#im starting to think that im reading this for the art rather than the plot

[factual-fantasy]

23 asks! Thank you!! :}} 🐶

Guys, please read the FAQ in my pinned posed before sending asks, like the ask button says. You don't have to read them all- just a quick check to see if i have answered your question already and especially to see my stance on requests.

I'm not taking drawing requests at the moment. If I hit an art block and start taking requests, I'll make a post about it and update my pinned post.

Again, please just take a quick glance at the FAQ before sending in your asks. It saves both of us a lot of time. Thank you! <:)

Currently there isn't actually a plot line I'm following- its more of a "day in the life of the neighborhood" kind'a thing.

The main points of interest though is Wally's home being alive and it watches him sleep at night.. this causes Wally to have terrible sleeping problems and anxiety. But no one knows Home is the culprit..

Another point of interest is Julie secretly actually being a huge beast that is simply disguising herself as this pretty little harmless neighbor.. she truly is a nice person and loves her friends, but she has disguised herself to look this way so that people wouldn't be afraid of her. Only Frank knows what she really looks like..

And lastly, Eddie is a real human from our/another world. He was somehow brought here to the neighborhood.. he has no memory of his original life..

Oh wow!! :000 That blue one is so pretty.... 🥺💞💞

@imdonewiththisblogsblog

A BUTTERFLY WITH CLEAR WINGS?? THAT SOO PRETYYYY💞💞💞

@littlelightfish

AAA THANYIOU!! :DDDD

Octo is intended to kind'a have normal old man problems- he's kind'a far sighted, has a cranky back, gets tired easy, gets winded faster than he used to.. other than that and the natural aches and sores that came after his major injury- (that comic you're referencing) he's relatively ok! :00 (Those dizzy spells that I talked about come from when he overworks himself.. normal old man things! <:D)

Seafoam is intended to be the youngest of his siblings, and his eldest sister was a rotten egg that had kids way too young.. and her kids were ALSO rotten eggs that had THEIR kids way too young. One of those kids being Red. So because of the age gap between him and his sister, and both generations having kids at like 20 years old... Seafoam is 55-65 and Red, his great nephew, is like 4-6...

Spider crab tends to not interact a whole lot with Pinwheel and Tuna, since they are a little too high energy and loud for him. 😅 But Coco and Red are nice company. :)

Spider does worry about the crewmembers that are missing limbs or eyes.. he does his best to offer help without overstepping. Sometimes those things are sensitive to talk about.. Also Spider sure looks old, but I pictured him being somewhere in his late 30s. Stress will add a lot of age to your face... 😅

I can see Spider crab, Louis and Tuna spending the most time in the kitchen just to be around Ellie. Although if one of them comes for a visit and one of the other 2 is already there, they probably wont stick around long. <XD Spider doesn't like Louis or Tuna's noise and Tuna like's to be alone with Ellie to talk peacefully.. As to who cooks when she cant... I can see the crew eating things that don't need to be cooked until she gets better. Pre-baked bread, easy sandwiches, etc- in an emergency though I can see the crew catching fish and Louis cooking them for the crew :))

Red might have nightmares yeah.. although his family were pretty rotten so this new crew is actually rather nice.. also Coco is his favorite playmate :))

AAA THANKYIUU!! :DDD IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE URCHINS DESIGN!! :)))) Unfortunately though, I haven't thought out her backstory too much..

I'm thinking she met Cuttlefish the same time the rest of the crew did. As for what made them friends, I kind'a like the idea that Urchin can see right through Cuttle's facade. She's not used to having someone see through all her lies, see the REAL her.. and still want to be her friend. Its nice.. 🥺

and finally WAARRHGHH THANKD FOR THIS ASK! :DDD MY HEART IS FULL OF JOY READING YOUR INTEREST IN KY OCS!!! :))))

Honestly? I have absolutely no idea XD 💀💀 All I know is Poppy is the oldest and Sally is the youngest. Sally is probably around 18-20--

@spirited-splashes

WWAHGGG THABK YOU SO MUCH!! :DD ITS MY FAVORITE THING TO DRAW!! :}}}}}

@legitanawkwardmess

ALKDKJENFKJEN THATS HILARIOUS XDDDD

I haven't decided what the neighbors reactions would be since I have no plans for Julie to reveal herself.. though even if she did, I have a feeling she would want to maintain her smaller form. Even if it takes more energy..

To Julie, this body represents who she really is. Who she really wants to be. This is how she want's the world to see her. Even if the truth got out and everyone accepted her. She'd stay in her smaller form anyways..

@i-only-created-this-to-read

So far I don't have intentions for there to have been any tenants before Wally.. or at least no one will ever find out who they were or what happened to them.

As for how old Home is, I haven't decided this and its also a complete mystery to the neighbors. Poppy has lived there ever since she was a child and Home was already there when she moved in..

Now Home could get creative and find different ways to harm or even kill those it doesn't like.. but thankfully Home doesn't have any intentions to hurt anyone, especially not Wally. Home wouldn't even try to significantly hurt Barnaby, despite him getting in the way of Homes plans.. although Home cant resist the occasional stubbed toe or splinter out of frustration...

As for adding stuff to Home's body.. if Wally purposefully slapped a strip of duct tape on the wall, that wouldn't really become a part of Homes body. Things only really attach to Home if they are significant.

Examples being a new shelf. An added wall to split a room, cutting a hole in the wall and installing a window, ripping up carpet and installing hardwood floors, etc. The nail holding up a picture frame or that nail gun plugged into the wall are not apart of Home..

Though that's not to say Home cant control the outlets, it can! But that would only give Home the power to turn the nail gun on and off. Home cant make the gun fire..

As for plants, even if they engulf Home and grow in-between the floorboards, Home cannot control plants.. or if there was moss or some kind of fungus growing on the walls? If it ate away at the wood that plank would just die off and Home couldn't feel/control it anymore..

Lastly, Home being able to move things quickly is kind'a what you would imagine. Home moves them as fast as that object can reasonably move. How fast do you think you could slam a door? How fast do you think the window would slam down shut if you gave it all your might?

I hope I cleared up these questions! :00 And sorry if I accidentally missed one or two! <:D

OUUGHH I LOVE THIS!! ITS MAKING ME WANT TO DRAW THE COMIC AGAIN XDDDD

No worries! :DD

@soulful-rodent

On desktop the limit appears to be 100, I'll see what I can do! 😅Also thank you! :))

AW! :DDD I'm glad they like it! But yeah absolutely keep it to the light stuff-- my Octonauts art has a surprising amount of blood in it for a kids show 💀

(Referencing this post)

I might just be! XD🪄✨✨✨Also thank you!! :)))

@captain-skyler1987

Oof... welcome back? <:D ... sorry-

Awe! I'm glad to hear you liked my Gravity Falls stuff!! :DDD Thank you so much!! :))

@jayemover-16

Oh no no! :0 reblogging is a feature of Tumblr and is not reposting! :))

My idea is that Wally only really has sleepovers with Barnaby. He would have sleep overs with Howdy too, but that Pillar's on a pretty tight sleeping schedule/routine <XD

Now Barnaby has noticed that Wally sleeps better when he crashes at his place. Because of this he has started offering his house as a getaway for Wally when ever he notices he seems a little extra tired..

Something to note; neither Barnaby nor Wally think something is wrong with Wally's house because of this- they're just starting to think that Wally's anxiety is worse when he's alone..

Also thank you so much!! :DDDD

@wolfie-777

I don't think much would change to be honest.. they'd still be the same old Wally and Barnaby even after a species swap!

This was sent right after I commented that I'm still open to Welcome Home suggestions. Are these Welcome Home AUs..? <:0 I am unfamiliar with them..

Oof, went back and fixed it. I tend to type too fast and get slime and smile mixed up. 😅

It can be a little embarrassing when people point out my typos, mostly because every single typo I make is pointed out every single time without fail.😅💀 But no worries, I know you meant no harm-

[miyaagis]

love is rising, no resisting. cheeks are flushing, now you're living.

+ warnings. mdni 18+ explicit smut, cheating, husband!kuroo, wife!reader, co-worker!fem oc, angst ig? too much plot im sorryyy, not proof read!

+ word c. 3k

tnmici m.list

"shit, that was close."

the reclinable chair creaks under his weight as he leans back, his forearm covering his eyes, but the relieved smile on his lips brings a veil of youthfulness to his tired eyes. kuroo has never felt so much bliss just by turning off his computer, signaling he's finally free from the claws of his 9 to 5 that, somehow, had turned into a 9 to 9 lately. a headache started brewing at the back of his head for the past hour, but the knowledge that he'll be home in less than thirty minutes eases up his mind.

before he can start wondering what you, his wife of three years, made for dinner, the familiar and feminine laugh of his co-worker echoes through the empty office. he’s giving her a funny look before joining in her chuckles with the last bit of energy he's left.

"remind me to never, ever, trust you again with a project."

even with twelve hours of a stress-filled day clutching at her spirits, uesugi yuko still manages to look somewhat composed. at least more than him, and that’s something kuroo has always admired from her.

"aw c'mon," he’s quick to stand up and squeeze her shoulder, earning him a scoff as soon as he smiles smugly at the woman, "we work better under pressure."

"i'm beat, tetsuro."

yuko curses under her breath while rising from her seat, letting out a whine after being in the same position, hunched over her own laptop, for over 4 hours straight. kuroo's eyes wander almost automatically down her legs as she stretches before him, amber eyes following the tight fit of her pencil skirt around her hips and thighs. he’s not really thinking, just… watching the fabric hug the suppleness of her behind. he vaguely remembers yuko complaining about having lost her favorite “work skirt” two weeks ago.

“you said you lost it," he points at her legs, and she follows his line of sight, her lips stretching into a smirk.

"left it at sukuna’s place."

and there it is, the daily reminder that yuko is a beautiful and single woman that lives her life however she wants. kuroo vaguely remembers when he used to be like that before settling down with you, feeling as if that was a lifetime ago, even though yuko is barely a year younger than him.

he’s too busy in his thoughts, unconsciously frowning, that he doesn’t notice her putting her laptop in her designer bag before sliding it up her arm, offering him a wave as she struts to the elevator.

"bye tetsu!"

—

later that night, as he’s deep inside you and your breathless moans fall against his neck, he briefly wonders if yuko is doing the same thing in sukuna’s bed.

—

the screen in front of him displays an array of numbers that his mind refuses to understand so early in the morning. ten minutes in, and kuroo already wants to remove his eyeballs from their sockets, when it usually takes until noon for the sentiment to brew.

a large cup of hot coffee and a rather cute, baby blue bag with something that smells like a salmon bagel, are placed on his desk. he looks up, mouth slightly agape in surprise and confusion at a fresh-looking yuko who seems to glow under the sunlight with her navy blue suit and long hair—always down in soft waves.

