#is very cool conceptually. though it would never happen

[readymades2002]

(guy who likes aa so much they can barely look at it without blowing up) it would be so cool if after the investigations games edgeworth and kay traveled fundamentally different paths towards justice forever spiraling away from each other ideologically despite their closeness being vital to each other's wellbeing and understanding of what the wold can be. anyone?

[mannequinreligi0n]

Hello obscura, would you be open to writing something about the Sparda brothers quietly in love with the reader (or the reader not so interested/doesn’t feel the same way)? I’d love to read more about them…aaaarghhh 😭

OFC ! i love psychoanalyzing these two to pieces, so thank you for this <3

There are a multitude of similarities in how the twins would pine over someone. The most glaring to me is that both Dante and Vergil would only fall for someone they have a personal connection to (aka demiromantic). Both have been through insurmountable trauma, and letting someone even remotely close to them would be a huge trigger due to their multitude of losses. It would take a lot of hard work from the person of interest to even form and maintain a friendship with them, let alone a relationship.

If it came down to them developing feelings for someone and the person didn’t reciprocate, I don’t think they would take it well. Both twins are extremely self-destructive and don’t know how to regulate/control their feelings (mostly because of trauma, though perhaps we can also blame the impulsivity and intensity of their devil genes).

Specifics for each twin below. ⬇️

Dante would very much brush off the rejection - playing it cool and coughing out a self-deprecating joke to soften the blow. He would maintain the friendship with the individual and act like he never said anything, but it would eat him alive, day in and day out. Every lingering glance, every laugh from the person would chip away another part of him. Dante is also very much an avoidant attachment; he constantly keeps everyone at arms length to “protect” them and himself. The rejection would only solidify in his mind that he can’t let himself get close to anyone, that putting himself out into the world would only create more problems for him - and he has enough problems. He would still hang around the person and chop it up, but behind closed doors, I think his reliance on alcohol would see an uptick. Drinking himself dumb in order to sleep, only sober when he’s out on a job (if even that). Dante has a terrible habit of deflecting. Deny, deny, deny. He’s incredibly intelligent and can read a room like no other - he knows exactly how to act to make people believe whatever about him. The way the person of interest would figure out how badly he’s taking the rejection would be if they happened to stop by his place late enough, catching him knee deep in whiskey bottles and neglected of all his needs.

Vergil, on the other hand, would rather eat glass than confess his feelings to someone. And it would take months, if not longer, for him to truly feel safe enough to conceptualize loving someone outside of his family. His feelings would not be revealed willingly - it would probably be accidentally blurted, or exposed when/if the person of interest confronts him about it. In contrast to his brother, Vergil is an anxious attachment, through and through. He is constantly in a state of fear, worried the person will turn their back on him or forget him entirely. As a result, he unknowingly will cling to them like his life depends on it - checking in on them constantly, frequently asking their opinion of him and whatever he’s doing. It could be overbearing and anxiety-inducing, which could lead to the mentioned confrontation. Regarding rejection, Vergil would shut down entirely. Think of a small child being yelled at by a parent: they’ll run and hide, crying in a dark corner of their room until someone comes to find them (if they come at all). He would shut that person out entirely, too embarrassed and ashamed to even show his face to them again. I see him locking himself away in his room for days, only having enough energy to cry and write. If not that, he’d just disappear entirely, practically falling off the face of the earth until he’s pushed down the ugly feelings enough to return. He would behave coldly to the person there after, even if it internally killed him.

[moonsvillain]

hotwings au where hawks is a fallen angel who happens to crash-land in dabi's backyard on his way down.

hawks' wings are from his status as an angel rather than a separate quirk

i'd like to imagine that quirks aren't really a thing that they're up to date on, as well as being pretty behind in, like, everything else

imagine hawks going into this with an ariel-like disposition

anyway this kicks off with hawks crashing into dabi's backyard in the middle of the night

dabi, who's obviously awake, gets up to go investigate what the fuck that was (naturally assumes someone's here to kill him, as any normal, not-paranoid-at-all person would think)

hawks is very upset (landed on his wing wrong and maybe broke it, which, like, "OWWW...." this guy has never felt pain before and now he's human, which is cool conceptually but why do humans feel pain?? are they like this all the time?? who would do this to them??)

which leads to dabi finding hawk in a pile of limbs armed with a broken wing tangled in the clothes lines that he never bothered to take down after he finally saved up enough for a washer-dryer unit

at this point in time, dabi hasn't been scouted by the league yet, but he's not struggling to survive. he's found a small townhouse to reside in, one story, one bedroom, and a small backyard

(the backyard was an important detail to him—sometimes dabi needs to just. bask in the sun. feel warm when he can)

hawks sees dabi and assumes that he must be someone from hell, and it was some sort of cosmic fate that brought the two together

(hawks has always been the hero-type, even as an angel. he doesn't want to defeat people, rather, he wants to help them.

(hawks is just terribly naive, which impedes this goal of his by a lot)

dabi drags hawks inside once he's figured out that he isn't with the hero commission after threatening to burn the rest of his feathers off (which, the fire isn't helping hawks' case against him)

hawks can't really just say he's an angel, mostly because he gets the feeling that saying as much to someone like dabi would go very sideways

so he spins a story about being kicked out of his home and having nowhere to go and no family to take him in even if they wanted

which, it's not really stretching the truth at all. that is what happened. he just omitted a few details

dabi is stabbed by a violent wave of sympathy that he tries to suppress at first, until remembering that he'd have done anything to have support from someone like dabi is now back when he had been scared, alone, confused and hurt

and even though hawks is cheerful enough, dabi can see the mask he's wearing—he's hiding something. something that hurts

so dabi nods, accepts this answer, and offers hawks the couch for the night, which hawks gladly accepts (and ignores the way his eyes get wet)

the next day both wake up, remember the night before, realize it wasn't a dream and think, fuck

dabi's gotten himself saddled with a roommate—cuz even if he wanted to ignore him, it's too late now, he spent the whole night turning the situation over in his mind and kicking him out would make dabi's already fragile emotional stability skew out of control

and its finally settling into hawks' head that he's been kicked out and he doesn't know where he's going or if he'll ever get the chance to go back even if he wanted to and he's doomed to spend the rest of his life wandering the earth looking for acceptance that will never last

tldr both are having mild panic attacks

dabi finally tries to address the situation by like, asking what hawks plans on doing or if he knows anyone that could help him out

which gets dabi a look so pathetic he immediately regrets asking

("fuckkk he's so sad and lame. what am i supposed to do. it's like staring at a miserable puppy with a bag full of treats in your pocket and pretending you don't know they're there.")

dabi grits out an offer:

stay here and figure out a way to pay rent, and dabi will do his best to fix up hawks' wing so he can fly again but also so it doesn't cost a million dollars to pay for the treatment in the first place

(dabi's plans consist of roaming the underground to find a doctor that could help the both of them out and threatening them—dabi's been putting off finding one for himself after his skin grafts start looking nastier than they should and this is the push he needs to get to it)

hawks, oblivious to this, agrees pretty readily

dabi nods

a moment of silence. then:

"is your real name dabi, or—"

"i'm not hearing this from you, hawks."

