place was practically area 51. Housing creatures and objects they labeled as SCP's, with each having their own designated number.

You were down on your luck. Homeless, no family or friends. So when a stranger walked up to you offering a job with housing, food and pay how could you say no. Yes, it was sketchy as all fuck, but a warm hearty meal in the dead of winter was a tough bargain to beat. And all you were hired to do was clean.

Sure, you through up the first few times when you saw the bloody animal and human remains. But by the time of your 7th clean up of an enclosure. Your stomach was practically iron. It was also quite the cushy job since no one else seemed to want to do it. So you rarely had to deal with anyone bothering you as long as you got the place cleaned up in a timely manner, and didn’t leave anything behind.

But then you just had to screw it all up. All because your stupidity got the better of you. Taking pictures of some of the bizarre SCP’s such as SCP-999 or SCP-1762. Then posting them online. You figured it was as harmless as the SCP’s themselves, thinking most people would think their photo shopped or just plain origami dragons suspended by strings. And that was the case, till you posted one picture of a SCP that you rarely got to see. SCP-049, the plague doctor.

That day after you posted it, members of the guards stormed your room and you were dragged out in a matter of seconds.

Now here you sit on a cushioned table in your jumpsuit and chains as a woman in a lab coat takes your vitals. Both you and her acted calmly as if this was nothing more then a Dr’s visit but you knew that wasn’t the case.

That day when you were dragged from your room you were designated as a D-class personnel. Nothing more then food for the SCP's to eat and to be cleaned off the walls and floors. You almost felt more jealous then afraid for the new person who now gets to clean you off the enclosures.

If you were to be honest with yourself, you’d say you might have been in a state of shock as you lifted your arms and took deep breaths as the woman directed you. You guess the reality that you were about to die hasn’t fully kicked in yet. So when you were finally escorted from the room to the elevator, and still had a mind of clarity. You spoke up.

“Will it be quick?”

The woman looked at you, then at the clipboard she’d been carrying. You only catch a small shift on her face that you couldn’t decipher before she returned to facing forward as the elevator descended to the Keter-class levels.

You all step off and pass containment after containment, even passing under inactive tesla gates. You start to count each section you pass by, wondering which lucky abomination will be picking you from their teeth. Finally the woman who was at the lead comes to a stop at a door.

Seeing her using her level 4 access card, you suddenly get a short lived feeling of excitement. You had only ever cleaned areas that personal with level 3 access could allow you into. As frightening as most of the creature that are in here you couldn’t help but be completely enamored by its existence. The things that are here that shouldn’t even exist.

That honestly probably what drove you to take photos of them and share them. To show the world that these dangerous yet incredible things exist.

You roughly get pushed by one of the guards knocking you out of your stupor as you were gawking at the woman’s level 4 pass.

Right, you’re here to be food. Not to sight see.

Your pushed into a room adjacent to an observation room. The only thing separating the 2 being a thick glass wall. Inside you can see others in lab coats, looking through the observation window into the enclosure or typing away at a computer. Another thing you notice is a white board with, not 1. But 2 SCP numbers. And underneath each you see names, of whom you believe are the scientists with in the room.

You’ve seen this before. Usually to keep track of who’s using the SCP or who’s currently authorized to use it. Or maybe it’s to-

“So which one is your money on?”

You glance to the guards.

“I don’t know. I lost too much on my last bet.”

Ah. Their bets to see which SCP get to eat you…wait.. “2..SCP's?” You state out loud to yourself. The reality of your situation finally decides to hit you like a ton of bricks. So much so that you miss the glare the woman gives the guards and how your quickly ushered into the air lock.

The door closes behind you with a single guard and the woman. As the air lock hisses with sanitization, you try to think of what 2 SCPs that you know of with in the facility. That could possibly be in the same enclosure and not rip each other apart. You start considering it’s the 2 strange SCPs 053 and 682 when you suddenly feel someone breathe into your ear.

“To answer your question from earlier.”

Her feminine voice leaves a chill down your spine as the woman leans into your ear from behind you.

“they like to play with their food.”

You feel all the color from your face drain as the doors to the enclosure open and you are shoved in.

“hehe.. bye.”

You stagger on your feet and turn around only to catch a glimpse of the woman’s green eyes and dark smile before the doors close.

Standing there, frozen to the ground. The fear and reality of what’s bound to happen next solidifies in your mind. Your going to die in the next few minutes, and if the SCP's truly do play with their food. Your going to die in the worst way.

You stare at the door willing it to open again and let you out. For this to be nothing but a nightmare. But the feel of eyes on your back and a hot breath down your neck lets you know that’s not going to happen as a shudder goes down your spine.

A gravelly chuckle coming directly behind you that soon erupts into a husky laugh as it sees you tremble. But it wasn’t a dark laugh of someone about to kill you. No somehow it sounded just like those irritating laughs you used to get from jack ass’s who would give you rotten food when you were hungry. Or would steal from you at knife point.

That irritating kind of laugh that made your blood boil from its once icy cold. You knew this wasn’t some punk about to rob you however. It was a horrid creature that would most likely rip you limb from limb. But that laugh. It was enough to solidify your next decision. That you would punch this SCP at least once before it could tare you apart.

So whipping around with your eyes closed and your still cuffed hands held together. You swing at the creature with all your might, only to be met with what felt like silky fur. The chuckling had stopped for only a moment before starting up again with vigor.

You open your eyes, and your fire flickered out.

Before you stood a tall creature standing on its hind legs. It was lanky with a broad chest and long limbs. It’s, what your assume is slick fur, is a stunning mix of milky white and midnight blue with a fluff or plumage around its waist, and neck. It possessed a wicked set of claws and razor-sharp teeth to match. Teeth that it eagerly displayed in a wide grin that made its red eyes crease. On it head it had a long tendril that seemed to twitch and sway on its own, with a little bulb at the end.

Despite it hunching over, it still towered over you by several feet. It continued its chuckling as it grabs your cuffed hands and pulls them away from where you hit it. Clearly you didn’t phase it as it drops its face closer to your. It’s grin splitting wider.

Anyone else in the right mind in this situation would of pissed their pants already. And you definitely know you did once you saw how tall this mother fucker was. But then you noticed something that caught your eye. It’s face. It was circular like a disk with it being half milky white and half midnight blue. Yet the more you stare at it, the more you couldn’t help realize that it looked like-

“the moon?”

It freezes in the middle of opening its jaw and raising a claw to your face. It’s eyes were blown wide open, and after a few moments it sneers at you. It lowers its hands then proceeds to.. sniff you?

It makes an audible “bleck" sound while sticking out an inky black tongue before pulling away from you. It begins to pace back and forth in front of you on all 4s, yet still it stood over you even now that it was lower to the ground. It continues to glower at you while making a variety of gravelly sounds and chirps as if it was a chattering frustrated cat that couldn’t catch a bird.

As you watch it, confused by its sudden change of demeanor, you hear another set of chatter. But a much higher pitch. The additional chatter wasn’t as startling as the blue creature perking its head then turning it 180° around to face behind it. Was this thing part owl or something?

A conversation of chirps and chatter gos back and forth between the blue creature and another until you could finally see the owner of the higher pitched voice. A creature, similar to the blue ones build, comes prancing over. Standing tall on its rear legs. The only difference being its gold & cream colors, bright white eyes, and rather then one tendril. It has 7 that crowned around its head.

It chatters happily to the blue one, who you catch rolling its eyes, before coming up to you and crouching down. It’s smile widens at you and just like the other, it bears razor sharp teeth. But your then suddenly taken off guard when you notice it has a gap in between its front teeth. Of which pulls an uncalled for snort from you. This makes the gold creature rear back a bit surprised, before smiling wider and filling your ears with a variety of happy clicks and chirps.

It's glee was contagious as you couldn’t help but smile and chuckle at its this deadly creatures silly display as it shakes its head this way and that at you. But your mirth is quickly cut short, when it grabs you by your head. Its large hand that could easily crush your skull, firmly holds either side of your face. Your eyes widening as you become hype aware of its blade like claws inching unnervingly close to your throat.

“they like to play with their food.”

The woman’s voice vibrates in your head as a reminder that these creatures will kill and eat you at some point. This was most likely one of their games.

