#it's a whale and a grave

[dreamsrunfaster]

Rereading whale weekly is so fucking rough what do you MEAN you met queequeg in an inn called Peter Coffin

[quasiimodo]

women of disney 38. fantasia 2000 (1999)

[brigdh]

These are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean’s skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.

Remember, Moby Dick is cosmic horror.

[karvivore]

MOUTH OF HELL

wanted to draw his mouth <3

[contentabnormal]

Dwight Frye as Karl in Bride Of Frankenstein

Watercolors on Paper, 8.5" x 11", 2024

By Josh Ryals

[sunday-kisser]

Okay so, like. I have a small tiny bitsy problem 👉🏽👈🏽

I kinda wanna start playing Honkai: Starrail BUT does anyone know if it fries your phone or iPad too much? Because I know for sure Genshin does .. and I'd rather not want my hands to turn into barbecue or my phone into a whole ass heater 🥲

I'm a PS4 player and I also play Genshin on PS4 but as Hsr is only available on PS5 currently and as there are no updates on a PS4 release.. I'd really want to get Dr. Ratio before regretting it later on due to the wait ;'(

[rwking01stuff-blog]

Antarctica Dream Adventure 6 - Grytviken, Old Whaling Station

[vigilskeep]

various and sundry artbook tidbits i found interesting (SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE VEILGUARD ARTBOOK. obviously)

faction & location stuff:

a sketch page from the very early days exploring shape languages for factions like elves, dwarves, wardens, the necropolis, tevinter, and rivain, also includes concepts for the mages’ college and the ben-hassrath

early rivain concept arts have npcs with a similar armour patterning to duncan’s, suggesting it’s a mark of his rivaini heritage like i always thought!

the depiction of the ““creation story”” suggests elves were mimicking the bodies of dwarves when they formed their own, not humans like i think mythal says in game flashbacks, which would make more sense timeline wise

there’s concept art of the city of ventus, which i believe is of particular relevance to mercar players? it’s right on the border of arlathan forest, and surrounded by magical statues holding out raised hands forming a ward along the tree line to keep it from encroaching

the home base was going to be a lovable fixer-upper of a ship given to us by isabela, named the dumat. this didn’t fit the spy theme they were originally going for, so they tried really really hard to make it a submarine without feeling anachronistic by making it sort of sea monster shaped. there are a lot of cutaways and schematics. they were going to give it a mystery engine that you would get light fetch quests to feed random objects: “ten dried lavender flowers, five quail’s eggs, three brass belt buckles, etc.....” the submarine then turned into an undersea mansion on the back of some giant shambling sea creature you would never get a good look at

later on there were some funny takes on the lighthouse specifically, like bringing back the sea creature theme to put it on the back of an interdimensional veil whale, or having it be the true location of the black emporium with a collection of eluvians that xenon the antiquarian lets you use

there’s a tiny concept art for a “high-speed aravel chase” in a canyon like a western

tevinter gladiators are mentioned a couple times. we WEREEE going to get to see the minrathous proving grounds :( there’s also a dwarven embassy concept art somebody take me out back and shoot me

there are a lot of ghilan’nain creature designs that didn’t make it into the game which is a shame but i can see why they would have been resource heavy

the antiva concept arts are so gorgeous. a lot of it got through! and definitely the overall Vibe made it. at some point it seems to have been antiva city itself; they don’t call it treviso and they mention the circle of magi as a major landmark

“The entrance to the Necropolis is like an inverted Tower of Babel. They seek knowledge in the grave instead of heaven.” <- this just rules as a line

for arlathan: “To differentiate it from previous forest and jungle locations in Dragon Age, we went with an autumnal colour palette. It has the benefit to feeling ominously like the end.”

the veil jumpers have a “skull halla” symbol that “implies their willingness to risk death”. did that end up in the game?

