#i'm kidding mostly but OUGH

[sweet-beezus]

When I have enough time and energy to finally accomplish my goal of making an Org. XIII mass attack, it's all over for you beeyooteeful souls (threatening)

[justagaycryptid]

Ngl I actually really liked Francis like he was kinda shy and awkward and felt out of place and thought of himself pretty lowly but he just decided to go kill people about it

[verdemoun]

I'm just. look.hosea. hosea. Hosea Matthews.

I can't get over how you write him in the au. He's finally getting to be a dad. Finally. ough. him. finally not just taking out his kids for an occasional hunting trip, he can genuinely be a bit more of a dad without having to fight for everyone's survival. my he a rt

maybe instead of wolves i can comfort you into death with hosea content

Hosea didn't mean to become a dad. It might have been an old instinct, but he thought after raising an adolescent John Marston he was done being a parent.

It was mostly guilt. Hosea recognizes that he was equal parts responsible for the Van der Linde's becoming what they were, and setting the bricks in place for Dutch's gang to become what it was after his death.

As much as Hosea loves Arthur, seeing an adult Arthur learning how to be more than a weapon and enforcer is just another reminder of how much he is responsible for the boys he helped raise being little more than tools in Dutch's agenda.

While he knows he was never capable of leaving Dutch, some part of him wants to live in a fantasy world of what if he could leave outlawing behind and live with Bessie: have those extra years he lost in canon era at her side, raising his boys as children instead of outlaws.

Timewarp is also the first chance he gets to talk to the 1899 gang without it being in passing. In 1899 Sean was a over-cheerful pest, but in modern era he gets to listen to his stories about his da and the casually dropped reform school lore and realize how much pressure Sean felt to be 'okay'. He gets to talk to Lenny about his relationship with his father, how much Lenny wanted for more of the sentimental emotional man of letters instead of the stern father he knew. Kieran, poor Kieran, who lost his parents to cholera. Then Arthur, who wants for Dutch like a boy wants his father while still recognizing how damaging that relationship was, and is, and the burden he still feels to repay Dutch and Hosea when Hosea never wanted anything more than to see Arthur grow up and grow old.

Being a father is an accident. At first it's just polite assurances that they'll be okay, because Hosea is okay. He has his wife, a home, the safety of not fighting for every day of breath anymore. Then it's sitting beside them on a bad day, being a comforting presence. And reminding Sean he has everything he needs for work before Sean runs out the door because he will always forget something. And listening to Lenny discover things in awe of how fast he learns technology because he's always in amazement of how smart Lenny is, instead of it being expected the way his father did.

He became a father accidentally, the same way he always has. Not realizing he was the one the gang went to when they had something they were excited about, because Hosea would always say he was proud of them.

Also, Hosea needed distractions. Modern era was new to him, horrifying different. Being a father wasn't new. He could do that. He could be a father to his strange eclectic gang of misfits as they learned the modern world faster than he did, shower them with praise and validation as they learned. The slightest achievement made him proud because he had no idea how to scale achievement.

And then before he knew it, he was getting a dozen gifts for father's day, and asked for hugs he would happily provide, and getting late light texts as thoughts haunted the gang and he would merrily reply and comfort them.

Realizing he got what he wanted. They're all safe, they're out of the gang, they're happy, and if the feeling in his chest he gets when he thinks about that isn't love he isn't quite sure what is.

[capricioussun]

How do you interpret US Papyrus? I'm always curious how others interpret him because there's a good range of them!

Ooh, in general?? Hm, I guess mostly the way I try to interpret him is sort of like if you gave UT Papyrus chronic fatigue and issues tied to having to act as the judge in his world! Which, to me, basically makes him very silly, kind, sassy, but also very insecure and very lonely.

I should explain- ough this is gunna be an essay so there'll need to be a readmore soon aha, but I should explain how the whole "judge" thing usually works in my interps!

It's not an inherent thing, or some "angel given" power, there has always been an acting Royal Judge, someone the crown had appointed that they felt they could, well, trust the judgement of, who they could consult about crimes and justice and whatnot. The prior judge Fell some years ago, but since Toriel/Asgore had already left, Asgore/Toriel never appointed another, as a sort of self punishment as well as a promise they would continue with their task of collecting the human souls without the assistance (or interference) of someone else.

That was until Sans/Papyrus came along. The "judging" effect was caused by one of the many methods Gaster used to make the brothers, involving the justice soul trait. This is where the KR came from, as well as the unique ability to "see" the sins in others' souls. After discovering this unique ability, eventually the king/queen asks Sans/Papyrus to act as the new judge (as well as some other reasons that vary depending on AU).

Now, the kr and "judge" ability manifested in Stretch much later than the sanses in non-swapped AUs, which made it a much more difficult transition that only made it much harder for him to socialize with others. He basically couldn't "turn it off", which, on top of feeling incredibly guilty about the invasion of privacy, made him feel anxious and stressed out and couldn't help but put the negative thoughts front and center in his attention, making him also feel like those were the most prominent thoughts and feelings of those around him.