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

The queen herself!

design notes under the cut

alright, let's get started with the outfit-

The thing is that Ravens outfit is really cool, but it is a PAIN to draw, at least for me. There are some small details that come from them having to fit doll molds that drive me crazy, like the fact that Ravens shoes don't have heels but she walks like they do

I also had gotten really, really bored of drawing skirts, so pants it is

Ravens look is majority black with purple and silver accents, but I tweaked it a bit so that purple is the primary color, just for fun

The feathers were cool, but I wanted to save them for fancier looks, so instead I went with dragon wing style clamps on her jacket. It always bugged me that she was the first character with a dragon and that she didn't have any draconic features on her

Alright, so this is my explanation for the way she dresses in this interpretation- she doesn't want to be seen as evil, but her wardrobe is literally cursed to make any and all clothes she tries on as much like her mother's as possible. So she has to try and mold it to her own style, like "ok what's the most normal thing in here" but she's going through Goth Skeletor's closet and this is what she's managed to put together. I'd say she did pretty good! Cravat is a little much though

Yes she only wears one glove, that's on purpose. It was gonna be that the gloved hand is her primary spellcasting hand, but I immediately ruined that, so now I guess that's just something Raven thinks looks cool

Ok now the more character lore stuff

That weird little skull nightmare next to her is Prince! I don't have and have never read the books, but I have spent a lot of time going over wiki pages to try and find details I can incorporate into these designs. Apparently when Raven was a little kid her dad got her a puppy which she called Prince. At some point her mom decided it was unfitting for an evil princess and transformed him into whatever the hell a bone rat is. Needless to say, traumatizing. I can't stand a single even vaguely negative thing happening to a dog, so I'm deciding that Prince is alive, kind of immortal since he's undead-ish, and maintains the same memory and personality. He lives with Raven's dad when she's at school and he's a very good boy, he's just really, really weird.

Yeah I don't know where I'm gonna fit Nevermore in, I think she's just gonna have to join the canon with the rest of them in Dragon Games, cause I like Prince way more conceptually tbh

Evil Raven cause why not. I actually have some ideas on how the queen lineage would work, especially because Raven seems to completely control every aspect of her powers after signing in Way Too Wonderland. I really like the idea that as the next queen grows they gain more magic, but because they siphon it from the previous generation. Raven had a natural affinity for basic spells her whole life, but after a certain age she started to take her mom's powers, which are the new ones she can't control. Plus, I like that angle on the whole jealousy thing. The Queen isn't just bitter that Snow White is more fair than her, it's the double whammy of knowing that no matter what she does, her power will be drained away and made pointless by both Snow and her own family. Usurping based angst

[styrmwb]

I beat Chrono Trigger

And I beat it like, nearly entirely unspoiled too.

For the longest time Chrono Trigger was "The most Styrm game Styrm has never played" and I felt silly cause my super cool ADHD brain never decided it was gonna decide to play it until now (I also had to get it done before FFVII rebirth or it was NEVER gonna happen lmfao)

So like, what are my onions?

The game's so fucking good, it stands up so incredibly well that I regret not getting to it sooner. The music, the story, the gameplay, the art (backgrounds and spritework), every single part of this game I absolutely adored. I can MAYBE think of like 2 things I would have changed about the game but they're so minor.

Characters

I loved every single party member. The ones with character felt so alive and enjoyable, and the ones that didn't really have much character were super fun to use in battle. Crono MIGHT be one of the most broken JRPG protags I've played as; I gave him a counter item for the whole game and he would constantly attack with high crits. Marle is one of my favorite characters; being all adventurous and shit, rejecting the stuffiness of royal society but like, not NOT caring? I like it. Plus she was instrumental in having me not die lmfao. Lucca had a really great character arc with Robo and her mother, and blowing shit up was super fun. Speaking of, Robo deserves the entire world; I would die for him. Unfortunately he didn't get as much use in my playthrough as I would have wanted, but I still dearly care for him. Ayla was a powerhouse even though i completely neglected her thief mechanic, and despite her caveman speak and relative lack of goal compared to the cast, I really appreciated her presence as I almost felt like she was a pillar For the rest of the cast. Magus was hype. I'll describe thoughts later down the list, but for his gameplay his magic annihilated battles, and the dude pretty much solo'd the Lavos boss rush.

Finally; Frog. The absolute best character in the game. His design? Creative. His story? Heartbreaking yet heroic. His gameplay? Essential. I loved Frog from the moment I saw him and he was with me through thick and thin. Something I really appreciated was that HE got Masamune rather than Crono. Sure, Crono is the main character, but Frog is the hero. I love my amphibious mans.

Lavos is super cool to me. It's not really a character (but kinda is?) and more like a force of nature. I also think it's kinda conceptually funny that the main villain of this classic game is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. I don't think I FULLY understood what it truly was, but it's a concept that I very much enjoyed.

Overall, all of the characters in this game are great. Everyone has a role, everyone is enjoyable in their own way, and I really love seeing how the time travel aspect would let you see fates of characters and their role in history.

Gameplay

I loved the lack of random battles. Every battle felt planned and like its own individual puzzle, especially with the positioning gimmick; what enemies get hit by what abilities, how do I avoid hitting this enemy with the element that heals them with my super strong AoE ability. The idea of dual and triple techs enhanced this further: am I gonna use individual turns for heals or am I gonna just have Crono and Ayla fuckin decimate the entire area?

The aspect of time travel felt overall very well used. Past experiences affecting the future, but things in the future not affecting backwards; it feels like it should be obvious it works that way but it just felt like, well executed. this paragraph proves i need to get better at writing cause ultimately I just said I liked it

I also feel like the whole beginning section with the fair leading to the trial really makes you think harder about what to pay attention to and what matters: it teaches well without shoving it in your face. Might just be because I play a lot of RPGs and this is an older one, but I was able to discern the knowledge i needed easily.

Story

So to clarify here, I know there are multiple endings, but I got two; the Die To Lavos Ending not sure why i got this one nope and the real ending; I tried to do everything that I possibly could, so that was my experience.

It's great. I kinda loved how it was less a "party vs a bad time man" and more of a "party vs a natural calamity": I feel like that's not done often in games, there's usually a big bad (which I don't hate!) but it was a nice change of pace. I absolutely loved how each timeline had its own individual struggles, and the nature of time travel made them flow together very well in small ways (like defeating Magus makes Ozzie the worshipped one). Being able to go into it unspoiled really improved the huge moments, like Magus and Crono's big events (not gonna say in case there's someone like me out there), and I very much enjoyed guessing what would be next and what would affect what.

The Only Major issue I have is the 3 party limit, and character dialogue being locked to who you have. I feel like there would have been some really cool moments had everyone been there, like the campfire scene where everyone got their time.

Music

I mean, it's peak. I've already heard some of Mitsuda's work in later games, but hearing him here do (pretty much) the whole soundtrack was just a treat to my ears. The main theme is stuck playing in my head daily. The overworld and cutscene songs I think are where it shines, although I did really like the battle songs as well. and as always shoutouts to Uematsu we love that man.

Art

Again, a short section, but this game is beautiful, and I could tell that a lot of the techniques they used felt advanced for the time, like the time travel effect, or the car race; the spritework felt bouncy and alive, the backgrounds were beautifully detailed (Like Magus's Castle holy shit), and the entire game was a joy to look at.

Unspoiled

So yeah, I beat this game unspoiled somehow. I knew a couple characters like Crono and Lavos (the fact that they Existed), I've seen some backdrops like the campfire and Masamune in its sheath, and I've heard some songs; but other than that, I didn't know anything!