Your sudden silence must of caught the golden creatures attention, it flicks its head to the side a complete 90°. It chirps at you and you notice that the tendrils on its head start to sway and flicks like flames. Now that you thought about it. It’s face look a lot like a kids drawing of-

“The sun.”

Just like the blue one it freezes suddenly. Eyes wide and tendrils still. Not only it, but even the blue one looks at you with wide eyes. The gold one slowly releases your head before starting to, what looks like, vibrate. It smiles wide before turning to the blue one and starts chirping and trilling in what you could only assume was excitement. As it does its face drifts closer And closer to the blue one till finally it puts its palm to the golden ones face and shoves its away.

The golden one give a yelp as it falls backwards from the push and the blue one stalks forward with an eerie smile. It’s your turn to freeze as it get up close and personal to the point you could see the swirl above its right eye. It opens its jaw which just keeps going. Wider and wider like an angular fish till it could easily fit your head and it looks that it’s going to do just that as you start to tremble.

You just barely see the barbs in the back of its throat as it’s open jaw practically engulfs your entire head. You even feel the tips of its lower jaw prick underneath your chin and smell the iron on its breath. Its going to bite your head off.

You feel every drop of blood grow cold in your veins as you look into the mouth of your demise. You knew it was an inevitable yet you cant help but tremble and whimper as this thing fits your entire head into its mouth. You close your eyes. Maybe it will b quick. .

Snap!

The crack of its jaw vibrates through out the enclosure. Yet you didn’t feel a thing, Was it really that quick.

You peak an eye open then both, blown wide as you get an eye full of its sharp grinning teeth. Shut tight like a bear trap, not even an inch from your face. You crumble to your knees with a shudder as the sharp filling of fear trickles out of your body.

“They like to play with their food.”

Your reminded yet again of the sick woman’s words as you watch the blue creature fall onto its back and laughs. It laughs so hard it holds its stomach and kicks its feet. It only stops when it receives a sharp snap to the back of its head by the tail of the gold one.

You watch in frightened shock as the gold ones tail, of which you first thought was a ribbon, wraps back around its waist before coming up to you. Where it proceeds to pick you up from the back of your jump suit. Scuffing you much like a mother cat does a kitten, and with the spiking trickle of adrenaline leaving your body, you were practically limp like one.

It lifts to its full height where you see your feet dangle several feet off the floor. Then starts to take you further into their enclosure. But not before giving a growl towards the blue one that make a snap at your limp hand. Which causes you to recoil in on yourself hard. Tucking your feet and hands as close to your chest as you could.

Closing your eyes you hear the exchange of growls and chatter between the 2 before you feel yourself being moved again. Your dangle from the golden ones mouth for only a few seconds till you feel yourself being plopped onto something soft. As you dear to open your eyes, you find yourself sitting in a nest made of various twigs, feathers, fabrics, and fluff. The golden creature then wraps itself around you in a secure position of which you couldn’t escape. Not without climbing over it that is. As it settles, you chance glancing around but you don’t see much other then the creatures body & the white ceiling of its enclosure.

That is till you see a dark tendril with a bulb at its end sway into your vision. You shutter before looking up and seeing the blue creature looking down at you. You swallow. It gives a sharp look but quickly schools its mischievous grin when you hear a chirp from the golden creature. The blue one rolls its eyes before lifting a clawed hand to you face.

Instinctively, you back away from it as it grows closer to your face. But you soon become pinned against the golden creatures body as the blue one encroaches more into your space. Once again you shut your eyes fearing it's claws carving into your soft skin. Only to feel your nose get pushed against your face. You open your eyes as the creature chuckles while it boops your nose.

You give it an incredulous look as it slowly slips away. Chuckling and trilling as it fades into the shadow of the golden creature.

After a few minutes you start to hear soft snoring. You hesitantly look at the lax face of the golden creature, then at the rise and fall of its shadow from the blue creature. Your just able to sit up enough to see the one way window to the observation room. Slowly, you try and test if you can get up and over the long body of the creature. But as you lay your hand on its side to hoist yourself up. You feel it shift and yourself being yoinked back.

You fall back against the creature, wincing till you look up to see the golden creature looking down at you. It’s sleepy eyes studying you till it gives a big yawn, showing off its teeth. As it does its tail unwrap from around its waist and around your. It settles back down with you firmly against it.

It begins to softly snore again as it falls back to sleep with you trapped in its tails hold. Despite it actually settling you in a comfortable position. Your mind continues to spiral with the constant reminder that these creatures play with there food. Which made them that much more unpredictable they act nice and playful now but soon enough they will get hungry and you will be on the menu.

You feel yourself taking shallow panicked breaths but you cover your mouth not wanting to wake the golden creature again. However, as your silent panic grows, you don’t take notice of the red eyes staring at you.

As you try to control your breathing, you start to hear a gentle humming in your ear. You snap to attention and look around for the source but as you do you cant help your eyes feeling heavy. The soft humming continues and you feel your entire body grow heavy like lead as you slump against the gold creature. Eventually you lose the fight and the beckoning to rest consumes you.

The last thing you see being the blood red eyes of the blue creature as you fall into unconsciousness.

[konnosaurus]

iiiiit's sonny!!

sonny is such an intriguing little character to me. i really like him, but am very curious about his character and his placement in the series. i'm gonna stick a few thoughts about him (and diesel, honestly, and their interesting dynamic) under the cut!

even though sonny first appeared in the Last Series of the show, he felt like he had been designed with longevity in mind (at least to me!). he had personal character relationships with thomas (positive), diesel (complicated) and james (intriguing). unlike a lot of the characters introduced at the very of the series run, sonny was given these relationships that made you feel he could have his own character growth and also influence other characters and their stories.

sonny and diesel specifically are an interesting pair. diesel had only relatively recently had his minor/major redemption arc in springtime for diesel, but more recent relevant episodes, in my opinion, are diesel glows away & diesel do right. these episodes have a very interesting understanding of diesel which honestly remind me quite a bit of james (which is probably odd to say!). he thinks he is great, and that his presence makes the railway a better place, but in reality… he isn't really helping all that much because his high opinion of himself makes him do his jobs worse than if he just… tried to do them himself. it makes the other engines have a worse opinion of him than if he just talked to them as equals.

this is where sonny comes in. diesel, who has learnt through his past few episodes that he can't make other engines like him by being a nuisance and that he must put his own effort in to do his jobs correctly, is introduced to a new engine who has no preconceptions about him at all. in fact, he seems to enjoy his presence! but this is a whole new thing to diesel, who has not really had a chance to have a new interaction without the other engine involved having been told about his ways~~. while he probably hadn't had toooo many interactions with nia before diesel glows away, it was never implied she was unaware of the way he is, where as this is clearly all new to sonny.

these interactions between sonny and diesel show the two growing close very quickly- neither has really had any close buddies at any recent point, as far as we know. nobody seems to particularly enjoy the company of diesel, and sonny has been implied to have been on his own engine-wise, with only baz and bernie for a while at least. sonny is shown as inherently good- he tries to help james, he tries to do the other engines jobs. diesel as shown as inherently bad- even though he has grown, and we have seen him grow, his first instinct when given the opportunity is to use someone for his own gain. but it is different this time! when diesel causes something to go wrong for somebody else, he apologises without having to make it a whole ~thing~, which was exactly what he struggled with in springtime for diesel. he could apologise, then, but not directly. now he was able to manage it!

sonny managed to bring out the best in diesel, get a direct apology from him ((and also a direct (though sliiiightly reluctant) apology from james)), and get himself into the good books of other engines in essentially one day. though this happens quite a lot in the childrens-morals stories of thomas, there is something about him that brought that out in the characters in a way that felt entirely natural. and i just think that is neat!!

[bitethedustfools]

New sagau idea?

This is my first time posting something on tumblr but I just wanna say that I'm getting tired of seeing the imposter! sagau au where the player/creator is so forgiving once they were declared innocent and not the imposter or something like that.

The eldritch one was good but kinda expecting to go to the dark territory. The yandere one is kinda okay but need more spicy with the creator personality. The one with letter is wholesome in a way but I'm a picky person and the player's personality is just not to my taste.

So uh, I'm just gonna drop some ideas to spice some new inspiration or something. Apologize if these aus/ideas already exist.