"can't have you lacking," she says before he can ask what’s the meaning of the sudden act of kindness. not that she’s ever been mean to him, but yuko is known for her cold and sarcastic persona. "suguru wants us in his office in an hour."

and since kuroo is well versed in the art of yuko's disinterest and roll of her eyes, the faint smile in her lips throws him off guard, doubting for a second if it was even real, but he trusts his observant eyes wouldn't fail him like that.

and it feels as if he just scored a goal.

"don't be late," she’s walking away right after, not giving him even a second to thank her for the coffee.

exactly one hour and two minutes later, he walks by her desk, not without placing a can of diet soda next to her keyboard and making her look up at him from her seat. an understanding nod is shared between the pair as they walk together to the meeting room.

—

"text me as soon as you land, okay?" 

your voice is drowned out under the sounds of honking cars, and planes flying on top of your heads, the chaos of the airport not helping with the jitters you’re experiencing of sending your husband to another three-day-long business trip. granted, it’s not the first time he has to travel for work, but you don’t think you’ll ever get used to it.

with almost tearful eyes, you watch as he unloads the trunk of the car with his backpack thrown over his shoulder and his hand gripping the handle of his carry-on, leaning down to kiss you once he makes sure it's properly closed. 

"i love you." 

kuroo smiles against your lips at your sudden profession of love before covering your face in kisses, your soft giggles making his heart grow.

"and i love you," he whispers, and that’s all it takes to ease up your heart, the stars in his eyes gleaming as he stares down at you before kissing your lips and your cheek one last time. "see you in three days, pretty girl."

a small smile plays on his lips as he walks inside the airport, right after making sure he watched you drove away to the safety of your shared home. he’s already checked-in through the airline’s app, so he heads straight to his gate after going through customs, deciding he might need at least a cup of coffee to get through the flight.

the queue is long, as he expected, but he’s got time, briefly checking his watch and adjusting his backpack on his shoulder as he glances around the menu until he’s spotting the familiar figure of yuko. the grin on his lips appears suddenly as he strides towards her, the nasty glares from the people waiting in line flying over him as he moves to stand beside her.

"always the early bird," with a quick glance, she realizes it’s him and not some random weirdo getting into her personal space, so she goes back to facing the cashier, handing out her card as she receives a large latte in return. kuroo makes sure to point that out. "hey! where's mine?"

"buy one yourself."

yuko pushes him softly aside, struggling between making sure her latte doesn’t spill onto her purse hanging around her forearm and getting the tiny wheels of her carry-on to cooperate. he finds his fingers itching to carry it for her, a frown etching onto his lips and soon, he’s snatching the small luggage from her hands, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

“w-what are you–”

"c’mon,” he strides ahead of her while making sure she’s not too far behind him, offering a smug grin at her that he knows very well will make her huff and scoff. “you're my work-wife: you help me stay sane by buying me coffee, and i help you look good.”

“i am not your work-wife, what the–”

“ah, see? that’s where you’re wrong,” he tuts at her, a disapproving look in his eyes as she stares at him in bewilderment. “c’mon, we’re a great team! our projects are the best, and we’ve never messed up with a client.”

her mouth opens and closes, words failing her as she tries to make it clear that she is not his work-wife. yes, she agrees that he’s good at his job, or whatever, but she’d rather die than tell him that.

“and i know i’m your favorite at the office,” he shrugs his shoulders innocently, a knowing grin on his lips that’s quickly making her blood boil, “can’t blame you, the rest are a bunch of incompetent idiots.”

yuko is ready to tell him off, to make it clear that there’s no way he’s her favorite and that he too is an idiot—just a little less of an idiot since he does have common sense. but he beats her to it, starting to walk towards their gate with their carry-ons.

“better hurry, or we’ll miss our flight!”

—

meetings with clients always went the same way: paying for a fancy, expensive meal where they barely ate anything as they tried to pry into their interests until they found something in common with them, using said interest as bait to make the client think they’re just like them, meet up again but this time in a more private and business-like setting where they can finally pitch in their ideas and make the client take the bait, and finally, celebrate with drinks before sending them off to the airport.

yeah, that’s how usually it’s supposed to work. but the CEO representative of this fast-growing corporate was quite the tough cookie to crack.

“did you notice he didn’t even bother to look through the documents!? jesus, he could’ve at least skimmed through ‘em. that fucker.”

yuko is on her second beer already, five minutes in, and she hasn't stopped once to let out her frustrations after meeting with their client. with her manicured hand, she catches the attention of the bartender and orders a couple of tequila shots for herself before turning to look at him.

“another whiskey?”

but she immediately turns back to the bar and orders it for him along with a third shot of tequila. amusement dances across kuroo’s lips, the tension in his shoulders slowly fading as he realizes hell is over, and he gets to see yuko lose her marbles. 

“i didn’t know we were gonna be getting drunk.”

“we aren’t,” she’s quick to deny, eyes lighting up as the row of shots is presented before her, “we just… deserve this after dealing with that asshole.”

“i’ll drink to that,” he sighs and takes one of the tequila shots, welcoming the heat from the liquor heating down his throat.

the hotel bar is rather empty, a few patrons sitting on the booths or by the garden outside while they remain by the bar. the high stools are all empty too, just the two of them keeping the bartender busy with their orders and keeping him company with their complaints.

yuko faces him, her knees knocking against his accidentally, and she giggles, her fingers running through her hair, “i’ll definitely ask for a week off after this.”

kuroo perks up at that and pouts dramatically, the tips of his ears flushed and his lips glistening with his last sip of his drink, “nooooo, don’t abandon me! that’s mean.”

she smirks before bursting in a fit of giggles, and he thinks he has never seen her smile this much, or be so laid back. her whole face looks different when she smiles, as if she became five years younger and, overall, happier.

“you’ll manage.”

kuroo pouts even more and knocks his own knees against hers, making her gasp and chuckle at the childish reaction. but she guesses it’s nice to finally bond like this with him, since he’s certainly the only sane person in the office.

after a quick trip to the ladies room, yuko comes back with sleep-laced eyes, resting her head on her hands to try and get it to stop spinning.

“you good?”

her heart drops faintly to her stomach, his voice against her ear in the softest whisper. without looking at him, she shakes her head with a whine, “m’sleepy, tetsuro.”

and honestly, so is he. he’d kill to lie on his hotel bed and sleep until the afternoon. he’s about to agree with her when she finally looks up at him with big eyes, her cheeks flushed and her hair messed up. he doesn’t think she has ever looked this cute, plus the way she’s being vulnerable with him clouds the rational side of his brain.

kuroo realizes he wants to kiss her. badly.

“let’s get you into bed, then.”

being none the wiser, yuko trails before him with his help. her touch is enough to make him tense up, recalling the brief snippet of her light blue bra peeking from her blouse during their uber drive back to the hotel, and how he tried to fool himself by imagining you with it, making a mental note that he should buy one for you. yuko’s head resting on his arm shouldn’t be making his pants this tight, but it’s both cute and hot that she’s way smaller than him that she can’t even rest her head on his shoulder—not even with her heels on.

“we’re here,” his voice has grown considerably hoarse, amber eyes observing her search for her key until she shows it off to him proudly. “text me if you need anything. good night, yuko.”

fuck. he thinks to himself, he can’t wait to get off of his slacks and jerk off. he wonders if he still has one of those videos with you sucking him off. or maybe he should try his luck and call you, hopefully you’re still awake and–

“tetsu?”

he blinks, yuko standing under the threshold with her door wide open and gnawing at her bottom lip. all he can do is make a sound to acknowledge her, 

“thank you,” she pauses, exhaling softly and letting the words of appreciation sink in. “m’glad we got paired up for this trip.”

fuck it.

it only takes one long stride for him to be face to face with her and grip her waist, smashing his lips onto hers as her own hands grip his shoulders. the kiss is impulsive and messy, barely an outlet to show how much he wants her.

it doesn’t take long for them to part from the kiss, and he sees her wide-eyed, her swollen lips looking even more inviting, if possible.

“shit. y-yuko… i–” he swallows down, hard, the ring on his finger starting to burn against his skin. “fuck, fuck, m’so drunk.”

“me too.”

and he doesn’t even bother to pretend thinking it through, taking it as a green light to push her inside her room and slam the door behind him, carrying her over to the bed.

“hmm fuck, i’m so hard,” he nibbles across her neck and collarbone, breathy moans escaping her lips and only making him press himself harder against her frame.

his hands travel along her sides, cupping her breasts in his hands and gently squeezing the soft flesh while he goes back to kissing her.

“take it off,” she whispers against his lips before moving to sit on his lap, her legs around his hips and his erection pressing right onto her clothed center.

it doesn’t take long for his thumbs to pinch at her hard nipples, the feeling rushing to her pussy and making her wetness grow, while her own hands fumble with his belt.

kuroo can’t remember the last time he felt so needy, so desperate to sink his cock into a woman that wasn’t you. right, his wife. his mind wanders fleetingly to you, but before the guilt starts to brew, he groans as yuko’s hand wraps around his length timidly.

taking the lead once again, he moves to the side so that he's on top of her and her body is in the right position for him to enter her. his voice is lustful with a mix of passion and need, watching her legs spread out to accommodate him, her skirt bunched up at her waist and her breasts spilling from her bra.

“don’t have a condom with me. can i pull out?”

his question is answered by her soft legs wrapping around his hips and pushing him forward, his leaking tip rubbing against her folds before he’s guiding it inside her.

blame it on the alcohol or having grown used to his wife’s body, but kuroo swears he’s never had a pussy feel this good around him, feeling like velvet stroking his sensitive length.

“ohh fuck, yuko…” he gasps as he falls forward, his frame on top of hers as his lips search for her breasts, “fuuuuck, you’re so… tight— shit.”

“tetsu–” her fingernails claw at his back as his tongue laps around her nipple, his thrusts slow yet deep, his pelvic bone meeting her clit with each movement, “oh god, feels so good.”

his eyes open to stare at hers hungrily, his lips wrapped around her breast as he slowly increases his pace, the squelching sounds of her pussy taking him growing louder. he lets go of her nipple and raises up, holding onto her waist as he pounds into her and one of his hands grips her chest.

“these are the prettiest tits,” his thumb strokes over her nipple, and she whines in return, his rhythm speeding up slightly, “and the prettiest pussy.”

her inner walls tighten and he’s letting out more groans and filthy words at her, his gaze moving between her folds taking his length and her breasts bouncing with each thrust of his hips. his other hand moves down to her clit to rub slow circles, grinning like a mad man as her pussy creams even more around him. he smiles and presses his lips to hers and moves his hips faster, letting her feel every inch of his length as his breath becomes heavy with her every moan. 

with each stroke on her clit and the fullness of his cock inside her, yuko is quickly reaching her orgasm, not being able to hold back from moaning and whimpering against his lips.