(warning for spoilers if you are like me and have gotten unspoiled don't read this)

Like I said in the story, it was really fun to figure out how things would be affected by the nature of time travel, naturally figuring out side quests like Fiona, and being hit by moments that I never would have expected. I didn't think my actions at the fair would affect anything until I saw the trial which made me question everything (I'm sorry old man for eating your lunch) (twice). I remember getting what i thought was the full party cause that's what the box art was, until I noticed what I thought was a 7th party member slot, leading me to wonder when this person would join and who it is; discovering Antiquity (also a surprise to me) convinced me that the person was here, and then that said person was Boy with cat that said I was gonna die, and lo and behold I was right! But not in the way that I thought. Seeing Magus be the final member was incredibly rewarding, and I probably wouldn't have gotten him if I didn't get reality checked by my actions mattering in the trial (although I do wish he had some more party interactions and dialogue). Also close to this: I did not know Crono STRAIGHT UP dies. Like, OBVIOUSLY he was gonna come back, right? But to have that happen to your main character? Felt revolutionary for the time. Didn't think Lavos was gonna be like, a humanoid creature, and I ESPECIALLY didn't think it was gonna have a phase 2.

(ok spoilers over)

Final

I could not be happier with my experience for this game. I can absolutely see why it is considered a masterpiece, and it's clearly going to stick with me for a good long while, the rest of my life, even. My negatives are incredibly minor, really only wanting more party dialogue and interactions (and to remove Golem FUCK that fight lmfao), and for that, I can probably consider it one of my favorite RPGs.

10/10, thanks for reading my ramblings if you did.

[chand-ki-priyatama]

Ek khat mere pyare bade Bhai ke naam

@hectorfrombritain

You chose this name "HECTOR" for you , if we go in the literary sense it means to talk to someone in a bullying way - irony of this fact that you can never do that.... And so I nicknamed you "CEDAR"

One of the most sweetest, kindest being I ever met....

These are my feelings for you in the form of writing cause we are writers we do not speak we bleed ink on paper...

So ye khat aapke naam from aapki chhoti behen Clover aka me Kaya ek kaviyitri aur lekhika....

Mere pyare penguin bhaiya that's why I nicknamed you cedar cause Its metaphysical properties promote peaceful thoughts and help interpret messages from your inner self. Cedar supports us on spiritual quests by reconnecting and grounding us with earthly roots..... And I attribute all these qualities with you...

So Cedar bro , intellectual baatein karne wale samajhdaar bhaiya

Dear Bhai,

I first interacted with you via a reblog post and I was amazed by your thoughts on my writing then we had a very small chat on dm that's it.... then I joined the discord server but there too we never chatted much cause I was busy in creating a ruckus for myself

But now since we have started talking , I never felt as if I never had a word with you on the contrary it feels as if my day is incomplete without sharing words with you....

Someone beautiful as their existence

Someone who is dearest to me....

Honestly love the way you talk , and might I tell you you need to teach me about Greek mythology , you are so intelligent and intellectual means how just drop the secrets dude...

Although I am not there irl with you but I'll always be there for comforting you....

Never feel as if you are alone in something cause you have a little sister with whom you can share anything...

We are always together in everything although not physically but whenever you see the stars and moon remember that they bind me together with everyone and whenever you feel alone just look at them somewhere I am doing that too...

They bind me to you

Being one of the most supportive person and still doubting yourself is not good that's why I included earlier "Look at you comforting others with the words you wish to hear" , you are one of the bestest person out there so learn to trust in your abilities...... (I dare you say something contrary and see what I will do🔪)

You feel like a soft melody after constantly being irritated by pop music...

These are your vibes according to me :-

I still remember the day you told me your penguin story gosh I am still not over it , it was so cute and wholesome....

You know how I am the bubbly talkative af girl and to am extent I can say maybe nakchadi hu (still can't believe you though I was rude ) but you are the contrary mature, intellectual, introverted but that's what makes us brother and sister...

If I had to say you were a colour I'd definitely say you are green cause Those with Green color personality strengths tend to be perfectionistic, analytical, conceptual, cool, calm, inventive and logical. They seek knowledge and understanding as well as always looking for explanations and answers....

As if fictional character fight me but I will always say you are Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice cause you give off those gentlemen vibes...

Now imagine we met and you know my obsession with Polaroids so think these pics as them...

I know deep down sometimes (always) just like me you think about things about what would happen but isn't it the part of growing up...

अजीब दास्ताँ है ये, कहाँ शुरू, कहाँ ख़तम

I associate these lyrics with you cause our friendship was something very unexpected....

Last few days were tough for me so thank you for always being there for me and supporting me throughout....

I lost my faith in friendship way too early but thanks to you and few others that you revived it....

Now imagine me playing a guitar and singing this song to you...

I been tryin' to do it right (Hey) I been livin' a lonely life (Ho) I been sleepin' here instead (Hey) I been sleepin' in my bed (Ho) I been sleepin' in my bed (Hey) (Ho) (Ho) so show me family (Hey) all the blood that I will bleed (Ho) I don't know where I belong (Hey) I don't know where I went wrong (Ho) but I can write a song (Hey)

I belong with you, you belong with me You're my sweetheart I belong with you, you belong with me You're my sweet

I dedicate these lyrics to you...

Just so you know I love you to the moon and back and I always appreciate and cherish your existence....

As always I'll dedicate these songs to you and as of its voice note I'll send it to you...

Now I think I have spoken enough

So signing off Cedar bro,

With love always

Kaya 💗

[thegeminisage]

tos ep rewrites/stid rewrite for the wip meme!!!

HIIII ty for asking

this isn't technically a fic per se, it's almost like a half-fic half-meta kind of deal - essentially it's an outline of what could be a fic if i had more time and patience. i did this for the first tos movie here and had a lot of fun doing it, and then i also did a small rewrite of "tholian web" here, and i had SO MUCH FUN DOING THEM but then i got side tracked and haven't done anymore. my plans for other episodes/stid are vaguely as follows:

the enemy within - loved this one conceptually but the crass rape jokes left a real sour taste in my mouth. i'd have less of that (or, if i had it, take it seriously) and more shenanigans where someone can't tell the two kirks apart because. they're both the real kirk!! that's the real point of the episode, right?

the conscience of the king - frankly, there was too much shakespeare here, even though it will always be my fav trek episode of all time. i also thought the lenore thing, while a great twist, could have been a little less "but kirk really secretly loved this woman 20 years younger than him!" and more "man this is crazy fucked up that is trying to honeypot this very young woman and surprise she is doing it back to him." more foreshadowing and drama, you know? the tos version wouldn't have to be gambler's knife but it could be something more than what it was considering the huge effect it had on fandom - i always kinda wished it had the vibes that obsession did.

the galileo seven - i thought this episode treated spock like he was kind of stupid. "why is my first command failing when i've been an asshole to everybody?" he has a human mother! he knows how emotions work! he is not stupid! i also thought there was a missed opportunity: they all talked about how callous it was for him to be picking a man to leave behind to lighten the ship, and he was so obviously going to choose himself, but it never went anywhere. let's do him more justice!

