#its actually insane to me how there are people in their 30s and OLDER still finding this attractive

[tomlousons]

:)

[brujahinaskirt]

30 kcd2 trailer reveal little things / reactions:

Loving the increased Istvan / Henry parallelism

Loving the return of the red PTSD nightmares and so pleased WH isn't watering the game down, keeping up the trauma narrative realism, etc. I expected no less but still delighted by it. I love games that allow characters (esp male characters) to feel things, genuinely, and writing that treats the emotional invitation of its own storytelling with respect.

Good lord, the symbolism returns--as it must in a proper medieval game--but I shan't look too deep yet.

SKALITZ FLASHBACKS. HENRY'S PARENTS' WEDDING PREQUEL CONTENT? W H A T. I never thought we would get to go back; I am so thrilled to learn more about that time. I would have gladly gobbled up a Martin prequel. TELL ME HER FUCKING NAME, WARHORSE, YOU BASTARDS.

where is radzig

Mystery possible new love interest option? Or did Lady Stephanie visit the face sculptor?

And Theresa... where?

Mother of god, the forests and animals look incredible. I'm going insane. Let me pet things please.

How many times can Hans eat royal shit and live in one livestream? Let's find out. One, two, three...

The crime and punishment mechanics are definitely more complex at a glance. This is a good thing but I wonder how much was cutscene flavor and how much will really have an affect on the gameplay/reputation/etc.

I'm extremely afraid for Hans's survival. Not because of his constant trailer beefing (and he really took every opportunity to wipe out) but because of that shot with him doing the big dramatic eagle wing spread on horseback. You can't just do that and not expect to be punished by the narrative, bro.

MUTT IS BACK MUTT IS BACK MUTT IS BACK

is that pebbles? MUTT IS BACK please be pebbles

Henry's new hair is awful and I will be changing it two seconds in.

In general, Henry looks way more mature/stressed. Hard to say if there was a timeskip and Henry is now actually more mature or if the increased graphics allow him to look more like his voice actor, who is older than Henry. Either way I will be content. Will not catch me changing my son's precious face!!!

CROSSBOWS, HAND CANNONS

Istvan is pure fire, holy shit, cannot wait for this performance. Erik looks like a soggy newspaper. What happened king?

radzig? hello? anyone hear from this guy? typical for him to ghost

FIVE HOURS OF CUTSCENES???? YOU KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE. IT IS ME. I LOVE TO WATCH THINGS

Theresa's gonna be in it though, right? They wouldn't do us like that right?

Really excited to see them taking a page from RDR2 and incorporating a temperament-based reply system for non-dialogue initiating NPCs. I really look forward to all the added sandbox immersion enhancements from the first game, and I hope women are incorporated in a broader work spectrum for better historical accuracy.

WAS THAT GODWIN?

Is Hans going to teach Henry how to swim for real, as in a gameplay-altering swim mechanic, or is the topless on the riverbank scene just throwing a meaty bone to the hansry shippers (i am gnawing, i am growling when you try to take it away before i choke myself with it)

I love hearing devs and actors talk intelligently about the writing and character development arcs. Obviously they thought about it deeply in KCD1, but it's nice to see devs of an "action" game treating its narrative seriously, as artwork. Regardless of how the fandom idiots interact with it.

Hans singing a facetious little ballad for Henry (presuming it makes it into the game and isn't just trailer fodder) regenerated my cells. He DID promise in KCD1 (if you lose the tourney after agreeing to be his champion) that one day people would sing ballads in Henry's honor. Probably he did not intend for them to include the word "fuck" at the time.

This is going to be the grown up bromance we deserved in kcd1. Honestly it's so validating to see the second game recentering on that relationship and deliberately using it as the primary storytelling vehicle. KCD1 was pretty imbalanced in favor of Hans content, but it would have been better served by the game storyline fully leaning into the importance of that relationship, rather than trying to juggle it as a side-arc with several other arcs (and thereby creating an imbalance). KCD2 looks like it's built around the backbone of Henry and Hans's friendship and how it has profoundly changed them both/propelled their arcs in somewhat different directions.

On that point, Henry seems to have completely adopted Rattay colors now, but it's possible that's due to him operating as Hans's page (squire?) where we left them in KCD1. WHERE IS RADZIG

Calling Henry an orphan is a LITTLE generous given he was a whole ass adult man when his parents were killed, don't you think.

Calling Henry a lover is VERY VERY GENEROUS

I'm hyped.

[ilikeyoshi]

yknow what i had an epiphany this morning. i think a lot of the "older ppl treating kids like they're stupid assholes" problem comes from the well-intentioned place of, as we get older, we DO learn and grow, and when we are older than a given person we want to reassure that younger person that like, listen, you'll survive this, or you'll figure this out, or so on.

and because it's coming from good intentions a lot of adults just don't realize it's not actually that useful to kids or teens or early twenties ppl who need to be heard and listened to and helped NOW. especially because when we were younger, everything felt like dismissal, if not derision, but now we're older and we think we're being reassuring and helping younger people learn perspective.

but i can tell you it still looks like derision on the outside, and i bet you anything a ton of the adults who treated us like shit thought they were helping too. "it gets better," "it takes practice," "you'll figure it out," is all like, TRUE, but when you're 5 or 12 or 18 or 21 it doesn't address anything going on RIGHT NOW. around like, 26, "it gets better" started TO be helpful to me because i'd lived through enough shit that this is a real, tangible, proven fact, and not just something i have to trust even though it FEELS abstract and frankly doesn't actually do anything to help me with a problem Right Now.

like. you know how so many people genuinely don't expect to live past 16, then 18, 22, etc? i think this is a big factor into why it usually kinda stops after 22-25, because, well, you HAVE lived every time, and you HAVE found the truth in it gets better, you'll figure it out, etc. but before that it feels insurmountable. and frankly, for a lot of people, it IS insurmountable. youth suicide rates are absolutely insane.

i think i can see this bigger picture mostly because i've just thought about it a lot, because the shift from "everyone i know agrees we'll never treat kids the way adults treated us" to "why are all these decent, compassionate people treating kids like shit?" was so jarring and apparent to me, but if i dig deeper i've fallen for a lot of little traps too. it used to annoy the shit out of me when younger people disregarded anything i said, until i stopped and realized all i WAS saying was, "it gets better," and not only does that not help or solve anything Right Now, but it (not inaccurately) implies that this isn't a Real Problem, it'll solve itself, you'll be fine. and that feels so belittling and demeaning and dismissive when you're younger and you just haven't lived through as much shit yet. i remember being told shit like this! it feels like no one cares. it feels like i'm not Allowed to be hurt or upset or angry until i'm old enough that any problems i still have become real to other adults. it SUCKS.

and ironically i figured out why this kind of reassurance—which has its place and is absolutely useful and good in the right contexts!!—sucks when you need help or relief NOW through a friend who was going through something i went through when i was 13. like. to me, this was already proven as Things People Can Survive, but to my friend, this was the first time it was happening. this had never BEEN survived by them before. they were almost 30 when we had this conversation!

and it made me realize how patronizing and useless "it gets better" sounds when you've never even SEEN better yet, and even if you had, what good is "better later" when you're hurting now? i think kids get SO MUCH "it gets better" and not nearly enough "help now" that of course it feels like dismissal and excuses and resentment. and if we as the adults who have survived things aren't careful, it CAN literally at its core BE those things. it sure was for me!

edited to add: like i think the biggest thing i see happening is kids being treated like stupid dramatic jerks for Feeling Things. and i think a lot of these kids would be a lot more receptive if they were ever told, "hey, the feelings matter. even if in 5 years this doesn't hurt anymore, it hurts now, and that deserves to be acknowledged and helped now." like that'd often what i wanted at least. i almost didn't care if it stopped being hard later, it's hard NOW, it hurts NOW. you survived it, great, how do i survive it? what did you DO to survive it? what would you do differently to survive it now that you're older?