Indifferent god/player

You play the game to pass time, you don't even bother speaking, only staying silent the whole duration and maybe murmuring some dissapointing things on the characters when they don't reach your expectation. The characters designs are nice and maybe the personality but you don't give a damn about them. You probably don't read their story or voiceline or something. But anyway, whether they have sobs story or not, you already have enough and don't care as well.

Almost everything bore you and the only thing that keep you going is the curiousity for the ending so you tried to level up and give them the best artifacts so you can speed run or something.

Once you are inside the game, the first thing you do is sigh loudly.

You dont know who the hell is the creator they speak of that finally arrived in Teyvat cause your day is ruined from being approached by the characters who won't leave you alone. (You got that divine presence and distant looks in your eyes that made them tremble with realisation when in fact you're just annoyed with them, never giving them a single glance. "out of sight, out of mind")

You are the Watcher of Teyvat, the God of all Gods and you are finally descending to Teyvat which you create "lovingly" with your bare hands. (Not that you know about that)

Now the characters feeling towarda you can be varies. The characters may be feeling grateful because you helped them getting stronger which may lead to stronger devotion.

Your hurtful comments back in your previous world sometimes drove them insane which may lead them feeling desperate and insecure, ashamed and upset as well as letting their self confidence dwindled. Sometimes they questioned themselves why aren't they abandoned yet and why are they gifted with powerful artifacts instead? So lots misunderstandings here.

The Archons probably go crazy trying to figure out how to please you. Wanting to be by your side and show you how Teyvat came to be under their rule and after that. Use them however you wish, the rules of Teyvat bend to your will and all will act according to you. Maybe that's why their gnoses is in the form of chess pieces? For you to play and use with?

The Fatui harbingers probably have complicated feelings about you. But most probably are upset that you don't give a damn about them or glad that what they are doing doesn't offended you in the slightest and encouraging what they are doing because they thought you have no problem with what they are doing.

Can go yandere route I guess but none what the characters did will ever entered your eyes because you don't give a f*ck about them. Period. No feelings or heart to heart talk.

2) Introvert simping god/player

You are a Genshin Impact lover. You buy every merchandise possible and owned so many of their cosplay. You are probably the top 5 best genshin gamer and made some theories judging by what the game had shown you. No characters can escape your gushing as praises bullet out of your mouth. Nothing in the game could escape you cause you love them so much.

Unfortunately, as much as you love them from the roots of their hair to their fine shoes and the blackest and goodest of hearts, you don't want to be in their world.

Because you are an introvert and a simp! These combinations can't be good if you are to meet one of them!

The solution? Hide.

Needless to say, your ability to become one with the background unintentionally shut off your heavenly divine presence. You became the world's best hider, no Fatui could ever catch a glimpse of your shadow nor an Adeptus nor Archons. Always a game of mouse and cats yet theres no progress in catching the skittish mouse.

You refuse to meet them and can only look from a far. Staring with awe when they fought or walk or talk or whatever they do. It's like seeing an idol in a way.

In short, you're a stalker.

When they learn about how you look like, every place is not safe anymore. Everyone is looking for you, eager to meet you. But not you. By the power of cosplay, it's easy to avert meeting them.

And now, you are not the only world's best hider but the world's best at disguising themself as well.

3) Eldritch god/player

What if Teyvat is only one and the players is many? When you descend to Teyvat, some said you are tall, some said you are short and others said you are a male and another the opposite sex. They even said your hair was curly and black but the other refuted, saying yours was wavy and blonde.

Introducing you. A god who is all yet one individual. A god whose everything changes from one person to another's respectives. Sometimes the same person see you in a different appearance which confused many.

Your whole being is unpredictable, sometimes you're upset and then happy and then angry, all in the blink of a moment. even your accents changes, following the tongue of the one who is speaking currently.

Sometimes, when the feeling is getting intense, mostly anger, the face(s) morph into something horrible as if it couldn't decide which face(s) to take (or was it these players are feeling the same thing at once?) or what language to speak, resulting in gibberish words falling out your many mouth(s). Your eyes however are staring at the cause of your feelings, (enemy? the one that hurts you? experiment purpose?) All varieties of colours ranging from hazelnut to black.

The Archons are regal and full of divine aura, beautiful and something worthy to behold and worship.

But you are a different existence, leaning toward the dark and gory side than the Archons or the whole Teyvat.

But you are still a god, the God of all Gods.

Are you worthy to be loved and worshipped and to be behold?

Yes? No?

You're not you and you're also not them. Yet you are you and you are them.

Acceptance and violence, you have no problem to choose.

The feelings of the many you(s) are distorted and cannot be comprehend.

[izaacs-notdeadyet]

Zombie Apocalypse au!!

I really need to come up with a better name cause "zombie apocalypse au" just seems bland and "tlou outsiders au" is just too long 😔😔 def drop some ideas if you have any.

Anyway!1!1 dally design drop!!

Gon be real, I did not have fun drawing this and I think it shows in the art but fuck it!! We ball. This is like maybe my second time drawing dally and I can't get him down well for the life of me. Kinda going threw art block I think but we stay on the grind 🗣️🗣️🗣️

While he wasn't fun to draw, he was definitely fun to think up his story in this au. I think I'm gonna be a bit selective with what all I say abt the gang from now on, cause I'm really considering turning this into a fic (would y'all read about this?)

Anyway!1!1 time to yap

Dally didn't grow up in New York

But he grew up in a gang with a lot of survivors from New york

The gang "leader" was pretty tough on Dally, he was the only kid and no one really liked his being there much

He was only there cause his dad had somehow managed to talk the group into letting him join when Dally was younger

On the topic of Dally's dad,

He wasn't a bad guy, but dally and him never got along much

He never hit dally though, only one time

Dally snuck away to go exploring in the city

And ended up pissing off the leader of their group real bad

He made Dally's dad hit him, kinda in a moment like Sarah's dad hitting her in the walking dead video game (take this as loosely similar, cause I've never played nor watched the walking dead)

It was then Dally decided to leave and take off on his own at only 12.

He wasn't going to let anyone hit him like that again or hold that kind of power over him

He wandered around America and maybe even Canada for awhile

I like to think he used to have a horse, one that either died or got stolen, but he loved it a lot while he had it

He found the gang on their trek through Oklahoma.

By "found" I mean found their camp and tried to steal from them, not realizing they were right outside

When it went wrong he ended up holding Two-bit (who had been sick at the time) at knifepoint, trying to get them to give up their shit

Darry ended up talking him down, convincing him to just sit and talk (made harder by Steve and Pony agreeing on something for once in their life, and it being on killing Dally)

Dally ended up staying at their camp for the night, planning to leave in the morning, but Two-bit found him at the campfire later that night

They had a talk, Two-bit didn't blame him or dislike him for what he'd done, he was the first one to forgive and really be okay with Dally's presence.

Come the next day, and Two-bit was up before anyone else regardless of how sick he was, standing up for Dally and saying Darry should let him stay.

It took a bit of convincing, but Dally was allowed to stay, and he just kinda ran with them since

[eggwishing]

LORD alfuckingmighty i don't think there is a single string of words i could piece 2gether to properly describe the absolute magnificence of ur art . you have such a vast understanding of art & so many of its intricacies. ur character designs are ALWAYS incredible, so so endearing & memorable. every time i see one i get incredibly excited & am strangled by the urge to make fanart because just. oh my god. you have some of the BEST color work i have ever fucking seen like it is genuinely fucking spectacular what you are able to create & look good with combinations of colors i would NOT think to place in the way you do if i were given the same palette. i feel like calling your doodles just "doodles" is like, WRONG, because every single one is something u could spend ages looking at on its own. i'd pick favorites to describe but we would be here for hours . you have the insane ability to keep your style consistent but are able to stretch it & change it for whatevers appropriate/the receive your desired result for the particular drawing and its just SO. SO. COOL. take literally all of this and add it to the fact that you can fucking ANIMATE !!! while still keeping all of these features of ur style intact and that fact is just OTHERWORLDLY to me in the best way possible . not only that but ur stories r always so very intriguing and it makes me SOO ANGRY that oc artwork & original stories dont receive the same attention as fandom work or otherwise because i swear 2 fucking god you go absolutely ABOVE and beyond in terms of creativity for ur stories & DESERVE THE RECOGNITION AAAAAAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRORWGGGGGGGGGGGGRWGGGGGGGGGGRGGGGGGGGGRGGGGGGGGGGGGGRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG okay im done. i hav been up for almost 24 hours and saw one of ur drawings and got real emotional ihope uhave an awesome day eebrt i hope to be at least 10th place in ur list of biggest fans .