So like, you know how anxiety and self image issues make you feel like everyone secretly hates you or finds you annoying or etc etc etc, basically, he had "proof" that was true, and despite trying his best to ignore it, things are already hard enough for a pre-teen/teen, on top of his physical health taking such the dip it did around that time, too, he quickly became anxiety riddled, isolated, and miserable.

Before then, he was actually a lot like Rus (UT) when he was a kid! And it was hard on Blue, too, since he was practically just a teen himself, so for all of that to land on his brother as well as needing to work harder to take care of him when he had bad health flares, things were rough for a while there.

That being said, Blue did help in keeping Stretch's mental health from completely plummeting, always trying to keep his mood up, encouraging him, trying to find him friends (how he met Undyne aka Sylv!), etc etc, and the brothers grew a lot closer in that time, as Stretch had always admired Blue, and it meant a lot to him.

That was until, of course, things never got any better. His health continued to decline into older teendom/young adulthood, and there was some personal drama here and there, especially involving Sylv, and when Blue joined the guard, that was the last straw. Stretch was sick of feeling like such a burden on everyone, so even though he'd initially turned Toriel down to act as judge (knowing his brother absolutely hated that she'd even asked him in the first place), he went back to her and accepted. That was really when the distance between the brothers started, which wasn't helped by the resets starting up soon thereafter.

(Quick aside, as he got older, he did get the hang of controlling his "judging" ability, and "turning it off" is no longer an issue for him later on)

So in his efforts to become more independent, he worked a lot on his social life and how to interact with others and make himself well liked. Sure, maybe he doesn't really have any real friends, and people forget his name all the time, but he'd finally learned how to utilize his heightened intuition to get along with people, rather than weird them out.

He’s still riddled with anxiety and self worth issues, but he’s gotten incredibly good at masking, and typically comes off as very relaxed and friendly. He’s a big fan of wordplay and very mild practical jokes (like those types of gags where you put on Groucho Marx glasses and pretend to be someone else. Blue always plays along for the bit), but he has a tendency to hold people at arms length, and tries to avoid others actually getting to know him.

Very few people know he’s the judge, and he prefers it that way, he'd rather everyone underestimate him so he never disappoints. That being said, he does still make quite an effort to help those around him without their knowledge, and he’s still lowkey very interested in engineering and computer science. Him and Rus are definitely two peas in a pod when it comes to interests, they could talk about comics for hours on end, but the primary difference is that Stretch tries much harder to hide how much he cares, where as Rus will shout it from the rooftops.

I'm not a big fan of the characterizations that make him a huge brat, sometimes even an outright jerk, I don't really understand them since neither Sans nor Papyrus are like that, but w/ my guy, he’s definitely a huge dork and sweetheart, who just also happens to be very sassy at times ahdjfjsksk

He also still holds on to his belief in others, like Rus. Even despite literally knowing better, he’s also been proven right too many times to lose that hope, which is why, in his fight, as opposed to UT Sans, he gets very quiet and looks miserable. He genuinely doesn't want to hurt them, but he knows he’s out of options. When he offers an out before the fight, he won't spring a surprise attack, and just offers a genuine hug. The player doesn't get a choice after accepting, they kill him, and his final words are pretty similar to Rus' about knowing they can do better, and he believes in them anyway, though he makes a comment about that sounding pretty stupid with a laugh before he collapses off screen.

WOW this got longer than I meant it to I'm sorry huge lore drop instead of just general facts ough BUT ! Idk, hopefully this gives a half decent feel for how I interpret him! I love him a lot I'm mixing him into a salad like a crouton <3

[goosemixtapes]

max's top 10 books of 2024

past top tens in this tag! as always, these rankings are based on some unspecified combo of objective "goodness" and personal enjoyment. books beneath the cut :3

first off, as usual, our BOOKS I LOATHED category. shout-out to: i, claudius by robert graves (SHAME! SHAME! THE TV SHOW IS SO GOODBADCAMP!) and rhinoceros by eugene ionesco (very real argument about fascism; very fucking boring execution). shout-out also to king cheer and immortal longings, both of which were quite bad but which i wouldn't say i "loathed" so much as "they sent me into spirals of shakespearean madness."

my most anticipated 2025 release is the sea eternal by emery robin. also, alecto the ninth again

okay. the meat of the matter. i read SO many good books this year (and so much good short fiction), so lots of runners-up: brotherless night by v.v. ganeshanathan (absolutely gutting with some of the most gorgeous prose i've ever read), white pearl by anchuli felicia king (set in an asian beauty corporation rocked by scandal; filled the succession-shaped hole in my heart), fairview by jackie sibblies drury (this play is doing the coolest fucking things with fourth walls), luster by raven leilani (i adore the main character so much and she is NOT thriving), and the his dark materials series (i wish i had read these as kids, but i'm also glad i have miltonic context?). thank you to my professors for half of these

OKAY. THE LIST!