“With each faction, we explored a range of aspirational fantasies. For the Wardens, this ranged from knights in shining armour to butal tanks to a Nietzche quote: ‘Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster.’”

there’s this concept among the warden armours for an insane orlesian noblewoman look with the winter palace morrigan corset and a piled high wig, but the skirts torn knee length and a serrated fan in hand. i’m kind of obsessed

“To bring more life to the world, we thought about what industries would keep the Anderfels afloat. We took the prominent Warden blue colour and envisioned an industry harvesting flowers, creating dye, and then weaving copious amounts of blue fabric.” this is probably where the flower quests in the hossberg wetlands started off conceptually? v cute

character stuff:

in completely different early versions of the game, solas had a “bad cop” right hand woman called reva

imshael the desire demon/choice spirit from the masked empire and inquisition was going to be a two-handed weapon warrior companion, and also sexualised now while in largely feminine form, which would have been a Choice. there is one art of him in masculine form, also sexy but still not showing as much skin as the feminine one

as i said, neve was going to be calpernia

taash was a rogue. (they’re still a light-armoured dual wielder so that checks out.) it seems like davrin was briefly a mage. at some points harding seems to have inherited bianca

saarbrak, another qunari companion, seems to have lastest the longest of the abandoned concepts. he’s the only non-canon one who got as far as having a place for him sketched into designs of the lighthouse: “saarbrak’s planning room”. mentions and sightings of what might be him are sporadic and i think you only see his name on that sketch, but i’m connecting it to the description “a potential qunari companion evolved from saarebas to dapper qunari spy, offering a deeper look into qunari culture”

the embroidery on harding’s clothes is how she passes the time while “waiting for days in a sniper perch” on missions. i just thought that was cute

[bluedelliquanti]

Before I go on vacation, I present my list of my top books for 2024.

COMICS:

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki

Bunt! by Ngozi Ukazu & Mad Rupert

Ukazu and Rupert are a powerhouse team, and as an art school adjunct, this already funny GN is even funnier (albeit in a way that necessitates a skull emoji in the educator groupchat)

Tiffany’s Griffon by Magnolia Porter Siddell & Maddi Gonzalez

Phobos and Deimos by J Dalton

Delicious in Dungeon by Ryoko Kui

It's a tough task to reach a satisfying conclusion to a series that was as strong as Dungeon, but I think Kui accomplished it!

Fool Night by Kasumi Yasuda

King in Limbo by Ai Tanaka

Over the last year I've been drawn towards comic series that work with a retro, fixed-width inking style, and King especially informed some recent experiments of mine.

PROSE:

Twins by Bari Wood & Jack Geasland

When I learned Wood was responsible for the book that became Dead Ringers, I knew I had to try it. This is the one that wins my "Oh, shit! Wow!! Okay!!!" award for the year (distinctions previously awarded to Cyteen and Manhunt).

The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow

DS9: A Stitch in Time by Andrew J. Robinson

Those of you who read my journal comic from last August might recall that I met Robinson at a Trek convention! I'd learned from reading these books that Stitch was considered a white whale among collectors, and now I absolutely understand why. If you're a DS9 fan and you want to try any book from the original run of novels, try this one. By which I mean, try the far easier-to-find audiobook version.

Translation State by Ann Leckie

A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason

Fellow SBCF participant Erin Roseberry had shared this title as an inspiration for their comic, The Maker of Grave-Goods, and I was especially interested in trying a book by a Twin Cities author. What a serendipitous find!

Arboreality by Rebecca Campbell

For the third year in a row, a book nominated for the Le Guin Prize makes the list.

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin

This is another book I always told myself I'd try someday, and was it ever worth it! I spent some time talking about my experience with this story (and its accompanying materials that fill out the world) in my talk with Evan Dahm on his show.

See you in the new year! I've packed some thick books for a long flight, so I'm starting my 2025 reading pile right away!

Reruns of my previous two lists, 2023, and 2022, below the cut.

2023

COMICS:

Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Hitoshi Ashinano

Out of Style by Devi Putri Megwati

Skip and Loafer by Misaki Takamatsu

The Harrowing of Hell by Evan Dahm

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

Esteban by Matthieu Bonhomme

I covered my ShortBox reccs back in October, but since then I also picked up Pearl Hunting by Hana Chatani when it came to itch.io and adored it.

PROSE: 

So yes, maybe I'm cheating by including Moby Dick since I'm not all the way finished, but Whale Weekly really did end up being a great tool for getting me to crack open my gorgeous Evan Dahm-illustrated copy I've had for a while.