“oh tetsu! m’gonna—” she squeals as he starts moving faster, his tip reaching deep inside her as his lips attach onto her neck, “gonna come!”

his ragged breaths fall against her ear, and it only takes a few more strokes on her clit to have her coming around him, her pussy quivering and fluttering around his girth as her squeals turn into screams. the sudden tightness makes him lose his mind as well, barely pulling out in time to jerk his cock against her pussy, the head resting between her folds as he comes too, smearing the white liquid around her entrance and teasing her by sliding in the tip

that night, kuroo goes to bed with yuko’s pussy around him, and his wedding band around his finger.

[doorhanginoffthehinges]

hi erm i dont know why im asking but what is all for the game? like ive seen alot about it and i really want to consume this piece of media but i also do not know what it is at all?? pls help

ah jeez. aftg is complicated yet the best thing that’s ever happened to me fandom-wise. worst thing to happen to me productivity-wise. first books called the foxhole court, then the Raven king, then the ravens men. there’s physical copies of the books, but i haven’t ever seen it sold at any bookstore ever, only off of Amazon, but the kindle prices are real cheap and you can find almost any book online free via questionable websites.

all for the game is a book trilogy centred around a runaway w loads of trauma, but he’s running away from his kinda mob boss dad—gasp— which may be off putting but it’s like you don’t think of it as a mafia book it’s just a book that has bad guys who happen to be the mafia. i don’t think that’s a spoiler.

it’s also centered around made up sport, but it doesn’t feel like it’s centered around to but it totally is. it also doesn’t feel made up? like it’s not fantasy it’s just not real.

its gay, which you probably know if you’ve seen any fan art, but it’s not really sweet gays it’s kinda course and gritty but absolutely lovely and heartwarming. but also I have hazy memory bc I read the trilogy in a week but im pretty sure that only gets started midway through the series, so it’s not the WHOLE plot but it’s like a portion of it. their relationship isn’t really problematic, it’s basically the opposite, and all the angst is in the plot and characters themselves rather than how they interact w each other.

speaking of, this trilogy covers A LOT of heavy heavy topics, I’d say what was most off putting for me was the past rape and pedophilia which is touched on pretty briefly but at the same time very largely, but im sure somewhere there’s a list of tws somewhere if youre at all concerned about that.

it’s a fun read! it’s not at all too long (i mean, you read the goldfinch, not at all on the same level as that regarding word count im pretty sure) and i hear it reads like a fanfic, which might be why i consumed it so fast. it has no fantasy or sci fi, its basically a novel or slice of life I guess. i don’t really know the proper terms. there’s action that comes in the form of some violence, but i think most action is really on the exy (made up sport) court. oh also im pretty sure there’s an on page bj and the like. but no sex.

if I knew you in physical life I wouldn’t rec you this bc a) u might read it and hate it and it would ruin me and embarrass me b) u might read it and find it mediocre and it would ruin me and embarrass me c) you don’t read it and I feel annoying and finally d) u love it and it ruins you.

anywho, I hope u have a fun day/night, idk your time zone, and happy reading/non reading/watching. Thank you for giving me a reason to rant about my little obsession on this random monday evening! hope this helped/was what you were looking for

[gojuo]

omg im that person who sent you an ask like months ago about how I was catelyn and Robb trash before I became aegon and alicent trash. You've been one of the few hotd blogs I can stand because woahh why is this fandom so pleased with mediocre nonsensical work???

Reading your thoughts on each episode was healing because it was like FINALLY, AN INTELLECTUAL, and even though I never fully read the books (yet), the show pissed me off so much (and I have a twin bro who loves it *sigh*)

Anyway, I just discovered that you used to be an aot fan because I stumbled upon an old gifset you made, and YOU'RE AN EREN FAN TOO? Like being a fan of Eren post finale is so bad because all the content creators and meta writers just do not understand my boy. So, this just me fangerling over this lol.

Lastly.....I had a couple friends who only watched the show, but haven't read the manga practically beg me to give jujutsu kaisen a chance. Seeing your blog posts have made me hesitate. Would you recommend? T-T

thank you, and im sleep deprived, so that might explain the atrocious grammar.

OH AND, THAT GRRM BLOG POST. I AM SO GLAD HE SAID SOMETHING. Everyone calling him whiny or unprofessional can stfu. It's his work. His art. I'm glad there are those defending him. Because the nonsense being pulled isn't acceptable.

Omg thank you for the compliments that's literally soooo sweet I really don't think my takes are all that so your words are very flattering, thank you very much 😭🫂 and omg yes I know you sent me an ask and I'm soo sorry I haven't responded yet 😭 I get a lot of asks my inbox is always full plus I'm a workaholic who does a lot of overwork that's why I'm barely online/on hiatus in the first place so asks get buried all the time and I tend to ignore my inbox because I get so overwhelmed it's literally a never-ending cycle I just can't get out of 😭😭 I'll try to answer this weekend but no promises 😓

Oh man don't remind me of those AOT days.... You couldn't even say you understood why Eren did what he did or why there were flaws with Armin's group et al or why there was a point to the Yeagerists without getting hounded ... but to be fair I do think Isayama sorta failed in conveying his messages and themes properly but oh well ... It's done and gone I AM FREE and I will never discuss AOT ever again lmao

About JJK...... man.... it hurts.... It was so good...... until it wasn't 😭 Listen it starts out as a 6 or 7 out of 10 until it grows into a pure 10 out of 10 score for the Hidden Inventory & Shibuya Incident arcs ... and then it falls down a steep cliff right into a, in my generous opinion, 2 out of 10 score 😖 Post-Shibuya is so bad I can't even explain it bc it hurts too much to think about... I used to love this series so much and it turned into... this... It's heartbreaking. I only recommend JJK to you if you're aware that it's not that good and it's mostly carried by its battles rather than its plot or characters. And tbh the community is fun. I've had the time of my life when JJK was at its peak in summer '23 and even if the manga is ending in a few weeks, the anime is still ongoing for a few years at least, so there's that too if you care about that ❤

[theygotbitchesinmedia]

ask dump

i have a couple dozen unanswered asks on this blog, most of which i believe are media recommendations, so i'm going to go through those now in a batch!

if you haven't seen it already We Are Lady Parts would be a fantastic recommendation for this blog. I started it last week and really love it. It's about a struggling punk Muslim girls band who recruit the extremely anxious, goody-two-shoes Amina to be their lead guitarist. It balance its moments of drama really well with the comedy and all of the women in the band get to be deeply weird in different and endlessly charming ways. My favorite is Amina because of her very relatable habit to have elaborate silly daydreams about anything and everything. Good show with some really good women!

I've heard good things about this one! Adding it to the list

I can't remember if you take recs for things in progress or not but the webtoon Katlaya Rising is currently the high point of my week, the art style POPS and it is jam-packed with girls and girls who love girls

I will always read things in progress 👍 I honestly in some ways prefer getting into stuff before it's finished. Like an animal with one of those food bowls that stops you from eating too fast. Added to the list.

Please read Villain Initialization!!!! The female characters are really good!!!!!!!!!

Looking at the cover and description for this one it seems like most of the female cast is gonna be side characters. i'll add it to the list but itll probably be reallllly back burner unless someone wants to go to bat hard for it and sway me

if youre taking recommendations bittersweet con panna is a cute yuri manhwa and hacks is an insane tvshow about millenial comedy writer who got cancelled on twitter and a beautiful old standup comic about to lose her vegas residency.

added both! never heard of bittersweet con panna but my sister has been going really hard for hacks and i feel like i owe it to her to watch that sooner rather than later because of all the media im always trying to force onto her

"Kevin Can F*** Himself" on AMC is fantastic and has some really interesting female protags, I recommend. Might be a similar vibe to On Becoming a God in Central Florida actually!

Already on the list!

i'd like to second the rec for no home, probably one of the greatest webtoons of all time

one moth ago anon i can safely say you were correct about this it is certainly one of the greatest webtoons of all time. i do think its not really About women but i get why you all wanted me to read it enough to push it

@whatasmoothgardener Reccing a short manga I've been reading recently called Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live. Its a manga about twin girls who run a small real estate company in Tokyo from the POV of their clients. It has a unique art style, its female character focused, and it teaches you about the different places in Tokyo. However its kinda episodic.

I don't mind episodic at all. Cool to see female manga protags who arent stick thin! added to the list

@phoenixfangs i got into a webtoon the other day called nevermore and considered recommending it to u, but i second guessed myself like oh what if its not worth recommending and its stupid actually, BUT i had a dream last night that u were talking about it so i think i have to at least put it on ur radar, if it isnt already xD what happens if u take edgar allen poe stories and make it about lesbians? u get the webtoon nevermore ❤️ theres an actual Plot to it too im not trying to sell it based on tropes, i just cant describe it better than the actual synopsis/description on webtoon, so id say its worth a glance!

At first glance i'm not sure how to my personal tastes this owuld be but i feel like i have maybe been unfairly biased against popular webtoons in that front. added to the list !

@counttwinkula listen i know your "media to get around to" list is forever long but i reread the haunting of hill house (the book) for my podcast and eleanor and theodora just. won't stop touching each other. some of the most classic toxic yuri imo. also the 1963 film adaptation (the haunting) is so good

ill always appreciate a horror recommendation from one of my learned Horror Mutuals. added both!

if it changes anything, you can find the main stories of arknights and limbus company here and here respectively without downloading the game: [retcons dot github dot io slash limbus-storylogs] [akgcc dot github dot io slashcc slash story dot html hashtag main] (sorry it wont let me send links) i totally understand if u think its too much trouble, but i do think both games have very good female characters

I'm sorry... i just cant go down this road.... it's a path i'm not willing ot walk. if i was going to read the stories for a gacha game i wasn't playing i would just go read shoujo kageki revue starlight re:LIVE. which i havent been able to make myself do. so its just not gonna end up happening

have you heard of tangle tower… it’s a relatively short murder mystery click and point game about two families & their secrets. the art is gorgeous + the game is fully voiced, and the protagonist + his assistant have a dynamic that reminds me of the classic ace attorney ‘lawyer + weird girl’ duos. the majority of the cast are women, and the game features some of the Girls Of All Time. highly recommend, esp since you’re an ace attorney fan

Added to the list!

if you’re trying to flesh out the book section, i’d like to recommend three parts dead by max gladstone! admittedly it’s been a hot second since I’ve read it so i can’t speak on the quality of the writing itself, but the plot and the worldbuilding had some interesting stuff. the novel follows tara, a necromancer in a world where doing magic is more akin to being a lawyer, who’s hired to resurrect a god. the book is the first in a series, and the books that follow have some other interesting female protagonists + canonical queer women if you enjoy it o7

Sounds neat! Added to the list

ok i still have some more from back in fucking April that i didnt manage to get to. but im getting distracted now

[narzissenkreuz-ordo]

1, 9, 12, 16, 17, 21?

