#it hurts a lot sometimes but i love it
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I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker.
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#poorly drawn mdzs#mdzs#wen ning#wei wuxian#wen qing#jiang cheng#Truly Massive disclaimer here: I am a Jiang Cheng enjoyer. I like his character. I enjoy that he is very flawed and volatile.#This episode of the audio drama has a lot of great breakdown scenes featuring JC - and they all deserve a feature.#But underlying this comic is a small meta comment of 'ah man I have too many comics of JC just wailing sadly'#My goal is to draw 6-8 comics per episode - I sometimes have to truncate and cut good scenes out.#Especially when a large majority is just different flavours of trauma and toxic relationships to your self-worth.#I would also like to make a note here that just because you lose the ability to do something that is very tied to your core identity-#-does not mean your life is over. It will feel like the end of the world. It will send you into a spiral of grief. It will hurt so badly.#Sometimes we do not realize how tied up our identities can be in certain things until we are cut loose.#You don't lose yourself. I promise the pain will fade in time. I promise you will find other things to tether you. I promise you will be ok#Life moves forwards. Time moves forwards. You move forwards.#Ego death just means an opportunity for ego rebirth. You are never committed to being the same person forever.#To wrap this around to JC: Yeah I love the twist with the core transfer but man I would have loved to see JC accept the loss.#Obviously it happens for a reason (story) but I can have my AUs. I can have these 'what-ifs'.#described in alt text#I'm trying it out! *please* give me feedback - I want to eventually Add image ID to all of these comics one day
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1 - The Book Thief
So my 2023 resolution was to read more books (and not only comics) and if i was reading again i had to start with my favorite: the book thief.
This was the first book to ever make me cry and is still the best book i ever read, the way it uses words is incredible,
from describing liesel's words hurting the the mayors wife with actual physical wounds to every definition in the duden dictionary it is very fitting that a book about the power of words is so good at using them.
Rereading i realized how much i had forgotten, the mayor's wife, frau holtzapfel a lot of the "sideplots" i guess but also how much of this book is burned in my heart; max fightin in the basement and the books he made, rosa and her angry love , rudy... everything about rudy really but especially that moment in the river.
Im not good at writing and i dont have a lot more to say then this is an amazing book and every time i read it i love it a little more or in the words of the narrator herself:
i am haunted by humans
#i guess i need a tag for this#the night puncher reads 2023#fuck i love this book#it hurts a lot sometimes but i love it#well now i gotta choose#what to read next#the locked tomb cemetary boys or axioms end#lesbians gays or aliens#the three genders#also i think death is male in the og book thief but i read the superior br version#im not sure what this even is i just want a place to talk about the books i read#and remember them
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Dev this is serious stop beatboxing.
#fop nature au#fop#fairly oddparents#fop a new wish#fairly oddparents a new wish#dev dimmadome#fop dev#dale dimmadome#emetophobia#art#digital art#fanart#comic#Sorry for taking so long on this I was procrastinating bcs its just kinda a context page that needs to exist for other stuff to happen#I love it when they interact like disgruntled roommates#like on one had he SHOT HIM on the other hand whats Dev supposed to do? Go no contact?? Hes ten#This takes place like 2 days after the deer attack#Dale got whisked away to fairy world to get speed healed and had his memory wiped of the whole thing#Devs relationship with his dad is so messy cause like yes his dad hurt him but also thats his dad and he loves him.#even if his dad doesnt love him back#He wants to Want To Hurt his dad. thats the right way to feel about after what he did. and he does feel that way sometimes.#but on some level its was kind of a relief to hear that he couldnt wish harm on people#because even if he could he isnt sure he could go through with it#and there would be nothing worse than having the power to do something and yet. not#sorry if that sounds insane#complicated relationships with your abuser my beloved#also just the quiet acceptance Dev has for (what he thinks is) Peri straight up lying to his face#Dev likes Peri a lot but he is also deeply aware that Peri hides a lot of things from him#I think he appreciates that Peri tries to shield his feelings. His dad doesnt do that#ofc Peri isnt actually lying here I just think the layers of such a small interaction are hilarious
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can i just say. and this is probably a niche hill to die on. that i am so gobsmacked every time someone vaguely hints at the idea that jotaro doesn't care meaningfully for the other crusaders, usually particularly kakyoin and joseph, when those two actually tend to be the ones he reacts to being hurt the hardest
like he cares for his loved ones!!!! that literally plays into his character motives in every single part he shows up in!!! stop lying to me!!!!!!!