[squibbymun]

I genuinely forgot I gave Emperor a disability (He has problems with his ink pressure which makes him very prone to melting i wrote a whole post about it) but ANYWAYS i wrote some lore for it get jumpscared

do however keep in mind that i wrote this in dms to a friend randomly at 3 am because twitter was down so its not written in the most eloquent manenr but it should do the job okay GO

Considering that recovering from melting makes you so exhausted, Emperor was probably. very tired all the fucking time. hes probably still tired a lot actually thats why he conks out so damn hard. probably made him very irritable which you can imagine didnt help. It was probably an issue more-so when he was younger because it DID get better as he got older but after practice for the day he would immediately conk out. Gets home and he instnatly falls asleep for like. awhile ? I have no idea how long but he probably sleeps longer than average. Probably snacks on shit a lot (shoutouts to carbohydrates and sugar for the momentary energy boost). Between being stressed about people finding out and about training he was not fucking vibing. Now heres smth Navy and Emperor related though- During that 30 matches thing Emperor would strategically let Navy splat him. Why ? Respawning restabilized his ink pressure!! Probably not for TOO long but enough for the rest of a match so that means that Navy always got atleast 1 splat in during those battles Also Emperor definitely bought. some type of snake oil at some point. You know how people are like ''Buy this thing from me and youll be cured of whatever'' yeah Emperor was probably scared enough of people finding out he fell for one of those. THANKFULLY he ended up realising it was a scam and hes rich so he didnt lose a lot of money but its still sad how he was so worried about the public finding out about this that he got himself roped into a scam Also i entirely forgot about the melting feeling either numb or ''that tingly feeling your leg gets when it goes numb'' and oh my god that must be fucking horrible to be happening on your ears/face. Sometimes emperor's ears will just twitch WILDLY and no one knew why. Thats the fucking reason hes trying to shake out the fucking TINGLING. Thats not even getting into how worst it would be for reverse emperor (stressed all the time,even more so than regular emperor, anxious, doesnt eat as much because he just cant find the energy to eat before conking out, hes younger than regular emperor so hes more prone to it yadah yadah poor guys not handling it well its a shocker no ones realised smth is up)

ANOTHER THING the reason emperor didnt show any symptoms earlier is either because he was just nowhere near as active (really depressed 10-14, hes a rich white kid so not much to be stressed about yadah yadah that kinda stuff) or because symptoms only started showing when he reached humanoid form. I still havent decided on which one is canon but its one of those. Regardless he thought it was normal for everyone to be like that when they first get their humanoid forms until he randomly googled it when he was 15 one day and went ''oh.''

Anyways thats all i have thank u for reading my insane emperor ramblings

[theblazewolf]

everyone wins and loses. its a fact of life.

but its been a tough ride this 2023 and it actually drains me to make a retrospective.

yes, looking at the good stuff objectively, ive done more than i couldve asked for. for the life of me i still dont know how i got more than a thousand likes on two paintings i didnt think would ever get seen. (simply proves to me that sometimes, social media is mainly RNG in disguise)

ive managed to maintain a consistent schedule of posting art; any art. quality may vary but that can be sorted in the near future. also ended up setting up a condo unit, drove by myself for the first time, attended my first furry convention since the pandemic.

once, for once, i was happier than ever being by myself. all that time alone was what i needed.

and im currently making a zine, and maybe other projects beyond that.

all things being objective, it was a good year.

i cannot forget the ones ive lost; the ones whose loss shaded this year.

my ex, my best friend, who i had to cut ties with, admittedly the source of my melancholy, drunken texts, and attempts at being civil, deep inside i find myself yearning for those days when it was okay for us to be idiots at 3am talking about dumb shit. but you find yourself watching the ties you set up slowly deteriorate, and nothing you do can fix it. seven years were way too long somehow. i still see them, but i know enough just to be civil, or to talk whenever youre needed.

my uncle, my mom’s older brother. my heart still breaks knowing he suffered a long illness. while we try to sing songs that he loved, we know the bitter taste of loss that cant be washed away in an instant. he was a staple at many parties that will never be the same again. i wish he saw his daughter graduate, or enter law school. i wish he lived long enough to be free of pain for just one day.

and my good friend, my fellow cities skylines 2/mekanism enthusiast; one of my ardent supporters. the voice calls will always have an empty spot for you. i will never let your tragic end overshadow the texts we had. I will live till im 30, and beyond. ive said a lot about you since your passing. somehow i still wish i was there to let you know we love you so much. take your rest, and let us know you’re ok.

also honorable mentions to budding relationships i tried to build but failed, another commissioner of mine who passed this year in the same week as my uncle.

i cant leave this year without thanking others.

my close friends, for listening to me scream and yap for 24/7 with unfiltered blazethoughts, and also reciprocating by screaming and yapping for 24/7 about yalls respective thoughts. thats friendship thats unbreakable.

my server, for being equally insane. all you 90% filipino/10% other people are so insane for accepting my invite to come and see me talk about random shit that god can’t allow. im overreacting when i say god wont allow what i say. but having a bunch of furry pals in one area is a luxury.

my gw2 guild, BURN, for the endless voice chats, helping me sort through the grief, the support and all the insanity you allowed this little lonely disaster entertain. i know we lost a lot, but we have much more to live for together.

my follows who have grown a LOT this year. your support keeps me going through and through. i love you guys.

see you in 2024.

-blaze

[nebulaleaf]

hiii!! i love seeing your collection, do you have any recommendations of websites etc for hunting down p5 merch? im outside the usa so things like mercari arent an option for me unfortunately T_T

Hi! I have many but some might be more or less effective depending on Where outside of the US you are. As I am Canadian, my options are a lot more feasible than say... someone from Europe yk. (god shipping fees are insane)

I will say, a huge chunk of my collection was bought off of Mercari or American Ebay, or American stores like BigBadToyStore and I just wanna make that clear. Two of these sites ship to places outside of the US still, but it's so much cheaper to get it sent to American friend and then over to me.

This got longer than I thought whoops under the cut it goes.

Anyway onto the actual recs. As always I have to shill Myfigurecollection.net. You can sort by the exact figure you're looking for, local currency, free or paid shipping and it's really handy. On top of that you can interact with the sites database or forum features! Make a wishlist or a list of a fave character's merch you want. Track what you've ordered already and when it's expected to arrive or be released from preorder. Find forum posts from your region about people discussing good places to buy from and so much more. It's such a huge and amazing tool for someone into collecting so long as you can get over the UI. Personally I've never found issues with it but I'm used to how older websites work anyway.

(Here is me sorting by European currency. There are so many euro sellers im jealous.)

Pros of mfc:

• Figures are usually in good condition and can even be mint in box. (you can even sort by condition, wow!)

• users are polite and can be negotiated with for a better deal oftentimes

Cons of mfc:

• This is not a site that focuses solely on selling like ebay, it's more like an ad section in the newspaper

• You have to trust who you are buying from as there's no 'insurance' so to speak. If you get scammed, there's no refunds and mods won't help you aside from banning the user, unlike actual buy and sell sites which have policies or insurance.

Next up is Zenmarket. This is a proxy site that allows me to buy straight from japan! What's handy about it is that you can browse multiple japanese sites straight within zenmarket's site. I can pick up items from Amazon.jp, JP Mercari, and Yahoo Auctions and have 'em all in one cart! You can also paste links into a special search bar if you've found a specific item you'd like to buy from a JP site. I personally browse JP Mercari and Rakuma the most. I like second-hand figures and both these places have good deals since they're flea-market esque sites. Yahoo!Auctions I've only bought one thing from, and I haven't had a *bad* experience per se, I just don't like auctions and buyout prices lol. Always so pricey... but I'm sure there's good deals to be had if you're willing to do a bidding battle. Pro tip! Search with japanese terms to get better results.

(Browsing a listing and the main mercari page, unsorted)

Zenmarket hasn't let me down before. They're speedy, and all my stuff has been well packed.

Pros:

• Can get the best base prices buying straight from japan

• Super simple layout and bundling orders is really easy

•Items can be held in their warehouse for 45 days if something happens/you wanna wait before bundling it into a package. You can also pay to extend this time.

•Quick shipping from the warehouse

•probably more lol

Cons

•If you're not american, shipping is gonna be like $30 CAD lol. At least you can fit multiple items in one box...? I got 2 books and several t-shirts without going over the small packet limit. i haven't used zennarket express, but if your shit is very small i think its about 10 dollars cheaper.

• ¥300 yen fee per item batch. So if I get a figure and book from Mercari I'll have to pay a ¥300 fee. If I then add something from Amazon or a different site other than Mercari to my cart, I'll have to pay another ¥300 fee. I don't mind this as its like what. 3 dollars? but if you're buying a lot from all over it can potentially rack up shit. also ppl just dont like fees so it's a con.

I also of course use ebay. I feel like I don't need to get into how ebay works so onto BRAND NEW MERCH CONDITION sitessss

I used to use Aitai Kuji but their selection of stuff is kinda mid these days so I stray from it. I've had good experiences with Ukiyo Kumo but it has a similar problem with Aitai Kuji.