My favorite book of the year is Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky. I genuinely did read it the first week of January, but after having it recommended to me for years, I'm thrilled it didn't disappoint. Maybe I am someone who likes Russian novels after all???

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

Such Nice People by Sandra Scoppettone

Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh (I jokingly placed these three in the "READ 👏 FEMALE 👏 AUTHORS 👏" category because they don't have anything in common other than describing some of the most upsetting/bizarre scenarios I've read this year. Cyteen especially! Wowee!!!)

Brother Alive by Zain Khalid

Glory by Vladimir Nabokov

A Different Trek by David K. Seitz, which I mentioned as my vacation book for the Star Trek convention, but it's given me some great suggestions for more books, both fiction and otherwise. Also, I read... 11 more DS9 books this year. 

2022

COMICS:

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Vattu by Evan Dahm

The Well by Choo and Jake Wyatt

Wash Day Diaries by Robyn Smith and Jamila Rowser

Some ShortBox Comics Fair entries that are graphic novella length and are really good include Food School by Jade Armstrong and The God of Arepo by Reimena Yee et al.

PROSE:

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente

edit: oh my god I can't believe I forgot Perfume by Patrick Süskind

Honorable mentions from the pile of DS9 novelizations include Revenant by Alex White (for successfully pulling off a Sara Paretsky-style mystery in space) and Dominion War: Call to Arms by Diane Carey (for absolutely unhinged adjective choices).

[niresenrab]

Ikea plushies I would give to the different modern warfare characters purely based on vibes.

A few notes

Aftonsparv (Roach's plush) was a suggestion from @sleepy--starss

The plushies I gave to Soap and Alex we're part of a collection in which Ikea took children's drawings and made them into plushies

The whale that I gave to Nikolai actually has a pocket in the mouth that you can put things in. Tactical four foot long whale plush :)

The Burmese python that I gave to König is actually a puppet. It is also 67 inches (or 5 foot 7 inches), making it a good option for the tall man.

Vladimir gets no plushies. Said, he gets the piece of furniture ranked the hardest to put together.

Farah gets a golden retriever because it reminds her of her golden retriever boyfriend

You know why I gave Gaz blåhaj

NASA's ground control is based in Texas, so Graves gets a cat astronaut

[literallys-illiteracy]

Project Moon Reading list

this is mt attempt at a comprehensive list of the references in Project Moon Games.

if you have any that arent listed, feel free to share them.

Lobotomy Corporation:

SCP-049 (Plague Doctor) (Speculated)

Portrait of Dorian Grey (Portrait of Another World; Mirror Of Adjustment) (Speculated)

Bible (One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds, Plague Doctor, Skin Prophecy, Flesh Idol, Burrowing Heaven, Express Train to Hell, Whitenight, Carmen)

Midsummer Nights Dream (Fariy Festival)

[Radio Station] UVB-76//The Buzzer (1.76Mhz)(Speculated)

Necronomicon//General Lovecraft (Skin Prophecy)

Colour Out of Space (Fragment of the Universe) (speculated; Thematically almost certainly lovecraft inspired)

The Little Match Girl (Scorched Girl)

Beauty and the Beast (Beauty and the Beast)

The Red Shoes (Red Shoes)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Scarecrow searching for wisdom; Warm Hearted Woodsman)

Colour Out of Space (Child of the Galaxy) (speculative)

The Snow Queen (The Snow Queen)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (Rudolta of the Sleigh)

[Opera] Der Freischutz (Der Freischutz)

Snow White and the seven dwarves (Snow White's Apple)

Alarune (Alriune) (speculative)

The Little Prince (Little Prince)

Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary; Big and Will be Bad Wolf)

Three Little Pigs (Big and Will be Bad Wolf)

The Six Swans (Dream of a Black Swan) (Speculative)

[Music] Bethoven's Moonlight Sonata (Il Pianta De La Luna, Silent Orchestra)

[Film] Spirited Away (Mountain of Smiling Bodies) (Design) (Speculative)

Wonderlab specific:

Alice's adventures in wonderland (Red Queen, Hookah Butterfly)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Scaredy Cat and the road home)

The little mermaid (Piscence mermaid)

Midsummer nights dream (Titania)

[Conjecture/Heavy Speculation] Snow Queen or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (Nobody Is)