#me.txt#jjba#i'm going to ramble in tags actually. excuse me#ok. rereading sdc and so confused at the general perception of jotaro and his friends/family. he's not NEARLY as flat or as dickish#i understand that the anime (particularly the dub) tends to slander him but even then he still clearly cares for them! i'm confused#i also understand that a lot of people dig against jotaro and kakyoin as a dynamic because 'they're popular' and that generally disliking#popular things across media is a thing that i've seen consistently everywhere but the discredit to them simply as a DUO and not even as a#pairing is so..... odd..... like they're considered to be a duo that clicks for a reason. i enjoyed them even before i got into the fandom#every time i see someone say jotaro is overrated/dull i take a shot and assume they're an anime-only or only read the manga like once btw#joseph and jotaro also have a neat dynamic and they obviously both love and care for each other. like they're not going to go around loudly#or anything but literally the entirety of the lovers and the prelude to the dio fight IS jotaro being worked up over joseph getting hurt#equally i don't know if it translates to the anime as much but joseph is VERY complimentary when it comes to jotaro. like he sings his#praises so often and reminds everyone that he's his grandson so frequently (d'arby the gamer is a good example of this). either way it's so#peculiar....... there's not enough avdol and jotaro content btw (also in canon) because jotaro obviously looks up to him and avdol jokes#around with him on the occasion they interact after their intro which doesn't start very well. it's very cute#i do think an important thing to note about jotaro's character is how he acts AFTER his intro because he's so drastically different. early#jotaro and later jotaro aren't the same character and i do not mean this in a character development way. excluding the jail incident he's#completely different and probably shouldn't really be taken into account (especially considering the amount of slapstick in araki's intros)#and i think that's really???? what people center on for his character? Which sucks balls bad!#anyways. i could ramble more about this if asked i have so much to say but sigh. jotaro cares so much for his friends and family he's not a#flat fully cold asshole character regardless of whether you watch the anime or ova or read the manga. you just have poor media literacy#i wouldn't recommend watching solely the anime for his character though. the dub also changes a lot so it's... questionable#i love the anime and it's still important for him though. also adds neat stuff. i need to stop myself. i have many thoughts on the matter#jotaro kujo#joseph joestar#noriaki kakyoin#adding in case anyone sees: i am not saying that he is perfect about this. in fact he is very ass about it with jolyne and holly and that's#very important. he also is in fact an asshole sometimes. NOT as much as you guys are making him though!#please don't get me started on how much of a dick etc people make kakyoin to veer away from the 'woobified' characterizations of him#in fact i think that's bad if not worse because it CLAIMS to be in character. hes a prim asshole at times but not that angry or dishevelled
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i think kirishima comes home from the barber’s one day with the ugliest haircut you’ve ever seen on him ☹️ and he’s bouncing around sooooo happy with it, you just don’t have the heart to tell him it’s terrible ☹️🥲
he refused to show you any of his pegs, 100% positive you would love it. bless him because all he really wanted was to surprise you 🥺, hyping it up the weeks leading to the day, too—
“it’s gonna look so good, baby, can’t wait for you to see it,” he kisses you, right as he’s about to head off for his appointment.
you didn’t know it then, eyes sparkling and absolutely smitten as you reply, “looking forward to it.”
so now, as he turns around in front of you, arms open wide as if showing off the pièce de résistance; the absolute cherry on top, he asks, “what do you think? d’you like it?”
and you give it a good look, raising your eyebrows in an effort to look pleasantly surprised (but truthfully just shocked). you can feel the corners of your lips twitching, muscles turning nervous at giving away how you really feel about it.
you take a deep breath and blink, stepping closer to him as you reach up to run your fingers up the nape of his neck and through the strands of his freshly styled hair.
he waits, anticipatory.
two truths sink in at this very moment:
1) it’s just hair. it’ll grow back.