Another site for brand-new merch is Meccha Japan, but holy fuck I hate their shipping and prices. If something becomes low in stock they jack up the price and label it as 'rare' or ultra rare or whatever and I find that irritating. They also use fedex and dhl for shipping which means fun fees woohoo yipee!!! i had to spend over 100 dollars to get my package wrangled from their graaaaaasp!!!!

So yeah, sorry for lame New Merch recs, I don't really buy brand-new figures since P5 hasn't released anything lately. I bought the Hello!Goodsmile mona and joker from BigBadToystore and I think shipping was only 15 usd? I like BBTS but if you're not american they're kinda slow in the shipping department.

I probably have more reccs but I can't think of any so. enjoy this. Anon if you wanna talk more thoroughly about this feel free to dm me! Talking about this stuff makes me so happy it's my lifeblood ♪♪

[inimikal-archive]

Its  time  for  Erol  headcanon  stuff  at  long  last.  This  is  a  big  rewrite  of  stuff  from  Erol’s  old  blog ! 

The  first  thing  to  address,  I  think,  is  the  character  ages  so  I’m  gonna  start  here.  They’re  completely  insane  &  Erol  is  one  of  the  few  characters  never  given  an  age  in  the  canon.  A  lot  of  people  tend  to  put  Erol  in  his  mid 30s  &  I  actually  have  no  idea  why  because  he  always  registered  as  a  lot  younger  to  me,  keeping  in  mind  almost  all  the  characters  are  a  hell  of  a  lot  younger  than  you  would  think  because  Naughty  Dog  made  some  very  interesting  choices  with  JnD.  So  while  I  don’t  give  a  shit  about  the  “canon”  ages,  &  Erol  never  got  a  canon  age,  I  still  tend  to  see  him  a  lot  younger  than  fanon  seems  to.  Plus,  does  the  man  look  like  hes  in  his  30s ?  Not  to  me.  He  doesn’t  act  like  it  either. 

My  age  for  Erol  is  around  20-23ish,  just  slightly  younger  than  Ashelin.   Now  I  think  the  reason  people  tend  to  aim  a  lot  older  is  because  of  Erol’s  advanced  rank  in   the  KG.  But  things  to  consider  here  is  that  a  lot  of  the  KG  were  implied  to  be  very  young,  more  so  than  you  might  think,  many  (forcefully)  recruited  as  children  &  (forcefully)  kept  in  the  service  until  their  deaths  &  all  evidence  leads  to  the  fact  that  many  KG  soldiers  died  very  young  given  ever  present  battles  against  the  metal-heads  &  the  extreme  corruption  of  Haven  itself. 

Again,  other  very  high  ranking  members  of  the  KG  such  as  Ashelin  Praxis  were  only  in their  early  20s.  I  believe  Ashelin  was  around  22-23-24  years  old  throughout  the  games  from  Jak 2  to  Jak  X.  Torn,  an  ex  KG  captain  was  by  far  the  oldest  at  28-29-30,  but  still  not  quite  as  old  as  you  might  imagine.  I  mean,  I  even  think  Torn’s  on  the  young  side  but  he  seems  older  to  me.  If  I  hadn’t  looked  his  age  up  I’d  imagine  him  to  be  a  little  older  but  the  thing  is  he’s  just  been  through  some  shit  &  honestly  given  how  life  was  in  Haven  city,  anyone  making  it  into  their  30s  was  probably  looked  at  as  hitting  middle  age.  OF  COURSE,  there  are  some  characters  in  the  game  that  ARE  actually  “old”  but  they  tend  to  predate  all  of  the  craziness  we  see  in  jak  2,  as  we  know  Haven  was  not  always  like  this,  but  that  we’re  introduced  to  it  at  a  time  where  its  teetering  on  the  edge  of  losing  a  long  &  grueling  war  with  literal  monsters  that  are  literally  planning  to  kill  &  eat  everyone.  Furthermore,  they’re  not  shown  as  high  ranking  figures  in  the  KG  because  active  Krimzon  Guard  personnel  would  obviously  have  a  much  lower  life  expectancy  all  of  this  considered.  

&  the  final  thing  to  consider  is  that  kids  are  a  lot  easier  to  manipulate,  radicalize  &  indoctrinate  &  the  Baron’s  dictatorship  at  this  point  was  relying  heavily  on  propaganda  &  martial  law.  Moreover,  Erol  himself  was  essentially  treated  as  living  propaganda.  This  was  very,  very  intentional  &  above  all  why  Erol  always  registered  to  me  as  a  lot  younger  than  he  seems  to  hit  in  the  fandom.  Erol  was,  essentially,  in  my  headcanon,  an  up  &  coming  young  race  star  who  was  purposefully  indoctrinated  &  recruited  into  the  KG  to  help  boost  the  appeal  of  the  KG   &  the  Baron’s  rule.  Evidence  of  this,  I  think,  is  everywhere  but  what  really  guides  my  thought  process  is  the  way  Erol  has  been  canonly  dubbed  “The  son  of  Haven  City”,  this  is  an  affectionate  moniker  given  to  him  by  Baron  Praxis  &  Erol’s  races  are  highly  promoted  &  glamorized  throughout  the  city  along  with  Erol  himself.  They’re  also  heavily  linked  to  Praxis   as  the  “prizes”  for  winning  are  not  only  an  extremely  large  supply  of  dark  eco  (one  that  we  could  argue  the  Baron  couldn’t  actually  afford  to  give)  but  also  a  tour  of  Haven  Palace.  These  are  both  things  the  Baron  was  not  the  kind  of  guy  to  offer  to  just  anyone. So  this  meant  the  reality  of  the  NYFE  championship  was  really  just  Praxis  putting  on  a show  where  he  promotes  these  races  that  get  the  city  hyped  because  not  only  do  many  of  them  look  at  Erol  as  a  hero  &  a  celebrity,  but  this  also  promoted  massive  engagement  with &  glamorized  the  KG,  because  even  if  you  didn't  like  Erol,  you  didn’t  like  the  military  &  you  just  liked  racing,  you’d  be  tempted  to  try  your  hand  at  beating  him  &  snatching  his  crown,  as  well  as  a  massive  supply  of  eco  which  could  probably  make  your  wildest  dreams  come  true.  But  the  thing  was  Erol  never  lost.  He  was  undefeated  &  undeniably  the  most  talented  racer  in  the  game  outside  of  Jak’s  protagonist  powers.

This  also  suggests  a  kind  of  surrogate  father-son  dynamic  between  Erol  &  Praxis  which  seems  to  very  much  fit  given  Erol  was  closer  to  Praxis  than  it  seemed  anyone  else  was,  including  his  own  daughter.  In  fact,  it  even  seems  as  if  Erol  was  the  only  person  in  the  entire  city  Praxis  really  trusted  beside  himself.  I  think  when   Praxis  refers  to  Erol  as  “the  son  of  haven  city”  he’s  practically  calling  Erol  his  son  given  he  is  haven  city.  Again,  Praxis  was  very  much  a  cunning,  foul  tempered,  stern  &  paranoid  man  so  this  is  extremely  unusual  &  definitely  makes  Erol  very  note-worthy  &  “special”  way  beyond  his  title  as  NYFE  champion.  Also  brings  me  to  the  fact  that  Erol  was  very,  very  much  like  Praxis  himself,  as  if  the  man  was  fundamental  in  shaping  who  Erol  is.  It  seemed  to  me  that  Erol  had  picked  up  a  lot  from  him  &  there  is  cut  dialog  suggesting  Erol  would  become  the  next  Baron  in  Praxis’  defeat/death.  Which  is  a  lot  given  Praxis  literally  had  a  biological  daughter  right  there  but  she  was  not  favored  by  him  near  as  much  as  Erol  apparently  was.  Which  is  stuff  I  think  all  fits  &  works  for  canon  &  honestly  ND  screwed  up  the  game  in  the  end  there  horrendously  so  I  have  to  fix  everything  &  I  kind  of  see  Erol  as  the  perfect  foil  to  Jak  &  this  gives  them  some  similarities  in  the  sense  that  Jak  has  Samos  as  a  surrogate  father  figure  as  he  isn’t  able  to  connect  with  his  real  father  until  Damas  death. 