1. the character everyone gets wrong

i've answered this one already but gonna double down on dan heng/dan feng (their relation cannot be defined as black and white as fandom wants it to be) & neuvillette (he's not a uwu cry baby who doesn't know what sex is)

9. worst part of canon

[puts on my clown shoes] the high cloud quintet......... and also the fact that jing yuan literally has no reason to be in the story as is. they did not utilize his character at ALL when they could have easier done some cool things with him, but it all fell flat in the end and it sucks since he was the character i got into hsr for (im a big fan of his eng VA and only started playing bc of him)

and for genshin. they nerfed dottore with sexy anime ass plague doctor aesthetic. its just so boring and predictable. RIP webttore you should have survived the dottore segment hunger games not omega :/

12. the unpopular character(s) that you actually like and why more people should like them

the entire narzissenkreuz cast.... like genuinely one of the coolest and most tragic group of characters from more recent in game history that is fully expanded on in world quests. it a great self contained story told over 3 patches and offers neat context to the events of the fontaine archon quests but more specifically.... rene de petrichor i love you and youre unhinged culty academic shenanigans

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

im sorry but fanon haikaveh (its annoying & reduces their characters down to just a tropey ship) and jingheng (its boring) and i understand why people like neuvifuri and its neat they can be read as so many different relationship dynamics but i very much dislike it in a romantic sense.

i hate the weird sexualization of wriothesley being a prison warden x prisoner! reader, canon character, oc etc

but as for general tropes i think friends to lovers is boring and a snooze fest on its own. wheres the drama....the conflict.... the compelling plot. and i think high school aus are cringe in general. especially from either adult writers or characters who are already adults in canon

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

like in general? im sick of seeing so much rendered/soft shaded 'anime-esque' fanart being the most appreciated in fandom spaces. not to say these folks aren't talented they ARE but it feels like their type of work is the only stuff being praised and lifted in communities i personally would REALLY love to see more graphic and exaggerated cartoon work because i feel like there can so much personality put into pieces like than rather than just pure skill and technique in more rendered/painted styles of work

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

i really don't have any interested in the traveler as a character. i understand Why they exist but id have just as much if not more fun if they didn't have a story arc of their own........ the abyss twin being connected to khaehnri'ah and the abyss order is more interesting than the traveler's entire journey

[vacayisland]

HIII! YOURE LIKE MY INSPIRATION I HAVE LIKE A QUESTION SOO,,im having trouble writing a fanfic

do you plan out your stories beforehand?

(because personally when i write i would want to add a bunch of things and ended up dragging the whole story)

i did try to make a plan but i keep changing it because if i added something, i will want to change the whole thing. and it will get me nowhere (i hope it makes sense)

I LOVEE YOUR WORK THEYRE AMAZING 💕💕

Okay I totally gets this, because this happens to me with longer fanfictions! It's a real struggle for many writers I've talked to, so you're actually not alone in this. But for starters, for my one-shots or "head-cannon" like stories I don't really plan them out. I have a vague idea of where I want to go and just kind of follow the flow with most things. But that's how I do it, and I know not many people are like that. I have a friend who needs to plan everything out, reread their stories thrice and then change things they don't like. Which is totally fine! Remember writing is a creative art, it's meant to represent the person who is typing the words just as art is meant to represent the person drawing it.

So, going into planning works gets a bit more complex because it means you might actually have to stick to a vague plot. I'm going to try and explain this through the rough idea that I have going for the Mafia! Trolls au that I've scrapped up. You'll want to start with a basic idea first. You cannot get anywhere without a starting idea to bounce off of! (and this does not mean this has to be your story through and through, this is just a starting idea. It can be changed. But too much change might mean you'll be writing a different story than what you started with so be weary of that.)

Example: Brozone Mafia au where the reader gets sold to Brozone.

A one sentence starting idea is your baseline. From there, depending on how long your fanfic is you'll go between two options.

Shorter fic: what is the plot that I want to do? Longer fic: How can I make this fit into the already established world and/or how do I make it fit?

For shorter fics, you don't need as much world building as longer fics. This is because they're meant to be little chunks of your writing; think of it like a snack instead of a full meal or maybe a sampler. Shorter fics are meant to be digested in relatively one sitting, they're meant to be sweet and fulling but not stuffing. As such, that'll severely hurt how much you want to put into a fic! Personally, I do an average 2-5 scenes for a short fanfiction. And for those, if you really need to structure and limit yourself, pick the top 2-5 things you want and/or need to put into the short fic. Remember, not everything has to be used, the more you store for later fics the better! Because one day you're going to run out of ideas and wish you didn't shove them all into one fic when you could have expanded it out between multiple. Furthermore, I don't know if this will help but to stop myself from dragging on I remember one rule:

If you get bored writing and reading your own writing other people will get to!

Literally, if you're sitting there bored out of your mind writing something because it keeps dragging and dragging and dragging very few people will want to read it. And it's not because your writing is bad it's just boring because scene A keeps dragging when scene B should have started and there is a lot of dead space between actions of dialogue. Remember you can achieve the allusion of time passing with words instead of writing full paragraphs detailing everything a character is doing. Furthermore, you can also achieve the same illusion of background characters doing things without fully describing what they're doing! If it's not important don't spend more than three sentences on an action!

In example, say Branch is doing bunker up-keep in the background and Poppy is trying to talk to him. Would you rather read: Option A "Branch come on!" Poppy exclaimed towards Branch, standing in the center of his bunker tapping her foot. watching as he climbed his later to grab his ration jars. He was doing his daily bunker upkeep, counting out his food and tallying his water all the while Poppy kept pestering him. or Option B "Branch come on!" Poppy exclaimed towards Branch, standing in the center of his bunker tapping her foot. Branch was scaling up his latter to grab jars of peanuts, nuts, berries, and anything else he had managed to scavenge from the wilderness; Bringing them back down to pour on the table as he began to slowly count each nut. Poppy was less then amused watching this, hearing Branch's slow counting as he went from one to two to three to four.

That might have been a poor example because I'm not in my writing mode, but it serves its purpose. Most readers know what Branch is like, furthermore what his rations is and how he's about them! So option A gives off the same idea as option B in fewer words and it lets the reader to visualize it a little more in their own way. Which also goes into knowing your audiences. If you're writing fanfictions you're writing to a specific audience who knows your media! In which, you don't have to describe as much as you would for a story you've just made up. Readers know what Branch's bunker looks like, what Pop village looks like, who characters are and what they look like. You can describe them, always, but don't go full out and be like:

Branch is a grey toll who stood a little higher than me. His dark-grey hair stood up in and... etc.

Know your audience, only describe what is needed. Such as facial expressions, differing clothing or hair that a character has in your story than cannon, if someone is losing or gaining their colors, and honestly anything important. I'll say this again, a good way to kill a story is to get bogged down in the unimportant factors.

Backgrounds and scenes are important! Setting a tone and mood are important! Setting a place for your readers to visualize is important!

But they're not more important than your plot. Do not spend 1/4 of your story describing a village that people know. Do not spend 4+ sentences describing what background characters that are adding nothing to plot are doing. Do not spend your effort writing something the readers will forget by the end, spend your efforts on other things! Of course, there is no defendant rule to how everything should go and how everything should be. There is no oh, this should be x sentences or x paragraphs. Writing is an art, it's meant to be free styled, to the most part, and a lot of this is decided upon the writing and their style. As such, you can push the boundaries of things, you can describe some things more in detail and some not at all. The most powerful tool you have is honestly your imagination and that's all you need to start writing. But here is just a few things I believe personally kills stories and I try avoiding, if you want to reference them:

1) Describing what villager B is doing for a whole paragraph or more. 2) Handling too much and doing way too much. Let there be one major plot point over arching the story and not several that keep stacking upon each other. It will confuse the reader. 3) dragging out plot points. 4) Unnatural reactions or speech 5) Plot holes or unexplained plots later in the story.

And that's honestly just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Personally, I've only been writing since 2018-2019, so I have a little experience but sure not a tone. Much like art and theatre, or anything else creative, writing takes times and practice and effort to make good. Listen to your gut more, let yourself just write. Soon you'll find some sort of balance between everything that'll make it work. Because trust me, my first stories were all over the place and those will forever remain locked in the wattpad vault. Also, much like art, don't be afraid to get inspired by other people's writing styles. Identify what you like about them, wording choices, transitions, flow, etc. and try using it with your style! It's a lot of experimenting, a lot of revising, and honestly (for me) a lot of turning off my mind and just writing.

For bigger stories, it's a lot more complex. It takes more effort to plan everything out before you can actually begin writing and that's honestly a whole separate post upon itself. Since oneshots are snippets and not full stories they don't follow the natural flow of stories, they don't have those extremes ups and downs, they're kind of always dissected straight from the middle of a story, a don't have a true ending or beginning. So with longer stories you need to spend time actually plotting it out, trying to figure out how it'll go and get a good plot going with some sub plots to make the story feel alive. That requires a lot of different little traits such as world building, character building, and understanding troupes, and growth, and plot. Longer stories are always going to be harder because it encompasses so much more and it's harder not to go off once you set a plot down for it. Because unlike oneshots they're a continuous story being told in different snippets called chapters and those chapters are different parts of a full meal. If you choose option A, which is like potato, and you throw in option B mid way, which is like brownies, they won't mash and just taste and read awful together. So you have to plan it much more than oneshots.

But honestly writing is supposed to be fun, even if it takes a lot of time and a lot of practicing to do so. So please do not stress yourself over it, things can be changes and things can and can't be helped. Just keep writing and find your flow, it'll come and you'll impress yourself will all the things you do.

Writing is an art, I will say this over and over. And like any art it takes practice, patience, referencing, and time to develop. It doesn't just grow off trees and while some people might have some natural talent they still need to practice and develop it like everyone else. It's okay to be burnt out, take a break. It's okay to not have the perfect story, it's practice. It's okay to not like a work, you're not always going to. It's okay to write something you're not going to publish, it's your decision. It's okay not to write everyday, you need breaks. It's okay to take writing at your own pace and time. It's okay to get through things fast or slow. It's okay to do whatever you need to do to write in a way that makes you happy, in a way that makes you want to pick up a pen or a keyboard or laptop and write what's in your head.

But it's never okay to give up. You can take breaks, pause from writing for however long you might need. But never give up.