2) you must love him. a whole lot actually, because—
“i love it, it brings out your smile,” you look into his eyes, catching how he beams at you. a sparkling red.
you’ll find a way to let him know about it eventually.
#kirishima x reader#bnha x reader#bakugo calls him shitty hair for real now ☹️☹️☹️☹️#and the only consolation he has. his go-to comeback ALL THE TIME. is that he doesn’t care. because you love his hair 🥺😭😭😭#shotorus.bubble#i think he just 🥺 has questionable taste sometimes 🥺#but he’s soooo happy about it 😭 a little white lie won’t hurt right?#🥺🥺🥺 besides 🥺🥺🥺 when you look at his face and focus on that it’s easy to just forget about the hair 🥺🥺🥺#(actually. very hard. because hair does so much 😭 but. you do what you can for love)#(and you love kiri a whole lot more than you hate this shitty haircut 🥺)
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I wish there were more meaningful insights into Wyll's relationship with his father that didn't turn into "lol daddy kink amirite" or "this is why we should kill Ulder"
#twilitalks#I'm just going to holler this into the void and not any of the fandom tags#sometimes your dad is a stoic traumatized dude who hasn't gone to therapy and loves his kids but Isn't Very Good At It#that doesn't excuse the way he's hurt his kids or make him a horrible irredeemable person it just makes him A Person#you can love someone and still be angry and hurt at them for what they did to you#can you tell I relate to Wyll a lot in this regard
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Headcanon that the boys were first introduced to Lou Jitsu through Splinter scrounging up an old movie to watch through a grainy projector. Splinter wanted to hype himself up at the time, to see a version of himself - however fictional - succeeding and being happy.
He watches, and smiles, mouthing along to the dialogue and outright whisper-shouting “HOT SOUUUP!” whenever it comes up.
Nestled in his lap are his four new sons, still learning the world around them and heavily reliant on their new father. They watch with wide eyes how lively their guardian looks, how happy he sounds, and they turn to watch the movie closely. Because, for as young as they were, they could recognize the source of their father’s joy.
So naturally, they come to associate Lou Jitsu with their father’s smile, and in turn, they feel happy themselves. To them, Lou Jitsu will always be a source of joy, and always make them smile, even if they forget why as they grow.
They’re not just movies for the four of them - they’re the distant memories of a warm lap and a smiling face.
#rottmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rottmnt headcanons#rise splinter#rottmnt splinter#I’m in a turtle tot mood#the babiessss#I know a lot of people like to criticize Splinter’s parenting and like yeah he’s not the BEST#but despite his mistakes I genuinely think he did better than what could or should have been expected of him#like anyone else would not have been able to do it#he can be a little negligent and hurtful at times but I don’t think he was as absent a parent as a lot of you say he is#his flaws are there true but again - he loves his boys so much#that being said it’s no excuse for his mistakes and he should be rightfully called out for them#but sometimes I feel like people really overblow his flaws
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imagine younger morgott and mohg growing up in the sewers. theyre big enough to use the weapons their dad left for them, but he hasnt come back to see them in a long time. they dont really know whats going on in leyndell, except MAYBE the ceiling shakes sometimes and dragon shrieking happens a LOT. the sewers absolutely suck major balls: the other omens arent exactly their allies, they never know when an omenkiller might show up, and theres part of the sewers where crazy people shoot fire out of their faces. they just avoid that place as much as possible.