metamorphosis - let's chill with the horrific misogyny and have more fun with the accidental parallel kirk made in his really cool speech. like fuck it this is my edit let's just do spirk

mirror, mirror - this one is actually perfect as it is but i wish we'd had more time to se what the mirror kirk & co were doing in the prime universe.

journey to babel - this one is great but i don't think it takes either of spock's parents to task enough for him turning out like that. also, they tricked us into thinking amanda was the good cop in aos and then have her slap him in tos but then acted like that was just fine? girl, let's get into it

the paradise syndrome - i just want this episode without the heinous racism. please please please. easily easily EASILY my biggest trek disappointment ever

requiem for methuselah/the enterprise incident - these two go together as part of a more complex story based partially on the fact that they originally wanted kirk's breakdown in the latter episode to be a real result of the various um things that happened to him in season 3 and partially by the fact that requiem for methuselah WAS my november 5th and i am being completely serious. i didn't think i would ever feel that way again but i did at the end of that episode. you can read about the general idea here at the end of @maulthots close encounters powerpoint which i helped a little bit with.

honorable mention to episode premises i would have loved in a different context - lights of zetar where spock is the possessed one and an episode totally unrelated to wolf in the fold, the funniest tos ep after tribbles, where an enemy who feeds on fear jumps around the ship possessing people. that could have been great had it been in a serious episode and not been played by piglet's voice actor

and finally, star trek into darkness...everything about this movie was bad, except the warp core thing which was accidentally very very VERY good. so i'd rewrite it from the ground up, starting with recasting khan, because that was just a hateful thing to do. i don't have very many concrete ideas on this yet except you'd HAVE to get assad zaman for khan, right? because he can do that thing where he makes his eyes shake? he would have rocked it.

let people send you an ask with the WIP title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 27

This episode was really fun and it felt like a lot happened. Pretty bizarro conceptually. As usual, I have QUESTIONS! The digimon blind watching experience is full of questions.

Notes:

Never thought I'd see a digimon riding a motorcycle. For a second there I thought we were getting a motorcycle digimon lol.

The "rider-less" bike reminded me of Stephen King. Evil/possessed vehicles is a pretty cool concept and combining that with this whimsical fantasy village was a new twist.

Okay WTF, digimon age now?? The Tsuchidarumon village had little baby Tsuchidarumon and elderly wrinkled Tsuchidarumon. This has never been a thing before that I can recall! Why would data-based creatures age like that anyways? Also, this brings me back to the previous episode. Are you tellin' me that there are "kid" versions of Jijimon and Babamon that look the same but are smaller? What about the previous forms for the Tsuchidarumon, do they digivolve from a baby form into a baby Tsuchidarumon or...? I'm definitely overthinking this, but I've gotten pretty deep into the franchise at this point and visually aging outside of digivolving was not a thing before!

That baby Tsuchidarumon barely reacted when its relative died lol. I guess they didn't need to make the moment that dramatic, but then don't kill digimon so casually!

Juri just eats dirt and likes it? Was that supposed to be her being polite or is she just a freak?

We got the doggo deva! I really like his design, probably one of the best yet (I could do a tier ranking at this point). Funny how most of the deva have that same, cryptic way of talking. Definitely a cult.

Jian and Jian alone looked off model this episode lol. They drew his eyes very rectangular for some reason.

Culumon's 2 seconds of screentime were completely pointless. The weird binary forest was kinda neat though.

I have a crack theory that Terriermon is aware he's in an anime. The fact that he's constantly like "meh, it'll work out" makes it feel like he knows he has plot armor lol

Choromon (lil baby metal mouse) was really cute. When they introduced him I was thinking "oh boy another baby digimon I'll have to raise in a video game eventually."

Excited for Beelzebumon, but he totally blew it when he was like "I'm Beelzebumon" at the end there. Who are you talking to? You look like an idiot now. Also, I had to double check that that was Impmon's digivolution because they didn't show it happening really (I know it's literally in the title, but still!)

Guilmon and Terriermon were extra cute in this episode. I love them so much! Juri was kinda cute too, she's growing on me. (Not that I ever disliked her).

[mars-ipan]

Okay

A list of the kinks/interests Mars may have, in no particular order cause then it's less embarrassing if I'm wrong:

Biting

Collars

Hypnosis

Panty stealing

Bondage

Hickeys

Furries

Domination

Impact play

Feeding

Pet play

Blood

Marking

Piercings

Orgasm control

:DDD IT’S HERE !!! ok i’m gonna go through these one by one:

biting: sniles so sneetly :) i have good strong teeth. would be a shame not to use them. being bitten also good

collars: i didn’t care much at first. but then komaeda. and now. i very much enjoy a collar. more on other ppl than on me though i have sensory issues with things on my neck

hypnosis: this is one i’m actually just dipping my toes in. i really dig it conceptually but in practice i tend to get nervous/distracted whenever i’m hypnotized (i’ve never been hypnotized in a kink way though). i think hypnosis as a whole is really cool psychologically and am open to exploring how it could be utilized in kink settings :3

panty stealing: i’m not like. actively into the panty stealing itself. i don’t really gaf about underwear. but! the implications that panty stealing has are fun. i enjoy the obsessiveness, the possessiveness, the general pervy-ness of the act. it’s not about the panties it’s about being deranged enough about someone to steal from them. or in the case of the dangan protags having someone trust you enough to give them your underwear as a sign of your bond. what !!! that’s insane !!! i’m looking !!!

bondage: of course. this feels like a given to me. fun fact i was born premature and premature babies need to be swaddled really tight to help development. i think i never outgrew this swaddle instinct i want to be wrapped up in smth to the point of not being able to move. that sounds so relaxing. and also trusting someone enough to do that ??? hell yeah. also good from a rigger perspective to be trusted with someone who is incapable of moving away from you in some way shape or form. that’s really good and i very much enjoy it. also it’s Pretty like aesthetically holy shit bondage is gorgeous

hickeys: correct. part of my oral fixation. i think hickies are soooooo pretty though the idea of skin dotted in little bruises as a physical show of affection…. affection so strong it hurts… gwah. fun fact one of my college besties bruises like a peach and every time i see her with a hickey on her neck (result of her bf) i get mildly jealous bc like. who’s gonna give ME a hickey huh. but i would never say that except as a joke bc that’s Insane lmao

furries: in the sense of i am a gay person on the internet, sure. i am a furry just in general (pine marten fursona will one day have a design. and a name. i promise) and i have lots of friends who are furries and they’re all real cool and furries are generally cool. i’m not like actively into them (non-human stuff is just generally refreshing though) but. cool shit is cool shit and if good porn happens to be furry porn then so be it. it tends to line up with a lot of my other interests so we’re chill but i don’t necessarily seek it out

domination: i loveeeee me some power dynamics. i’m a vers so i’m comfy on either end of this scale but goddd i love a good battle for dominance that ends in one person’s victory. soft domming mind games cruel doms the threat of punishment the promise of reward… all very good. very fun game. i enjoy it

impact play: ehhhh not really actually? never been a big fan of active hitting. don’t get me wrong there’s some sadomasochism in here but i prefer it when any pain is either inflicted incidentally (heat of the moment type of deal) or very, very deliberately. things like pinching or the occasional slap across the face depending on the scene are chill and fun. things like spanking or whips aren’t really for me. so like if partner a snaps and hits partner b in the moment yeah that’s hot. but if partner a like. bends partner b over their knee and has them count out five hits or whatever that’s a bit eh for me. not my thing