10. Dare Me by Megan Abbott

i expected a thriller about toxic friendships and evil cheerleaders; i was not expecting this to REWIRE ME. the DYNAMICS in this fucking book. the ugly violent homoerotics and the empty hunger of white suburbia. the tenderness of the grooming. the constant unspoken looming specter of lesbianism. the constant sense that the main characters are teetering on the edge of disaster. BETH CASSIDY YOU ARE ONE OF THE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME YOU MAKE ME FEEL BONKERS BATSHIT CRAZY. i need to send everyone in this book the lesbian masterdoc goodbye

9. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehesi Coates

okay i know everybody raves about ta-nehesi coates' writing so i wasn't exactly SURPRISED this was good. but i WAS still knocked off my feet by the beauty of this book. this is an extended letter to coates' son on the experience of being a black man in america, and every single page is glowing with heartbreak--for all the black people destroyed and endangered by white supremacist society--and love--for everyone who keeps living, for the world, and for coates' son. i wrote down sooooo many quotes that struck me in the chest

8. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

kind of no fucking idea what to say about this book because my sense memory of it is just a whirlwind of "ack augh ough." the way this book envelops you in the psychological and emotional tumult of fourteen-year-old john grimes is crazy and intense and then baldwin DOES IT AGAIN in a series of interludes from other characters. this is about one day in john's life and his experience in the church, but it's also about the exhilarating terror in/of religion and the pain of growing up and the agony of antiblackness and the quiet terror of realizing your parents are fallible and human. and also a little bit about being gay for your youth pastor. did people lose their fucking minds in 1953 when this book came out because i would've

7. Lost Places and Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker

favorite author i discovered this year is definitely sarah pinsker, whose short stories mostly have in common that they are strange and whimsical as hell and make me want to crawl into her brain. i can't decide between her two short story collections, so i'm putting them both on here because they were SO fucking fun to read. between the two, some of the short stories include: a horror story told through a folk music genius lyrics page! a robot arm that identified as a road! a kid yelling the lines in the 1920s movie theater! george gershwin! girl scouts! and my favorite, a batshit crazy agatha christie homage set at a convention of dozens of alternate-universe sarah pinsker selves! (which you can read online!)

6. Paradise Lost by Erin Shields

look. there are aspects of this play--a modern reworking of milton's epic poem, featuring hot middle-aged woman satan--that are too on-the-nose. but holy fucking shit, the irreversible things milf satan has done to my brainstem. maybe i'm just a fucking ex-catholic but some of the speeches in this play made me feel like i was being tumbled in a heavy-duty washing machine. also, fascinating things going on with script format here. i wrote an insane transgender satan monologue for my paradise lost class because of this play. (also shout-out shields' king lear adaptation/prequel, left off my list for space but it's REALLY fucking fantastic)

5. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

okay we all know in the dream house. but i'm here to sing its praises anyway, because reading it feels like walking into a woodchipper. this is a memoir about abuse and an experiment with form and a raw open organ placed directly in your hands. machado's prose is genuinely fucking crazy good; she has such a gift for scalpel-like precision in every sentence, and everything about this book is so carefully-crafted and feels like getting clocked in the teeth. there's a choose-your-own adventure section where the result is always the same. for personal reasons i read this at a weird time and it made me want to get on my knees on the carpet and hack like a sick cat

4. Nobody Knows My Name by James Baldwin

i read this essay collection two weeks into the year and i knew it was going to be one of the most stunning reading experiences of 2024. the first page knocked me flat on my ass and it never let up. he manages that thing so few authors can do, where his eloquent and precise prose is exactly as deft as his observations are perceptive and sharp. his work cuts straight to the truth of things. i finished this book grieving the fact that baldwin died before i was born--because he can't comment on current events? because i can't see him speak live? because i felt some kind of connection to him through the words despite knowing he was not writing for some random college kid in the backseat of a car? anyway i am a groupie now

3. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

reading this and then in the dream house back to back was like self-trepanation. why did i do that. what in the name of god can i even say about this book. what IS there to say. all the best of fantasy and all the best of humanity are in here in under 300 pages and it made me cry and i have thought about it ceaselessly since and i can't say anything without spoiling the fun because you REALLY ought to go in blind. um. girls, do you like, um... the labyrinth?