and then one day, one of them hears something down a tunnel. an omen spotting something and going on the offensive before its opponent can. but instead of the sounds of combat, theres a squeak of surprise and an incantation's chime. lavender light appears from the same direction, followed by a girls whisper echoing, "youre probably grumpy because youre tired. a nice nap should help. sweet dreams!"
a little girl with long lavender hair walks through the sewers with all the comfort she might through a flower filled meadow, perfectly at home with all the grime and muck, and a smile on her face as she hums to herself. she shouldnt be so at ease in such a dangerous place, but she tries to talk to every omen she sees, only to perform that same lavender incantation each time shes attacked. against all odds, the omens lay down their weapons in sleep - and a peaceful sleep at that. the girl wishes each and every one sweet dreams before she resumes her stroll.
morgott has ample time to observe her strangeness before confronting her, not with violence but with a stern warning and a demand to know her identity. the girl seems awestruck by his intact horns, and his willingness to talk brings a brilliant smile - the kind rarely seen in the sewers - to her face. she introduces herself as trina, and she heard that there were people living down here. she just wanted to meet them, and see if she could help them. and so far, its seemed like everyone could use a good nights sleep.
theres no mention of miquella, nor his desire to learn his mothers secrets hidden away from the erdtrees radiance. his schemes are still percolating, and trina is only meant to gather information. but that wont stop her from talking to the omens, rats, and even the frenzied merchants hiding away in the depths. theres room in her heart for everyone, especially the royal omen twins who she unquestioningly accepts as her brothers. let them think that she is just another child of marika, an individual separate from miquella. in the sewer - in the muck and grime - she can be an individual, loved for *herself* and not for miquellas charms. she can love her brothers as they are, not for what miquella can take from them.
someday, trina will vanish like godfrey did, leaving the frenzied merchants with her song. mohg is caught off-guard by miquella, believing for a moment that he is the sister he loved so dearly. her influence made it all the easier for miquella to steal his heart. morgott does not know trinas nature, and doesnt realize the hand she had in miquellas treachery. she is just another person to abandon him, and perhaps the golden order as well.
and someday trina will return to the muck and grime, her love cast away by her other half. she will be at home there, among the putresence, as long as it takes for miquellas scheme to be thwarted.
#epsilon says shit#elden ring#elden ring dlc#elden ring spoilers#st trina#morgott#morgott the omen king#morgott the grace given#mohg#mohg lord of blood#this is what we call delusions idc if its canon compliant im having FUN OKAY#TRINA IS MY SEWER PRINCESS AND I HAVE OPINIONS ABOUT IT 📣📣📣📣#MORGOTT AND MOHG GET TO BE BIG BROTHERS TO A GIRLIE WHO IS ALSO KIND OF A SECRET#SHE JUST WANTS TO LOVE EVERYONE AND BE LOVED BACK BUT MIQUELLAS PLANS HURT PEOPLE SOMETIMES AND SHE HAS A HARD TIME DEALING WITH THAT#ASK ME ABOUT MY TRINA AND OMEN TWINS THOUGHTS I HAVE A LOT
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The Untamed - Episode 11 - Episode 15
The woman had creamy skin and was rather beautiful, though her delicate features displayed some fierceness. The corners of her lips lay between a frown and a smile - she was a natural at sneering, just like Jiang Cheng. Her flowing purple robes wrapped around her thin waist. Both her face and her right hand, which rested on the hilt of her sword, were as cold as jade stone. A ring embellished with amethyst was worn on the index finger of her right hand.
Jiang Cheng smiled as he saw her, "Mom!"
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation - Chapter 51- Courage- Part 1
Madam Yu stared at his face. Suddenly she embraced him and kissed his hair a few times. With him in her arms, she murmured, "Good boy."