Which  brings  me  to  Erol’s  real  father  &  his  background,  which  is  purely  my  own  headcanons  here  that  I  tie  into  all  of  this.  This  is  a  nutshell  version  of  what  I  wrote  up  for  Erol’s  blog  because  I’m  lazy.  I  haven't  named  Erol’s  father  yet  &  I’m  following  the  JnD  trend  of  character’s  having  fathers  with  no  mothers,  but  he  was  a  track  mechanic  which  is  where  Erol’s  love  of  racing  began.  He  always  wanted  to  race,  something  that  he  maybe  once  hoped  would  come  with  the  benefit  of  impressing  his  father.  The  problem  being  that  Erol’s  father  was  an  abusive  alcoholic  &  a  small  time  criminal  who  was  involved  in  a  lot  of  shady  practices,  notably  drug  trafficking.  Which  is  where  Erol  got  all  of  his  race  training  from  -  he  was  the  delivery  /  errand  boy  for  a  lot  of  his  father’s  “business”,  both  legal  &  not  so  legal.  He  took  this  service  as  an  opportunity  to  practice  his  racing  skills  by  getting  himself  from  point  A  to  B  around  the  city  in  record  time.   When  Erol  expressed  wanting  to  race  he  was  delighted  to  find  his  father  was  more  than  supportive.  In  fact,  despite  the  serious  danger  of  racing,  he  had   a  plan  for  Erol  to  win  the  Eco.  &  it  was  here  when  Erol’s  speed  &  talents  on  the  track  got  him  noticed  by  Praxis,  who  quickly  “befriended”  him  &  invited  him  into  the  KG.  Erol  loved  the  attention,  especially  from  someone  so  important.  When  Erol  won  his  first  championship  he  found  out  his  father  planned  to  take  the  Eco  &  split  town,  &  Erol  seemed  to  have  been  left  out  of  the  loop  on  this.  A  fight  erupted  &  Erol  returned  to  Praxis  with  the  Eco,  leaving  his  father  for  dead.  From  here,  Erol  officially  joined  the  KG  &  the  two  began  to  conspire  about  the  following  races.  As  in  it  was  Erol’s  duty  to  remain  champion  &  win  the  races  in  order  to  keep  the  eco  &  the  palace  tour  out  of  the  hands  of  the  public.  Further,  Erol’s  relationship  with  Praxis  meant  he  moved  through  the  KG  fast  making  him  as  much  of  a  ‘solider’  as  he  was  a  champion  racer.  Which  leads  me  to  another  headcanon  I  have  regarding  Erol’s  position  as  Commander,  as  in,  I  don’t  think  it  was  a  rank  that  really  existed  before  Erol  &  before  Torn’s  defection.  Essentially,  in  my  headcanon  Torn  was  the  highest  ranking  KG  captain  &  once  he  defected  it  caused  a  bit  of  chaos,  &  was  especially  troublesome  in  the  sense  that  as  far  as  the  canon  goes,  the  KG  isn’t  something  you  just  walk  away  from,  hence  the  tattoos,  its  to  the  death,  not  only  that  but  a  high-ranking  leader  such  as  torn  saying  “screw  it,  Praxis  is  corrupt”  &  ditching  really  does  NOT  bode  well  for  both  public  &  private  image.  So  in  order  to  remedy  this  Torn  was  smeared  as  a  coward  &  a  traitor  &  a  higher  rank  was  applied,  &  Erol  was  naturally  chosen  to  fill  it.  Erol,  who  was  already  pretty  well  liked  due  to  his  race-star  status  &  potentially  “trusted”  by  the  public  as  a  result  meant  that  Erol  taking  over  in  such  a  way  &  thus  helping  spread  the  word  that  Torn  was  just  a  cowardly  traitor  made  the  story  that  much  easier  to  swallow  &  helped  to  pacify  both  the  public  &  the  Guard. 

This  gave  Erol  more  control  over  the  KG  &  the  city,  &  Praxis  more  control  overall  since  Erol  was  basically  just  a  younger  extension  of  himself.  Which  means,  roughly  by  the  timeline  Erol  has  been  Commander  for  around  4ish  years  in  my  headcanon  &  why  Erol  is  considered  as  much  a  threat  to  &  enemy  of  the  underground  as  Praxis  himself.  You  can’t  really  separate  the  two  of  them.    Another  thing  that  made  my  thoughts  go  this  way  was  the  KG  tattoos.  Now  these  seem  to  indicate  rank,  however,  you  cant  just  change  your  massive  face  tattoo  as  you  level  up.  Normally,  you’d  think  if  these  tattoo's  had  to  do  with  rank,  you’d  have  to  get  a  pattern  similar  to  Torn  &  Ashelin’s  before  you  moved  up  to  whatever  “addition”  was  made  to  indicate  Commander,  that  is  IF  the  commander  rank  always  existed.  From  what  we  saw,   Ashelin  &  Torn  seemed  to  have  a  similar  tattoo  pattern  which  makes  sense  as  they  were  both  top  KG  officers  with  the  Rank  of  “Captain”.  Erol  on  the  other  hand  has  a  completely  different  tattoo  pattern  that  doesn’t  even  resemble  what  Ashelin  &  Torn  have  going  on.  You  would  think  if  this  is  the  tattoo  you  get  when  you  level  up  to  Captain,  Erol  would  have  had  to  have  a  similar  tattoo  before  he  made  Commander.  But  he  doesn’t.  Its  as  if  the  Commander  title  was  added  just  for  him  &  thus  his  tattoo  pattern  is  exclusive  to  him.  So  how  it  goes  in  my  mind  is  Ashelin  was  promoted  to  take  Torn’s  place  as  the  lead  Captain,  &  the  tattoo  was  slightly  changed  for  her  &  Erol  was  placed  directly  into  a  higher  role,  which  came  with  a  completely  different  tattoo  pattern  all  together  &  was  no  doubt  a  shit  on  Ashelin  in  the  process  &  feels  very  Praxis  to  do  tbh,  given  he  clearly  didn’t  trust  or  favor  his  daughter. 

While  Erol  may  recognize  Praxis  as  a  little  unstable,  he  doesn’t  actually  fault  him  because  he  believes  in  him  &  believes  hes  right  in  his  approach  to  everything.  &  if  hes  wrong ?  No  hes  not  &  Erol  will  make  him  right,  because  Erol  as  much  looks  at  him  as  a  father  figure  as  it  seems  Praxis  thinks  of  him  as  a  son.  Erol’s  less  about  the  ultimate  good  of  the  city  &  more  about  pleasing  himself  &  impressing  Praxis.  Another  thing  to  note  in  Erols  motives  for  helping  Praxis  is  that  he  really  doesn’t  seem  to  like  Haven  city  that  much.  Sure,  Erol’s  fighting  for  his  city  &  his  people,  to  protect  them  from  the  metal-heads  but  he  doesn’t  seem  to  have  a  lot  of  love  over-all  for  the  city.  In  fact,  he  seems  quite  bitter  toward  it  &  doesn't  seem  to  like  many  of  the  people  in  it  which  is  why  I  headcanon  that  Erol  came  from  a  dodgy  background  as  opposed  to  always  being  among  the  city  elite.  Which  means  unlike  Ashelin,  he  cant  look  at  the  city  or  his  hopes  for  it  through  rose-colored  glasses. 

For  me  this  just  explains  why  Erol,  despite  being  looked  at  quite  fondly  by  the  general  public,  doesn’t  really  return  the  love  &  seems  to  be  lone  wolf  outside  of  the  KG  troops  he  commands.  He  appears  more  for  individuals  (like  Praxis  &  Keira )  than  for  the  majority.  Hes  “protecting”  the  city  &  following  Praxis  orders  not  out  of  a  love  for  it  &  its  people,  &  a  hope  to  create  a  better  future,  like  Ashelin , but  more  because  doing  so  is  a  necessity  given  the  very  real  threat  of  the  metal-heads  busting  in  &  killing  everyone,  himself  included,  otherwise.  Because  even  if  Erol  doesn’t  have  a  lot  of  love  for  everyone,  he  does  have  those  few  people  he  does  care  about  &  the  metal-heads  taking  over  was  a  guaranteed  death  sentence  for  everyone.  As  Kor,  the  metal-head  leader  described  once  the  metal-heads  take  a  city  they  kill  &  eat  until  no  one  is  left.  Being  killed  by  metal-heads  is  thought  of  as  the  worst  way  to  go. 