[woozisguitar]

Another day, another block for writers who tag every member on their single member centric fic for NO REASON other attempting to gain views when no one wants the search feeds of other members clogged with stories not about them… 😔

woah my first anon hate but sure PLEASE feel free to block me :)

but because this is technically an 'ask' let me respond to it accordingly! I tagged all the members on the SIXTH chapter of glitch (9th if you consider the prologue and profiles) and with a pretty valid reason too. glitch gets an average of 50-60 interactions by the time we hit the 48 hours mark (that's an average of 15-25 when we hit the 24 hours mark ) and I decided to change the tags and give it a shot to see if there's any change (see: trail and error method). I AM an ot13 blog after all and not just dedicated to one member. Plus you can check all the other parts of glitch, they've all been tagged for ONE member. (I'll even add a screenshot from my word file with the tags). Now idk where or what or rather HOW i've clogged the tags of other members when almost all tags have pictures of every other member.

as for gaining views, I think its valid enough when a fanfic writer wants people to read their fics. most of us spend a lot of time plotting, planning and writing fics (some of us even have full time jobs) but we do this because we simply enjoy this art and sharing it with others. and when the same fic writer who spends DAYS writing a fic gets maybe 30 likes, its a little heartbreaking. and im pretty sure if you ask anyone on this app they will agree that some fics of some members get more traction as compared to others (which is completely fine! everyone has their own taste and preferences). also, reach on Tumblr is based on tags; this is not an archive like AO3.

also! I use the 'keep reading' cut thing for glitch so you may have seen maybe 4-5 lines before the story even starts AND again it was chapter six so if you WERE curious who its about you could've checked the masterlist or scrolled past it but no you decided to come on my blog and hide behind the anon button to send me that :)

anyways, these are the tags that I usually use for glitch. you can find them on the other chapters as well

PS: I had anyways planned on updating the tags for chapter 6 once I hit the 48 hours mark so I could get solid comparative data for my fics. but instead I got this in less than 24 hours from uploading :)

[youngestdaughtersyndrome]

tagged by @lesbianwillbond to do this book tag game mwah <3

book that pleasantly surprised you: the big archive by sven spiekler!!! although i love nonfiction im typically only mildly intrigued by it in the sense that i read it and enjoy but im not like. totally enthralled by it but! this is a fascinating book on art and bureaucracy and like the contingencies and fascination that we have the the linear progression of time. wouldnt say its for everyone bc it would make like half the ppl i know want to bash their heads in lol but it definitely scratched an itch in my brain

book that disappointed you: you guys might hate me for this but a little life by hanya yanagihara .... i feel like its kind of overhyped.... i went into it expecting like soul crushing prose and it was well written but i felt like it relied a little bit too much on the readers emotional reaction rather than the actual plot and thematic devices if that makes sense??? i definitely enjoyed it but it wasnt what people said itd be really which was kinda disappointing lol

current read: east of eden by john steinbeck!!! illa and april got me intrigued and then i started reading it and the relationships and how the plot unfolds itself is (so far) VERY delicious to me. love it when theres a well written sibling dynamic love it when theres a woman whos a little bit evil .... im just having fun over here

top two books on your tbr: brideshead revisited by evelyn waugh and cain by josé saramago are next on my list i think but honestly who knows ..... im a chronic starts books that i never finish guy so i should probably focus on finishing some of the ones ive already started lol

rec a book to the person who tagged you: im not sure how into fantasy you are but equal rites but terry pratchett is suuuuch a fun book.... its a childrens book (im pretty sure) so its not like super complex or whatever but its got beautiful world building and esk is genuinely so real. also think you could enjoy the piano teacher by elfriede jelinek its very psychosexual but i could see you enjoying it

tagging @alpacinolover @corpsecoded @woundthatswallows @lesbianjudasiscariot @kommunarde and anyone who wants to!!!

[verdantglow]

so is it safe to assume that you're going to be going through each of the seasons chronologically then? and exploring how each of their relationships form and change over time? or are you going to pick a set point that is the "current" times and make references back to older series and stunts?

also out of curiousity, whos pov(s) do you watch? im always interested in learning this stuff

also also i think seer of void is perfect for Sc(h)ott and i think heir of rage works really well for Joel. im trying so hard to think of any other classes that would work for him and im just... coming up short. maybe page? because i can see him inciting rage in others and growing stronger as time passes with it. but i dunno. youve thrown me back into my homestuck phase that i thought i had gotten out of years ago and thus have forgotten too much :')

So that’s a bit of tricky question. The campaigns happen in the chronological order of the seasons, but I honestly haven’t settled on what is ‘now.’ Tbh, I’m kinda treating this AU as a playground for all my crossover relevant headcanons & plot bunnies. I’m not planning on making one cohesive fic for this AU. My hope is to do an assortment of art, comics, & fics (& maybe animations?; gods I’d love to do mini animations/“flashes” for this & would like to try to, if I can get my brain to sit still long enough). Each piece will be a different chunk of the story, a significant event or plot line that I feel like examining, rather than there being a linear story. Kinda like a selection of vignettes rather than a novel.

Granted, I’m not married to this idea yet. It’d be a nice way to do things in that it’d allow me to follow my inspirations rather than be stuck in a timeline. But at the same time, I’m not sure how that’ll read/look. I might just start at Secret Life or after Secret Life & do everything else as flashbacks. But it’ll definitely be around the Secret Life time if I do decide to do some linearity because Gem is bae & I desperately need her at least somewhat prominent. (& she joins up with the others between sometime before Limited Life & before Secret Life. Haven’t nailed that quite down either, but she wasn’t part of the group from the get go, like the others. (Everyone was somehow linked to each other from before/around the 3rd Life campaign, even if they didn’t join the VLARP until Last Life.))

Tbh, I haven’t comprehensively watched most of the Traffic seasons. I started watching mcyt when Limited Life was happening, but couldn’t maintain focus at the time. (Probably because I was watching Grian’s viewpoint of EVERY SINGLE SEASON AT THE SAME TIME, dear god what is wrong with me lol.) So until recently, I’d only seen the first half of all of Grian’s seasons. I finally finished his 3rd Life the other day (in one sitting mind you; wild experience) as well as Martyn’s 3rd Life.

When Secret Life rolled around, I was more invested & wound up watching Grian, Mumbo, Gem, Joel, Scar, Lizzie, Martyn, Jimmy, & some of Etho & Cleo.

Right now I’ve got Jimmy & Tango’s 3rd Life, Joel’s Last Life, & Etho’s Double Life going on a rotation. I think that’s all I’m currently watching? I’m kinda crawling through those as I’ve got an absolutely massive list of Hermits I’m watching at the moment. Other POVs I’ve got earmarked for watching at some point: Impulse 3L, Lizzie, Martyn, & Pearl LL, Joel, BigB, & Pearl DL, & I haven’t even started figuring out who I’m gonna watch for LimL.

I’m so flattered this AU is getting you back to Homestuck! You know, I hadn’t seriously thought about it in… six? seven? years, until I had the thought that Scar & Grian made sense as fucked up moirails & I suddenly had an AU to be fascinated by lol. Like. I haven’t even been observing the high holidays for a few years, & now I’m doing in depth research on Lore so I can work on this AU. Funny how life works that way, a new special interest resurrecting an old one.

[fantasycorrupted-a]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN!!

TAGGED BY: @heartxshaped-bruises (thank you!! &lt;3) TAGGING: see this? wanna do it? steal it from me!

NAME? Ani

PRONOUNS? she/her

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION? Tumblr IMs or Discord

MOST ACTIVE MUSE? I like to think my inspiration for characters is balanced; right now I'm writing a novella about Jareth and Rita for fun but oddly enough Fíann has also become a character I can summon fast. Also, Kamael, Luceus and Stefan.

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS? 9-10 years at this point. I started writing my OCs in rp about 5 years ago and before that I did this for some manga/anime characters I love.

BEST EXPERIENCE? I can't name a single one. I love plotting, I love threads that take turns and involve a bit of conflict (just a bit though) and I love sending stuff to people that reminds me of their characters - the experience in itself is awesome.

RP PET PEEVES? I'll be honest, I thought about this way harder than I probably should've. I don't have many. Extremely long posts to scroll past was definitely one, though they did implement a click to read more to shorten that so it's fine now. Also, agreeing with the mutual who tagged me, the 'reblog from source' thing. A lot of times I have no idea what I'd send sb if they reblog an rp/ask meme from me but folks are free to reblog memes from me. I don't mind!

FLUFF, ANGST OR SMUT? Angst, for sure. And fluff. Smut gets the bronze.

PLOTS OR MEMES? Memes are cool and they've given me great ideas but I gotta say plotting. RP is like a collab story to me, and for that plotting is needed.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES? I've tried writing long replies; it always ends up draining me. I don't like being verbose, you see. Short replies are... well, too short. Even though I'm trying to learn how to be succinct, short replies don't give me enough inspiration/stuff to work with/a kick/what say you. So I'd rather say, medium replies. Not too long, not too short, the best of both worlds.

TIME TO WRITE? Ideally late morning and noon, but if that can't happen I can make it work anytime. Who needs sleep amirite

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES? Yes and no. A little bit. I've given a lot of them (like Fíann, Rigmor, Kieran) experiences similar to mine, and our music/art tastes would probably align, but that's it. Even Rigmor, whose story is very personal and describes a somewhat bad time I had at some point in life, is still her own character. Even Fíann, although recently I realised how alike we are, is her own character. And even Savash, who supposedly got inspired by me (she, Rigmor and Arvid used to be siblings in the very first iteration of Rigmor's story, but things changed since), is her own character. If they were too much like me it would be boring. I'm writing urban fantasy, not an autobiography after all!

[archaictold]

PERMANENT PLOTTER.

wowie, it has been a hot minute since i've done one of these!!! seeing as i've gotten into the groove with zhilan here in isola, i think it's about time i cast my reel into the pond and start developing some long-term plots for him. i'll preface this by saying we do not need to have threaded before for you to express your interest! if you think your muse can vibe with any of these  ( or even if you have an idea i haven't covered here! ) , you're more than welcome to hop onto this plotter call. 'what does this do, exactly?' you might be asking. i'll tell you! by liking this, you can guarantee:

me hopping into your IMs to plot!

memes for meme day!

spontaneous starters! ( with your permission, of course! )

… and all things good for development! now! onto the real meat of this post!