oh my god . I'm responding to this on a computer which doesn't have any of my usual images OR emojis that I would usually throw at you like. I don't know Someone who's really really REALLY good at throwing stuff. so I'll just use my words. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!! this means the absolute world to me.. I did not expect to be blasted in the face by one million kisses when I checked my inbox, I had to sit back in my chair like WOW.... I love you .... I love youuuu...... thank you so much for the encouragement, I've been feeling not so confident And kind of afraid (leaving to study animation in college very soon) for the last few days n your words are lifting me out of the void like bingbong's rocket from inside out. not gonna lie your comments are one of the highlights of posting on Tumblr, I love reading them so much when you reblog my stuff. they're beautiful and always make me feel better when I'm feeling down... you were there from the days of homestuck dragons... you were always there for my ocs... You are a "real one." If I had a heart locket I'd print out your icon and put it in there along with all the other people I treasure ^_^ so yeah, definitely in the ranks... when I'm up on stage wearing a solid gold tuxedo (they had to wheel me in because I could not walk in the Solid Gold Tuxedo) and giving my speech to the world before I take it over my i will start by saying First of all I'd like to thank Mel Tumblr user Melissa-titanium On Tumblr for always hyping me up... could not have made it this far without him. And then I'd press the doomsday button and blow up every world leader.

I wish I could respond with something that appropriately returns the energy of what you sent me, but this is all I've got. Just know I am vibrating in my chair right now... hope you got some sleep!!!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[minty-mumbles]

Linked Universe Survey 2023

The long awaited results of the survey. Sorry it took me forever, making graphs is hard.

There were 452 responses to the survey as a whole, which is almost double what we got last year, so thank you to everyone who participated!

If you want to see the raw data, you can find that here. I had thoughts about the data, but compiling that into another post would be too much of a hassle. Feel free to send me asks about it though!

The rest of the post will be under a read more as it it large

Demographics

Other: Demigirl (4), Transmasc (3), Grey genderfluid, Unlabeled, Demiboy, Demiagender

Other: Omnisexual (4), Poly (2), Trixic, Abroromantic or Bellusromantic, Demisexual

General Questions

Other: Quotev, Discord, their own google docs

Other: Discord, Variations of "I haven't posted yet, but I pan to" and "I haven't posted my fics in ages",

Other: Wattpad, Deviantart, Discord

Other: Crochet dolls, Custom dolls, Roleplay blogs (2), Fan translations, Headcanons (2), Piano music

The purple section in the “Warriors vs Warrior” chart is supposed to read “Warrior.” I made a typo.

Favorites and Least Favorites

Selected Free Response Answers

im sorry warriors i just can't play your game (it is very very hard. i am stuck very early on in the game)

I love cats meow meow meow

was extremely tempted to put twilight for least favorite. unfortunately he is my favorite to write from the perspective of (he has taken over most of my wips. help) and that probably counts for something. WILD on the other hand. hooo boy how the hell do i characterize this gargoyle. why is he Like That. least favorite it is

Twiddy

very good fandom to be in :) everybody is very nice

It's a straight up crime that Wars lost the aesthetics poll so quickly. He has such a peak Link design with the best colors. Ugh I'm getting wistful.

FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS. FROGS.

I will fight Hylia herself and the next person who implies Twi can't handle spice. If we're going to lean into him being southern/Midwestern, which is an alright stero type for our rancher, please keep in mind the culture you're basing him off. The south and midwest can handle their spice, I assure you. Have you ever had authentic Louisiana gumbo? It will melt you tongue off. Or some good old fashion spicy fried chicken? I promise the real stuff has quite a kick. (In all seriousness, though. It's more important that you're having fun. And even I can admit the idea of Twi being an Ordonian who can't handle his spice is more than a little funny.)

I am an OoT Link edgelord and have been since early 2017. So, in September of that year, when an artist by the name of jojo56830 puts out a lineup of nine different Links and the Hero of Time is there – the oldest, no eye, Hero’s Shade armor? I saw that one sketch and just thought “oh this is gonna be bad.” Yeah of course he has the coolest design. By the way, it’s only a matter of time until Fierce Deity shows up in the comic and I have reason to believe it could be this current Dawn arc. Dawn … Dawn of a New Day … and who brought about the Dawn of a New Day? Fierce Deity. Twilight is recovering but still injured and what will happen if he falls again? Fierce Deity is coming and we need to be prepared. In this essay I will—

Remember that time when someone put the whole script of the bee movie in here? I’m not that dedicated, and I don’t have that time, but let us remember and hope someone else does it again this time. Cause someone is bound too. We’re all crazy enough to do it. Alright, love you and stay hydrated pls!

Hi! I joined this fandom really recent but i’ve always seen LU stuff on pinterest and elsewhere. Only recently have i actually took the time to understand the fandom and get back into LOZ stuff and i adore the characters and story! The more and more fanart, fanfics, and comics i see about the different Links the more i love them all. It’s such a pain to pick just one i like or one i don’t like because they’re all so unique. I love this fandom and hope to get more involved!! Have a wonderful rest of your day :]

Epona is an underrated queen

your mom

I really don't get why Zelda is called Artemis. Athena makes more sense???? It perplexes me

Anyone seeing this should check out Breanna’s E!Wild AU

Something something queer every Link into oblivion!

[bougiebutchbinch]

Im sorry but what about pro-ship? ...You would also cheer people who create it?

And by pro-ship i mean incest, pedophilia, rape, abuse and glorifying all of these things.

I just want to know, no vitriol, no hate.

Okay, so, this is a MASSIVE topic and my thoughts are complex. So, just for the purpose of answering this ask, I'm gonna focus on the biggy here - fictional depictions of pedophilia.

Under a cut because this got long!

I don't wanna read anything that glorifies fictional child sexual abuse in a completely played-straight way. That's a big ol' nope.

But there is a world of difference between depiction and glorification. And I don't think people writing about a horrific situation have to constantly shove it down your throat that Pedophilia Is Bad? This sort of thinking leads to incredibly cringey moralistic fiction that is, frankly, dull.

I love dark fiction! I love gothic novels, and horror, which include rape and incest and abuse and child sexual abuse and all sorts - not all of which is demonised! Some of which is wholeheartedly glorified in order to disgust you!

Some content is meant to disturb you and gross you out and make you look at your own internal 'ick' reactions! Or it's designed to give you the 'fascinated horror' people often get from looking at a car crash with multiple fatalities. That sense of intrigue when faced with taboos is a natural part of the human experience. So long as it is only engaged with in a fictional setting, it's a helluva lot less harmful than rubbernecking out the window of your car at a crash site and causing another accident.

Playing with people's disgust can be very interesting and fun, from a writerly perspective! You can create all sorts of really disturbing horror for the precise purpose of making your audience uncomfortable, and no one is actually being hurt!

Art isn't just about happy emotions, y'know? Lolita isn't pro-child-sexual-abuse despite being written from the perspective of a pedophile, and I'd wager that very, very few people who paid to watch The Human Centipede actually have a scat fetish. They're drawn in by their disgust and revulsion - like many people are to darkfic!

Now, if someone is legitimately creating content that seems to be glorifying fictional child sexual abuse, I won't interact with them for personal trigger reasons. But at the end of the day.... I don't know their story? I don't know why they're doing that.

What I know is: when I went through the worst, most traumatic experiences in my life (which, no, I will not be discussing further x) reading about the same horrible stuff happening to my blorbos legit helped. And not just the stuff where it was depicted realistically, as a horrible traumatic experience, but the stuff where it was 'glorified' too, because it made me feel less alone and awful for having lived in that situation and for having told myself it was normal and healthy.

When you're in a situation like that, sometimes you legitimately cannot tell you are in deep shit. Fics that try to point out that you are in deep shit, invariably feel like they're preaching. A balance of fics that try to point out that, y'know, Abuse And Pedophilia Are Bad - delivered alongside fics that depict that sort of relationshp as ay-okay, actually helped me come to terms with some of the shit in my life. Reading both sorts of fic together, it didn't feel like I was being constantly told I was a Victim.