Rapunzel (Tangle)

Lady in the Lake (White Lake)

Mythology and Folklore:

[Buddhist] Preta (Clouded Monk)

[Celtic] Faerie (Fairy Festival)

[German] Der Freischutz "The Freeshooter" (Der Freischutz)

[German] Doppelganger "Double Walker" (Nothing There) (thematic)

[German] Nachtkrapp "Night raven" (Big Bird) (Speculative; Personally unconvinced)

[Greek] Stymphalian birds (Punishing Bird) (Speculative)

[Greek] Pygmalion//Galatea (Pygmalion)

[Japanese] Baku (Void Dream)

[Japanese] Jubokko "Tree Child" (Grave of Cherry blossoms)

[Jewish] Kabbalah (Tree of life, Malkuth, Yesod, Netzach, Hod, Tifret, Gevurah, Hesed, Chokma, Binah, Keter, Ayin)

[Jewish] Succubus//Incubus (Porccubus)

[Korean] Urban Legend regarding "Grape Welch Soda" (An Opened Can of Welcheers)

[Norse] Yggdrasil (Parasite Tree) (Speculative: Giant Tree Sap)

[Roman] Justicia // Lady Justice (Judgement Bird)

[Roman] Laetitia (Laetitia)

[Russian]  Zhar-ptitsa "The Firebird" (The Firebird)

--------------

Library of Ruina:

Library of Babel

Do Androids dream of electric sheep? (Thematic, Achievement name)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (The Adult Who Tells Lies, Scaredy cat and the road home)

The Marvelous Land of Oz (Ozma)

Town Musicians of Bremen (The Musicians of Bremen)

The Jaunt (WARP trains)

Nosferatu (Nosferatu)

Macbeth ("And then is Heard no more")

[Film] The hour of the wolf (Tanya)

[tarot] The fool (Jester of Nihil)

[poetry] Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poem (SPB&TP mili song) (thematic)

[poetry] Orlando furioso /& Orlando Innamoratto. (Roland and related cast (Argalia, angelica, etc.))

---------------

Limbus Company

The Divine Comedy (Dante & surrounding cast)

The Wings (Yi Sang & co.)

Faust (Faust)

Don Quixote (Don Quixote)

Hell Screen (Ryoshu)

The Stranger//L'etranger//The Outsider (Meursault)

Dream of the red chamber (Hong Lu)

Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff & Co.)

Moby Dick//The Whale (ishmael & Co.)

Crime and Punishment (Rodion & Sonya)

Demian (Sinclair & Co.)

The Odyssey (Outis, Cyclops)

The Metamorphosis (Gregor)

Limbus Company - Minor References:

Peter pan (Smee)

Sherlock Holmes: (Timekilling Time Stage Names)

Scandal in time (Scandal in Bohemia)

A Case of the Gallows (A Case of Identity) (speculative)

The Adventure of three detectives (The Adventure of Three Students)

The White Scarved League (The Red Headed League)

The Clock Tower of Fear (Valley of Fear)

The Final Problem (The Final Problem)

Midsummer night dream (Midwinter Nightmare EGO gift)

The Time Machine (Hubert from TKT) (Speculative)

The Stars (Alfonso and Stephanette)

The Old Man and The Sea (Indigo elder) (Speculative)

Murder on the Orient Express (Murder on the WARP express)

Vampire the Masqurade (Casseti) (Speculative)

The Masque of the Red Death (Casseti) (Speculative)

The one who rules (Stage name "the one who lords") (speculative)

Real People:

League of nine:

Kim Kirim (김기림) (Rim)

Yi Hyoseok (이효석) (Aseah)

Lee Jong-myeong (이종명) (Yurang)

Kim Yu-yeong (김유영) (???/ Unnamed Member)

Chi-Jin Yoo (유치진). Pen name: Dongrang (동랑) (Dongrang)

Cho Yong-man (조용만) (Aneung)

Lee Tae-jun (이태준) (Sang-heo)

Jeong Ji-yong (정지용) (Young-ji)

Lee Mu-young (이무영) (Gap-ryong)

Park Taewon (박태원) (Gubo)

Kim Hae-Gyeong (김해경). Pen name Yi Sang (이상) (Yi Sang)

