#it's winter break y'all

[becasart]

🎁🎅The fam wishes y'all happy holidays 🎅🎁

[makerofmadness]

Dark Cacao Cookie (II AU)

(relevant posts: general AU post, DC dialogue post, GC explained post)

So fun fact: I'm not Christian and neither is my family but I remember maman like gave me those like cheap cardboard advent calendars around Christmas time when I was little because . Chocolate . I think sometimes I'd just eat several chocolates in a day dndndndd anyways this is relevant because You know how those like 50% of the time have really bad sugar blooms that are like. All powdery and ruin the texture but I still ate them i think even though they tasted like depression.

anyways here's chocolate with depression:

(haha see my tirade was actually relevant to this-)

He was the second to go. He had never let himself shed a tear at the Ivory Pagoda, even throughout those long, agonizing millennia spent effectively just waiting. Waiting for the day that it would be the right time. Not even being certain that those Cookies they were fighting for would come about again under a different reign. That his son would even exist in this time. That he'd never get to tell him a truly heartfelt "I love you" as his father again, and hold him in his arms.

He went on dutifully granting the wishes of all those Cookies that looked up to him. Some he developed a degree of closeness with, others would just come to him for what he could do- but he would provide, no matter how big the burden got. It was nothing compared to the feelings carried by his heart; to him, it only distracted from them. He wouldn't be like his predecessor.

...but his grief became too much to bear, and one day, after overhearing some of those traveller Cookies whisper of how the kingdom northeast had "fallen from grace." She had written to all of them just saying that she was busy, as odd as the tone of her writing read, she said not to worry about her. To keep meeting with each other as if everything was fine. This had gone on for... how long had it been since they'd last seen her, again? He realized what the wider Cookie world had yet to: The first of the five had fallen. After all that agonizing time trying to hold out till the future, had they really just been doomed form the start, wasting their time trying to outrun a fate that was waiting right in front of them to swallow them whole...?

Every feeling that has piled on top of itself had finally burst a hole through his heart, and he had to run away, to seclude himself within the Grand Temple. Cloud Haetae Cookie had to keep outside Cookies away from their master as he wept from deep within. And wept. And wept. And couldn't stop weeping. No one could reach him, if they even wanted to try. They didn't, as they tended to be driven off by the wailing from the temple...

He had never been in so much pain. Everything hurt so much. Every single memory, every feeling attached to them- all those joys and sorrows and angers alike began to blur as the agony of knowing that he'd never get to experience those days, those Cookies again- it all consumed him there alone. Every feeling led back to pain. Every feeling was pain. If all he felt was pain, then it'd be better not to feel anything at all.

Such was his last resolve. It would make everything so much easier- the cruel inevitable fate, the loved ones he'd never see again as anything but their enemy, the time dragged on to infinity- if he were to just become numb to it all. If he felt no pain. If he felt nothing at all.

By the time he finally emerged, there were still some Cookies visiting the temple, mourning his long-storied loss. Cookies who had never even known him

He decided to free them from their pain.

-

Present character:

Fatalistic. He is doing what he is supposed to as the Beast of Apathy, and does not have his own will or beyond that. At least not much of one.

He uses his sword to create endless snow storms. Those who get caught out in the snow for too long will find themselves slowly losing the will to carry on...

The Bloom of Apathy (or as it will be dubbed by the Dark Cacao Kingdom, Sugarbloom Syndrome) does not directly cause cookies to disappear the way that the Pale Ailment had. Instead, it simply makes them those the will to sustain themselves, until they become completely apathetic to whether or not they survive, to whatever may happen to them and those around them.

"Endless" is more so "until he decides to stop them." He can control how long they last, as well as the range of them.

Has never been very fond of Cloud Haetae Cookie, but never seemed to hate them- at least, he didn't let it show that he disliked them before, and he isn't really capable of it now.

His wings do not fly.

His tear flow was so continuous that by the time it finally dried, his eyecing had ran permanently.

He does not really spend time with Cookies except for a certain group, with sole exception given to Peach Blossom Cookie, but it isn't exactly what one would call a traditional friendship. It is more so that... they have a strange sort of tradition. Peach Blossom sees him come up the mountain and offers him a peach bao; Dark Cacao refuses. And... he actually may stop to engage in what could be considered small talk. As minor and flavorless on his end as it typically is...

Tends to fall silent.

Does not resist others' attempts to do what they wish around or to him, or to say what they please. He will defend himself physically, though. Not even he knows why. He thinks it's just him being driven by some unseen force of fate, but...

His dough is cold to the touch. It's also quite chalky in the bloomed spots.