I think, at the end of the day, fiction affects reality. Just look at propaganda and the affects of white supremacy and homophobia on Western Canon! But it's not a 1:1 impact.

It's more important to encourage readers to use critical thinking when engaging with fiction, than it is to harass writers who have created content that disgusts you.

You don't know why they're creating that content, and you don't know how many people it's helped - and, so long as it's properly tagged, people who need to avoid that content due to triggers can do so!

Obligatory: if someone uses a fic with an underage pairing to groom someone, that is incredibly fucked up and disgusting. But literally anything can be used to groom kids, sadly. You could point at literally anything, and at some point, it will have been used to further a child's horrific and very real abuse.

Overall, if you actually give a shit about protecting kids, I think there are far more important things to focus on. Such as:

Educating communities about how the vast majority of child sexual abuse comes from close family friends and family members, not strangers sending kids fanfic on the internet.

Educating communities about how the word 'pedophile' has been purposefully corrupted by right wingers to demonize completely innocent queer people because think of the children. This isn't to say there isn't a very real problem with child sexual exploitation & abuse, but we should perhaps be a little wary about throwing around a word grounded in serious reality to refer to fictional scenarios, and enforcing the very Right-Wing idea that 'thinking about [x] act is the same as doing [x] act'.

Focusing on children themselves. We should support good sex & relationship education, so children know their bodies and understand appropriate cultural norms. We should educate children about their rights, and give children broader community support structures so that they feel empowered to disclose abuse. Offering time or money to shelters is a great way to actually support survivors.

Ensuring there are safe and free refuges for children who are being abused IRL, places where they can stay away from family & other potential abusers - i.e., public libraries, community centres, etc. - or at least know there are other witnesses. Volunteering at your local library and donating can genuinely make a difference to abused kids - and all kids in general!

Dismantling cultures of silence around abuse in your personal community. Do not just tell the women in the group to avoid Joe because he has wandering hands. Tell Joe that his behaviour is inappropriate and will no longer be tolerated.

TL;DR - personally, please keep any/all sexual content involving fictional underage people FAR away from me, and do not send me any rape or abuse scenarios (unless we're brainstorming whump as friends, in which case, you can just gimme a warning).

But I am also against harassing artists and creators unless they are harming real children in measurable ways.

[genericpuff]

This is stupid, but you know those new LO hoodies the Webtoon shop has? I know the font they're using. It's Eckmannpsych which is an Adobe font.

That's not the stupid part though. The dumb part is the capital H and G in the Eckmannpsych font do not match what is on the hoodies, which would obviously be on the hoodies that have Hera or Goddess on them. So, Rachel looks to have taken the time to hand draw her own H and G to match the font style for those hoodies but did not take any time to make new, better art for the merch, but instead reused ugly panels from the comic. Talk about a strange look into her priorities. She doesn't like how the G and H look on a font? She will remake those to fit what she wants. Rachel when the assignment gives her the chance to make specialized, better designs for those same merch? She can't be bothered to even try. WTF!

for the love of god-

I'm assuming and hoping they had the commercial rights to that font LMAOO But it did kind of make me go 🤨 because while I didn't know the font EXACTLY off the top of my head it still felt... weirdly out of place for something like LO? Why are these hoodies being stylized like they're from Austin Powers LOL

On another note tho, the LO merch is just like... disappointing in how bad it is for what's supposed to be WT's #1 series, which is, btw, a series with so much unique stylization that it shouldn't even be this hard to make merch for it! it just feels very "first attempt at redbubble merch", but unlike genuine first attempts at making merch (which is obviously a learning curve that I wouldn't judge anyone for being new to) this is a company that's sunk shitloads of money into LO so I don't know why they can't get better merch made?? so much of it is just the default drawings taken and slapped onto a tote bag or t-shirt, which like, yeah cool fine you're using art that's recognizable and considering the art is already made, it stands to reason that they should use it for more than just the comic. It's just disappointing to see how lazy it often is and how little effort is put into translating it onto a t-shirt/tote bag/etc. like we can't even have ONE exclusive t-shirt with a unique design that isn't just poorly copy pasted from the comic?

Case in point, those t-shirts that Rachel was advertising a while ago that were actually straight up falsely advertised. I can't find the post about it on my Tumblr (I'm pretty sure I talked about it here) so here's the IG story rundown I did on it ages ago:

Again I'd really like to have benefit of the doubt here that Rachel isn't the one making these designs, usually that's not how the merchandising process goes in these types of deals, so I'm not gonna point the finger at her. But it's just so odd to me that it happened in the first place. And this goes for a lot of LO's merch, so much of it feels cheaply made and rushed off a conveyor belt for the point of making money without much expense. Which yeah, that's a business model for sure, the goal is to profit, but like this?

You can't even argue that it's like people criticizing LO the comic because like, as much as I'll justify what I spend my time doing here in my free time, it's true that at the end of the day I don't have to pay for LO, so really the only thing I'm doing is inflicting psychic damage to myself, it's not like my actual money is on the line LMAO That's why I stopped paying for LO ages ago and only do it when I have a specific episode I need to review (such as the midseason hiatus review series I did). At the very least, if I really want to keep reading LO but don't want to pay for it, I can just avoid FastPassing it and read it for free so I can save the coins for other series I'd rather read. The Webtoons' FP system is very fair that way.

But this is merch explicitly made to generate revenue. It is a product, front to back. You can vote with your money by not buying the thing you don't like, absolutely, but the fact that it's this poorly to begin with is just so indicative of Webtoons' business practices and so shitty for the people who genuinely enjoy this comic and are being advertised and sold shoddy merchandise that doesn't even come looking the same way it's advertised. It's really not a good look for Webtoons, Rachel, or LO that this is what they're selling to people.

Especially for what they're charging, good lord-

Like, okay, they're hoodies and they're gonna be expensive to print and ship so the higher overhead cost makes sense, but jesus christ, with the kind of merch Webtoons has already given the stamp of approval on, would it even show up in decent condition? How bright are those colors gonna be? Are they gonna strip off as soon as I throw it in the wash? I'm half-tempted to buy a hoodie for myself just to do a review on it but I can't justify dropping $75 CAD on a hoodie that only has art on the back. Maybe it's just me living in the hellish lands of Canada where we play with toy money that's the problem, but it's just not a gamble I wanna take LOL If I bought one it would probably be the Hecate or Hermes ones because they're the only ones that are at least somewhat legible and have decent character art that isn't a character looking like they need to poop LMAO

(these are literally the two worst drawings they could have chosen of these two i stg lol the only thing that would have made this worse/funnier is if it was Handsome Hades and Persephone Kidnapping a Baby LMAO)

It has me worried about what the LO figures are gonna look like when they release. Are they gonna have some creative liberty with making them chibi-fied (like a Nendoroid?) or are they gonna try and replicate the art style exactly and wind up making literal blow-up sex doll Persephone? 😭

NGL, if the figures are done well enough and don't cost an arm and a leg, I might consider buying one just for the shelf collection, but again, it depends. If Webtoons released a tarot deck with really good panels from LO (like the Tower 4 scene or Persephone sitting on the rooftop with her comb or Eros flying down into the Mortal Realm) I would buy the shit out of that. I would even just take the Major Arcana if 78 cards was too much to ask :'0 I'm not against Webtoons/Rachel trying to profit off LO merch at all, I just wish it was BETTER- (╥﹏╥)

[izpira-se-zlato]

Bootleg Hojan Merch

I know Nace shared part of the story in an interview a couple days ago, but I was planning on doing a write-up before I knew that, so here you go 😂 Also contains the continuation of the saga in Finland :D

Putting this under a cut because it's gonna be a bit of a read (plus a few more pictures). Yeah, I hope no one here is surprised that I suck at keeping things short 😂

So I have done a fair bit of clownery this year, and the most recent bit (before the shirt project) was attending two of the Polish gigs, Wrocław and Poznań.

I was wearing my Cha Cha Cha shirt to the Poznań gig, and when taking pictures with Bojan and Nace after the show, I opened my jacket so the shirt was visible. When stepping back after the pic, Nace spied the shirt and was kinda excited about seeing Käärijä merch – though he prefers the Häärijä merch, as he told us, because he's a "big fan" (his words, not mine).