Anyway,  now  that  all  that  rambling  is  out  of  the  way  I  was  talking  to  @pertrahe​  earlier  about  AUs  &  since  I’d  rewrite  a  lot  of  JnD  going  into  Jak  3  I  was  thinking  of  like  alternative  scenarios  for  Erol’s  death  bc  tbh  ND  fucked  this  up  &  got  a  bit  of  pocket  with  it  lmao.  Like  they  knew  killing  him  off  was  a  dumb  move  &  tried  to  bring  him  back  right  away  &  made  a  mess  of  the  whole  thing  so   alternative  events  for  Erol:  1)  Potentially  attempts  to  fight  the  metal-heads  with  his  own  squad  as  he  thought  he  could  do  during  the  start  of  the  game,  after  Praxis  death.  Gets  mauled  half  to  death  as  a  result.  Though  to  keep  the  Dark  Eco  exposure  which  I  kind  of  think  is  important  going  forward  he  could  be  involved  in  an  explosion  perhaps  by  trying  to  bait  the  metal-heads  with  the  eco  or  something  along  those  lines.  The  over-exposure  to  the  Dark  Eco  attracts  the  Dark  Makers  &  they  decide  to  save  &  “rebuild”  him.    2)  Erol’s  “death”  happens  as  canon  but  we  actually  get  more  details  on  the  aftermath  including  Keira  being  acknowledged  as  having  sage  abilities  &  being  able  to  harness  Green  Eco  to  save  him  from  death  since  Erol’s  “accident”  was  a  very  public  thing,  lmao.  Though  maybe  she  should  have  let  him  die  given  he’s  in  a  pretty  sorry  state  of  being  &  it  gets  worse.  I  like  to  think  maybe  Count  Vegar  had  something  to  do  with  Erol  suddenly  being  labeled  “dead”  &   attempts  to  eject  him  from  Haven  Hospital  &  leave  him  somewhere  to  die,  looking  at  him  as  possible  threat  to  his  own  plans  in  spite  of  his  condition,  which  similarly  to  1,  leads  to  the  Dark  Maker’s  finding  him  &  perhaps  were  the  ones  linking  with  the  KG  robots  to  “rebuild”  him  into  a  cyborg-nightmare  that  the  alien  from  Virus  1999  would  be  proud  of.  (thats  the  peek  aesthetic  here,  btw)   We  know  that  the  Dark  Makers  were  very  technologically  advanced  &  they  had  some  weird  control  over  cybernetics.  Though  they  dont  really  explain  it  in  the  game  we  can  at  LEAST  assume  this  is  how  Erol’s  canon  counterpart  was  able  to  “link”  with  the  Dark  Marker’s  &  maybe  the  massive  over-exposure  to  Dark  Eco  made  Erol  appealing  to  them.  Though  we  just  don’t  know  how  he  got  “resurrected”  as  a  cyborg  in  the  first  place.  Like  there  is  just  no  info  on  any  of  that,  this  is  just  me  speculating  &  how  I’d  probably  work  toward  explaining  it  in  AUs  /  rewrites  because  I’m  def  not  sticking  to  canon  after  Jak  2  regardless.  Theres  also  a  3rd  option  in  Erol  never  getting  exploded  at  all  &  maybe  just  putting  aside  his  ISSUES  to  work  with  the  underground  to  stop  Praxis  from  trying  to  blow  up  the  whole  city  cos  thats  a  bit  extra.  Like  Erol  would  have  fought  with  Praxis  to  the  death  but  he  probably  wouldn’t  want  to  go  as  far  as  blowing  up  the  entire  city  &  himself.  He  might  be  torn  over  it  because  Erol  does  follow  Praxis  logic  but  at  the  same  time  he  held  this  personal  glimmer  of  hope  that  it  didn’t  need  to  come  to  that  &  they  could  defeat  the  metal-heads.  Again,  Erol  was  quite  convinced  he  could  put  up  a  good  enough  fight  himself.  But  anyway,  something  happening  in  regards  to  Erol  living  long  enough  to  find  out  Praxis  actually  planned  to  blow  up  all  of  them  in  an  effort  to  take  the  metal-heads  with  them.  I  don’t  know.  I  love  the  fact  I  have  the  real,  canon  based  potential  for  a  gory  horror  cyborg  Erol  but  the  way  canon  did  it  sucked  so  bad !  So  I’m  def  down  for  exploring  all  the  possible  alternative  options.  

[hollandorks]

bUCKLE UP- I grew up with a older brother who hyperfixated on batman for 30 years and I recently got into it by playing all arkham games and currently watching through the 1966's batman (explains my catwoman icon) -cracks knuckles- LETS ROLL Dick Greyson - The og robin, his family was a bunch of circus folks so he is dancing around when he beats people but his family gets killed and batman sees himself in dick and adopts him (in batman forever bruce wayne adopts a grown ass man its funny- alfred offers him milk and cookies and dick legit looks like he has 3 kids and a mortgage) He is fun and light hearted and brings joy to bruce's dark life. He gets sick of being in batmans shadow and goes off to bludhaven to be nightwing (bludhaven is apparently the place catwoman dies in the comics rip) Dick greyson gets killed by Bruce Wayns actual blood related son Damian Wayne (son of Bruce Wayne and talia al ghul) Jason Todd - his story is sad and also the focus point of the batman arkham night game, he gets tortured by the joker and killed but comes back and sees batman replaced him with Tim Drake and sees the joker is still running around, Bruce never gave up on the joker but gave up on Jason todd and it hurt him so much he became the Arkham Knight, but later redeems himself by becoming Red Hood (he uses rubber bullet guns) Tim drake - bald Barbara gordon (batgirl) - Gordon's daughter, she discovered batman's secret and helps him out by being batgirl and then the joker finds her and shoots her in the stomach through to her spine paralyzing her - she becomes Orica! the computer tech nerd B) Damian Wayne - He is the son of Bruce Wayne and Tali al Ghul- he is a trained assassin and is conflicted with like murdering people and he is involved in the court of owls. he ends up killing Dick Greyson (nightwing) and bruce heart broken gives up on him, Damian was born to replace his grandfather who is basically an insane immortal man who wants to destroy gotham city because the city was built on a curse I feel like i might not be 100% and someones gonna come for me but bada bing bada booM

"Tim drake--bald" LMAO wishing I knew about him so I could see how funny this actually is, but still got a laugh from it 😂

I totally get so many memes now. Like so many. Also, the Joker has fucked up a lot of these characters yikes

Thank you so much!!! Loving how everyone is delivering on this!! (And also loving how many times I have been told to buckle up. We love to see it!)

[not-me-simping-for-blasty]

I come here for words of wisdom. Every time I read a fanfic about Bakugou being a fuckboy I normally laugh it off because it sounds ridiculous in my mind, although sharing this thought with other people made me realize that some actually think he might be in the future???? So, I want your honest opinion. Not just about that, but I'd genuinely love to know your input on how Bakugou would be in his late-teens, early adulthood, before (for the sake of it) meeting X and settling. Would he sleep around? Would he try for a relationship and fail? What would fail? What would make him settle? Would he really just focus on hero work and that's it? So. Many. Questions.

Hope everything is going great for you. I haven't been on tumblr much (am I the only one noticing the insane wave of wattpad writing here??? p.o.v. and all??????) but I've been following your stuff, and as always, it's incredible. 💞💕

PLS - okay this is so nice to see bc i’ve actually been taking a break from tumblr/writing for the past month. (mental refresh u kno?) aND YESTERDAY I CAME BACK AND SCROLLED THRU MY DASH AND SAW WATTPAD STUFF JUST LIKE YOU SAID.

i was shocked. aghast. completely bewildered. pls i even caved and searched up bakugou fics just to see if everyone else is treating him like that,, and like i dont even know why i did that, because ofc i knew the answer was gonna be yes!! the answer is always yes !!! like i just saw so many fics of him as such a “ooo daddy dom badboy bakugou 🥴🥴” and like why???? bakugou is such a frickin nerd?? and thats sooooooo funny?? whY STRIP HIM OF HIS COMEDIC POTENTIAL ???

but yes yes specifically about bakugou being a fuckboy..... yeah i have no idea where the fuck they get that from. like- did we watch the same show???? sex and especially being naked are such vulnerable things at their core, and they rlly think Mr. Anti-Vulnerability is gonna be the one to sleep around??? to willingly put himself into a vulnerable situation time and time again?? no. pls. c’mon y’all. sometimes i think even todoroki would be more likely.

and just- to sleep around you have to be very comfortable showing interest in other people, over and over and over again. and i just- bakugou doesn’t even admit that his friends are his friends???? and somehow they think that suddenly he’s gonna go around telling people “hey. i like you. and by admitting that to you, i am therefore giving you a slight bit of power over me.”

i- no. he’d never. period, end of story. he would rather be fuckin’ dead. so the answer is no, as he currently is, i cannot for the life of me see why he’d ever become a fuckboy. he just doesn’t have it in him lmaoooooo

ooo but about the what makes him settle question- THANK YOU IVE BEEN DYING TO TALK ABOUT IT.

