#icy talk

[iceclew]

my personal gameplay Henry right there <3

since I struggle finding time to do stuff, and fancy proper ship art is hard, and takes time.. I go with goofy comic art for the moment :D

I just recently found my boi in the woods, poaching, so yeah, right in the divorce arc, atm...

And I get so many ideas for small comics like these, I started writing them down for later :D

[elitesheepi]

I’m fine with Wolverine having black, brown, dull green and even hazel eyes. But not blue. We have enough blue eyed-black-haired superheroes and I’ve had ENOUGH

[beedreamscape]

This has to be the last thing I say on C3 finale because otherwise, I will not stop, it simply baffles me in its mediocrity. And obviously, this will be negative, if you loved it, good for you, this is my takeaway as someone who loved this campaign and was severely let down.

This finale changes everything that came before and not for good, better yet, it emphasizes all the faults in the structure of what c3 tried to be, it made most of the campaign feel like a true exercise in futility — How far can we go in a campaign that is meandering and unsatisfying? How long can we have the same discussion over and over and over again despite everyone knowing how this will end? How long can we drag out characters that don't change without anyone noticing? (spoiler everyone noticed)

Can't say I was emotionally invested in the finale because I tapped out back in the 70s, came back for Aeor/Downfall shenanigans, and left again. But in experiencing the finale something became clear to me:

THIS STORY NEEDED TO BE SHORTER.

WITH ANOTHER PARTY AT THE HELM.

If the objective from the very conception of C3 was to wipe out the gods, that had to be clear from the very start. And it wasn't clear, at all — not in the characters, not in the starting city, not in theme. This was a completely different campaign at the start! That clarity was what made Calamity so great, it was short and precise, and every pc SERVICED THE THEME, filled with hubris and contempt, not to mention the setting.

Even Ludinus went in circles for convenience of the campaign length and became a weaker opponent for it, more of a nuisance than a villain. The threat he posed at episode 50 was much stronger than now at 120 something. The battle against Otohan was more nail-biting and emotionally engaging than fighting Ludinus and Predathos, a god eater!!!!

This campaign would've benefited from three to four acts instead of one overarching objective like the past campaigns because urgency is the name of the game and we can't carry urgency for 70 episodes straight (and they didn't).

The constant inclusion of the other parties made it clear how easy it was to detach BH from the story, how easy and fun it was for them to tell it through another party's eyes (one of the main reasons why I walked away back when I did, but that's more of a personal preference).

Which is not to say Bells Hell's didn't deserve a long story! They could very well have existed in a more intimate campaign which these characters were clearly built for! Their premises begged for closer looks in slow moments, something tragicomical, exploration of the inner world while developing MARQUET and its microcosm of injustice and politics which was left in the dust mid-campaign (pun intended).

And I'm not suggesting this just for our enjoyment, I know it's them playing and their enjoyment comes first blah blah, though this is a multi-million company therefore their jobs but this would contribute to their enjoyment! You could see several moments in the campaign how tapped out they felt and acted. I doubt it was "fun" discussing the gods situation ad naseaum, trudging through landscapes they barely cared about, with empty arcs.

I could nitpick every fault I see in the finale but it would be pointless, these issues have been dragged from ages ago and poor character matching, and now this is a culmination of everything and it barely fazes me anymore.

(And yeah it's their game and it's "free", but that doesn't undermine its weight as a story, stories were made be analyzed, and it was a poorly structured one no matter how much I still like and admire them as people.)

WHICH is not to say I had no fun at all ever, I did! several times! and that's what makes me upset, it could've been great instead is just meh.

[charmwasjess]

for our good friend dooku, 16, 21&22, and 6 if you have more to say about it. 🙏🙇‍♂️

OH YOU JUST COME INTO MY ASK BOX AND MAKE MY DAY?!! :D Beloved anon, these are SUCH fun questions and I absolutely had a blast answering them. Thank you so much! Stop by anytime and I’ll make you a cup of coffee! (I have tea too, but my taste in tea is real gross.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Ohh, this is a hard one! 

The thing is, while I have my favorites, I find Dooku soo very shippable with a vast number of characters - not because he has any healthy understanding of his own sexual and emotional needs anymore than he has a healthy relationship with food - but because especially in his Sith era, he’s a black hole of need and loneliness. Sex is like the one way Sith are allowed to access the intimacy that fifty years of Jedi communal life has trained him to want and need. 

The ship for him that I absolutely love-hate in that vein is Sidious/Dooku. I doubt it went much further than a few absolutely debased encounters because let’s be honest, Sidious can do much better and isn’t in the habit of letting his dog eat from his plate, but whoof, what a fun, fucked up ship with nasty power dynamics. “Oh nooo, oh no, awful….where’s the link?” energy.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

I love giving Dooku big, often violent, over the top moments where his natural appetite for chaos comes out. 

Dooku gives you these amazing options as a fanfic writer. He’s so high drama. A huge part of his reserve and composure is that there’s an absolute volcano of feeling bubbling under the crust.