So back at the hotel, I told @braveheart1418, "God, I'm so tempted to try to procure an actual Häärijä shirt. Tell me that's a stupid idea." Of course she did no such thing and so we looked into how much it would cost (too much) and how long it would take (too long), and so I was like, "bummer. And I'm not comfortable making bootleg official merch. Although, omg – it would be hilarious of we did Hojan merch!"

And the longer I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea. Again, I told friends, "tell me that would be a stupid idea," and again, they were filthy enablers, and so I started looking into the matter semi-seriously once I was back home (that was Wednesday the 22nd, so almost exactly a week before I left on a business trip leading into a stay at my parents' place leading into the gig).

The first thought was to get a big HOJAN in the Häärijä lettering on foil to iron onto a black shirt, though @braveheart1418 had commented that the design with a picture Häärijä on is much more memorable. That was a very valid point, except that there were no Hojan pics in suitable resolution that were in the right pose.

Thus, things I needed to solve:

get a plotter to cut out "Hojan" for the chest -> my mom said my cousin had a friend with a plotter. Contact was established

get a picture similar to the official merch of Hojan -> I reached out to Dean, who was absolutely lovely and set me up with a picture I could use

clip Hojan from the picture -> I had @submariini as well as another dear friend help me there because they are both much better at photoshop than me and were kind enough to offer their help, and decided to add the yellow border because the best picture Dean had sent me was black & white

get transfer paper -> easy: amazon (loathe as I am to use it)

find a copy shop to print Hojan for me -> tricky bc I got Inkjet-Printer transfer paper and most copy shops have laserjets, if they allow using your own paper at all -> I got laserjet transfer paper and once again had my cousin come to the rescue and helped me print it :D

find t-shirts in the right sizes -> I solved this by eyeballing and taking pics of my dad in the various sizes to check with @submariini. While nerve-wrecking, I am astonished just how well the sizing worked out in the end!

Despite the limited time (limited further by me getting sick Monday/Tuesday before my business trip), it all came together beautifully: I did a test-print Friday evening and picked up the foil cuts, went shirt shopping with my parents on Saturday (shout out to them for letting their adult kid drag them through three different clothes stores and especially to my dad for gamely trying on half a dozen shirts and waiting while I yelled at ed about which to take 😂), finished the test shirt (mine) that evening and adjusted the colours on the outline to be closer to the foil, printed three more copies of Hojan Sunday morning, and got them ready just in time for leaving for the gig!

Which was yet again nerve-wrecking because of the unprecedented amounts of snow happening in Bavaria, but it stood no chance against our determination!

Unfortunately, the snow situation meant that JO couldn't come out after the show, so I passed the shirt to Nace during it and received a pick in return, which made me bluescreen as I hadn't expected an exchange 😂 He put the shirt down without having looked at it, which was a bit unfortunate because I would have loved to have seen his reaction, but it was still a pretty cool moment.

They did get a lot of gifts this close to St. Nikolaus (which is also celebrated in Germany, or at least was in my youth), most of which they left on the stage for the crew to gather up, so I bluescreened even worse when Nace bee-lined over to me as they came back on stage for the SSOL-encore to thank me again for the shirt – others told me later he'd taken it backstage after Carpe Diem with him, which I'd missed 😅

After the show, I met @mogoce-nocoj and ended up talking to her for quite a while outside the venue because neither of us wanted to split off into different directions, and so it wasn't until we were on our way back to @braveheart1418's hotel room (finally accepting that we wouldn't manage to say goodbye quite so soon and might as well talk somewhere warm 😅) that I saw that Bojan had posted the story to his Instagram 😂. Let me just say that it was very fortunate we were still out-doors and not near normal flats, because I don't think I was quiet when I saw 😂

I actually ended up making four shirts including my trial one – one for Nace, one for Häärijä himself because it felt fitting, and one for @submariini because he's such a Häärijä fan :D

The latter two, I took with me to Rovaniemi (which was ed's fault, because (and I quote), "come to Rollo! It'll be fun!"), where a bunch of friends and I met up for a birthday party slash Käärijä gig (over 20 clowns in one place, it was amazing, 10/10 would do again (genuinely)). The weather and means of transport tried to keep us apart (train strikes and ice rains on my end, though I still had better luck than Joker Out), but we actually all made it and by now all made it back again, too :D

As I mentioned in a different post, I actually managed to hand over the shirt to Häärijä before the gig, and he told me he would wear it on stage, which he did! I also got a picture with him, ed, and me all in our shirts, which was also pretty great :D

So, yeah! The Process™ of project 1.

Thank you so so much to everyone who helped and encouraged me along the way -- my parents and my cousin, the gift to our fandom that is Dean Grainger (none of whom will hopefully ever read this specific post), @braveheart1418, @submariini, @alephai, my dearest friend K who's been an enabler for so so many shenanigans, and xia!bf for bearing with my insanity (both where the shirts are concerned and the general Käärijä/JO brainrot) and helping me make this project a reality 💛

[can-i-see-your-passport-please]

ASKING YOU ABOUT YOUR STANLEY PARABLE/HLVRAI CROSSOVER. ELABORATE PLEASE??

more under the cut :3

So the basic concept goeth thusly:

Post HLVRAI canon, Gordon ends up in the Parable somehow. Stanley immediately mentally adopts him, while the Narrator is like "Oh we can ABSOLUTELY NOT have GORDON FREEMAN here" (nod to tsp originally being a hl2 mod!) and basically tries to boot Gordon out the Parable. He resets, and now Benrey is here.

So already not fun for the Narrator (though much fun for stanley, who loves seeing the narrator distressed because stanley is a bastard). Wrangling Stanley is already a nightmare, and now he has two other guys, one of which is an alien who can just noclip, which is very frustrating.

However, there's another twist to this: the role of narrator keeps being shuffled around. Sometimes, the Narrator is not the narrator, it's instead Gordon. Sometimes it's Benrey. Sometimes Stanley. Sometimes there's one player and the other three are narrators, and sometimes two of them are narrators and the other two are players.

So basically: we have Gordon (argumentative as shit), Benrey (benrey), Stanley (very glad to be talking to someone aside from the british man), and the Narrator (his phucking story)

I'll explain the symbolism I put in their narrator designs. So:

The Narrator is Stanley's shadow. That shadow can stretch and grow, but at the end of the day, he's tied to Stanley. He literally cannot do anything without him- when Stanley stops moving (eg: not stanley ending), the Narrator can do nothing.

Stanley's narrator form is inspired by one of my favorite interpretations of Stanley- one where he didn't really use ASL or writing or anything, but instead communicated through drawings. So while Stanley has no visible form, he's present through little drawings.

Gordon's design is far simpler in my mind- his arc in this is realizing he's not fully human either, he's an AI who was completely shaped by the player. So when he's the narrator, his visible form is confined to screens. This also ties into a lot of themes of control.

Benrey's entire body shifts colors in accordance with his emotions, specifically Sweet Voice colors. The exception is the spot of pink on his chest, the hearts on his face, and his eyes. His chest glows pink always, as do the hearts on his face (showing that even though he is a fucking nightmare, at his core is love. Benrey loves, and he wants to be loved). His eyes don't shift color with his body, but they change with his emotions as well- blue when he's calmer/happier, yellow when he's stressed out. This is true even when he's not in Narrator form.

Benrey's narrator form is a very intentional parallel to the Narrator's. The Narrator is a shadow, and Benrey's literally glowing bright light. The Narrator's mouth can be seen, Benrey's can't. The Narrator is literally tied to Stanley, but Benrey's not tied to anyone. (To make the symbolism there blatant: the Narrator really wants to have control, which paradoxically leads him to have less control. Meanwhile Benrey doesn't care how much control he has, which paradoxically leads him to having more.)

Additionally: while everyone can be pulled out of their narrator forms into their normal forms, they can't do it on their own, it has to be their (for lack of a better term) game partner. Gordon is the only one who can get Benrey into his normal form. Stanley is the only one who can get the Narrator into his normal form. Vice versa.