2. Angels in America by Tony Kushner

ohhhhhhh my god. oh my fucking god. i mean it with my full chest when i say that this is thee defining dramatic work of modern america. play that is about jewishness and gayness and AIDS and love and sickness and the anxiety of modernity and getting boners and prophecies from reactionary angels. and roy cohn is there. this was written at the end of the 20th century and yet it still hits exactly as hard if not harder in 2024 ("in the twenty-first century we will all be insane" yeah for REAL). it's the play of all time. it's one of the most things ever written. i am going to think about it every day of my fucking life. truly impossible to overstate this one

1. The Stars Undying by Emery Robin

and yet AIA is still my #2, because my #1 is a book i think may have been written specifically for me. like, so much for me that i'm furious i didn't write it. that book being a space opera rendition of cleopatra's life story, featuring insane butch mark antony and bisexual love triangles and CICERO? CICERO IS THERE? this is a slowish character-driven story that wouldn't work if gracia's narration wasn't so stirring and self-aware, but it is, and she is, and she's fascinating and has everything wrong with her, and i am obsessed with the things this book is doing with history and legend and the reception of these figures and also ROMAN HISTORY JOKES IN SPACE!!! and i want anita decretan so bad it makes me look stupid. emery robin do you want my credit card information

if you've read this far, please pitch in with your own favorite reads of the year! what books are you excited for in 2025? :)

[majormeilani]

also onto the 'growing out of it' thought that parents often have, in order to grow out of something children have to be taught differently. if you never teach a child that they aren't allowed to hit or scream to get what they want, guess what they're going to do.

sometimes i hear that some children get NO consequences from their parents at home and it's like....... if you love your kid, you're gonna teach them there's consequences for everything. people think that love and consequences are exclusive to each other but truly loving someone is being willing to help them learn, especially right from wrong.

[slushiepizza]

I just read your 'The Pursuit of Catharsis' and I'M NOT OK BUT IN A GOOD WAY!!!

And because I'm a sucker for angst... I wanna twist the knife in Guy's heart a bit more ❤️

Imagine if Guy - with his name now in the spotlight, his career at its peak and yet he's so miserable to the point of suicidal because of the cheating, of the scandal and the divorce - saw Honey on a random street on night.

Looking just as perfect as the day he lost them.

Looking like they're untouched by time.

Because after losing Guy and working themselves up to be the best version of themselves, to have the healthiest mental and emotional health in their lives, Honey becomes someone else's...

Treasure.

YES, IT'S EXACTLY WHO YOU THINK HE IS!

ANYWAY, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! GOOD BYE!

link to the fic

Thanks for reading and enjoying the fic!!! I'm using this opportunity to discuss the Divorced!AU lmao

warning : discussions of suicidal behavior, mental health issues, substance abuse

i. honey being treasure

ough..... that's a really sad idea but now I'm more focused on something specific in this scenario. If Honey later became Treasure, there's the implication that they weren't doing as well as they hoped they were because as mentioned by Porter, 'your friends suck'. And they now have a semi-toxic circle of friends.

I like that, I think. That no matter how hard they try and how far they've come since the divorce- there's always the ghost of it that they couldn't get rid of and managed to sneak away into their life.

ii. Guy's misery and cheating

Hm, about Guy being miserable to the point of suicidal...I do think that he was already like that before he cheated and when he and Honey were still married but had problems. That was sort of my take on his reasoning behind why he cheated actually.

He was just someone who couldn't cope with fame while at the same time craving it severely. He spent all of his time working and tried to remedy his lack of effort into maintaining his relationship with Honey with lavish gifts. He struggled with substance abuse- mainly alcohol but sometimes others- because he refused to realize that he had nothing else to live for now that he's at the top.

When he and Honey's fights got really bad, he'd go on a bender. He'd go for one night stands mostly, and they all have traits that are reminiscent of Honey's. They weren't on speaking terms when he missed their anniversary for the sake of going abroad. And Guy has this feeling that whatever they're dealing with- they won't be able to come back from this. He'd imagine the people and sex workers he'd spend the night with was Honey he was laying with, as and under the blur and haze of the stupor he was in, they might as well be. When people found out about him cheating, the world moves on. He's a Hollywood writer, of course it wouldn't be something people blink an eye at. His career wouldn't take a hit at all.

iii. honey's aftermath

After they got divorced, Honey would move away from Dahlia and live in a small town where they can escape Guy's name and fame. They'd heal but they severely missed someone who used to be their best friend.

Life in the small town was idyllic and had the community they needed to heal. Honey started work as a cargo truck driver, finding comfort in long winding roads in between states. They don't quite care about the cities or fame or success anymore- it's sullied by how things used to be and how Guy turned out.

At a local bookstore new, freshly packaged books was displayed front and center- and it had Guy's name on it. It stated that it was a bestseller and that it's from "American Horror Sensation, Guy". They shrug and tried to feel glad that he got what he wanted. Oh well. The two of them were different people now from the college kids that shared a home, unrecognizable from who they used to be.

They remembered what they used to tell him when he had writer's block and needed the extra push: "Dude! You're good at this. If you ever get published, I'd definitely everything you write."

"Really, everything?"

"Everything. I really do like the way you write."

They buy the copy anyway, unfortunately.

[grimoiremanifest]

AUGH. Fuck everything. I have to write, but I cannot do anything cohesive or well-made, so I will OC-post with no context instead.

I don't think I'll ever canonize this but given how Juno and Sep live in a tavern and how Sep is a twenty-something bar-culture-head busker who's not the best at being a legal guardian, there's gotta be at least a couple of times where Juno gets drunk before she reaches maturity. Like, Sep hardly drinks himself, and there's no legal drinking age in Fortune (it's mostly just an unspoken understanding that kids shouldn't have alcohol. 'Kids' kind of ends at seventeen). But during some of those nights where the energy is a little too infectious, it can't hurt to join in, and sometimes you might take it a little too far, y'know?