The things he says are absurd and beautiful, poetic and horrific, hilarious and awkward. You can push the character further than you expect, and he’ll go with you in surprising places in a piece of writing if you let him show off. This is a character who loves attention and has the natural talent and chaos to back up his own bullshit. If you can get his sound and feel right, there’s almost nothing you can’t do with him - because a core part of Dooku is the unreliable narrator: even he doesn’t always know what he’s about to do. 

I think the hardest part is his “voice” because Christopher Lee had such a distinctive cadence - it’s not just a British accent, it’s early 20th century British, who grew up bilingual and went on to speak like literally 7 different languages fluently, with a supremely deep voice, who wanted to sing opera but only got half-trained before WWII ruined that dream for him. It’s a very unique sound.

I like “my” Dooku voice in my fics and I’m proud of it; I work really hard on it and it’s why I use him as a POV character most often. But I still look at my own fics and have those record needle scratch moments where I know a line of his needs to get reworked. It’s a constant process.

The Christopher Lee accent also could not be MORE different than my own rural American one. There’s a hilarious-awful story in Lee’s autobiography, Lord of Misrule, about him getting stopped by a patrol of Americans in WWII who absolutely do not believe he’s English and they start trying to speak German to him. He goes, “you don’t have to speak German, you know, I’m fairly capable of understanding English, since that’s what I am.” 

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I love it when fics do a realistic job of letting Dooku be the walking contradiction he is. Two of my favorite Dooku fics right now are Pray My Mind Be Good to Me and Galaxies Far Far Away May Be Closer Than They Appear - both feature Dooku written in this way. He has done or is going to do horrific shit - shit that cannot be changed and has real consequences. In both fics, he’s also portrayed vividly, a "real person," full of genuine emotion, vulnerability, and deep investment in the other characters. Love is a part of his betrayal and betrayal is a part of his love. These two things exist in the character simultaneously in queasy, gorgeous combination. 

As far as what I don’t like, I don’t know, I think Dooku is a tremendously intimidating character to write and I’m impressed by anyone who takes a crack at writing him! I’d encourage anyone to give it a shot. 

I have one really small weird pet peeve, and that’s giving him too much stuffy, uptight rich guy cliche. Dude was a mud-grubbing mission Jedi for 50 years, himself raised by a swamp troll, who went on to train two of the most chaotic Jedi. He’s eaten more bugs than Anakin, and I'll die on that hill.

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

I went pretty broad on my other answer, so I’ll tell you two lil' things!

I’m tall (ironically I’m about Sifo-Dyas’s canon height, a character whose legit tallness is often overlooked cause he’s standing next to Dooku–) and I pull a ton of my own experiences into how I write the way he moves or his little gestures, especially how small he can fold up when he’s feeling vulnerable. There’s a unique tall person awkwardness that comes from experiencing the adolescent growth spurt right at the time when it’s the most emotionally unbearable to be physically conspicuous. 

I didn’t realize I shared his exercise-away-the-strong-emotion thing until I was chatting with @bolithesenate about some fic or something, and said something offhand like “too upset about Sifo-Dyas, gotta go for a run” and she was like “uh, Jess? are you QUOTING your own Dooku characterization here?” :O Don't call me out like that, bro!! Do not perceive me!

[happyk44]

Thinking about Percy with BPD for the millionth time and how he thinks Grover is the most perfect special boy that everyone should be nice to and thinking about Annabeth with NPD realizing Percy doesn't see her the same way and getting supremely agitated about it

[icycm24]

First art of the year, ofc its them again

to show affection by sucking cheek like jelly ♥

[icys-junkyard]

Snickering quietly at midnight because I pictured a soulmate au- The classic where the first sentence spoken to the soulmate is written somewhere on the soulmates body, but like...

One person is really not into the soulmate thing. The potential partner is tattooed with "Ah fuck, you better not have this exact sentence written on you" because the other would hear their soulmarked words and instantly hate life and hope to hell it's a coincidence

[snekthedemonnoodle]

i dont think ANY of you know how much i love livestream shy away🩷🩵

[cyberphuck]

Kaz: And when you finally faced the man that killed your brother? What did you do? Laurent: I let him eat my ass.

[trainerethan]

Expanding on my bpd green and avoidant red. I think green swings between horrific guilt for being mean to red when they were young and wanting to make it up to him (red has already forgiven him but green is still worried that he might change his mind) VS reds avoidant behavior confusing and irritating green bc he's trying to be honest and vulnerable but red is Not. (green later feels guilty for even being irritated with red at all.)

Red genuinely listens to what green is saying and nods in understanding, but is Not sure how to comfort green beyond being very direct and matter of fact: "I'm not going to leave." "No I'm not upset with you." Which. Like true and Red is being Honest however it comes off sounding a bit...cold? Distant?

Like red is just stating facts without actually opening up in detail about how things/their past makes him feel. Like it's "I'm not upset about that" and nothing about how it made him feel at the time, or his thought process about why he isn't upset anymore or if he ever was, or anything like that.