She hugged him so tight that it seemed as if she wanted turn Jiang Cheng into a baby and stuff him back into her stomach, so that nobody could hurt him, nobody could tear them apart. Jiang Cheng had never been hugged by his mother like this, much less kissed. His head was buried in her chest but his eyes were wide open, not knowing what to do.
The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation- Chapter 58 - Poisons- Part 3
#It's about men loving their awful mothers#Also. Their relationship is SO IMPORTANT TO JC#madam yu taught jc that love comes with hurt and#that sometimes someone you love hurts badly your favorite person and you can still love and feel complicated about that person!#And this is going to shape jc's way to deal with wwx#Also. madam yu loves him *so much* )#But madam yu and jc aren't exactly close like jl and jc are. Which *gesture to mdzs* it's all about generational trauma and trying#to do better#I've so many feelings#jiang cheng#yu ziyuan#*mgifs#Out of the point. wcz's acting slaps#Uh. Should I cut the madam yu's description? It's maybe too long lol#Also. jc's problem is not 'lack of mother's love'. The problem imo is that the love is there. And it's a lot
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Dean is such a paradox for me because on the one hand, I have been actively triggered by him in the show, there are moments where, intentionally or not, the writers managed to create a portrayal of manipulation and abuse and control issues that it sets off actual alarms for me. And on the other hand, I would not have him any other way. There is something — not comforting, that’s too soft a word — about knowing where Dean’s actions stem from, having seen and learned all that we do about his childhood neglect and parentification and the trauma he goes through repeatedly in the show, and that he doesn’t come out clean. He comes out a goddamn mess who ends up hurting the people around him in reaction to his own pain!
There’s a reality there that’s. Almost nice, actually. Distressing to watch, but it is a fucking mess, it’s a good mess! He’s got zero healthy coping skills and a healthy relationship with say, his brother, is terrifying because it leaves him open to abandonment!
I’m not sure I’m wording this correctly. There is a way to be a good abuse victim. Take the pain, martyr yourself on it, and then, even if you have no support or idea how to, then you have to become a Good Person who never hurts anyone the way you have been learning to your entire life. Simply toss everything that shaped you out the door and emerge a saint with a tragic backstory. And Dean is not that. And that’s so fucking good. Everything that he has gone through continues to effect the way he treats the people around him, and he can’t fight the behaviors he might recognize as harmful because he also sees them as protecting him (or protecting Sam by keeping Sam with him.)
And sometimes, idk. It feels good to see a guy who didn’t heal the “right way.” Who mostly didn’t heal at all, just keeps the wound open because it’s easier that way.
#there’s a whole other bit to this about how like. it’s hard for fandom to hold the idea that someone can be both a victim and abusive#at the same time. that the ways someone has been hurt don’t always shape them into kindness and wide-eyed sympathy. occasionally it just#makes them hard to live with. and I think most obviously is the thing that a lot of what Dean does is an expression of love. of protection.#he’s very much his father’s son in that way. that’s why Sam. the guy he’s been Told to protect his whole life. is also the person he ends up#hurting the most. it’s tragedy. it’s realistic. it’s a good fucking mess.#and that’s why I don’t get interpretations of dean that are determined to shave off the ugly parts of his character. to me those are the#parts that make him a character worth revisiting. he’s so full of love. and he uses it to hurt people. he means to sometimes. a lot of the#time he doesn’t but hurts them anyway. he has been shaped by violence his whole life. and it’s just. I get why someone might take this#part of him away. to make him easier to love. because I get that he’s stressful to watch also like I get that. but he is.#he is compelling. in his anger and his controlling behavior and his strangling love. he is compelling in all the ways he has become this.#Dean’s degradation into these behaviors can be both a failure of a show that ran to long but also the believable trajectory of a man who#can’t heal. and I love him for that. I love him for emerging from pain as a angry sharp thing. I love that it brings the glimpses of him#being gentler and recognizing his actions as bad into stark relief. I love that this recognition often only lasts until he is hurt again and#then he backpedals into the safety of behaviors he knows will allow him to control a situation through force or manipulation.#it’s good fucking mess. you know? dean winchester everybody.#maybe I should have put all that in the main post. oh well. too late now.#spn#dean winchester#tw abuse
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so like
#i#spacie scribbles#oh my goddd#so like . what if i helfd him in my arms#what itf i stroked his face while he purred like what if man#i think it would fix me#i want to hear his endo click as he moves around i wanna hear the various joints in his body creak as he moves#is that so much. im not asking for a lot here#oh my goddd im like gonna cry for actually#i love him so much someone PLEASE help me#i wanna hear him groan sometimes as he moves around b/c hes an old fart and his body hurts all the time#arrrrrguoooooooooooooooo
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Two teenagers die horribly, one being unjustly murdered, while they other slowly rots his soul away until his nothing more but a shadow of his former self (without even accounting for the other vile crap he was put through) While the youngest is left without her family, forever frozen in time in the body of a child that will never grow up, with only broken memories of her loved ones...