Park Pal-yang (박팔양) (???/ Unnamed member)

Gim Yujeong (김유정) (Dongbaek)

Kim Hwan-tae (김환태) (Nul-in)

other(s):

Agatha Christi (Grade 1 Fixer Agatha)

Kim Sakkat (Bamboo Hatted Kim)

Alphonse Daudet (Alfonso)

Vergil (Vergillius)

EGO and Abnormalities:

Midsummers Night Dream (Midwinter Nightmare) (EGO gift)

Carmilla (400 roses Anormality) (Carmilla EGO gift)

Metropolis (Resident of Metropolaris) (Speculative)

Snow White and the seven dwarves (Ebony Queen's Apple)

Pride and Predgudice (Spider of Marrige)

Poem of a dying butterfly (no.10 Crows Eye View) (A Dying Butterfly

Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer (Sandolph)

[Religion, Abrahamic religions] (Skin Prophet) (Heavenly Executioners throne) (Sign of Roses) (Heavenly Commanders Throne) (Broken Wings) (ichthys (Headless ichthys))

[Religion, Buddhist] (Ya Śūnyatā Tad Rūpam EGO) (My Form Empties)

[Folklore, Celtic] Faeries (Fairy Long-Legs, Fairy Gentleman, Faelantern)

[Folklore, German] Der Freishutze (Der Freishutze) (Der Fluchshutze)

[Folklore, Korean] The Green Frog (Blubbering Toad)

[Folklore, Korean] Dol hareubang (Wishing Cairn) (Pagoda Veneration)

[iliadicjasontodd]

Do you have any Jason AO3 fic recommendations? Or just DC AO3 fic recommendations in general?

Hello! Hi, yes I do.

So, of course, anything by yutro @boyfridged, first of all, such as paint it over, black out days, & leave no trace, but genuinely all of their work is incredible. They understand Jason on a fundamental level- though to say he understands only Jason that deeply would do him and his writing which is so, so skilled, a disservice :))

the clay steals the clay by zipadeea is beautiful.

I'm sure you're familiar with it, but PLUTO. by orpheusaki @damianbugs is, imo, a classic. It recalls some of the feeling of some of the best parts of Countdown for me, for obvious reasons.

all of ceramicheart's (who I'm not certain would want me linking his tumblr blog!) work also- in particular redshift, but all of that series and, like I said, I love all of her work. ultimate Kyle Rayner understander & beautiful writer.

What the Living Do, Anonymous, is one of my favourite fics, esp as someone trying to give Jason Cotard's Delusion at every possible occasion.

last word WISDOM better get some even too late by Esmenet is one of my favourite fics point-blank. the Anne Carson of it all...

Get Used to Dying, by papered_king is one I always associate with the above, stylistically also! Love the meta of this, love theatre as horror.

a second darkness by vlnlr @batphobique. This absolutely blew me away, and the script format was, personally, a major bonus. I will probably be reading this over and over again.

mushrooms at sunrise by bleepbloopskoodlebop & Amble On (and your friends will surely find you) by Nightsrk both feature Jason dealing with schizophrenia, and I am very, very fond of both.

the Emergency Line series by crucifixinhell

i am what i am by luuma.

dirt by sunspikes. It's horror to me.

Time Loop fic! Ad Infinitum; Modified by familiarities (twistsandturns)

The Cold Like Coming Home by cabezas_de_vaca.

Smashing Tail Lights by CunningCrow @redactedcrow. I have read this about 5 times. I am still (very patiently) waiting for part two. It was, I think, the fic I read directly after reading Lost Days for the first time.

Apollo by sparkypants. the horror of never letting go!!! the horror of bruce wayne specifically never letting anything go!!!

Incomplete, but which came first (the robin or the grave) by figofswords @figofswords. Two years on I'm still hoping for more but it's very good as is as well!

do you listen to the girl in red, white, and blue? by ThatSpicySeaFlapFlap. Stephanie Brown girl of all time Stephanie Brown

Trapped by lurkinglurkerwholurks. I must have read it about 15 times whenever I'm feeling anxious. Because something is wrong with me.

Song of the Insensible by Jade_green.