feeding: also not super my thing! nothing against it it isn’t an active turn-off or anything but. meh. not smth i care too much about. i think it can play into my other kinks if desired (i have an oral fixation i can easily make it work) but the act of feeding someone or being fed doesn’t do too much for me kink-wise. i think it’s a cute show of intimacy though :3

pet play: :3333 komahina unlocked this one in me i’m not afraid to say it. i realized hajime hinata was puppy and then i went “ah. i’m learning things about myself” and that’s just how it goes. idk the thought of sitting there doing obedience training/going through tricks for ages without even actually having sex…. the promise of rewards/‘treats’ at the end… clickers. hell yeah

blood: i like things visceral. i enjoy animalistic, primal type things. what is more visceral than blood. this is mostly a hypothetical kink for me (i’m immunosuppressed lol i can’t be out here getting genuinely injured or ingesting someone else’s blood </3) but OUGH blood is hot. blood is hot! and that’s the truth and we know it. vampires i love youuuu

marking: yes. yep. 100%. possessiveness. dominance. primality. sadomasochism. yeah. the idea of lasting marks being left on a body… good god. on me on whomever my hypothetical partner is. yes. good. i want bruises up and down i want scratch lines i want bite marks. genuinely one of the hottest things on the Planet

piercings: not actively but i’m down to clown. this is mostly just me being into alt folks and also having an oral fixation. metal in my mouth please :] also sensory play is fun and piercings make things interesting. being licked: nifty. being licked and there’s a tongue piercing: woah !!! so like yeah sure 👍

orgasm control: YEAHHHHH. at first i thought this was an asexy thing bc delay/denial was how i got into it and i enjoy the idea of sex without the pressure to have an orgasm. but then as i got older i started realizing that forced orgasms and multiple orgasms and ruined orgasms are also fun and. i just think it’s neat :3

[everybody-loves-purdy]

How would you rank the warrior cats villains?

I’m going to do two lists here I’m going to rank them from favourite to least favourite, and then rank them based on how objectively good villains I feel they are

I can’t fit every warriors villain or this list will go on forever but I’ll rank everyone notable (so not characters like Dodge and Stripe) and I won’t count cats I would consider henchmen (such as Bone and Darkstripe). And characters who have had a redemption arc I won’t include here either, this list is reserved for those with no regrets and went to the grave satisfied with their work (so no Skystar, Blackstar or Breezepelt here). Also cats that fit under the “antagonist” banner rather than “villain” won’t be included (I.e Berryheart, Tigerheartstar, Bramblestar).

I think I’ve got all the characters that can qualify for this list but if you feel I’ve forgotten anyone please let me know!

Alright all that out of the way, on with the list:

Fav ranking (Most to least)

Darktail. He’s just so cool, this guy is my second favourite warrior cat only behind Brightheart, he’s terrifying villain and an excellent character.

Scourge

Tigerstar 1

Hawkfrost. Fanon is probably influencing me more than canon here.

Mapleshade

Ashfur

Sol

Sleekwhisker

Brokenstar

One Eye. I honestly don’t remember much of him but I feel like he would rank higher if he was fresher in my mind. He should have lasted more than one book.

Fury. Wasted potential, cool backstory and appearance though.

Slash. Utter disappointment of an end of arc villain.

Thistleclaw. You know why.

Objectively best to worst

Darktail. I know I have a bias. And I know people are going to disagree here. But this guy brought 3 clans to their knees. He drove SkyClan out, ShadowClan literally stopped existing all together because of him. He has the highest known kill count of any warrior cat. And that’s just people he’s ended the life of himself, it’s not counting the many others who have died as a result of his actions. He’s physically strong and intimidating as well as a major manipulator and extremely sadistic. He uses kittypets as cannon fodder, he drowns cats to execute them, he ripped out his deputy’s eye just as a warning. There is just so much to say about this character that I won’t fit in here but he truly is excellent. And to top it all off, he actually achieved his goal, he got his revenge against his father. This current arc would absolutely not be happening without him.

Ashfur. Close second. I only say second because he failed in his goal to keep Squirrelflight to himself and all the other stuff was just kind of collateral damage. I also can’t get over the lack of explanation for how he actually achieves most of what he does. Oh well he almost destroys heaven and hell (by digging a tunnel, ok) and that definitely counts for something. His powers are scary and despite things being a little off the rails he’s still a scary and effective villain. Him as the imposter? Excellent and chilling.

Tigerstar 1. Close third.What can I say he’s a classic and serves his role excellently, what a fantastic first overarching villain for the franchise.

Mapleshade

Scourge

Brokenstar. Almost destroyed ShadowClan in his pursuit for conquest.

One Eye (again, I definitely need to read this guys book since I don’t remember too much)

Hawkfrost. Tigerstar lite

Sol. Very pathetic man but still managed to manipulate cats. He didn’t ultimately end up doing that much but still.

Thistleclaw.

Sleekwhisker. She barely qualifies for this list tbh, she’s definitely just another Kin henchman until River of Fire. Maybe one day she’ll come back and be great but what we have is just isn’t sorry. Conceptually she’s super interesting and cool but canon never quite delivers.

Fury. A massive waste of potential so now she’s just kind of forgettable.

Slash. I have to actively keep reminding myself he exists.

[runespoor7]

Re: chengxian cis!girl au, what do you think would change socially/politically/ect if Jiang Cheng was afab!guy ?

It would really depend on how/when the social transition happened! And how you decide the Jianghu is wrt trans guys. I largely err on the side of “idk, I don't feel like it would change much provided JC doesn't come out/transition socially while JGS is running the show.”

Still not really what you asked for, but here's a couple things I think this would mean for JC and his self image and his relationship with WWX:

In a world where the Jiang parents hide JC’s sex at birth (maybe YZY had a hard enough pregnancy etc that another try isn't an option, and they already think JYL will be unfit as a sect leader, so they decide to announce JC is a boy and raise him as such), it doesn't change much of anything on that scale. JC has a very bad time when sequestered in LP and WQ promptly doses him with abortives, but that’s largely it.

If JC doesn't transition as a child, I think a good moment for it would be Sunshot. It’s a messy, chaotic time, the jianghu is in upheaval, JC is the Jiang authority, I don't think anyone’s going to find the time and energy to police too strenuously his claim that where the younger Jiang daughter died a Jiang son lives. (You know, it'd be cool if one of the reasons why WWX defaults to calling him JC in that world is bc JC doesn't like his courtesy name.)

I don't thiiiiiink WWX would necessarily be super cool with coming back and finding JC recognized as a dude even if he’s known for years that JC’s a dude. This is mostly because post-being-thrown-in-the-BM WWX is horribly not okay. Everything that’s different from what it was before grates. Also, this specific thing, I think it hits WWX right in the toxic masculinity/cultivationship/sth-sth: it’s like JC decided to be his own protector, it’s like– it’s like an acknowledgement or an announcement that WWX isn't there anymore, that the brilliant head disciple of the Jiang is no more. WWX isn't enough. And WWX feels it like that because that’s what’s going on, he is no longer the person he was and he can't fulfill his duty to JC like he was meant to and he will never again be able to. (I wonder. Would this WWX look for WQ at some point. Would he try to convince her to give him a core, any core. He fantasizes about it, that's for sure.)