In the same universe:
Pink puffball shrinks down into a tiny ball and proceeds to scarf down as many strawberries as possible on a cake while racing look-alikes.
I thought it was funny how this ask coincidentally built off the last comic XD
...Little Bonus because the polling is almost over...!!
Random shout-out/thanks to @driftwoodmfb for helping bring White-Haired Noir/Blanc into the world because imo he brings so much to this story...!
#Apologies AU#Kirby#Ribbon Kirby#Adeleine#Noir Fontaine#cw: death mention#I was going to say something in agreement about the tone of Apologies AU but...given Planet Robobot and the others...#...IS it really that much of a stretch for Kirby? XD#Adeleine just needs more strawberries in her life imo#Between the last comic and this one and it might look like Adeleine is in a really bad way emotionally...#...but she really does have a lot of people looking out for her#Reminding her nothing that happened was her fault#That as a child it was OKAY for her to be protected#That it's okay for her to be angry and hurt and bitter about that reality sometimes too#That everyone who died loved her deeply till the end and would hope she will still find happiness#And while she may not have chosen this body there are friends to help + support whatever life she wishes to live
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I think one of the biggest differences between bangel and spuffy is that angel isn’t a partner to buffy. he’s not even someone she knows that well. he’s not someone she’s ever familiar with, and he’s not someone she can ever fully rely on.
yeah their romance was big and grand and all the things a tragic fairytale romance is. but at the end of the day their relationship is so incredibly surface level. all there is is the idea of love, and not even the real thing.
#btvs#spike btvs#spuffy#buffy summers#anti angel#anti bangel#just in case#tbh I’m usually a multishipper when it comes to this sort of thing but…#b*ngel comes across as so surface level to me#there’s no real force or depth to it#even disregarding the weird vibes angel gives off about buffy’s age and his condescension and when he first fell in love with her#and all the ways he keeps her hooked by refusing to leave her alone after breaking up with her#a choice that he makes ‘for her own good’ - which he seems to do a lot#it’s that he has no real impact on her as an actual person/slayer with interests and complexity and depth#while he hurt her and affected her#sometimes it feels like he barely made a scratch at all to what actually represents her personhood#anyways I don’t hate him or the ship really and I get why people like him#it’s just to me it’s kind of ridículous that people#say he was it for buffy#when he was barely even a partner#that’s high school romance not real bone deep love#myramblings
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la!cxs telling lu guang that his 'rules' (past or future mantra) never existed to begin with, demeaning himself saying that lu guang only ever wanted an obedient thing to do his bidding and put cxs through all these missions to manipulate him into being pliant, nothing more than a means to an end rather than a friend.....wow.
it's fascinating because in the donghua lu guang does have this selfish quality (as well as being a massive hypocrite), only it manifests in his breaking of the rules for cheng xiaoshi's sake. in the live action lu guang still lacks the inability to Let It Go, but here we see the effects of his reckless tunnel vision and contradictory convictions on the person he's come to care for, 'his only friend,' and it's heartbreaking to watch.
it truly does feel like we're watching shiguang's growing pains, before they settle into their relationship, before lu guang is so fiercely devoted to cxs that he'll sacrifice anything to save him.