So: that's the general stuff, and the Narrator designs. I have written down in Discord what I think their arcs would be, and how they all parallel each other. Gordon-Narrator and Stanley-Benrey are the biggest parallels, but Stanley and Gordon parallel each other as well (same with Benrey and the Narrator). I'll explain if asked and welcome ideas :3 But first I'm gonna pass the fuck out it's 18 FUCKING DEGREES FARENHEIT WHEN DID IT GET SO COLD

Anyway. Take this exchange I wrote when I first came up with the idea of this AU that's basically a script of how I thought I would write this (I didn't have it be post-canon beforehand, and I really should've had Gordon actually talk more, but I got enraptured by writing the Narrator he was so fun to write but also so anxiety inducing but also I am cringe yet I am free)

[1oddboi1]

I made a character :D

It's a sona for the Divine Mortals AU. I'm not a bishop or anything, I'm just here. I'm a funky little duder ·:3

This was one of my first ventures into the realm of character design, I'm pretty happy with it

I'll just explain it under a cut, Imma yap for a bit

The animal I picked was the blue RED sea dragon, or glaucus atlanticus as I first heard of it

Cool guy ^

These puppies are pretty cool if I do say so myself. They're a type of sea slug (already a good start) and can EAT the nematocysts (stinging cells) from stuff like jellyfish and use it as their own through their cool little finger things... I can eat poisonous and/or venomous stuff to GROW STRONGER!!

The eyes were the one thing I knew I wanted from the get go. If you couldn't tell from my pfp, I like biblically accurate angels, they're cool. Also I made a joke that I had a bunch of eyes and decided it was canon lmao. I tried not to go overboard with it, there's only the eight you can see here, and decided not to put eyes all over the body. There's only eyes in places that would benefit an animal, front, back, and the tail to make up for the blind spots

The spiky things on the head are cerata! The little wiggly finger things in the pic. I can use them to show emotions, up for happy, down for unhappy, wiggly for various things

Oh! And the red mask shape is a reference to my discord pfp AND my old "brand". I mean, I still use it so maybe it's not old but whatever

I'll just list off some other stuff: Young adult, quite tall despite little guy energy (6'5). ABSOLUTELY a little gremlin, I'm in chaos cult after all. Scatter brained af, can't keep a train of thought. Basically, he is me, I am him, we are one

Uuuuh... Lore wise I don't have much. Only concrete thing is that one day I just said "forget this" and clawed my way out of the ocean evolution style. Maybe I'll draw that

Anyway, that's it. Idk how often I'll post him or how long it'll be before then. I still got a bunch of Brear stuff to draw... And write... I'm gonna finish that story if it's the last thing I do!!

[inaconstantstateofchange]

don't come crying - a young!Raphael fic

An incredible rendition of young!Raphael by @shahs1221, here: please go check her out and give her some well-deserved adoration for it!

A/N: I'm gonna be so honest, I have no idea how to tag this in a comprehensible way, relationship-wise. Suffice to say, the Mephisto-lovers are... probably going to appreciate this more than I wish you would, and if you too are fifty leagues down the Niche Forgotten Realms Characters™ rabbit hole, you may also be enticed by the Baalphegor inclusion. 18+, please and thank you.

Summary:

Raphael blinks, attempting to reason past the howling fury within him. He has never before felt so truly attuned to his more fiendish instincts, working in concert with his mortal ones in a truly dangerous storm. He swore when he first came to this wretched plane that he would be its master one day, and he’ll be damned – well and truly – if he fails here. Or: Centuries prior to the events of the game, Raphael's return from a routine fetch quest on Mephistopheles's orders is interrupted by a summons to the throne room. His father has a lesson to impart to him, and he's going to ensure it sticks.

This is part of an ongoing story I've had in the back of my mind for several weeks now. Rather than another WIP longfic, I'll be posting additional segments from this 'verse in a series if/when I add more. If @sky-kiss has any say in it, I'm sure I will.

The only background info you really need is:

All characters are drawn from actual Forgotten Realms lore.

Raphael has recently been plucked from the Material Plane to join his father's court on Cania, in the Nine Hells.

Due to Raphael's stunted development, and an unwillingness to be shamed by his spawn's weakness, Mephistopheles has placed Raphael under the purview of his consort, Baalphegor.

Baalphegor's body is able to produce an empowering draught, too weak to hold much significance to true fiends, but sufficient to bolster Raphael's growth.

Finally, it is a pet headcanon I've incorporated into this 'verse that Baalphegor is the same individual later know as Haarlep, but you are welcome to use your own interpretation.

Raphael stumbles through the extravagant entrance doors to Mephistar, the flesh-shearing winds of Cania grabbing after him as he ducks behind the solid, enchanted stone. He’s done his best to cover all exposed skin, but there is always some that escapes his notice, leaving him bleeding out strength he can ill afford to lose. He loathes these “errands” his father sends him on, tasks purported to test his skill, devotion, and cunning. In reality, it feels more like busywork designed to keep him weak and subservient, reminding him of his contentious existence in the hierarchy and reinforcing his dependence on his father’s dubious goodwill.

The desiccated parchment that proved the focus of this most recent quest crinkles slightly, as he shifts his gaze up, the slight sound echoing across the cavernous hall as he looks with certainty for the being he knows to be waiting for his return, just as always. But — they’re not there.

He furrows his brow, an agitated and disquieting anger growing within his gut. He strides across the marble floor on frostbitten feet he can barely feel, shoving the parchment at the lone figure of Mephistopheles’s chamberlain Barbas, standing at attention at his post, and wearing his habitual sneer as he looks down at Raphael. Raphael ignores it for now, as ever, but files the snub away with all the other insults he will one day be strong enough to return tenfold.

“Where is m—the Lady Baalphegor?” He demands imperiously. They are almost always waiting for him upon his return to bestow his reward. That is the deal, the entire reason he engages in these banal fetch quests even though they are entirely beneath his rank and status. He pushes sharply at the errant thought of the pretty fiction it makes, knowing all the while that his true choice is to bow to his father’s whims or perish. True or not, it does no good to dwell on such matters, not when he will be changing them just as soon as he can manage.

Barbas’s sneer gouges even deeper into his face, growing a biting and nearly gleeful edge as he answers Raphael, “Well, young lord, as your august presence must surely have ascertained, the Lady is certainly not here.”

Raphael can feel his face going blotchy and red, and curses his mortal heritage once again for its constant betrayals. The ice-blue crystals in the eye sockets of the chamberlain harden and glint with glee at the sight. Raphael spins on his heel, marching furiously away, the parchment crumpling further within his fist. Barbas’s mocking voice rings out behind him, “Don’t forget to report to His Grace, little lord! He insisted it be done immediately upon your return.”

Raphael almost turns again to berate him, but manages to stop himself at the last moment, lest he lose even more face from the encounter. He’ll make his report as quickly as possible, then hunt down his wayward… Baalphegor, and claim his rightful recompense. The brilliant halls of Mephistar blur around him as he storms through them, focusing only on making his way to his father’s great hall with haste.

He doesn’t wait to be announced, merely pushes firmly on the doors, both with his physical form and, in a manner only recently attained, with the lashings of his own metaphysical aspect. They creak open, the sound like distant screams even on the well-kept mechanisms, and he steps through without hesitation, words of complaint already springing to his lips, when he stops dead in his tracks.

He’s found Baalphegor.

The succubus – and they are in full succubus form in this moment – is perched indolently on his father’s lap, where he sits on his ostentatious throne. But not just perched, no — impaled, as he finds when, with stricken eyes, he watches them move their body in a smooth, undulating motion up, degree by degree, before dropping back down, brilliant hair falling around them and catching the flickering hellfire-light as it glints off their red-brown skin. Soft, melodious moans are driven from their throat with each movement, as if pushed out by the — by the member within them. Their round breasts shift with the motion, the revitalizing milk within them welling up and dripping down their chest, squandered and disregarded.

He swallows, throat dry, his eyes and chest burning in stark opposition with one another.

His father casts an apathetic glance across the hall, and his eyes alight on Raphael, a cruel smirk curling at his lips. “Ah, the returning triumphant! What have you brought me this time?” His voice is nothing but mocking, no attempt made to couch his disregard for his unwanted and unloved spawn.