If JC doesn't transition socially during Sunshot, I think he’s stuck being understood to be a woman for a good while. Maybe he can transition at some point after JGS’s death but before WWX’s return? Would he, though? He’s not exactly someone who loves to rock the boat.

Wouldn't it be something if when WWX returns JC is out as a man, though. Wouldn't that occupy WWX’s thoughts a lot! (Maybe would fuel his unavowed resentment. Oh, so JC can fight against social norms after all.) I'm not sure when/how it works but WWX being flummoxed would make it a good fic.

Or maybe he transitions after canon. The other two great sects are in disarray, the Nie are… whatever’s going there, people have decided to blame JGY instead of WWX, up is down, might as well. Now's a good time. Now is the time. JC is no longer a frightened youth, he's a powerful adult that no-one wants to have angry at them. (And, as well: WWX and LWJ have confessed their love and have married. Is it such a reach that JC would take advantage of that?)

In both last two cases I’m not sure WWX knew about JC being a guy; I don't think JC did. JC didn't conceptualize it that way. It took him a long time to arrange the pieces.

In both cases - JC being a guy after WWX’s death - I think it reframes his relationship to WWX in his mind. Surely that was the root of both his resentment and his love. He loved WWX because he was a girl and he resented WWX because he wanted to be WWX (cool and strong and a boy). He’s not actually in love with WWX.

WWX’s confession to LWJ is also a lot here. (let JC tell himself that men can't like men like that, WWX!!)

[g33se]

Playing bg3 right now. Got to the point with the druids and the tiefling city. A couple of opinions about the party:

Lae'zel: I liked her a lot when I met her first (competent, straightforward, my type of girl) but she's being very rude about the tieflings. Given that I'm playing a tiefling... well. Not keen on the way she compared us to cockroaches or the way she made the tiefling bow- granted the tieflings did have reason to want to stab her. So liking her quite a bit less now. Still, looking at her respectfully. She is hot.

Shadowheart: Never really liked elves all that much. Not super keen on the way she did a racism at Lae'zel as soon as we met her, but the moments of emotional vulnerability have me liking her a lot more.

Astarion: Stupid loser bastard. That man is clearly a vampire- I mean, look at the eyes/teeth/the literal VAMPIRE BITE on his neck and the ten thousand clues he's been dropping. Sexy of him to greet me by holding a knife to my neck I thought he was going to rob me. He's such a fucking idiot I want to jump his bones.

Gale: This man has bard energy. At least, the way I play bards. Also kind of single dad energy? Just a random wizard running around. Just a Dude, if you will. Had to put him back in the campsite since I'm a sorcerer and party comp will get fucked though.

Wyll: Thought he was a paladin at first. Then he started doing warlocky things. I like how he acts it's a nonstandard edgy warlock thing, I hope his storyline pans out well. Really like his back-and-forth with Lae'zel about ever doing nice things with her life. Immediately taken with the fight scene I saw him in first, looked fucking epic.

Overall, I really love Mind Flayers. They're fucking cool, that little starter scene when I converted a woman into one was fucking nightmare fuel. I did see the button saying perfect and press it knowing what it would probably mean. What the hell were they doing in Avernus though. And isn't Zariel the angel who fell because she wanted to kill demons with GREAT PREJUDICE?

I've also been save scumming whenever I steal stuff a lot because, habit. I just want to collect all the boxes and put them into the campsite. Also reloaded the same save three times because I wanted Asterion to take that one potato off a crying guard. (Probably going to try to see if I can do a revivify on the dead guard later? I don't know if the game has the 1 min timer on revivify or not.) Also I do like how yoinking just makes people do 'hey wtf' or 'you're getting arrested' because instantly trying to kill the party is. Weird.

Also reloaded the save once because I couldn't revivify Shadowheart because she died on stairs that were on fire. I know how to play dnd I just have a hard time conceptualizing it with game graphics.

Lower level dnd's always interesting. The take action to restore someone else at 1hp is also... inspired. Would be interested to see normal downing rules- that would force me to think in more dnd terms to play the game. I also keep clicking wrong and wasting attacks on the space right next to a person.

Weird how everyone can use scrolls.

I hate the 1/short rest mage hand it's a fucking cantrip and it can do, like, nothing. Going to download a mod for it later.

Going to have to use the speak with dead amulet a lot I hope. I love that spell. Not quite sure how I feel about your camp being a separate room- I feel like it trivializes inventory management and sending things there is. Weird. Where is all the weight going. I do like stacking all the boxes I find though.

Thought the Absolute people were part of a mind flayer cult so had to kill a few of them.

Current leader druid is a bit cringe. Don't want to kill her but definitely ousting her asap. Stop being a dick to my people (tieflings). Also really liking the tiefling responses so far.

Also wonder at the deal about the tiefling village. They seem to have a lot of hell stuff going on there.

Anyway, this is cool! Looking forward to what happens next.

[rabbiteclair]

anyway I'd been planning to hold off on reading WonderLab, but like eight people recommended it over about two days, the friend I talked to throughout the whole time I was playing LobCo finally decided to read it yesterday morning, and then I ended up taking the day off work anyway and was too out of it to do anything that required effort, so I took this as a sign

p. good

the ground-level view of what all this stuff looks like in practice is handy. if I were more inclined to write fanfic in this setting I'd practically be weeping with joy.

I was entirely too amused by the whole insinuation that yeah, the Wizard of Oz critters and the magical girls had sets that could do Apocalypse Bird style stuff too, but they just sent their friends off to another facility to make life simpler so it never quite came up. I am also very torn about this because rounding out the magical girls would be great and Servant seems conceptually cool, so I'd love to see her in the game, but the Scarecrow/Woodsman already suck to work with and I don't think the thing they were missing was a way to make this everybody's problem.

the new abnormalities here really tread that kinda line in general. I suspect that there are some rejected ideas from the game in here, because a whole lot of these seem like they'd be nightmares to have in the game. 'every time this breaches it's going to take out anyone who has its gift' and 'only one person can work with this and it will inevitably kill them' and 'if this breaches literally everybody dies' stuff. I guess they can afford to be a bit more complicated in this kinda medium

Rose's end seemed like a pretty direct reference to the scene where Sayaka became a witch in PMMM, and the scene with Taii summoning the sword toward the end had some real Utena energy, so now I am wondering how many other anime references I'm missing in here.

Taii is cool as hell though. I mean all three of the core characters are good but I've got a soft spot for 'gentle nerd becomes a badass warrior (who's still a gentle nerd actually)'. with the way the first several arcs liked to introduce new characters and then kill them off, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that Rose and Taii were sticking around, and right around the time that I was convinced all three were gonna make it to the end..... that happened. I should've known better. if only one of 'em was going to stick around though, Taii was the right choice. I'd get mad if they killed them. Catt actually being afforded the opportunity to relax and connect with actual emotions again would've been really nice, but. look this is a hell company where good things go to die. I can't say I'm surprised it turned out like this.

also cool as hell: Shasha. and I feel like the company must have some kinda 'Disciplinary head's gotta have a cool eye scar' policy. all of the department heads made good use of what little screentime they got though.

[lunarllovely]

Sphinx of black quarts, judge my vow.

~A Story of Poems~

Next week, I hope I’m somewhere laughing.

What would happen if I decided to survive more? To love harder?