#link click#shiguang#lu guang#cheng xiaoshi#shiguang dailiren#ness lc tag#i love comparing lcla canon abd donghua canon sm catch me doing a comparative analysis tbh#and mixing the two together?? my favourite#i love that la!cxs directly points out some of these flaws directly to lg#i like the acknowledgement that lg's secrecy and tendency to lie by omission and the way he can sometimes withhold info from others#can end up making them feel hurt and manipulated#in the donghua even tho he's trying to save cxs he's hiding things from him and there's probs a lot of moving pieces we don't know abt#i wonder how donghua!cxs will feel about all of that#i imagine it will be Very complicated. he'll have many feelings my god#link click live action
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I want you to tell ‘em that you love the way that they don’t stick out like sore middle fingers
[Continuation of this]
#TMNT 2012#casey jones 2012#raphael hamato#rasey#this is platonic again but I’m not against romantic subtext or whatever#when I was in school being able to do this with your hand was super cool and I often still do it with both#but I’ve met both adults and kids who’ve never seen it before and it freaks them out ahaha#anyway I was jus thinking of hands again and this is a warm up sketch#but i do think thee two would have heart to hearts on rooftops sometimes and really open up#maybe theyre sat next to eachother and raph looks at his thigh next to Casey’s and gets self conscious#maybe one of them was hurt in a fight (probably Casey) and theyre patching eachother up and they just start exploring their differences#or maybe its something as simple as raph asking casey if he was Tarzan and the scene with the hands and Casey’s like yo we can do that#or even more childish theyre just doing it to see who’s hands bigger because Casey’s sister has been doing it a lot and its fun#because let me tell you it doesnt matter how old the kids i work with are they all love comparing my hand with theirs#but i imagine Raphs eyes for a second would give away hes upset a little cause he’s definitely the most self conscience about being a mutant#so Casey would do this and be like ahh look see we arent that different really#raph could bend his fingers to emphasise how much shorter Casey’s are#and cause would say something like these digits might be small but theyre mighty#leading to a shove or even a thumb war or something#anyway ill stop gushing i have a comission to do xxx#OH OH OH THE BITE MARK ON CASEY IS BECAUSE A MUTUAL COMMENTS ABOUT EATING MY RASEY ART SO THATS THEIR TEETH but im not naming names....
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Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?
Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!
I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.
I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.
I am going to talk about the prologue.
The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.
Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.
But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.
They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.
I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?
Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.
Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.
At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.
What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.
It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.
But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.
ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?
When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.
#these aren't deep or unique thoughts they're just the specific aspect of ISAT that made it one of the most interesting gaming experiences#i actually like the prologue much more than ISAT for just this reason#its honestly a video game art piece that's created to give the player a very specific experience#that makes them an aspect of the narrative that is told#it's. incredible.#in stars and time#start again start again start again#start again: a prologue#isat#god and there is so so so so much more to say here#what a rich and complex and fascinating game that made me cry like a baby#i dont even kin sif. we arent similar at all.#i cant imagine how devastating this game would have been if i did#but I do have a deep relationship with escapsim#and i write about it a lot#and video games about being video games are wonderful#as are stories about being stories#and why we consume stories. how we use them. how they save us and hurt us.#never played a video game that used its medium so well#i bet undertales also pretty good at that but this is more so i think#stories about stories have to be about why we love stories#and im not an artsy person and i roll my eyes a bit when people talk about the spiritual neccesity of art#i think people need stories because the world is sad and hard and boring and we want to think about something else for a while.#some people need to be anywhere but here#and sometimes if you're Lil Depressed-Ass Snufkin that looks like being here forever#baby cringe-ass snufkin big hat idiot
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