RELATIONSHIPS. these are the bonds i want to see zhilan develop! some of these include—— FRIENDS. if you've been around zhilan for longer than 5 seconds, you've probably noticed that he is extremely friendly! zhilan has the personality of a sunbeam: it's bright, it's cheerful, it's warm and everything you would expect of a walking beacon of positivity. he's pretty talkative, even when faced with less talkative muses. he's also really trusting and believes the best in people, sometimes to his own detriment. he'd make a good friend to just about anyone, being a rather personable individual! plus, i think he ought to make some friends! the guy's kind of a hermit when it comes to his work. GEEK SQUAD. do you have a muse that's also super nerdy? you're in luck! they probably stand a chance of coming across zhilan in his natural element, that being his lab at the university or one of the libraries scattered about spirale. there is no greater joy to him than positing theories and discussing the nature of one's work. even if their fields differ, he'll want to hear all about it! ENEMIES. now, i feel like it's hard to get under zhilan's skin unless you're the absolute anarchy of humanity, BUT! i do think his optimism can rub people the wrong way, especially if they're more jaded. i'm not expressly looking for people to antagonize zhilan, but i do think it's impossible for him to get along with everyone. thus, i'm leaving this here! SPARRING PARTNERS. you wouldn't know it from zhilan's scrawny stature, but he does dabble a bit in martial arts! now that he's gotten his polearm back, he's actively looking to improve his combat skills… which are admittedly not that impressive, unless he's acting as a support. maybe your muse could act as a mentor, or even a fellow peer! THE MUSEUM. zhilan plans to take up a job position here! it's… kind of an odd choice, yes, but he doesn't exactly want to pursue an academic position at the university. so where better to put that treasure trove of knowledge to use than a museum! if you're visiting for any reason, you'll likely come across him among the gallery. just, er… not the abyssal gallery. he tends to keep out of there. YESTERYEAR. zhilan frequents this branch rather often, being to sort to gravitate to old dilapidated ruins and forgotten history. if you know a thing or two about this branch, he'll be incredibly interested to hear about it! who knows! maybe the two of you can explore it together… CASTMATES. zhilan might be a fandom oc, but i'm really keen on the idea of him developing some established bonds with his canon counterparts.  ;v;  their shared canon background already gives them a good basis for interactions, so i'd like to nurture some connections for him with his genshin fellows! aaaand that’s about it! of course this doesn’t cover everything, so if you’ve got an idea and you don’t see it here you’re free to hop on this post and shoot it my way! thanks for reading!  :^)

[spearohero]

what are some of your favorite stories! yours, other people's, small, big, etc! that's probably a big thing to think about so if you want something specific ummm recommend me a writer or three!

man!!! okay excellent question. i think ill still do three but ill talk about different things with each one; bear in mind that this is like, off the top of my head, so its not Definitive (ill try to sneak em in as honorable mentions but even stuff with a huge impact on me is gonna be harder to think of/talk about if it was like ten years ago, yknow?)

oh, and if you want to read my stories, you can see those here =3c

Kill Six Billion Demons

this one probably has to be The Bar for quality in my mind, at least at the moment.

82 White Chain Born In Emptiness Returns To Subdue Evil (yes, full name) has maybe one of the most compelling character arcs i've ever read;

the art is stunning, and the worldbuilding incredibly thorough (in a way that makes the history of the world feel dynamic and relevant, rather than just being tons of lore to sift through);

the fights whip ass and the logic of the cool shit that the characters do is directly tied to the underlying view the story has about Power™, which directly influenced my thought process for a lot of the plot details of "Dawnsister";

and, sort of related to the two previous points, the entire thing is just so fucking coherent, thematically speaking. all the side stories and bits of hover text, all the bits of commentary and passages from fictional manuscripts in the image descriptions, weave together and do some really good allegorical storytelling for the messages Abaddon wants to send (and to underline/counterpoint whats happening in the comic itself), and the details tend to come back later to be relevant in a big way

its just. high marks on literally every metric i can think of. this is the kind of "every line (both kinds) is crammed with intent and nothing is wasted" stuff i wanna do with my writing

(honorable mention for this category: Everything Everywhere All At Once, for sheer quality of writing and similar levels of "god they planned this from the fucking start". one of the only films to make me cry)

Homestuck (im not linking it we all know this one)

i have less to say about this, but i think its one of the stories that's had the biggest stylistic impact on my writing. i was kind of doing it even before reading homestuck but it SUPER cemented it: the 2nd-person voice and the fuckery where a character's thoughts, the narrator's description of a scene, and instructions from the audience/in-universe sources of Brain Interference all blend together is something i keep coming back to in both 3rd-person limited perspective AND 2nd-person (typically transformation-related) work

it also takes all the "using every possible avenue for Additional Storytelling" thing that i was describing about KSBD and ratchets it the fuck up. like this comic is repeatedly the benchmark for "what kind of weird, media-mixing, format-breaking shit can i do with comic panels and text rendering", even if i dont plan to dabble in webpage shenanigans like Hussie did

(i cant think of an honorable mention here, but i liked the way Tyranny presented lore and history to you in hyperlinks in the text, so that you could just HAVE background information your character would have instead of having to Do Exposition. also check out Vast Error if you liked the shit homestuck was doing with multimedia storytelling)

Ascension: Tales of Twin Tails

this one is just one of my favorites. out of this list its for sure been the most impactful on me personally, in like an identity sense at least. this shit transed my gender and othered my kin. its one of the only OTHER pieces of media to ever make me teary-eyed. its about being transgender extremely literally but also in some really creative And Also Extremely Dope ways

the fight scenes are about as grand in scope as the ones in KSBD, and the way that magic works in the setting is just about as thematically-strong (and also offer lots of room for insight about the characters, as well as self-reflection for the reader to have fun with).

the relationships are really, really well-done, and there are scenes that stick with me two years later as just strikingly and stunningly tender and intimate and vulnerable; the characters are just as strong (Coyotl is like, Top Three with White Chain, and if you know anything about me at all you know that Cat Kitten became my entire identity for months after reading it)

read it please read it i will evangelize this novel until the end of time

(honorable mention as far as having an effect on Me As A Person is probably like..... Night in the Woods; super super natural dialogue, lots of compelling relationship turmoil and hit some fears that were Extremely Relevant to me at the time of my life that i played it)

ty for asking btw!! i hope you get around to enjoying one of these =^w^=

[nobodycallsmerae]

First of all, big fan of your blog and your vibe! 🤎 I really don't want to be a hater but I feel like gabriel's art is deteriorating with every graphic novel smh. I'm usually a big fan of his art but i feel like graphic novel is just not living up to it. And the Robin graphic novels was just 📉📉📉 what were your thoughts on robin's story? I just wish I hadn't read it 🤡 I'm sorry for the rant but i just needed to vent and you just seemed like someone kind with whom I could share this with ☺️❤

i think that one of the major reasons for you to be feeling that way is because i feel like the vibrant and dynamic colours in gabriel picolo's works is what makes his art stand out, and so the muted colour scheme of the graphic novels don't seem "as good as" his other artworks. but another thing that you should keep in mind is that working on a personal project is VERY different than working on a comic/gn that is going to be published (in any form).

so like if an artist starts a project today, it doesn't matter when they'll finish it. they can take as much time as they want for the colouring, rendering, whatever and work at their own pace and so whatever they want. but when you're working on projects like this, you have certain guidelines, deadlines and the artist is not doing it just for his audience but for a bigger range of people; the fact that as far as i know ofc the artist also has to live up to and deliver what the author and other people on board want.

and fun fact, picolo was not alone in this project, working alongside artists jon sommariva and emma kubert and the colourist david calderon. (i added this cuz i feel like these people are not talked about much but they also contribute to the work and more people need to know and appreciate them.)

as a learning artist myself, i appreciate art in every form and for me, personally, picolo SLAYS every time.

now, about the robin graphic novel. sigh. (this is all spoiler free btw)

okay for once, i want to give my honest opinion on this. i genuinely enjoyed the first two books in the series. i won't say it was the best interpretation of their story, but it was one of my favourites, and i vibed with the characters and like i said, the art style was GIVING so i enjoyed it very much. and then with bblr, i was kind of thinking, like, hold up, this is okay? 

don't get me wrong; i am forever grateful that bbrae was finally getting the attention it deserved but judging from the previous books, i thought we would get a re-imagined origin story for every titan and i was looking forward to it before they have any sort of meet up. but then ngl i was like who tf even cares, we're getting bbrae and that's all that matters. and when that book released, i was ecstatic. i loved their dynamic, and their chemistry and ate up their interactions (esp the last scene in the lab or whatever thing, that was very heartwarming 🥺)

but when i thought about it, i wasn't as satisfied with the story as i was with the ship. (idek if i'm even making sense at this point)

long story short, after reading robin, i came to the realisation that kami garcia's writing is not for me and i've just been in denial about it for so long 😭

i'm def not saying that she's a bad writer, it's just that i'm not a fan and i don't vibe with her writing (this has me thinking about the whole empath/telepath mix-up fiasco from tt:raven 😭✋)

for robin, i understood that the plot had to continue, but i feel like with robin, we had a lot of potential for a good origin story for damian or dick or even both of them together (let's take a break to appreciate how hot dick is in picolo's art style 🥵👌 okay sorry let's continue) i just feel like we were robbed of a good potential story 😮‍💨 (also random but idk how i feel about damian and max's ship cuz like ajsjsjajahdhs 😬) 

i feel like, for the future books, it's going to be more of a "teen titans" story, rather than a "[insert character name]'s" story. im not saying that's a bad thing, but it's just that the name/cover might  be misleading for someone out of the loop (and also that i wanted sick origin stories for the other titans but that seemed more of a "me" problem so i'll just shut up with that 😭)

but even so, I'm still gonna read and cherish these novels because of picolo's art, the AMAZING bbrae crumbs (finally they're not crumbs but actual bread pieces im so happy 😭😭) and at the end of the day, what matters is that it's the teen titans that i care about and i would eat up any good content on them.

also ahhh thank you sm! and yeah, always feel free to rant, i'm more than happy to respond to your thoughts 🥺💗💗

[cartoonishvendor]

Evil, evil, evil!!! You are EVIL and indeed a SUCCESSFUL bastard for hanging me off of this cliff like laundry. Having said that it is IMPERATIVE you provide me with more Long After Starclan lore.

anon your verbosity never ceases to amaze me!! alright then, what you wish for you shall receive!! well start right back where we left off, in Maggotblood's story!! if any of you haven't read the first post, maybe you should, because there'll be barely any recap here!!

as always, details are subject to change, especially in this section since the whole plot following is still a bit sponge-y (i don't care that it's not sponge-y in english)

(also... ask to tag? lots of dark stuff and im not sure what to tag it as)

well then, let's-a-go!!

so last time, Maggotblood received her medicina cat name and assumed her new, full position in ShadowClan. though she is still shaken a bit by her dream for a few days afterwards, her return to ShadowClan marks the first time she's felt... respected by the general clan population. sure, there were still cats who strongly disliked her (Hawthorn, for instance), and cats she was closer with (Misty, and of course Giantcloud), but overall it seemed the clan finallysaw her as an equal. at that point, however, Maggotblood was jsut already kinda done with their bullshit though and didn't bother befriend anybody she wasn't already on good terms with. she developped a tendency for impatience, especially with cats who hadn't respected her prior, but she was also plagued by quite the insecurities. being so reliant on Giantcloud, her surrogate father, she didn't really believe she could do this job by herself should it ever come down to it in the future.