“The world you live in is not at all as you believe it to be, because actually it is not as you see it or sense it. You judge on the basis of the relation of your senses to all the objects surrounding you, and your senses beguile you infinitely more than you can imagine…There is no precision, no truth in their testimony.”

I want to be the tree.

Hope is an axe you break down doors with.

I am going to learn the secrets of the universe, and then I will become one.

Dance with a person who puts their hands on me reverently, methodically, shakily.

Our math cannot explain or conceptualize infinity. But it is there. Oh, how it is always there.

Love is stored in the kitchen.

let me stay tender-hearted

despite despite despite

what if everything is intentional. what if dancing with your friends matters as much as picking up groceries. what if you put color in your hair and a stranger feels seen. what if someone makes soup for you. what if tears are sacred. what if it’s all love.

I got stones in my pocket at the midnight mass.

I, only I, am the spectator in the orchestra.

Maybe the idea of things is not enough to conceptualize their reality

With you, I could summon the gods and the stars

Watch them dance out the plays that we wrote from the heart

And we’d laugh at the ghosts of our fears

august is like: my heart is breaking in real-time, i can't recognise my own hands, but the world is drenched in honey and i’ve forgotten how to stay hurt for too long

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on midnoon,

and under every deep a lower deep opens.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I love that sweet smell of decay that surrounds me in forests and woods. A kind of mulchy, deep, rich rot that has no connotation of death or ending, but rather of life and age. A sense of perpetual destruction and rebirth.”

Saturday morning, and I am at the old game of catching time between my fingers as it is running, forever running, away.

there’s that feeling of like going on a bike ride in your neighborhood on a summer evening when the air is cool and your arms are covered in goosebumps and you ride past the high school football field and all the lights are turned on, even though no one is there. and the very similar feeling of when you pull up to a gas station late at night and everything is bathed in neon light and there are a few people filling their tank and all the windows of your car are rolled down so you can hear the music they’re playing by the pumps. and the other very similar feeling of when you wake up first during a sleepover and its just barely light out and you can hear the crickets buzz outside and everything is cold and you turn over in bed slightly and feel your friend breathing beside you and adjust the blanket and start to fall back asleep again. 

the one (perhaps only) thing i’ll always like about growing older and maturing is the never-ending opportunity to develop and refine your personal taste in pretty much anything. fashion, food, music, literature, art, design, furniture: the older you get, the more knowledge, insight and experience you acquire and it all adds up to a treasure of source material to create a new you from. carve, prune, distill, expand, sculpt, evolve - you can recreate yourself always and aging gracefully is all about endlessly enriching yourself through that recreation.

“I fell in love with her courage, her sincerity, and her flaming self respect. And it's these things I'd believe in, even if the whole world indulged in wild suspicions that she wasn't all she should be. I love her and it is the beginning of everything.”

Suffering cracks open the shell of the ego

you always look out for others chris, it’s okay that you’re doing this for yourself

As long as I know the shape of my soul, I’ll be alright. -Jake

Nothing happens for a reason, it’s absolute fucking chaos. -The Traveler

Growing up is something you have to decide to do. - Greg

“And kid, you’ve got to love yourself. You’ve got wake up at four in the morning, brew black coffee, and stare at the birds drowning in the darkness of the dawn. You’ve got to sit next to the man at the train station who’s reading your favorite book and start a conversation. You’ve got to come home after a bad day and burn your skin from a shower. Then you’ve got to wash all your sheets until they smell of lemon detergent you bought for four dollars at the local grocery store. You’ve got to stop taking everything so goddam personally. You are not the moon kissing the black sky. You’ve got to compliment someones crooked brows at an art fair and tell them that their eyes remind you of green swimming pools in mid July. You’ve got to stop letting yourself get upset about things that won’t matter in two years. Sleep in on Saturday mornings and wake yourself up early on Sunday. You’ve got to stop worrying about what you’re going to tell her when she finds out. You’ve got to stop over thinking why he stopped caring about you over six months ago. You’ve got to stop asking everyone for their opinions. Fuck it. Love yourself, kiddo. You’ve got to love yourself.”

[wolfiemcwolferson]

I loved your fantasy piarles and it’s probably my favorite fantasy au ever! The whole universe and magic was so cool and such big brained energy! I have to ask is there any more background or snippets you could give of the other characters? I’m so intrigued about Maxiel (Max was probably my favorite side character and loved the way you described him) and Carlando (Did they end up together forever and what is their life like?!?). LEWIS I have so many questions about and Seb and his sad farm!!!!!! (Is there Sewis?!). Now that I’m thinking about it Kimi and his pack!!! GEORGE AND ALEX (rich billionaire immortal boys just trying to live normal everyday lives) Ahhhhhhh I’ve read it three times already and I just keep thinking about it over and over.

Anon!!!

Let me tell you some things about this world because I built such a little world in my head as I was writing this fic.

Max was the first character that I conceptualized for this fic. I was writing this fic at the same time I was writing the Carlando piece of Blue Neighbourhood and I didn't know if I was going to write this as a Piarles story or a Carlando story. (It was meant to be a Piarles story though.) I knew who Max was going to be.

Obviously in this world, all immortal creatures are born and Max's father (who is powerful, but not as powerful as he'd like to be) had children with a very powerful witch essentially to...get the strongest children. Evil, vile man. Much like Jos IRL. Anyway, Max is raised in isolation with his father chasing some kind of something, he's never really sure, but he knows it's like A Big Deal.

He meets Charles at one of the only summits he's allowed to go to and they become friends and it's the first peak at a real life and then he somehow convinces his father to let him go away to study and that's how he meets Daniel. Charles absolutely encourages that and they fall in love.

Jos finds out about it and freaks out and starts to hunt them with some of his shady people and they bond with the help of Max's mom (who he hasn't seen in a long time).

When Jos discovers them, he is beside himself and that's when he goes after Max's sister, but the bonding really took it out of Daniel and Max so they can't go after him, so Charles does. And that's where the life debt comes from with Max.

Daniel really just spends the next hundred years showing Max the world before they buy a place in New York.

Now, Carlando.

They do end up together. Something that I didn't mention in the epilogue that is just pure HC is that Charles and Pierre and Co. work out the ritual to not just make vampires, but also werewolves. (And they make it happen without nearly ending in death all around.) ((And this is also what Jos was chasing - The Big Thing.))

I mentioned Carlos was studying native animals when he met Lando and Carlos would really rather be a werewolf. He's 35 when Lando turns him and then Lando takes him to see every single mountain range in the world and listens to his endless lectures.

Lando and Carlos eventually settle down outside of Serra de Tramuntana in Spain because the entire island is actually wolves - which they discover while they're visiting.

It turns into kind of a preternatural getaway resort type of town within the century and Lando finds the family he's been looking since his birth packs death.

Lewis and Seb and Kimi:

"They're the old generation". In that, they're all much older than the others and they were the ones who "broke tradition" and kind of paved the way for the younger crowd to have the lives they do.

In my brain: Seb and Lewis come and go out of each others lives because Lewis likes to travel in his plane and rubs elbows and do what he wants and Seb is happy to have his farm and give a place to preternatural creatures who need a place to recover. They're happy. It works for them.

Kimi continues to run Seattle with his rogue pack and he loves being out of the preternatural world - but he's always begging the kids to stop dragging trouble into his land.