The first time would be maybe a month or so after they're mandated the inn, and it's a harvest night so patrons are getting a little crazy. Juno's had small cups of ale before, and she's always stopped after one as per Sep's recommendation instruction. But tonight, some guy made a wildly good haul for the season, so he's bought a couple rounds of the big stuff - including the staff, which Juno technically is. She refuses at first, but after a bit of insistence (and the go-ahead from Sep, ever the unwary), she gets through two and just passes out. The next morning, she awakens in her bed with a hangover.

Juno, stumbling down the stairs: Ough, I feel abysmal.

Sep, making breakfast over the cookstove: I'd imagine so. Given how fast you fainted, I'm surprised you made it through two tankards.

J: ...what?

S: It's your first hangover! At least, I assume it's your first, I dunno how much you usually drink.

J, incredulously: Wait, I got drunk?

S: Yes...that tends to happen when you drink alcohol.

J: And you LET IT HAPPEN?

S, holding his hands up placatingly: Hey, don't look at me, I can't control how much you have! That's on you, little miss.

J: You- I- You're the one serving the ale! I'm a damn fourteen-year-old, dude!

S: Hey, language. And why's your age got anything to do with it? I got them all the time when I was a kid! Pretty sure my first one was I was twe-

S, realizing he had a very non-standard childhood:

S: ..Shit.

[g0atmama]

Gimme one of each color 🌈 for the f/o infodump game <3

ough how dare you (affectionate)

oh god i just realized the list isn't organized by color i'm trying to wheel it OUGH. Anyway. Anyway. sorry for f/o you don't know but kage has been rotating in my head all night. mostly because i'm reading jojolion (i'm so sorry jojo fans i skipped sbr i just had to get to my newest boyfriend)

For red we got cherry (hi rosalus <3)

🍒 - if your f/o and you spend a day doing anything, anything at all, what would they do and why?

With the weather right now, we'd probably be bundled up with his heater watching movies. He has a list of movies he thinks I need to watch since I never really watched movies growing up. He wants us wrapped up in a blanket on his couch with his heater going right next to us.

If it wasn't so cold he'd probably begrudgingly agree to go swimming. He works on the ocean (oh god wait no wonder i fell for him i'm weak for sailors-) so he's not really interested in spending forever at the beach BUT. He knows I am a beach child at heart. He hates people who cross the boundaries all the time, man of the sea man of the land?? He knows at heart I'm a woman of the sea. It's in my actual given names after all... (And oases often are pictured as water in a desert)

For orange we got mango

🥭 - did your f/o have stuffed animals growing up? do they still have stuffed animals? do they have a favorite?

He probably had something when he was really little that might have gotten passed to Kyo but I don't think he still does. He's grown to love mine though... he loves Puppy.

for yellow we got lemon

🍋 - if your f/o could change one thing about themselves, what would they change and why?

Let me put him under a microscope for a second. Yoshikage. What would you change.

Oh babes he's saying he'd probably change being a stand user. He feels like being a user is what got him into this whole mess in the first place and if he wasn't, he wouldn't have been able to save Josefumi which means he probably wouldn't have stolen the locacaca and all the subsequent stuff that happens.

But that's just the first thing that comes to mind. He'd have to think about it more to give a real answer.

(Bonus, his answer for what he'd change about me is "you being on your goddamn period right now" fvdkhf)

for green we got pear (hi cor <3)

🍐 - does your f/o have any nervous ticks or idle quirks they do? like mindlessly tapping on a desk or fiddling with their hair when they're stressed?

He doesn't notice it but a lot of the time if he's just sitting there, he's doing something with his hands. Tapping his index against his thumb or just kinda twitching them. If I get close enough he'll start drawing hearts on me. Yoshi does that one too, especially on my hands.

for purple we got eggplant

🍆 - does your f/o have a favorite scent? why is it their favorite? do they have a least favorite scent?

HMM. He says there's a certain blend of scents from a dish his mother used to make when he was sick as a kid that just kinda feels like home. The blend of spices from that, plus the scent of his air freshener.

For least favorite, he has recently smelled skunk for the first time and. Yeah. he hates it so much.

for white we got garlic

🧄 - does your f/o have any allergies? food or otherwise?

Does sneezing whenever someone says something idiotic count as being allergic to idiocy? Because he'd say he's allergic to stupid.

for brown we got potato

🥔 - does your f/o have any food dishes they make often? is there any foods you make for your f/o that they enjoy?

Okay see. He really really likes green food, so the fact that we don't have much right now because we're moving is driving him up the wall. And having to buy everything instant is also driving him insane. It's okay, we'll be normal soon and you can show me all the things you like to cook. It's probably gonna be peas or something.