well. turns out that future would come sooner rather than later. one day, about a year after Maggotblood received her new name, a patrol of cats from ThunderClan stepped into ShadowClan camp and respectfully bowed their heads. Oh, LAS ThunderClan... i scratched the surface of clan differences in my last post ever so slightly, and ThunderClan is definitely... interesting, in this regard. By a lot of means, LAS ThunderClan is similar to it's canonical counterpart, though not in the best of ways. Stereotypically, ThunderClan cats here are obsessed with legacy and bloodlines, they're practically living in their own monarchy with their current leader, Leaves, stemming from a longer line of leaders and leader's relatives. They tend to be very proud (though that could be said about all LAS Clans) and hate asking for help fro mthe outside, sometimes outright refusing it. making it all the more surprising to see them here, like this. asking for help.

their request is simple: their elderly medicine cat has passed away and the clan's apprentice, Wren, is short of becoming a full medicine cat himself, but too short to just up and go to the Moon's Deep himself and get his name. ThunderClan's request to ShadowClan is that Giantcloud, their medicine cat, stays in the ThunderClan camp for a few moons to finish Wren's training. now, the majority of ShadowClan cats present did not thinkly highly of ThunderClan, and that went both ways. it wasn't too logn ago that ThunderClan was at war with SkyClan, with ShadowClan supporting their direct neighbours who were outnumbered against ThunderClan. cats on both sides lost their lives and overall even after it was over the cats were still bitter, so a lot of cats did not want to help them, including the newly appointed deputy Hawthorn. the ShadowClan leader Grebe, however, decided to think it over.

lookie here's Grebe you may have seen her on art fight.

she's pretty young herself but barely anybody i nthe clan ever doubted her abilities as a leader, so theres little backlash remaining in camp after she decided to allow Giantcloud to temporarily move to ThunderClan camp. one of the cats who do revolt, however, is Maggotblood. she didn't want Giantcloud to leave, there was no way she could take care of the clan without him!! if he wasn't here, who'd tell her when she mixed up herbs by accident? who'd help her if she started doubting her abilities as a medicine cat like he had? who could she rely on if he wasn't there? Grebe was confident though, that Maggotblood vould do the job well. so on the same evening, Giantcloud shared a heartfelt goodbye with his former apprentice and promised to be back soon.

during that short period of time after Giantcloud left, Maggotblood already got thrown into the ful stress of managing the medicine den by herself. Larch, a queen of ShadowClan, was due to give birth and now Maggotblood had to assist in bringing her kittens into this world. it was complicated, but ultimately went over fine. or at least so they thought, more on that later.

it felt so much longer, so much more tiring than it should be, to have to be without the cat she trusts most, but finally, during the half moon, Wren received his full medicine cat name, Nettlewren. having hoped she could be there to meet up with Giantcloud, Maggotblood was a little sad when she couldn't be, as she was stuck caring for a cat with an acute infection. but, she told herself, it mattered little. after all, the next morning Giantcloud would be right here again, in the ShadowClan medicine den with her, and everything would be fine again. right?

well. fate loves to play with the unfortunate.

the next morning, Maggotblood was greeted with a traise of pawsteps and the distinct stench of ThunderClan. however, instead of her mentor's big, black pelt and kind eyes, a patrol of warriors rushed into camp, erratic, shaken up and eyes wide from shock. they were there to bring news of a body they discovered in their territory. Giantcloud's body. they all rush to the scene and in that moment, Maggotblood's world shatters completely. her mentor, her father, laid there with wounds so gruesome, his eyes open in shock, bit his body so, so cold. nobody's voice was getting through to Maggotblood. she cried and wailed out into the forest, cowered there with him and pressing her snout into his cold fur. she wouldn't leave his side, not once, not even as the cats of ShadowClan carried Giantcloud back home. he laid in the clearing, stiff, and Maggotblood didn't want to believe it, yet here he was, dead, right in front of her.

as is tradition, the elders prepared Giantcloud for the burial and dug his grave. around this time, Oriole walks into camp and gasps at the sight, a piece of fresh kill falling from her mouth. Oriole was a bit of an odd one out in ShadowClan, she is a former rogue who sought shelter in the abandoned twolegnest in ShadowClan territory (the one that is seemingly not-abandoned in canon). it was Giantcloud and Maggotblood, then Jasmin, who found her there while looking for catmint. and it was especially Giantcloud who convinced her to join the clan, as well as convinced his clanmates to let her join. though hard to convince, the clan learned of her abilities soon: photographic memory. these days, Oriole still lived at that nest instead of camp, and only had Grebe's brother Wryneck as a close friend, but she was still very friendly with Giantcloud who made it possible for her to say, making her very heartbroken at this sight. but before the elders began their procedure on Giantcloud's body, she noticed something.

she was the first to say it: those wounds look like they were from a cat. not a fox, or a badger, or even a dog. a cat. others carefully snuck closer to his body as Oriole explained her reasoning. silence followed. no more talking until the ceremony was over. at last, Giantcloud was put to rest in the ground. LAS ShadowClan cats don't hold lovely remarks at funerals. among other things, the cats present must not speak until after the sun had set or risen, depending on when the burial took place.

the last ray of sun had vanished and immediately, an uproar. a cat angrily growled at Oriole for her remarks. another joins in, loudly voicing their suspicion that it was Oriole who killed Giantcloud. Wryneck steps in. the usually quiet and introverted warrior lashes out, claiming him and Oriole both spent the night at the twolegnest together. suddenly he gets accused as well. chaos breaks loose, cats are snarling, mumbling, then yelling, about rogues and strays. Grebe is just about to step in as somebody else already does: Misty.

you may remember Misty from before. the only friend of Maggotblood's who was not a medicine cat, basically. known each other since Maggotblood was just a kit. during the whole rest of the day, Maggotblood had felt horrible. numb. she was glad nobody could talk to her, and nobody could get hurt and require her treatment, since most activities were cut shirt to only necessary patrols. she couldn't think about Giantcloud's cause of death or who killed him, she couldn't think at all! all she could do was stare blankly and recall all the things they've done together, all the times he helped her, and... she held back her helpless wails, for the sake of silence. when the uproar began she simply stepped outside and watched with a blank expression. would Giantcloud have wanted this? her stomach turned. but as soon as Misty entered her field of vision, Maggotblood could hear her words as more than just a blend of noise. She could pay attention.

why blame each other when the real enemy was apparent: it was ThunderClan who took away Giantcloud, and it was ThunderClan's territory he was found on. Misty had never been the most outstanding among her clan peers, but now everyone listened, to her unshaken confidence shining through in her speech. and soon, the fighting clan became a rallying clan, loudly exclaiming their hatred for ThunderClan. cats claiming they should have neevr trusted them in the first place, cats demanding revenge. at last, Grebe demanded silence from her clan, reminding them to honor the deceased. she would hold a clan meeting the next day. though, despite respecting the orders, the seed of hatred was planted, and Maggotblood herself was no exception. after all, it made sense, right? but, Maggotblood being who she was, this wasn't a satisfying enough answer for her. she wasn't just gonna accept that ThunderClan killed her father. she needed a name. a cat. someone who could feel the full extent of the wrath that was rising inside her.

Maggotblood would sneak into ThunderClan territory the same night, avoiding being caught by any warriors out and about at night (one of the many quirks of living in ShadowClan), to investigate the crime scene herself. however, the were no discernible scents left, only muddles ThunderClan and ShadowClan scents to be detencted. but it was still proof it couldn't have been anything other than a fellow cat, further evidenced by the lack of any big, chaotic fight. she headed back.

far quicker than her, Maggotblood's clanmates settled back into their everyday lives. death was not a rare occurance, right? they couldn't understand what his death had meant for her, not even with the side remarks of condolences from her clanmates. Misty and her words of encouragement were the only ones she accepted, Misty knew what it was like after all, to lose one's father like this. Maggotblood, too, was forced back into reality, now assuming the position of the primary medicine cat. whenever she had free time in between treating a patient, she spent it brooding, thinking of other things she could do. other ways she could find out who killed Giantcloud. the next gathering was still far away. when Oriole showed herself around camp, still getting a few side eyes from some cats, Maggotblood, in private, pressed her about her remarks at the burial, questioning whether she remembered any scents on top of her detailed visual impression of the events. she couldn't give Maggotblood an answer, didn't recall smelling anything other than death and herbs that day, but she noted how utterly stressed the she-cat seemed.

the New Moon rolled around. ShadowClan celebrates this event by having every warrior old enough who wants to join in take a walk up the stream that separated ShadowClan and SkyClan territory. then, they would all pick one stick each from a tree or one on the ground, carve it clean with their claws until all teh bark was gone, and at moon high, they would all drop their sticks into the stream and wish for things such as strength and durability. Maggotblood wished for the strength to keep going, to find out the truth behind Giantcloud's death. soon after, it turned out she'd need that strength for a lot more.

Larch, the queen who had given birth, woke up the whole camp the next morning, screaming. Maggotblood rushed to the scene and was meet with the horrible sight of Larch's daughter, dead in her nest. any and all attempts by Maggotblood to revive her came to no avail. She couldn't understand, when she was born everything seemed fine with the kitten, and even now there was no apparent reason for her to die, and yet she was dead. Maggotblood panicked, she was shocked and Larch surely did not fare better when Maggotblood confirmed her death by unknown cause. she lashed out, screamed and snapped at Maggotblood, very loudly blaming her for the death of her kitten, for all the clan to witness. Ice, her mate, heldher back from actually attacking Maggotblood, who had been cowering there, expecting to have her life ended over this, which she viewed a failure on her part. inconsolable, both of them. the night after the kitten's funeral, Maggotblood cried herself to sleep, wishing her mentor had been here, for he had not let that kitten die.