okay so how i see it, is bakugou is probably totally and completely fine being alone up until his like mid 20’s. sure he thinks maybe it’d be nice to have somebody, but he works so hard that it’s always a fleeting feeling. but then he gets a little older, settles into his spot on the rankings (#3 btw, im soRRY kats but its the truth!!) and watches all his friends get into meaningful relationships. and then, a few more years down the line (think late 20’s/ early 30’s) he’ll be sitting back and being like “shit. i don’t have anybody like that. somebody who’s just for me. who’d pick me first always.”

and i think that is what he wants most of all. i mean, he’s clearly chock-full of insecurities related to that idea, and i cant imagine him ever settling without that need being fufilled. like, i think eventually he’ll probably abandon the idea of being #1 hero, but he’ll still keep that dream of being #1 somehow. so once he finds somebody that always has his back, always puts up with his shit and still loves him at the end of it?? still looks at him with stars in their eyes day after day??? pls. mans is putty and will never even dream of leaving

but that being said- i dont think he’s gonna find The One on first try. i think he’ll be aiming for that, but i cant see it working out. even when he starts seriously dating around his mid 20s, i think he’ll still be too caught up with his hero work. it’ll take him a good few years and one/two failed relationships to finally find a balance that works for him and whoever he ends up with

@i-need-air tysm for asking,,,, clearly i have a lot of thoughts and i love him sm so this was so fun!!!!!! i loved this ask ty!!!!

[whythehellnaut]

The secret brilliance behind Nickelodeon All Star Brawl‘s marketing

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the Nickelodeon fighting game after it was announced, progressing from mild interest to ironic excitement to unironic excitement for it.  So many jokes and memes have been made about it that they’re almost impossible to avoid.  But when I thought about it, I realized that that’s exactly what the marketing team for this game wanted.  The idea of the game is so absurd that no one would expect it to exist, but they figured out a way to make absolutely sure that it would create just the right buzz to get people like me to take serious interest in it.

Watching the trailer again, I figured out that every character they picked to showcase in that minute and a half trailer were carefully and strategically chosen to cater to as many people as they could.  Even the order of their appearance had deliberation behind it.  Here are my thoughts:

Michelangelo comes first, establishing that the game is combat focused.  After all, who better to show off first for a fighting game than a character that has already appeared as a playable character in at least two of them?  Plus, the Ninja Turtles are the oldest characters in Nickelodeon’s library when you consider that they first aired in the 80′s, before Nickelodeon even started making cartoons.  This is a character that everyone recognizes, parents included.

Lincoln Loud comes next, a more modern character that adults might not know but kids will.  This is to quickly lure the kids, who have less patience than adults, into watching the rest of the trailer, assuring them that it won’t just be older characters like the turtles that show up.

Powdered Toast Man comes next to snatch up the other side of the equation, the adults/90′s kids who remember him from the original Ren and Stimpy show from 1991.  I’m not sure if it’s still airing as reruns on Nick today, but considering I hear very little about the show online, I’m guessing not.  This is a bit of a surprise to the adults who thought it’d be a kids’ game, so it lures those folks into staying for the rest of the trailer as well.

Sandy is important to show off early for a number of reasons.  Spongebob is popular among kids and Millenials, and is arguably the only property here as well known as Ninja Turtles, so they’re luring in more fans.  It also serves to imply that other Spongebob characters will join, as, even though Sandy’s passion for karate makes total sense for her to appear in a fighting game, you still can’t leave out Spongebob himself.  Showing her first implies more possibilities of characters to come, proving it won’t just be a festival of protagonists like Jump Force was.  It also shows off their female representation to keep women interested.

Patrick is just a fan favorite to get out of the way before the sponge shows up, so he’s only here to confirm that the game is going to be full of characters that people actually want to see.

Oblina was personally a shocker to me, as I barely remember Ahh Real Monsters from my own childhood, but I remember enough to know that she wasn’t the protagonist, necessarily.  I also know it’s relatively obscure in comparison to Spongebob or Ren and Stimpy, so they proved that they are willing to take characters from more obscure shows that the young kids won’t remember.  This solidified my interest as I could tell that they are doing more to cater to the 90s generation than just confirming Powdered Toast Man.

Nigel Thornberry is arguably their most important addition at the halfway point.  Outside of Spongebob characters and maybe Stu Pickles, I would say Nigel is the internet’s favorite Nickelodeon character to use for memes.  The marketing team had to have known this.  After getting some of the core audiences hooked, they now have the memer crowd invested, ready to spread the word about the insanity of this game’s premise across the internet.  This is exactly what happened, and why the trailer has 2 million views on Youtube right now.

Lucy Loud is shown off quickly to remind the younger crowd to keep watching, and to add a little bit more female representation.

Spongebob is shown off a little bit late, but since we were expecting him to show up, it’s just to make sure the casual fans who only know the big names stay watching.

Helga is an older character, but I recently saw a young kid wearing a Hey Arnold tee shirt at the supermarket, so I’m positive it’s being shown as reruns on Nick today, so most Nick fans of all ages will be excited about her.  Moreover, since she came immediately after Spongebob, who is a protagonist that was introduced after Sandy, a side character from his show, it gives an implication that Arnold will also appear.  Although he is not introduced in this trailer, it allows the fans to speculate that he will soon be showcased, perhaps in the next trailer.  Also, she’s the fourth female character shown, confirming that the game is being fair and inclusive to both sexes and not simply catering to male gamers, like say, Jump Force or Dragonball Fighter Z.

Reptar is another shocker, because although Rugrats is very popular and well known throughout the generations, he is a very, very minor character in the show.  He is literally a fictional character within a separate fictional universe.  The marketing team threw him in to show off that just about any character from any Nick property, no matter how minor or obscure, has a chance of making it into this game.  Again, this forces the fans to speculate about future announcements with even more creative thinking, as we now know that it won’t just be major characters joining the fray.

Zim is a well thought out choice because he caters to a specific crowd that I’d describe as the alternative niche.  That is to say, there are people who are fans of Invader Zim who don’t watch other Nick shows, so they are luring in the folks you’d expect to see at Hot Topic and the like.  It was an edgy show with a feel and fanbase unlike other shows of its era, so it’s important to use him to diversify the roster.  They also showed off Gir as his assist, and although that may deconfirm him as playable, it still pleases the fans, who often prefer Gir over Zim.

Danny Phantom is the only character that comes strictly from the 2000s era, so they are making sure to maintain the attention of the teenagers who watched that show as kids.

Leonardo seems like an odd choice to end on, maybe even anticlimactic, since they started with Michelangelo, but it makes sense when you think about it.  They couldn’t show just 1 turtle, or else it might imply that the game’s roster was small.  But if they showed all 4 turtles, they would have needed to leave two other characters out of the trailer to make room for them, and they didn’t want to make it look like a Turtles fighting game with guest characters.  So having exactly 2 turtles allows them to show off enough characters from other properties, while also confirming unofficially that the other turtles would appear later, since you can’t just have 2 of the 4 turtles in the game.  By leaving it open like that, they’re giving an implication that the roster is going to be huge.  So big that the turtles were just a small portion of it.  They end the trailer this way to leave the crowd speculating again: how many characters will appear in total?

The only characters that curiously don’t show up in the trailer are the cast of the Avatar franchise, who are quite popular.  However, one of the stages shown is clearly the Air Temple with Aang’s glider in plain sight, implying that Avatar characters will be announced later.  Another smart move to instill hope in the fans.

Finally, the Rollback Netcode announcement that came afterward solidified a very important group- the serious/competitive gamers.  For those who don’t know, rollback netcode is relatively new technology that speeds up online gameplay to cut down on input lag, which is super important for fighting games in particular, as they rely on strict timing more than other game genres.  It’s so new, however, that not all competitive fighting games use it.  Popular tournament fighters like Super Smash Bros, Tekken, and Dragonball Fighter Z have not implemented rollback netcode for their games yet, so of all games, Nickelodeon All Star Brawl beating them to the punch is causing a stir.  This is a sign that the devs are putting serious effort into making the game enjoyable online, which could potentially help its chances to be taken seriously in competitive settings.  Only time will tell if that truly happens, but it’s a sign of quality, nonetheless.

So ultimately, this short trailer and announcement manage to cater to dang near every crowd that may want to play it: Kids, teenagers, young adults in their 20s and 30s, parents in their 40s, men, women, memers, casual fans, alternative fans, and serious gamers, and opens up a ton of potential for speculation regarding new announcements.  That’s a fantastic way to start off and explains why this game, which for all intents and purposes should have been nothing more than a thought experiment that people joke about in the car with friends, has been trending so much for the past two weeks.  Congrats to the marketing team for what they put together.