[moonsofmachinery]

ough not to flag slugcat ask but do u have a favorite one youve drawn? all the times you do them the colors and designs are rly interesting so id love to know if u do.

Probably the Dr Pepper pride one!!! Just kidding, I'm honestly happy with a lotta em but I do like the way the Objectum Enot came out and Aroace saint makes me happy. I'm also really happy with how cute the orchidro/genderfae monk came out!!! It's hard to say, especially because the colour schemes aren't of my picking! I'm confined mostly to the flag colours, so I usually have to find a way to make things work no matter if I personally don't like the colours, Ex... The Trigender Flag, oh boy, purple and green and pink are quite the interesting combo!

But yeah!!! Theres my answer :3 Thanks for asking!!!

[bluepeachstudios]

GitS Asks!

Considering in 2003, Donatello was stung because he was protecting Raphael? Yes, Ghost would still be mutated even with Phantom there. I feel like with both Phantom and Ghost around, the kids probably figured it out a lot quicker. They still call each other "Raph/Raphie" and "Don/Donny" without thinking about it, and that's just too many coincidences.

Spirit doesn't hover over them like Ghost does. I mean, he does, but he stays secret for much longer than Ghost does. He's more of the turtles' secret sensei.

Spoilers! From now on I'm not gonna be answering asks that ask for direct spoilers. If you're not sure, go ahead and ask anyway, but if you don't see it, that means it was too spoilery!

Spoilers! But this story arc will be wrapped up before the hiatus. Or at least part of it will be.

s-spoilers--

Normally he's 5'8". He is now 10'9".

Ouuuhhh I've thought about this before. He'd only be 16. He'd be the same age as the other turtles. Ough. Send him back in time to save the Rise kids with Casey. Nah but forreal, he'd probably die before that final battle. He's too stubborn.

Mmmm SAINW in the context of GitS.

This made me laugh hgkdjfh thank you so much

It is indeed enough to cover your next fix. Delivery is on friday. <3

(puts this in the GitS asks anyway) IDK RISE SPLINTER ALSO SEEMS FINE GALAVANTING AROUND MOSTLY NAKED??? At least he wears underpants.

Personally I have the headcanon (and thus in GitS) Splinter tried to get them to wear clothes but they kept pulling them off, so Splinter gave up. It's like trying to keep four cats in a basket.

Yup! :)

SAINW would happen differently, I think, but I truly believe that SAINW happened because they were too busy looking for their brother when Shredder took off using the rocket. I believe that 03 Don seeing SAINW warned him to look deeper into what Shredder was doing, and therefore he found the rocket that they boarded during Exodus. It was the only way he would be convinced to kill his own family in order to stop that apocalypse world from happening.

So basically, yes, the apocalypse world still happens, just in different ways.

Losing Donny means they have no access to technology as good as they used to. Remember, at 15 Donatello could hold his own against Baxter Stockman, a genius adult man. The turtles have April, and she's very good, but she's also an adult woman and Donatello WAS 15. Don's mediator personality also helps. Mikey couldn't keep that up.

Losing Leo means they have no leader. Raph probably steps up, but he's reckless, he doesn't know how to think right, he doesn't trust himself to be leader. He makes mistakes. He has to learn from them. They all miss Leo.

Mikey going missing I think has the biggest impact on them. He makes jokes during dark times, keeps their spirit up, cheers them up all the time, always looking to make them laugh. They lost their sunshine and they're plunged into darkness. They don't hold back as much. Donnie's mellowness doesn't balance out Raph's rage or Leo's depression.

Losing Raph hits them all very hard. He's their protector. He takes the heavy hits. Leo trusts Raph to have his back more than anyone else. Raph second-guesses him when he believes he's wrong, makes Leo think more critically. I think Leo starts getting too caught up in his own head. He starts taking on some of Raph's traits. He gets overprotect of his family, he gets angry easier. He's so tired.

Some things are ingrained.

Splinter dismisses his own emotions and tries to bury them deep and never take them seriously, so he does the same with his own boys. It helped him, right? So they would okay, right??? Ghost is the opposite. He's the one that bottles up his emotions and hates himself for it, so he tried to teach his kids how not to be like that.

the rest are spoilers <3

Dang if that ain't the mood idk what is. Part One will be over soon! Unlike Twilight the parts are probably just going to get shorter instead of longer. fhgkdgf

GitS Hiatus will be starting after chapter 31 is posted on July 14th! I have no idea how long it'll be. I'm gonna try and build up a backlock so I can post regularly like I did with Part 1.

Spoilers!

My thoughts about the movie are deep and endless and I'm... so excited to get to it...

[nerves-nebula]

With the whole magical pact binding Splinter to raising/training the turtles, does that mean in turn that the turtles are bound to him? As in, if they had successfully run away as kids, would the magic pact force Splinter to track them down to continue training them? Or would he be ‘free’ of that and be able to let them live off on their own bc he wasn’t the one who initiated the split away from them?