Raphael blinks, attempting to reason past the howling fury within him. He has never before felt so truly attuned to his more fiendish instincts, working in concert with his mortal ones in a truly dangerous storm. Everything within him is raging at the broken contract, even as it boils with jealousy at the manhandling of something that is his, and it is only the barest dregs of his staunch self-preservation that manage to keep him from attempting something truly foolish. He swore when he first came to this wretched plane that he would be its master one day, and he’ll be damned – well and truly – if he fails here.

He holds the parchment, now looking rather worse for wear, out before him on a finely trembling hand. He searches for the words he needs in a mind nearly whited out by rage.

“I… your cult in Waterdeep sends their obeisance, y–your Grace.” He curses his tongue for its fumbling, driving home further how well his father’s ploy is working to discomfit him.

“Oh,” Mephistopheles waves a careless hand. “That collection of rabble. You will leave it with my steward.”

Raphael ducks his head a bare inch, keeping his eyes away from Baalphegor as much as he can, and turns to leave.

His father’s voice rings out after him before he has completed even half his turn, sharpening with the first warning edges of his infamous temper. “Where do you think you are going, whelp? You have not yet been dismissed.”

Raphael turns back to face him, slow and careful, as the true danger of the situation sets in. He has rarely found himself in the presence of his father when these moods strike, and never without at least the tenuous support of Baalphegor behind him. And yet… he meets their gaze now, searching, and the barest fraction desperate, but there is nothing. Their red eyes meet his without flinching, cold as Cania’s glaciers. Trickles of the subtly shimmering draught spilling from their breasts have reached down to their hips now, soaking into the thatch of hair between their legs.

He tears his eyes away and forces his attention back to the far greater threat, scrambling for an answer that will satisfy his father.

“My apologies, your Grace.” The epithet comes easier this time, its passage eased by his awareness of his own precarious position. “I misunderstood your direction, and wished only to carry out your will with utmost alacrity.”

Mephistopheles rests his chin insouciantly on his hand, elbow propped against the arm of his throne. His voice, when he speaks, is sardonic and shows no signs of the ongoing actions of the succubus on his lap. “Oh very nicely salvaged, whelp. My wishes, however, are for you to remain just where you are, and appreciate the lesson I’ve prepared for you.”

Raphael swallows, the boiling heat within him growing fiercer, rage intertwined with other, less-savory feelings.

With little warning, Mephistopheles moves his hand to entangle within Baalphegor’s tresses, pulling the succubus fiercely down onto him as he wrenches their head back against his shoulder. A tremulous cry breaks from their throat, and Raphael only barely keeps himself from starting forward at the sound.

Mephistopheles brings his free hand forward and toys with Baalphegor’s breasts, pushed forward into the air from their current position. He twists pitilessly at them, prompting yet more cries as the liquid inside spills out in greater quantities, splashing, wasted, against the smooth skin of Baalphegor’s stomach. It runs in rivulets onto the throne, and down, to collect into puddles on the floor of the grand hall.

Raphael feels his stomach turn even as his mouth, well-trained by association, waters, unhindered by every other horrible aspect of this waking nightmare.

Mephistopheles wipes his hand dismissively on Baalphegor’s hair, leaving behind silvery streaks, then draws them up by their hair and hip, beginning to move within them in earnest as he continues his reproach. Raphael wants to close his eyes, his ears, every one of his senses, but knows such an admission of weakness would be worse than his undoing.

“You’ve prevailed enough upon my largess, and I am no longer willing to indulge your weakness.” Mephistopheles sneers. “You’ve proven more fortunate than any other cambion within the Hells, but from now on you will make your own way, or fail. Such is the way of Baator.”

The fires around the hall burn fiercer in alignment with their lord as he looks down at his unloved progeny. “Should you find yourself desperate for one last taste to stay your appetites, however, you may lap it from the floor like the whelp you are, and thank me for the concession.”

Raphael feels like he is become hellfire himself, the hatred he knew within him for his progenitor stoked to dizzyingly fierce new heights. Jaw aching with the effort of withholding the flood of vitriol within him, he grits out, “My thanks for your… beneficence. I would not dream of prevailing upon it further.”

Mephistopheles snorts, dismissive, then turns his attentions back to Baalphegor, by all accounts having forgotten Raphael’s entire existence.

Raphael stands, Baalphegor’s unfeeling eyes burning into his, until he is finally – finally – dismissed. All the while, the ambitions within him, already cast in carbon, are pressurized further and further, until they are as fearsome diamond, reflecting the blood and fire around him.

He will not remain his father’s lesser for long. He will see him deposed, and make him suffer for these indignities heaped upon his person.

By Asmodeus, he swears it.

[unkipt]

Hello! Just to start I love the world falling series and your writing :)

I was wondering if you have any historical inspiration for the world falling series? Like, time periods, places etc?

Keep being amazing and have a great day :)

hi! I'm so glad you like the series!

As for historical inspiration, oh boy do i. I'm a history major, so there is a Lot of things. I'm gonna do this by kingdom to make it easier if i can lol.

Ok, first, the End: The End is kind of a weird one because it's a blend of its older culture plus what Enderian, who is originally from the Overworld, brought with her and implemented when she took over. One of the main things is the use of rivers to separate the three old kingdoms, and the fact that the Shulk castle/the one the first fic takes place in is on water. A lot of borders historically were designated by water because it was the most consistent way to remember them since they didn't have modern tech, same with having cities on water because of transport, ease of farming, etc. Even though the End is an ice land, the rivers would still provide faster travel then through large drifts of snow. In the last chapter of WF the duke gives rae an elytra, though he doesn't tell him much about it other than the fact that it took craftsmen from all three kingdoms to make them, which was meant to be symbolic of a steady trade relationship between the three. that was slightly inspired by indigenous communities who would make art of some sort of pattern to represent allyships between various communities, and was also a fun way to tie in the elytra to the story (it will become relevant again in this fic, eventually)

The Nether: The Nether is fairly simple, in that it's meant to be a really warm climate, with lots of autumn ish coloured trees, so not totally realistic, but I tried to describe a lot of their fashion to be both unique and have some influence from their neighbours. Largely, i looked at warm climated areas irl, like india, or south america, and took influence from that, with the silks and light fabrics in a wide variety of fabrics. this was definitely also inspired by how Athena portrayed the Nether in their lore, but i tried to expand it a bit. as for political, it's sort of inspired by like 1500's ish germany, where there were many princes but one high prince (holy roman empire actually, i think?) so before netherum and soul, the princes would have been in charge of smaller areas, but then netherum and soul united all the lands into the Nether, and as an act of good faith they were elected as the King and Queen (this is more fantasy than fact based), but, all the previous princes, are still princes, so they are largely in charge of their own lands still, but they refer to Soul now, netherum in the past, about certain things. it's sort of a state situation? i was mainly thinking HRE when i planned it.

The Overworld: Admittedly, the Overworld is pretty plain. It's basically Canada inspired, since that's where I'm from, so that's where my brain goes. It's the most north american of all the kingdoms, with 4 seasons, but the northern parts of the kingdom are snowy most parts of the year, though not quite to the extent of the End. It also used to be about 4 different kingdoms, with Morningstar kingdom being the largest, so when magic hit and everything started going weird, the four kingdoms kinda came together under Morningstar, which then got renamed when Enderian took Rae and erased the name Morningstar from most memories. also, the capital of morningstar is crete. greek myth is not canon to the wf series, but ill be damned if i can't make references to it lol

The Aether: I have not talked about the Aether a lot! BUT cliamte wise I imagine it like England, where it's kind of mild most of the time, if it snows its fairly minimal, and it rains a fair amount. we're ignoring the scorching summers tho. I did also take inspiration from like Ancient Greece and Rome, just due to the Aether sort of having the rep in canon/in the fic of having the library or being scholarly. I also imagine a lot of their aspects of culture, like the wine, the art, etc. maybe not the nudity

The East Isles!: This was purely me wanting Ocie to be a queen. Again I kind of took inspo from like irish/scottish history, with britain especially. except in this case britain is the overworld, and not the aether, even though i just compared the aether to britain lol. other than that it doesn't really have any historical inspo

And thats it! the End and Nether are definitely the most historically inspired, but every once in a while i learn something new in one of my classes and i just kinda shove it in because its neat. there may very well be more, but this is what i can remember right now

thanks for the ask!