Larch was far from keen to let her other kitten alone with Maggotblood, which she had to considering the state she was still in, but Ice did his best to calm her nerves. He had been a tad nervous himself, though for other reasons. the next day, he'd find out what path his son would take in his life. to appease Larch, Ice asked if Maggotblood could take a warrior escort with the two of them to the Moon's Deep. that escort, Larch decided, would be Hawthorn's brother Toad, who could defend the patrol from any danger (putting emphasis on it which led maggotblood to believe Larch saw her as a danger as well). the past time had been rough on the whole clan, Maggotblood especially, for reasons you can imagine. she couldn't bring herself to look forward to the Half Moon night ahead of her, the thing she had always looked forward to as an apprentice, because she got to be with her friends. too much had happened. at the very least, Toad was doing his duty without antagonizing her, though she could tell he grew uncomfortable in her presence. well, she thought, at least the little kit was nice to her. just before sunset, the three of them got going and soon arrived at the end of the sandy paths and at the Moon's Deep where nests in the pit had already been in the process of being set up.

not an unusual sight, but Toad commented on the sheer size of the carpets of moss down in the pit. a she-cat arrived at the scene, respectfully bowing her head to the patrol. as neither of the two other adults recognized her, she introduced her as Flower of WindClan (which the latter they could guess from her scent already), here to accompany Lakerunner, as well as a queen here with her four kits. Maggotblood's ears perkeed up at the mention of her friend's name. after Flower voiced her condolences to the patrol, for the news of their loss had reached WindClan too, her and Toad continued setting up the nests and settling in Larch's son, as well as the queen who soon arrived with another escort. the escort would leave again, and the queen introduced herself to Toad as Nightingale, and her four kits wind up befriending Larch's son. they share insight with each other, about beliefs and superstitions of their respective cultures. larch is especially fascinated to learn that the WindClan kittens will get to pick their names after this ceremony, and the four of them are equally astounded that the ShadowClan cats can only name themselves at 6 moons of age.

meanwhile Maggotblood had set off into the surrounding nature, soon running into Lakerunner, who had looked for more nesting material. Lakerunner too had heard the news of Giantcloud's death, saddened too, as the two of them had known each other for as long as he was an apprentice too. Maggotblood broke down at the scene, confided into Lakerunner all her feelings, and all that had happened, and Lakerunner provided her with much needed reassurance and a grounded perspective of the events that had occured. after calming down a bit, after having talked through the Larch incident, the death of Giantcloud and this incredible loss, Maggotblood talked a lot about needing to find out the truth. and while Lakerunner, at first, seemed concerned, he couldn't help but promise to support her through this journey. Her suspicion that it was a ThunderClan warrior, or even a whole ThunderClan plot seemed outrageous, and that ultimately piqued his interest. after all, once Maggotblood presented him with the details, he too wanted to find out if it really was a murder or not, because somebody like Giantcloud, who had no enemies beside disease, seems like the most unlikely target.

For now though, the two of them went back to the Moon's Deep and slept through the night. Maggotblood, for the first time in moons, feeling warm, sleeping beside her friend. Larch's son would not be the next medicine cat, it turned out. though, one of Nightingale's kittens showed a potential Lakerunner would first have to go back to camp to report to both Nightingale in private, as well as his elderly mentor Ashflight. now, with this half moon over, the next thing on the agenda would be the Gathering on the full moon.

oh my god. over twice as long as the first post and still not nearly done. i already figured id have to 3-part this but it might even be a 4-parter. sowwy!!

[devilbombers]

Claymore review

7.8/10

An extremely overlooked cult classic. It's probably the butch lesbian fantasy of all time.

For a good time for the most part I still think everyone should read it!

The Anime

this is probably the first time ive preffered watching the anime than the manga. Personally i found the beginning of the manga drawn too plain and thought the story telling was illustrated in a rather boring way and honestly i dont think the Norihiro Yagi was at the level he needed to be with choreographing fight scenes in a comprehensive way at the time and i just had to go ahead and watch the anime instead mostly because i could finally understand what was happening in scenes.

I really liked the anime however in the i am always inevitably a manga over the anime fan til the bitter end. It actually made me really angry to find out they had to drastically change a bunch of major plot elements and even make up a bunch of shit just so they could wrap up the anime in a nice way. Like i kind of understand why but it was actually such a corny and confusing ending it actually made me really angry lmao (ESPECIALLY HOW THEY REPLACED THE SCENE WITH JEAN SAVING CLARE WITH RAKI INSTEAD)

The Characters

For the most part I really liked everyone but of course I absolutely despised Raki. I do not blame anyone who couldnt bring themselves to continue or even start the series because of him because it took so much out of me to continue regardless of his almost pointless presence.

Like I kind of understand its because hes sort of supposed to expose and ground Claire's humanity but i really think it was still possible to do that without him even existing. hes kind of really a walking character device isnt he? Like im pretty sure Jean's existence was enough.

So anyways i think everyone else was really cool.

setting/genre/lore

I really dont know how to start with how much i admired everything. I really liked the legion of really cool/scary/pretty butch lesbian warriors, the concept of youma/awakened beings is so interesting and i love how horrifyingly beautiful they all are, I was super into how little i fucking knew about the organization.

In general everything is so unique and fresh I like everything about it. It pains me to no avail acknowledging that this is the only series asides from berserk thats a dark fantasy and even worse understanding both of them are technically over and its extremely maddening knowing nobody wants to draw dark fantasy manga anymore

creature design

i fucking love monsters so of course I have to discuss the unique appeal of the creature design in this series. One of the greatest things i absolutely adore from Yagis designs for the awakened beings is the stark contrast of a creature that is frightfully elegant.

I have to praise Yagi for also being the only other artist asides from Kentaro Miura whos considerate about exploring different shapes and forms for the overall silhouette of his creature designs.

Another specific aspect I greatly admire from his designs is that hes probably the first artist ive come across whos capable of mixing mostly scaled/armorlike textures on a monster while still retaining an air of tension and an organic looking design.

from my own personal art and observation from other creature designs from all sorts of artists I find it almost impossible to have these textures while retaining said elements of design because i think it gives it more of a "cool" vibe than a scary one.

Up until this point I was quite convinced its only feasible to have scales/armor-like textures on a monster if you balance it with a fleshy texture (approximately 70-80% fleshy and hard textured for the 20-30%) but Yagi truly is a genius or something because hes the only artist i know whos capable of making designs that are like 90% armor but its still somehow gives you chills.

So anyways heres a list breaking down my deepest feelings about my favorite awakened being designs:

1. The destroyer

I actually havent ever seen a monster design so grand it took my breath away. Theres too much to love about it. Out of all the awakened beings nothing radiates such a thick aura of radiance and absolute terror than this design alone.

The whole idea of two sisters lovingly trapped together to become a greater and unstoppable creature is so overwhelming it really makes me shiver with delight and terror. Ive never felt so strongly about a design before so I really think nothing else will outdo this unique sensation.

Its just so fucking cool!!!!!!! I'm obsessed with religious iconography so i really adored how it was shaped like an angel and devil at the same time. i thought it was super fascinating how it would relentlessly and indiscriminately shoot everything and everyone in its radius with pieces of itself warped into more awful abyssal creatures that could even manipulate and transform anyone it stabs itself into. its all just so coollllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!

2: Isley

i thought isley was a really weird guy and i probably hated him but i cannot deny how I think his awakened form was soooo cool. Isley is the prime example of what i was talking about with balancing textures on a monster. Super cool design i like it a lot

3: the awakened girl that showed up during ophelias first appearance

god i really wish i could properly admire her with knowing her fucking name. Quite an ephemeral appearance but she had such a unique look to her despite everything I've seen throughout the series i could never forget her. She's probably the defines the general features and theme of what awakened beings should look like. A trend setter dare i say.

4: Cassandra

VERY interesting silhouette. its not often you get to see a humanoid like body be treated like somewhat of a quadruped. Its interesting how its something vaguely erotic and terrifying at the same time. The multiple heada that snaps its jaws on anything that gets near it is a fantastic touch.

5: Riful

overall a relatively simple design but its the simple things that are always the most fascinating isnt it? I really like tangled looking monsters. Not much to say except slay honestly lmao

6: Jean

She was only in this form for such a brief moment but it was such a striking design I couldn't forget it. If find the most unforgettable things are usually the most fascinating things in turn. Such a gorgeous yet terrifying thing. I hope i dont sound like a psychopath saying this but the visible helplessness being trapped in an awful and radiant body is very beautiful to me.

7: Miata

quite a short appearance but i really liked the silhouette of her awakened form. I wish there were more panels showing more closer details of it. not much to say about this other than i think its really neat!

8: europa

literally just a ball with several spines attached to it and i could say its a bit lazy in comparison to everyone else but theres sm attention to the finer details of the spines i cant get mad at it. I know you're supposed to focus on the arms with this design but i actually like this design the most for just the face. The upside down doubled face is really interesting to me and i admire it a lot for some reason.

9: the abyssal eaters

probably one of the most terrifying creatures in the whole series and maybe somewhere up there in my hierarchy of the most scariest monsters in a manga. i LOVE LOVE LOVE the whole idea of them so much bc theyre so fucking scary!!!!!! Very simple design but i never get to see stitches ENOUGH in media (which is a huge shame because its one of my favorite features to draw with body horror) so it makes me happy that all of their faces is just stitches.

THE STORY and the series as a whole

i really wish i could say i loved everything about it but everything I loved about it in the beginning basically disipated in the end. I think the main issue lies in the fact it all started in a very simple but effective manner but yagi ended up over complicating everything by adding too much. I don't scorn Yagi at all for the almost sudden and utter collapse in quality writing because its sort of an inevitability with titles that go on for a very long time. But I still think it's important and valid to explain my fascination with it in the first place.

I really liked the overall simplicity it had with everything. The plot at the start was very simple and straightforward: a woman who gives up her humanity to avenge the death of her only family. Not a unique plot of course but it obviously was the main character herself and companions (excluding raki ofc lmao) who really makes up the story.

I really liked how Claire was never the strongest. She really appeared to be but comparatively speaking to her fellow warriors she pales immensely. And I think its that remaining humanity I really liked the most about Claire. I REALLY liked how cohesive her group was and I was so impressed with the storytelling and character building in the beginning because at the time I thought this was the only other series I like I could think of other than Dorohedoro where theres a lot of characters that show up but you actually manage to sincerely remember them because they all have meaning. Too many times i run into series who introduce too many characters solely just to keep the story fresh; but none of them have any real purpose to them.

I also was obsessed with how well Yagi was with building tension throughout the story. To me I think its really hard to find series who are able to capture their readers with a good sense of tension.

The characters in this series are quite overpowered, but In the beginning I found it extremely admirable how Yagi was still able to make the reader feel anxious about whether or not the protagonist or their companions would persevere againt their adversaries. Yagi had a very good sense at balancing everyones strengths and flaws in a very balanced way.

But again with the sands of time it couldn't stay this good forever. To be completely honest it took a lot out of me to read the rest of it. It came to the point where i was so lost and frusturated about how confusing everything got i was just trying to read it just so i could be done with it?

I think my main problem with the series as it ended was how unfocussed it got with the plot. I feel like everything immediately got so muddled after the fight with Rigardo. Maybe it's just me but I honestly was ok with never understanding the organization I was mostly just interested in what was going to happen with the main cast with the abyssal ones and such. It actually made me really angry how the battle scenes got so stupid overtime with how it became one of those series where they overexplain the characters' tactics for a very long time. I initially really liked the battle scenes because they dont talk too much and they just simply fight, i really really hate it when anime/manga does the latter actually.

I don't really know how i feel about the ending honestly. I don't know if im satisfied with how claire somehow turned into teresa and she killed priscilla instead but i guess it was nice? I don't know how i thought it was all going to end but i would have never expected it to be like this and i dont say that in a good way but more of a confused way if anything. I wouldn't say it was a bad ending? but I guess thats okay???

anyways, despite all my criticisms i still think its worth the read and the credit it deserves in the end. It's really weird how it went on for so long but no one ever seemed to care? that makes me quite upset actually.