Or, in the case that he has to continue training warriors no matter what, to the point he’s magically bound into tracking them down if they all leave, would they be able to loophole it if one of them (cough cough Leo) stayed behind so Splinter would technically still be training up a warrior, letting the other brothers go free?

oUGH so were getting into the nitty gritty then, huh? aight, here's what I'm thinking:

Splinter made a pact with Draxum, not the turtles. so as far as I'm concerned, the turtles can leave and Splinter wont be like, magically forced to track them down. he isn't bound to THEM so much as the promise of training them to be Big Strong Warriors.

HOWEVER I think that the wording of the pact would make it so that Splinter was required to train them until they actually BECOME said Powerful Mystic Warriors. And since that's a pretty vague win state, it defaults to Splinter having to train them until they've satisfied Draxums expectations, which they uhhhh have not done yet. Don't get me wrong they're great fighters, but they haven't unlocked their hamato ninpo yet or w/e that shits called and are still mostly seen as Potential Protectors of the Hidden City than anything else to Draxum.

sooo while I don't think Splinter is required to chase them down or anything, I DO think he's required to keep training them until they either leave his care or Draxum is satisfied with the results of their training.

thing is though, the pact being fulfilled kind of doesn't even matter at this point. like, they've lived with him their entire life. he's their dad. At most, if the pact was fulfilled, it'd just give Splinter the option to stop training them. And he might do that, but he also wants them (specifically Leo) to carry on his clans name & history & all that.

So like, he prolly wouldn't stop training 'em anyway. thats just what i had in mind though, sorry if that's not whatcha wanted hah.

[acealistair]

ough i'm so torn between mourn watch and crow for my main rook's faction now 😭 bc on the one hand. i have this fun concept for a hotshot crow who's brash and a showoff and has a bad habit of biting off more than she can chew. potentially a mage with orb + dagger bc that sounds cool af.

but on the other hand my last two protags were mages so I'd like to spice that up a bit, and mourn watch is like the first time a background sounds more interesting to NOT be a mage in!! like you were raised by this all-mage, or at least mostly-mage, organization so i'm sure there would've been waiting with bated breath for the magic of this mysterious crypt baby to manifest. and then for the kid to turn out not to have any powers at all?? that's juicy.

[containedconspiracy]

ough your bps designs are so neat!!! i would def like to hear more about your interpretations for adam and jonah!!

AAAH TYSM !! :D That I can do!

(INFO'S BELOW THE CUT, DIDN'T WANNA SPAM..

so, for starters, let's just go over the basic stuff of the duo.. I personally think that Adam and Jonah aren't really friends. Or it's really one-sided. Jonah likes Adam a bit, finds him weird and kind of interesting to watch, Adam finds Jonah to be one of the most annoying people on planet earth.

they sort of bounce off of eachother with Adam usually taking everything seriously while Jonah takes a solid nothing seriously, not until he gets involved, at least.. Adam personally hates that fact about Jonah more than anything, but finds him to be tolerable when they're having normal conversations. Or when Jonah's useful.

also, probably the most controversial hc i have ever, Jonah's taller. sorry, Adam.

Jonah was accepted into BPS when Sarah made Adam get someone else to do the whole alternate-luring stuff with. Jonah solely exists as a replacement in Adam's mind, and maybe a crutch for when he's feeling lonely. Which is rare.

Anyways, onto individuals! Jonah's up first because I have a little less to say.

Jonah.

Jonah, design wise, was supposed to kind of give off the vibe of a wannabe scene or emo kid. His baggy clothes and accessories as well as dyed hair are just because he thinks it looks cool, he doesn't have many other reasons for it. His hair color and general style is sorta similar to his canon counterpart, keeping the same dark to silver gradient as well as the general spiky/side-swept look of it.

Personality wise, he thinks he's hot shit. He's confident and takes everything about as serious as you'd expect him to. He does find the ghost hunting and paranormal stuff a little interesting, but he's mostly just in it for the stories and the money. His parents are pretty rich, with his dad being a lawyer and all, and he has a good dozen of friends outside of BPS. Nothing's keeping him here besides his own interest in the organization.

That doesn't mean he doesn't care about it at all, though! He likes the people there, he likes getting to hang out and feeling cool because he gets to steal and sneak around empty places. It's the kind of rebellious that he always daydreamed about when he was living his completely ordinary, honestly kind of boring old life.

MISC ;

- he's 6'2".

- aroace, never had romantic interest in anyone, never will.

- Lots of scrapes on skin under clothes from just being generally stupid during investigations.

- adhd win

Adam.

If you can't tell by now, Adam's my favorite TMC character. A lot of these headcanons are from way back when vol 2 had just come out, and I'm still somewhat attached to them. Don't mind me being insane.

Design-wise, Adam looks a lot.. softer than Jonah does? He's supposed to have a sort of obviously-fake innocent look, mostly with the wide eyes and rounder shapes used for his hair and face. His hair's dyed in a split style as a reference to the fact that while he's seen as having brown/black hair in the series, he's actually blonde. Same goes for his eyes, which are darker in-series but most people draw him with blue eyes. This isn't the result of contacts or anything, he just naturally has heterochromia. Even before he got taken by Intruder..