The Whale by chucklesbuckles if you want some very terrifying Jason, & Get Joker by them (featuring maybe one of the only Harley Quinn depictions in a fanfic I've found compelling, not that I know her well) also!

Your reflection, your bitter deception & dust in my mind by KangaRou.

Bloodstains Won't Make It Matter by skylarkblue.

This is orphaned, but The Last Laugh.

Enough by Lunette3002.

Batman Kills the Joker by DragonflyxParodies & Palimpsest by cabezas_de_vaca both take interesting metatextual approaches to killing that stupid clown.

You're No Hero to this Story, Just Another Wretched Pawn by EventualToast. The way this is written is so genuinely unmooring and perturbing; it feels very authentically like derealisation and the true experience of profound horror despite most of that being magic.

To My Brother by a_silly_gander, I’d feel less like St. Sebastian if you’d stop searching for another arrow by worthy_willow, i know (do you know?) by cuephrase, imperfections can be nice by mikkal, Where You Perfectly Stand by cherrysour, what's in your head? by sinistercacophany @sinistercacophony (also has very good aftg fics, as an andrew enjoyer I come back to their work often), . I am at heart just sentimental about Dick & Jason.

the prophetic spring by yellow_caballero @yellowocaballero. I need you to understand I barely ever approve of Reverse Robin AUs. It's a thing. I talked about it extensively. I don't even care about or actively dislike a lot of the characters this au focuses on but it doesn't even matter here, seeing as I've been a fan of this author's writing for ages. So much tragicomedy. If you, or anyone reading this ask happen to be a fan of TMA do yourselves a favour and go read their TMA work also.

Late Night Langoustining by whaleofatime. I rarely read fluff but I'm very fond of this one.

Stage Directions by confusedrambler.

I mention sparingly but arkham!jason was my first foray into DC at all- and so naturally Ill Weeds Grow Apace by LananiA3O is something I've come back to, mostly for nostalgia nowadays. And trauma of course.

So if you want to absolutely ruin your entire day and possibly week and possibly several months, Of Broken, Blazing Wings by FrEShAVocaNoob. It absolutely wrecked me, I felt genuinely unwell after, but it was worth it.

Clearly Calm and Keeping Terrorised by Batbirdies & the Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul series by bacondoughnut are others I think everyone knows, but I thought I'd mention them anyway.

Anyway, I'm sure it shows that I've got a bit of one-track mind when it comes to characters I read fic about, but I hope this is a good collection for you. It took me two hours in one sitting but for some reason I can't write an essay for my master's degree? Fascinating.

[cheeseatlantic]

CoD characters as animals!

ghost, soap, gaz, price, alejandro, rudy, valeria, graves, makarov, nikto, horangi, konig, keegan, hesh, logan, kick, merrick and ajax

ghost

he’d be a black panther, cause of the whole mysterious ooga booga vibe if yk what i mean… yuh. idk hes just very black panthery ish!!!

soap

this bitch would be a hyrax with the way he is SCREAMING in everyones ears, like slap a mohawk on a hyrax and thats literally soapy boy…

gaz

leopard. because glamour blonde glamour y brunette!! and i mean we all know this diva, in his button up on the field, he is SERVING his cuntry!! (pun intended)

price

quokka, he has the smile. and the face of a fucking quokka, everytime i see one i wanna punch it in the face because its like stealing price’s identity. I LOVE IT LMAOOOO

alejandro

beluga whale, why? THE FUCKING FOREHEAD OKAY I DONT MAKE THE RULES BUT ITS THE FOREHEAD. IT TAKES UP ALL THE SPACE ON HIS FUCKING HEAD

rudy

an otter!! because they look so stinking cute but then they open their mouths and their even more stinking cute. need i say more??

valeria

doberman!! shes so doberman energy, like you can see her and be like yeah thats a doberman okay? like do we get the vision?? like she dont play around and we know that!! love her

graves

bald fucking eagle. AMERICA CAW CAWWWWW

makarov

a dinosaur because i want him extinct #bringbackthesoapbar but all jokes aside i see him as like a bat, hard to catch and scary… Grahhhahshrghahahs

nikto

a bear!! looks scary but most likely is an absolute sweetheart

horangi

secretary bird with all the cunt he serves on the field like yass queen slay your enemies!