He does not have much personality left, really, thanks to his suppressed erased emotions.

He does not truly wish to do what he's doing. He will bring apathy upon the Cookie World because it is what he is supposed to do. If he did not have that, well, he does not have any desires of his own anymore except to just be with his friends in peace, so he would do nothing at all.

To end this off: uh, this is I guess "spoilers" but. I decide what's spoilers and what isn't actually so

you know the spider boss? BY 3-30? (That I still haven't beaten on hard-)

. well . It has a replacement here.

And it Is Cacao.

(He would clarify that there is a difference between a Cookie becoming a dragon and a dragon becoming a Cookie- so, no, he is not a real dragon)

(Thanks once again to @driftwoodmfb for the art and also for the design on this!)

[redstringraven]

(template by peppertode!) (i attempted to include alt text, but exceeded the limit once i hit september. sorry about that! all pieces should have alt text in their individual posts tho!)

my 2024 art summary! 🖤🌷

over on bluesky, i mentioned that while i don't feel like i got ""a lot"" done this year, i DO feel like the overall quality of the pieces i did finish has improved! it's been a long road getting back on my artistic feet, and i think i'm finally, finally starting to settle into a workflow and process that really clicks for me.

the year began on an extremely sour and discouraging note for me, but i've started planting roots again and am even more determined to make like a mint plant and continue existing out of sheer stubbornness and spite. starting in june, i had the privilege of helping out tmnt4p and working with some lovely and generous people, as well as getting to be a part of my first big zine (so excited and humbled!!! fantastic creators here!!). i've also been throwing questions at other oc-owners, both in and out of tmnt spaces, and it's been utterly delightful getting to learn about y'all's characters and your thought processes around them!! and thank you so much for firing some of your own questions right back at me! it's been so much fun.

i won't pretend like i don't have some kind of dread toward the upcoming year, but one of my methods of escapism IS continuing to work on and build my characters, stories, and worlds, so i'm gonna keep doing my best to put that energy into some form of creation. some of the major things i'd like to do this year--aside from oc profiles--is start working regular, timed studies into my art routine, as well as do more pieces with full environments (like the ones from april, september & october). we'll see! creative whims are strange creatures, and i'm also easily distracted by memes. gonna keep an art journal, too! so i can not only reflect on my art, but do a bit of self-evaluation and find focus points to improve on!

thank y'all so much for coming along with me, and for just generally lasting another loop around that flaming ball in the sky we call a sun. you're awesome. do no harm, but take no shit. ✌✨

2023 2022

[trappedinchemicalplantzone]

some small style practices (?) with scourgey or whatever

[tvmusiclife]

"When hell freezes over"...

Be careful y'all, anything is possible now

[crossbackpoke-check]

Why I Am Not Coming In To Work Today [abridged], Jess Zimmerman

part one | part two

[glacier-shrimp]

Haven't been getting any art inspiration recently, but here's something I drew a while back :) happy lil penguin friend

[sainz100]

2024 Las Vegas GP ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ by Irwen Song

[nguyenfinity]

I am so late to this trend hjbvjhfbjvhfv but I started this in October and I just now got around to finishing it 😭

But yaaaay Miku !!

[hikeyzz]

i tried to sleep in since i'm technically working past close today but who woulda thunk it. ppl emailing at 7:55am with urgent questions. 🙄🙄🙄

[fluffs-n-stuffs]

"Do you not realize it? Do you... truly not see what this means?"

The next Destiny Bond update is in progress! ❄️✨ –> Check out the latest part here 🔷 –> New to the series? Follow from the start! 💜

[nonochan21]

Nier fam + Ethan and Rose!

They would all get along great me thinks

[nrcbookclub]

my brother was talking about his experience at home during winter break and i sat there like 🧍‍♀️

For context i am in Scarabia... and im sure y'all heard what happened... maybe not but it was a shitshow

[el3ctraaa]

Ok I'm back, worst two days of my life. I kept worrying that y'all were dead and I couldn't do homework because I couldn't check to see if y'all were alive so I had a panic attack and cried all night which definitely means I SHOULD take a break from Tumblr but maybe after finals are over so I can actually study right now without thinking someone is mass murdering my mutuals.

[allroseshave-their-pricks]

I am SO tired of bullshit happening in my life that seems like a cute fanfic trope. It's not cute when you're Suffering through it

[diamcndhearts]

seasonal depression has hit me harder than I thought it would, especially since I'm in a new state with a new climate. I'm not getting the amount of sun I'm used to, and the cold is low-key killing me bc I don't have the clothes for it, so shit's hard y'all. Activity is low and getting lower, but I will return!