Furthering the eye discussion, he may seem like the odd one out when compared to how I draw the other BPS members, and it's mostly to give him a more unsettling appearance in comparison. While the others have simple eyes with flatter eyelids and simpler pupils, his closer resemble how I draw the alternate's eyes, specifically taking inspiration from the eye shape I gave Intruder. Like father, like son, I guess..?

Personality wise, he's far from nice. Or extroverted. He's the opposite of Jonah in every way. He rarely cares for others but still takes everything seriously, even when nobody else around him will, and he's mean by default. He doesn't really process any of his negative emotions in any way besides anger and lashing out. (or isolation, god forbid..) When in a social situation where he's not trying to be a complete asshole, he's just socially awkward. He doesn't have many friends, mostly because he doesn't want any, and he doesn't care enough to try and figure out all of the intricacies of social interaction, often coming off as blunt or uncaring. (Which he usually is, anyways!)

The cross necklace he has isn't there for any religious reasons- In fact, it's just there because he noticed that Alternates tend to be drawn to people who actively practice religion. He wanted to bring them in without devoting any of his time to actually trying to find faith in a god. He's a complete atheist.

..or, is, until Mandela Catalyst..

But we don't need to worry about that!

MISC ;

- 5'10".

- Trans, but not FTM. No, he's just genderless horror to male. It counts to me.

- Also covered in bruises and scratches, mostly from fights or lashing out on inanimate objects.

- Supposedly has/Is Diagnosed with M.A.D.

[shhoup]

Guys I am way too deep in the SSO lore. This started off as me playing it because I wanted it as a kid and so I could play with my little sister, but ough... horses fun...

I'm legitimately playing thru the Starshine Legacy versions they have on the website this is so fun! I'd say I wish I played the og versions when they came out but girl I was born in 2005 and was lucky enough to play MSPaint, I'm just happy I can still experience part of the game's history now.

Also the lore?? Hello??? It's really cool to see where some of the SSO models originated from like Jorvik Stables as a whole was mostly there in SSL, and the models for Herman and the stable ladies like Claire and Jenna. And also the janky ass models.

Why he looking at me like that

[ya-killin-me-smalls]

Tell me about Presley (smol gift)

ough he's a little guy I want to squeeze him

he's my orphaned-street-rat turned mercenary turned SQ-asset

Presley (pronounced like Wesley not Leslie) grew up in a bandit settlement that was all but torched by the Agency/Nexus when he was ~14ish, his family included. by that point he was no stranger to crime or death, so once the dust had settled he knew he was on his own and needed to stay moving. no time to mourn

pretty theft turned into the occasional odd job in Nexus City. deliver letters and packages, make evidence disappear, sometimes just playing as an inconspicuous decoy. it wasn't easy but keeping his nose clean and a roof over his head would've been impossible. he found people that needed work done and wouldn't ask too many questions

by the time he was 16, he'd built up a decent network of connections, clients, and long lists of people and places to avoid. by 17, one of those clients needed a loose end tied up, offering more money than Presley would've known what to do with, all he had to do was cut someone's brakes and then wait

blood money became the new game and by 21, he had a full-scale operation running, a sizeable armory, and was taking out high-value targets. much like Icarus, hubris was his downfall. a hit gone far too well on the wrong person caught the attention of far more powerful people. said-people weren't the type to shoot the messenger, but they did send a message of their own in the form of his eye being carved out with a spoon and the nerve cut. overall clean operation and he got to pick which eye got sent to his client, so could've been worse

after that he scaled back quite a bit, picked up work that wouldn't need fully-functional vision to accomplish. body augments weren't exactly cheap or easy to come by

luckily for him, the SQ had more than plenty of freelance jobs that would be a walk in the park for him. more than anything, he needed to stay moving. he'd lament his eye when he died

his relationship with SQ was very on-again off-again for the next couple years but always positive, so it wasn't a surprised when Doc offered him an actual position rather than contracts (Arena Mode). of course he takes it, if for no other reason than Doc's notorious reputation throughout the criminal underground and the protection that would offer. once he proves to be a worthy investment, he's greenlit to have bionic eye implanted (one of the older, sturdier models since he does mostly field work). he still runs his own ops when they come up but is more focused with SQ goals as of right now

he's British as fuck which I'm really glad Krinkels went ahead and stuck British people in MPN because otherwise I'd have to figure out why there's Brits in Nevada

has a tiny little massive crush on Deimos since day one but sshshsshshshhh doesn't matter

has not, will not, won't ever sit down and try to process the things he's been through. everything gets shoved in a box and then buried somewhere where he doesn't have to look at it

he does his best to fit in with all the hardened killers within the organization but the pathetic wet cat energy is palpable so he still gets treated like a kid by most

his backstory did get a pretty big overhaul from when I'd first designed him mostly because of MPN but he's still one of my favorite stress balls