George and Alex:

They really just want to live their lives. George is a doctor and he loves being a doctor and Alex runs through all kinds of occupations - he owns a diner, he's a teacher for a little while - at a human school.

But then you know, Charles and Pierre take in the witchling child (but then there's a werewolf cub and they even foster a selkie for a little bit while Seb finds a family of selkies to take them in, but they end up with two witchlings, a werewolf, and a vampire for keeps) and when it's time to send her off to do some formal education, they're shocked to find that...the school that Max and Charles attended together has...It's not good.

Charles calls Alex and is all, "We can't send her there, think of all the children that are being deprived of vital schooling, it's so sad Alex, won't you think of the children. Anyway, Lewis already bought us some land in the wilderness of Canada and we have all of the permits and approval from the council already, so..."

And thats how George and Alex end up as Headmaster's of The Hamilton School for Preternatural Creatures. (There might be half a fic floating around in my brain about that, but don't push it. Ok. I can't take that on right now. *crosses fingers behind my back*)

[scazrelet]

Art Theory: The Torso is a Clawfoot Bathtub

This is a bit of an experiment. This is a mirror of my most popular Ko-Fi post, now in full form here on Tumblr (though it does look better there with all the images properly sized and the text centered and etc etc). If it gets enough eyeballs I’ll mirror the other ones too. Now, without further ado...

Due to the popular demand of like... a couple people, I will be going over how THE HUMAN TORSO IS LIKE A CLAWFOOT BATHTUB. But first, a story. When I was still just a wee babby artist I would wander into the local library and pick up art books and be confronted with all of the in-depth anatomy images and feel a bit, well... overwhelmed.

And it's not as if I'm a dumb person or anything. It just never really made any real sense, not in a way that was meaningful to me. I struggled to retain it, unlike with other subjects, which of course confused me even more.

In hindsight I see now that it was like trying to memorize the parts of a car engine, how they all looked visually, where they were placed spatially (in 3D nonetheless), without knowing how a car operates or how all the parts work together in motion.

Which is a bit ridiculous. In any case, since I didn't have much interest in drawing western style comic superheros with musculature that looks like it's been vacuum sealed by their skin I spent a good amount of time just ignoring it and sneaking by, using a lot of shorthand and doing practices drawing from life. And, to be fair, I did learn a lot like that.

(Thanks for your contribution to the arts, Rob Liefield. I don't like feet either.)

Which brings us back to torsos. So when you look at a torso you can visually see there are features, like pecs and belly buttons, but their relationship to the internal structure is not immediately apparent.

(Me drawing in high school, probably.) So what ends up happening there is you just end up sort of... putting stuff where you best guess it kind of belongs. And sure, sometimes it's a really educated guess, and can be hella convincing. I tend to notice this most with collarbones. I can tell when an artists has learned largely through shorthand and idioms when their collarbones are just sort of floating around doing their own thing, basically acting as decoration on the chest without suggesting any greater purpose.

So what changed? And what does this have to do with bathtubs?

Well, I had a few paradigm shifts. To put it more simply, I realized I am a very conceptual and relational thinker. Anatomy never stuck with me because it never "clicked." So my success came from starting with big concepts and adding increasing levels of complication as I became ready for them. Pieces falling into place bit by bit.

Like a car, for instance, is a vehicle that runs on a series of explosions. Which is kind of badass. These explosions, in turn, are caused by pistons which rotate in time, which is kept going by... weird shaped gears and belts and pulleys... sparks... compression... well that's about it for my knowledge of engines.

*I have since been informed that it is the spark plugs that make the explosions and the explosions that power the movement of the pistons. I think it was clear by my diagram of a car that I am not well versed in automobiles. 

So what is the bathtub about? This is literally all I came here for.

Ok, ok... So the bathtub is a conceptual metaphor that helps an artist understand the structure of the torso. Cool. So, to break that down... It's easy to think of the body in terms of a column. A series of objects supported by the object below. That makes sense, right? At heart we are, essentially, the Michelin man.

(★ ☆ ☆) Except not at all. Unlike palm trees, pyramids, and economic class systems we are not, in fact, a series of parts dependent on the parts beneath them. And we knows this. I know this, you know this, we've all seen spooky skeletons before, but for some reason artists consistently fail to internalize it. The issue being that we are still just mammals, just mammals that walk around funny. And Mammals are basically flesh tents. But... less horrifying than that phrase suggests.

(Like this but skin.) Essentially your standard cat or dog is holding up its spine with its four legs and then its body is hanging from that support structure created by the spine. The body is not being held up from below by the legs. And that's a fairly crucial distinction as it turns out. The muscles of the legs connect to the spine(ish), and the ribcage hangs down from the spine, making a nice tidy sack to hold all the insides where they are supposed to be.

And humans? Well we're all evolved from previously four legged critters. 

(We're really just some jumped up fancy rats.) Which means we follow a very similar diagram - but with alterations to account for a bipedal stance.

WHICH BRINGS US TO BATHTUBS.

So, take this weird upright mammal and break it down into very basic blocks.

(I can draw better but I refuse.) Got some hips, a spine, a ribcage, just like a cat but vertical. So, again, all the focus is on supporting the spine, specifically. Which is why our arm muscles still largely connect to our back (except, like, your pecs which are literally contracting and yanking your arm bones forward which is metal AF).

So, like an umbrella designed in hell, we are actually bags of meat hanging from our spines. And that "decorative" collarbone? Literally holding up a ton of meat draped over it so we can continue to move our arms.

Which 🎉🎉🎉 BRINGS US TO THE BATHTUB🎉 🎉🎉

( F***in told you. ) It's not a perfect metaphor since usually the curtain rod is held up by other supports besides just the shower head (it's literally called a head this is such a great metaphor) but give me a little slack. The ribcage is like the curtain, held up by the spine of the showerhead, and the hip bones are the bowl of the bathtub, within which are lovingly nestled... all the intestines. And stuff. This metaphor helps an artist conceptualize the human structure, so they can start applying further degrees of knowledge, like muscles and motion and afsGkljSAKjhgfajhs hands.

But I specifically said a clawfoot bathtub you say pedantically? Well...

I didn't stutter. It is a CLAWFOOT BATHTUB. Specifically.

And not just for some reason like "oh because it has feet." (OK like maybe a little but not only, alright?) So let's talk about hips.

Now muscles work by contracting, something I passingly mentioned before (didn't think that would be on the test, did ya?) so to create motion the better generally contracts a muscle that has ends tied to two bones.

(Hips. You might already see where I'm going here.) That's why we don't resemble ball jointed dolls. Due to *insert complicated mechanical reason based on leverage, pulleys, walking, flexibility, and so on* we, again, aren't just objects stacked on top of each other like dishes.

(I only chose this image because it sounds like a band name.) So, as it turns out, rather than balls and sticks and vague underwear shapes, there is another pretty stellar way to consider the leg hip connection area.

Excuse my atrocious rendition of it here, but I assume you get the jist. Two turkey drumsticks tagged onto Lego Bionicle pegs jammed into a pair of hipster undies, with some amorphous fleshy bits spackled in there.

( I am very serious right now. ) So, I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but this shape very much resembles...

And that, my dear friends is why the human torso is a clawfoot tub. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Enjoyed this post? Find more tutorials and drop me a tip on my Ko-Fi Want art help with something else? Critiques and reviews? Just to chat and share? Join my discord. Hate this? Day ruined? ME TOO B