[azucanela]

DAY 30. NIGHTS 

PAIRING: ZUKO X FEM!READER

WARNINGS: 

A/N: 

FLUFFVEMBER MASTERLIST

It’s late. Zuko knows this, Y/N knows this. They both knows. And yet neither of them can bring themselves to go to bed as they sit by the balcony— or in Y/N’s case, on the balcony, much to Zuko’s dismay — just talking. 

The night was no longer young.

It had started off as the first of many to come in light of the ball being hosted by the young Fire Lord, another attempt to help lessen the tensions between nations. And seeing as Y/N was a representative of the Earth Kingdom, she had all the reason to be here. That and the fact that she’d always been close with Zuko, since they’d met towards the end of the war. 

Midway through the party, both their social batteries had run out, but seeing as Zuko was the host... well escaping hadn’t come easy. But somehow, he’d ended up in the balcony and there stood Y/N.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t liked her job, its just that Y/N had come to visit her friend only for him to be too preoccupied with, “preventing war” and other stupid things like that. And seeing as all the other diplomats were much older and much more... rude to people Y/N’s age. Lacking respect... for her.

“They just—” She inhales deeply, frustration evident in the way she clenches her fists tightly, “infuriate me! The disrespect is insane, Zuko.” 

“i could uh...” Zuko gestures awkwardly, searching for the proper word, “banish them?” He offers, a small smile on his face as he shrugs. 

Y/N finds herself bursting into laughter, Zuko’s smile only broadening at this as he leans further back against the balcony, it’s odd. He’s rarely felt so comforted in his life alongside someone, and it’s almost a relief. As though he’s finally breathing. 

He doesn’t want it to end.

As Y/N manages to calm down from her laughter, she only offers Zuko a small smile, “thank you, Zuko.” She sighs, “I don’t know, I suppose I just hate how easy it was for me to just... leave.” 

Zuko’s brows furrows at her words as he looks up to her, “what do you mean?”

Y/N shrugs, “I don’t know it was just,” she pauses, “easy for me to disappear in the crowd. No one really noticed, you know?” She laughs to herself, “I doubt you get it. You’re the Fire Lord. Everyone notices you.”

Y/N turns to Zuko to see his brows furrowed, eyes glued to his hands before he looks up and says, “I noticed you, Y/N.” He shifts in his seat, “you were the only one I noticed in that crowd actually.”

Y/N freezes, eyes falling on Zuko who still has that same baffled look on his face as she feels her cheeks warm. 

Okay, maybe Zuko is a tad socially inept to the point that he doesn’t recognize how he sounds. But in this moment Y/N decides that she appreciates it, even though she does happen to be... very flustered.

She feels seen.

Y/N also decides that it is a nice night as she turns to Zuko and says, “thank you, Zuko.” 

[sometimesiwritebadly]

Rogue Thoughts (Spencer Reid x FBI Agent!Reader)

Summary: Soulmates can occasionally hear each other’s thoughts. You happen to hear the thoughts of a fellow FBI Agent while you’re interviewing for a position at the BAU.

Check out the series

Warnings: Some language, but it’s just fluff

Notes: SOULMATE AU MOTHER HECKERS

Word Count: 2k

Masterlist

After nearly 30 years of listening to your soulmate’s thoughts, nothing could surprise you at this point. While most of your friends or family heard relatively normal things from their soulmates before they met, your head consisted of random facts about anything from mental illnesses you’d never heard of to Greek philosophy. Once, you had what you learned to be some of Friedmann’s equations stuck in your head for a week. Despite how little you cared for mathematics, your curiosity had given in eventually and you ended up googling it after 3 days. Whoever your soulmate is, he’s an absolute genius. 

Sometimes the thought of just how smart your soulmate is feels a little daunting; You’re not dumb, you have a master’s degree in Criminology and worked for the FBI, but you couldn’t help but wonder if your soulmate would be disappointed when the two of you finally meet. There’s no way of telling which of your thoughts your soulmate had heard from you over the years; maybe he learned about your study of criminals or some of the bad guys you’d managed to catch over the years...or maybe he learned about how you have almost every episode of Friends memorized. Recently, the thoughts you heard have become more frequent. Back when you were a kid, the thoughts you heard could be weeks or even months apart, but as you got older, you heard his thoughts more and more often. Your mom had said that must mean you’re going to meet your soulmate pretty soon; the same thing had happened with her and your father. 

“17 interviews and we still don’t have a replacement…”

The thought entered your head for a moment, but flickered away before it completed. “Don’t distract me today, soulmate. I’ve got a job interview.” You thought. Even though you don’t have any control over which thoughts he would hear, you hoped he had gotten your message. You currently worked in Crimes Against Children with the FBI, but after 4 years excelling in that area, one of the higher-ups, Strauss, had suggested applying for the renowned Behavioral Analysis Unit. You had become a profiler of sorts within CAC; when you were in college you had attended multiple lectures on the subject matter. Even though you weren’t officially trained, your bosses all agreed that you had the potential. Plus, the BAU had been down an agent for a while, so today you were meeting with SSA Hotchner.

When you arrived at the FBI headquarters today, instead of heading to your usual building, you went to the building where the BAU was held. Your nerves were getting the best of you as the elevator slowly made its way to the 6th floor, and to make matters worse, your soulmate’s thoughts were flying through your head at an astronomical rate. “I should book a flight to visit mom soon…” “Maybe we’ll finally get a new agent today....” “if Morgan tries to make me do his paperwork one more time…” Clearly, he hadn’t heard your plea to try and keep it down today. Or, he has just about as much control over which thoughts you heard as you did with his. Despite the foreign thoughts filling your head, you tried your best to stay focused as you exited the elevator and made your way towards Hotchner’s office. 

As you walked through the room, your eyes were pulled from your destination to the various people sitting at the desks. Or, more specifically, to a certain guy filling out paperwork diligently. “Holy fuck, he’s cute.” You thought. Almost immediately, his head snapped up towards you. “Did he…?” “Wow.” You both thought at the same time. This time, you stopped walking, and he pushed away from his desk to get a better look at you. Your interview had almost completely slipped your mind until you heard someone call your name.

“SSA Y/L/N?” You turned away from the guy, who you were now incredibly intrigued by, to the man you recognized as Aaron Hotchner. 

“SSA Hotchner, it’s good to see you again.” You said, giving him a wave. You weren’t a fan of shaking hands, although you were nervous your avoidance of the motion would come off unprofessional. Luckily, Hotchner didn’t seem to mind.

“Please, call me Hotch. My office is just this way, if you’d like to follow me.” Hotch led you to his office, where you took a seat in the chair across from his desk. Luckily, the thoughts from your soulmate - who may or may not be sitting right outside this office - had calmed down, so you had a clear head for your interview.

~~~

“Garcia!” Spencer burst into Garcia’s batcave, shocking the girl. Morgan stood next to her, looking at Spencer like he was insane.

“What’s wrong, pretty boy?”

“I need to know the name of the agent Hotch is interviewing right now.”

“Ok, you could’ve just asked like a normal person instead of giving me a heart attack!” Garcia grumbles, sitting in front of her computer to pull up the information. “Do I at least get a reason as to why you need to know about,” She paused, reading the name that had popped up on her screen, “SSA Y/N Y/L/N?” Spencer leaned down next to Garcia, so he could see the picture of you on the screen.

“Y/N Y/L/N…” The name felt perfect coming from his lips. It was like he never wanted to say another name again

“Reid? Seriously, what's up with this girl? Do you think she’s bad news?” Morgan asked, clearly concerned about Spencer’s actions

“N-no, I, um, I think she’s my soulmate.” Spencer whispered, not really registering what he had said until Garcia’s excited squeals finally tore his eyes away from the computer screen

“Oh my god this is the best thing that’s ever happened! Are you sure? Oh my god I need to do more research! No wait - if you think she’s your soulmate what are you doing in here with us! You need to be with her and fall in love and get married and name your first born after me like yesterday!” Garcia began rambling, grabbing Spencer’s hand and practically dragging him out of her office and back towards the bullpen. She continued talking as they walked over, while Morgan trailed behind with a wide smile on his face. 

Prentiss and JJ had been chatting at their desks when Garcia dragged Spencer in. “Code Red, ladies! Spencer Reid met his soulmate and she’s with Hotch right now!” Garcia announced, finally letting go of Spencer’s arm. 

“Holy shit!”

“Oh my god, Spence!”

Emily and JJ both gave Spencer a hug, while a blush rose to his cheeks. “I-I don’t know for sure yet. I just, it was like something was pulling me to her. And this time when I heard her thoughts it just felt so…” Spencer was at a loss for words, which was very rare for him. He couldn’t describe this brand new experience.

“Like everything suddenly made sense?” JJ suggested, as the only one in the group who actually knew what the experience of meeting your soulmate was like. 

“Yeah.” Spencer nervously began to play with his hands, turning to look at the door. Through the blinds of Hotch’s office, he could just make out where she was sitting. “Good luck.” He tried to send her the thought, knowing that if they really were soulmates, he should have more control over which thoughts she would hear or not. He may have been imagining it, but he swore she saw her figure get less tense through the blinds.