konig

an elephant, they’ve been known to be scared of bees and because he has social anxiety he probably sees everyone as bees that would sting him!! also cause he is fucking giant.

keegan

wolf cause hes stealthy loyal and protective!! matches the description perfectly. also quiet observer. heh.

hesh

german shepherd, he gives off the energy okay i cant explain it

logan

cougar! silent but deadly, never turn your back on him

kick

kangaroo, he seems all over the place and kicky… hehahahehahahhehehaa

merrick

a lion! i see lions as a symbol of teamwork and leadership hence the prides and such

ajax

rhino… he seems like the heavy hitter of the team idk man

[honourablejester]

I was reading something about that trope where one character is trying to talk another character down from bloodily avenging someone they loved (and thereby losing their morality) by appealing to the memory of the lost loved one: “You’re [spouse/parent/child/friend] wouldn’t have wanted this!”

And then I remembered the Mariner’s Revenge Song by The Decemberists, in which the narrator could reply to this tactic with an entirely honest: “Oh, no. My mother gave me explicit and graphic instructions on how to avenge her. But thanks anyway. Excuse me, I gotta go find a man, bind him, tie him to a pole and break his fingers to splinters, then drag him to a hole until he wakes up naked clawing at the ceiling of his grave.”

Gotta love a backstory dead parent, dead mother, at that, where she was fully, no, no, I need you to go hunt this man down and graphically torture him to avenge me. None of this morality shit.

(To, like, a five year old, mind you).

Now, there turned out to be logistical issues to this mission (to the tune of a giant whale and the difficulty of burying someone naked and broken in a grave while you’re both inside said whale), but hey. He gave it his best shot!

[fasolabean]

I think people who are mad at him for mentioning twitter just dont get the vitriol that that site has for him. Warning for fatphobia, abelism and d*ath threats.

Im not talking here about the specific fandom. Kä fandom is small and pretty self contained and I'd say people complaining and criticizing stuff rarely ever go over the line. Usually cause well, that's his fans, they want him to be the best, they want him to improve. I'm talking about, well, people from the wider circle. Because I've seen hate tweets about him before I even got to listen to his music for the first time. I've said in a previous post that every time there's valid criticism or reporting to be done on him, theres like 50-100 hateful messages without any basis attatched. But like. He doesn't even have to do anything. It's like every two weeks I see a person call him ugly, talentless, going at his weight, his face, his voice, his outfits. I keep blocking the accounts, but new ones keep popping up. I've seen him being called "a beached whale", last year when his tooth got chopped off I've seen a post saying that it makes him look like a n*zi. I've seen people disrespecting Finland and Finnish as a whole and attaching his esc23 performance as if to make it a point. One time I've seen someone make a point of "hey maybe don't be too rude about his body itself, he almost died", the response was something along the lines "well he should've".

"Im glad loreen won" is a statement said every time he does something stupid, but it can also be attached to like. Him doing something suggestive on stage (and then cue tens of comments about how gross he is) or like, even just loudly laughing in an interview😭 And when he does do something stupid, there's nothing constructive said either. Back in may people were saying how they wished him to k/ll himself, and when you made a post with the keyword "käärijä" you would get responses of pictures of graves, saying either that it should be him or his fans. Like I need you to understand how fucking terrible that website is. This is not a "he can't take any criticism ever" issue when any valid criticism gets overshadowed by d/ath threats. Like it's hard to look at any vaguely negative message when on top of that you see pictures of tombstones that are edited to say your name.

No, Jere isn't perfect. No, Käärijä isn't perfect. Yes, I wish he did better, I wish he took constructive criticism. But like this is what you see when you search his name on there. I don't think he deserves that for the amount of shit he's actually done.

[sufferu]

So I have this one-shot I’m currently working on that isn’t quite done yet. Here’s a short scene.

Ficlet from One Good Deed A Day: As Graves Do

The Order of the Knights had not gotten off without scrutiny either. Although the pressure was mainly on the Candidates, the fact that some of the versions of the story being spread included their refusal to help was painting them as a bitter, vindictive group which would punish a youth for speaking out of turn by leaving him and his loved ones to die. It was remarkably similar to the situation that Julius had desperately attempted to steer everyone away from, but his efforts had seemingly been for naught.