It lacks the true vulnerability and emotional labour that comes with actually talking through uncomfortable or serious things with someone important to you, instead of talking about things as if you're an outside observer. From greens pov red is closed off and it makes his insecurities and frustrations worse when red doesn't respond the way green wants/needs him to.

Their conflicting attachment styles and approach to discussing/processing difficult topics causes a lot of tension for awhile after their reunion. Idk if they'd be dating yet but if not it might also drive green insane that he Likes red but feels like red must not feel the same bc of how "closed off and distant" he is.

Then he feels guilty for being upset at that because "of course he wouldn't like someone who bullied him as a kid/whatever else green is insecure about" Meanwhile green is one of like 3 people red would willingly talk to and he likes green very very much. Always has and always will. To him it seems kind of obvious so he doesn't need to say it out loud (green is absolutely dying at the lack of assurance of mutual feelings platonic or not).

Reds truly not inconsiderate or being distant intentionally. Hes just srsly totally inexperienced with externalizing how he feels instead of internalizing it and ignoring it in favour of more important things (anything other than his own feelings)

It's seriously emotionally draining for both of them to have completely clashing approaches to Whatever they have going on. It's okay though. They figure it out eventually though. Green learning that red really means what he says, there isn't a hidden meaning or fine print that would make red change his mind/secretly be lying. And red learns that green/people who care about him really genuinly want to know how he feels and that he doesn't need to be 100% self reliant when there's people who Want to support him and desperately want him to be more open and be more outspoken with how he feels/his opinions/etc.

Side effect is red goes from refusing to voice a single thought to being more outspoken than predicted and very bluntly voicing(signing) how he feels. Which is usually "I want to leave." "This is boring" "that guy is annoying" "he has no idea what he's talking about. It's more like [insert random fact about pokemon behavior.]"

Green is thankful red is more outspoken but also very thankful that most people don't know the hater ass stuff red is saying to him via sign language. Red isnt actually a hater of course he just still doesn't mince his words and to it very literally when green asked him to tell him what he's thinking more often. Its okay green finds it charming.

[iceclew]

Back from Vienna, and could finally finish this!! ╰(▔∀▔)╯

Part 2 -> here's Part 1

well, SOMEONE (@mechazushi) put our shared braincell to work, so as per usual, I just had to :D

No really, I loved the idea, and it fit so well to what I was going for, so this is for you my mutual kafhoshi simp from the other side of the planet ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

Have yourself some very unusual awkward Soshiro being caught in the most embarassing moment in years propably, lol. Maybe that's the reason Soichiro got ghosted in the first place.

[wtfastaroth]

Icy: Okay, go take a nap

Darcy: Thank you, I'll be right back

9 hours later

Icy: I said a nap, not a fucking coma

[mitskiluvr]

replaying mystic messenger is so crazy because why am i gentle parenting these grown men and teaching them how to handle their feelings

[valentin1k]

also.... perhaps 10 and 58?

oh my god i forgot about this one LSKJDKHJF coming to it several hours late SORRY...

10. airport/travel au + 58. accidental eavesdropping

now one thing about me is i LOVE a travel au. though i am yet to write one. rest assured it is ALWAYS on my mind. god, pairing... i think there's a great opportunity here for rosquez accidentally at the same very exclusive beach resort. run into each other at the gate at the airport and make very awkward conversation and find out that they're both not only on the same flight but the same RESORT for the same length of time. and they're both ALONE, for whatever reason. rare i think for valentino to be alone anywhere but maybe he just wanted a break. same for marc. and liiike. vale, on the flight, coming up to marc and saying, hey, do you have a car booked or anything? and marc says no and vale says, allora, we can share a taxi, it makes sense, no? and marc agrees, bewildered, and wonders if this is just vale trying to get him to pay for the cab, but then vale pays for it so it can't be that. anyways. just like... ending up doing things together even though it honestly would not be that hard to avoid each other. they LIKE each other. they make each other LAUGH. they carefully don't talk about racing at all. this is almost more a vacation fic now but you get the idea. things getting a little out of control. marc waking up one morning in vale's room, warm in the sheets, but vale's not there. hearing something from the bathroom - vale on the phone, a little muffled, but still audible even with the door closed. the acoustics in the room are like that. vale doesn't know that. he's on the phone with someone, and marc is about to drift back off to sleep when he hears his own name, and then he realises, something about vale's tone - and what is he saying? "yes, i know it was a bad idea. no, look, i don't know what to do, can you just- book me the tickets please? i just need to get out of here." and marc, suddenly cold, slipping out of bed as quietly as he can, out of the room.

[chaotic-tired-bastard]

OC timeeeee- Atka and Kuruk did a Dumb™

[dawnbreakersgaze]

I need you guys to understand just how much I adore love and deepspace

I can be having the WORST fucking day, and then I open my game to do the dailies and just-

There he is 🥺🥺🥺

Greyson is there, blessing me with his presence and being silly and cute. I can absolutely see him being the one that comes in every morning going "Guess what I read on Moments last night?" And then just pulling out the most random bullshit facts you can imagine 🤣