Not that he really cared, right now. There was something more important at hand.

“I’m not sure you would have wanted me, of all people, to bring you flowers,” Julius admitted. “Our meeting with one another was far from pleasant, especially for you. I don’t even know what kind of flowers you like. …But I thought you might appreciate it if someone you met once were to visit you here, even if it were me.”

Natsuki Subaru didn’t have any family. His only known home had been at the Mather’s Estate, which was now in ruins, and nearly all of those who had known enough about him in life to properly grieve his passing were now dead. But the thought of leaving the boy’s grave unattended to made Julius’ heart ache, especially after he had tried so, so hard for the sake of everyone else.

He had been buried alongside all the other former residents of Irlam, right next to his Lady at the far side of the graveyard that had taken the place of the ghost town. It was beautiful, now, full of flowers and full of life. This was thanks to Reinhard — not just because it was the swing of his sword that had put it in motion, but because he now regularly tended to the garden that had sprung up in its wake. Nobody had fought Felt when she had angrily laid claim to the land left behind by the half-elf candidate and her self-proclaimed knight, mostly because any of the other three candidates trying to do anything of the sort would have seemed tactless (at the VERY best) within the context of the tale that had been spreading around the country.

“You’ll be happy to know that the Order has been going through a lot of trouble thanks to you,” he said wryly, gently and carefully setting the bouquet against the headstone. “Everyone’s taking their refusal to assist you in saving your village from the Witch Cult as a sign of personal grudges getting in the way. Somehow that tantrum of yours got turned around on US, because now we’re all being painted as the sort of weak-willed men who would use a boy throwing a tantrum as a reason to withhold from him our aid. Is this your way of getting back at me, I wonder…?”

Nobody could remember exactly what had happened when Subaru had come to the knights for help. But only one person had come to them seeking assistance against an upcoming Witch Cult attack in Irlam, and there was really only one person who that warning could have come from, so it wasn’t difficult to conclude what must have happened from there.

“I wish you had seen it fit to ask ME for help,” Julius lamented quietly. “You were asking everyone you could, right? If you had just come and asked me, maybe I could have…”

Anastasia had seen no reason to give her aid, with Subaru’s clumsy negotiation presenting her with a situation in which she would gain nothing and risk everything — on top of his testimony being unreliable, and his mannerisms being immature at best and somewhat crazed at worst. Julius would not have gone against her wishes. But if Subaru had just come to him FIRST…

“Well, there’s no point in dwelling on what could have been, is there?”

What could have been. What if one of the candidates Subaru had begged for help had agreed to lend their aid? What if the knights had listened when he came asking for them to save his loved ones? What if the White Whale hadn’t interrupted his scramble to find help among a band of traveling merchants, sending all of them scattering as it set its sights on Subaru and Subaru alone? What if the Beast of the End had seen it fit to spare the souls of Irlam Village from his vicious, agonized rampage following the death of Lady Emilia, deep in the woods?

Perhaps that last “what if” was the worst of them all.

“You were really close.” Julius’ voice cracked. “You almost saved them. Not— Not Emilia, maybe, but the people of the nearby village…if circumstances were different, they would all have lived.”

It wasn’t completely true, but there was an element of truth in what he said. Irlam village had not shown any evidence of Witch Cult activities, with the bodies of the cultists instead found clustered in the area immediately surrounding Subaru and Emilia’s dead figures. All evidence pointed to them having successfully evaded the upcoming attack that Subaru had predicted — likely due to Subaru’s own interference, which had led the cultists deep into the woods. But they hadn’t been able to avoid the frost: a frost which had not just killed the cultists, but also all the surrounding wildlife, all the people within the village, and — as an autopsy proved — even Subaru himself.

(The Witch Cult, the Royal Candidates, the Kingdom’s Knights, the White Whale, and his very own ally in the Beast of the End. How a singular person attempting to do the right thing could find themselves opposed by so many parties all at the same time would have been morbidly funny to think about, if the reminder of how Subaru’s story had ended wasn’t so sobering.)

Julius took a deep breath, steadying himself. “We believe you now,” he said. “It’s far too late for that and we all know it, but — we believe you. I do hope that there’s some consolation there.”

The grave said nothing, as graves do.