~~~

“Well, Agent Y/L/N, you’re certainly one of the best candidate’s I’ve interviewed so far. I know you still have an active case to finish with CAC, but once that’s resolved we’d love to have you transfer over here to the BAU.” Hotch said with a small smile.

“Thank you so much, Hotch! My current case is almost wrapped up, so I should be able to officially transfer within the next week or so.” You said with a smile. The both of you stood from your chairs, and Hotch opened his office door for you. Immediately, your eyes found the man again, and you found he was already looking at you. 

“Did you want to meet the rest of the team? Clearly, they’ve all decided it’s social hour anyways.” Hotch suggested, clearly not too pleased with the group that was very clearly not doing any work at the moment. He had mentioned that the team didn’t have a case right now, but you were sure there was still plenty of paperwork to get though.

“Yes! Please.” You said, maybe a little too enthusiastically. Even though you did want to be on good terms with the whole team, right now the only person you cared about was the man in the cardigan.

“Guys, this is SSA Y/N Y/L/N, she’ll be joining us here at the BAU soon. Y/L/N, this is SSAs Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Jennifer Jareau, and Dr. Spencer Reid. Penelope Garcia is our technical analyst, and SSA David Rossi should be around here somewhere-” 

Hotch was practically cut off by Penelope, who immediately pulled you in for a hug. You did your best to hide your discomfort, but you had always been a bit of a germaphobe.“Oh my God it’s so lovely to meet you, we’re all so excited for you to join our little family…” Penelope began to ramble as she pulled away from the hug, which you found endearing. 

“Is she like this all the time?” You thought. 

“Yes. You’ll get used to it.” Your eyes immediately move to Spencer’s. Dr. Spencer Reid.

“I’m sure I will. Don’t know if I’ll get used to talking in our minds though.” You think. You were completely tuned out of the conversation the other Agents had started, now focusing only on Spencer.

“Well, studies show that transitioning to life with a soulmate can be jarring, but not because of discomfort of hearing thoughts. It usually takes couples a long time to learn how to turn it off, which can result in soulmates getting to know each other’s secrets rather quickly. That’s why nearly 38% of soulmates will break up within a few months of starting a relationship, although it should be noted that 87% of those that break up will end up getting back together at some point in their lives.” Spencer’s thoughts began racing, and you suddenly understood all the random facts you had learned from him over the course of your life. As he told you the facts and figures of soulmates breaking up - not the best subject for a pair of soulmates that just met, but you didn’t mind - you noticed that the rest of the team had stopped talking and were now just watching you and Spencer converse in your heads.

“That probably explains why we’re talking with our thoughts instead of out loud. And why your team is staring.” Spencer’s cheeks reddened when he looked away from you and realized you were right.

“Honestly, I forgot they were there. Which is rare for me, I have an eidetic memory.” You laughed aloud at his remark, earning more confused looks from everyone else.

“Sorry, guys, I guess we got a little...distracted.” You spoke aloud for the first time in a few minutes. Spencer moved closer to you, his hand itching to take yours.

“Oh, please, don’t apologize, I was the same way with Will after we met. I know how overwhelming it can be at first.” Jennifer waved off your worries, and extended a hand towards you, “You can call me JJ, by the way.” 

“Oh, um, I don’t really shake hands, I’m a bit of a germaphobe.” You worried once again about coming off as rude, but this remark only made JJ, and the rest of the team laugh.

“Wow, you two really are soulmates, aren’t you.” Derek remarked, swinging his arm over Penelope’s shoulder as he spoke.

“I’m the same way.” Spencer explained to you, “It’s actually safer to kiss.”

“I’m sure we’ll put that to the test when we’re alone.” You didn’t think it was possible, but Spencer’s face became even more red after your thought entered his own head.

~~~

tagged: @dr-reid-ismyspiritanimal

[seriouslysam8]

For the ask game, would you please answer questions numbered 2, 8, 14 (all of your titles have such cool names), 18 (I hope Abditory isn't one of them as that story rocks), 21, 24, 29, 30, 33, 34, 44, 51, 62, 76, 82, 85, 88, 90, and 98.

Sorry for asking so many, but I love your work! Entombed gave me so many feels! I found your stories because author Breanie said to read them in her author's notes. Best rec ever! Thank you for answering.

Wow, that is a lot of asks! Thank you so much for wanting to know so much about little ole me. I think I hit them all in this and my apologies if I missed one. Let me know if I missed one. @breaniebree is awesome and my writing BFF. She is amazing, and I love her.

2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

So, I’ve written for The X-Files, Supernatural, and Harry Potter. I currently only write for Harry Potter. I would say Harry Potter has always been the most fun.

8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

Random shit. Brontide came to me because I was browsing the HPFanfiction subreddit looking for a story suggestion and someone asked for a story where Harry was addicted to Felix. Only one unfinished dimensional time travel story was listed. It idea sparked me to write my own version. Entombed came to me because I was rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy was buried alive. I knew I wanted to bury Ginny alive. As I stated in the author’s notes of last Kalopsia chapter, I drew inspiration from the Djinn storyline in Supernatural. I write about things I know, too. I have young kids at home so I like writing the Potter children as young because I can mimic their mannerisms in my writing. I’ve even asked my kids to say certain words to emulate their speech pattern in my writing if I’m writing that age group.

14) How did you come up with the title for the XXX? You can ask about multiple stories.

I HATE coming up with titles. My newest trend has been to literally Google “unique words”. There are a ton of Pinterest accounts who make fancy word and definition pictures. I scroll through all these little unique words and pick out ones I think fit a story. Sometimes I Google a unique word for BLANK and see if I can get a cool version of that name. @breaniebree actually helped me with Entombed.

18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Sadly, I would put Abditory in this category. Never say never though. I think about it from time to time. Honestly, I abandoned it due to such a negative response I was receiving and the lack of positive response. I became discouraged. It wasn’t even negative response due to my writing, it was literally a bunch of “why would you waste your time writing a story about the biggest plot hole in the books? JKR butchered the whole SK storyline and it’s unbearable to read.” So, basically, my reviews and PMs were filled with JKR hate over that plot point in the books. They heavily outweighed the positive reviews I received. Honestly, I think that’s why a bulk of stories get abandoned - lack of positive reviews or enthusiasm for a story. If I didn’t get so many great reviews for my stories, I don’t know if I’d be able to finish them or continuing writing new ones. Fanfiction is free, (as it should be) but it’s a lot of time and hard work. A little appreciation goes a LONG way. So, my advice, review everything you love reading and encourage writers to keep writing. I always say in my authors notes that reviews make me want to write and inspire me. That’s the truth. The moment I stop getting reviews will probably be the time I take a writing break again.

21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

@breaniebree. I mean she’s dedicated years to a single story with so many plot lines and characters that I’m amazed she did it. She’s a fantastic writer, and I definitely consider her my writing BFF. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from her and enjoy talking about writing with her so much. I’m so glad we’ve become friends.

24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Horrified. Anytime I get a little steamy in my stories, it goes immediately to @breaniebree who usually adds way too much smut and then I cut it down to still be somewhat PG-13 in order to appeal to a wider audience.

29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I feel like Kalopsia isn’t getting as much love as my other stories. I’m way behind in my normal review count per chapter. I wonder if it’s just the confusing storyline or if it’s just not as fun to read? But I was definitely worried it wouldn’t get the love I thought it deserved when I started writing it and it’s lived up to that expectation.

30) In contrast to 29, is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Cronus Rising. People still recommend it occasionally and I still get random reviews. I’m like, “why????” Its horribly written and a stupid plot line. I literally was getting back into writing after not writing for a good five years, so it’s abysmal. I’ve often wanted to rage delete it.

33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

When someone tells me I should write an original novel and they’d buy the hell out of it. I do have some original novel ideas floating around (one I’ve been writing since I was like 15), but crippling fear of rejection from publishers have stopped me from ever actually finish an original novel.

34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

I got some criticism in Brontide for having drama for drama’s sake with no real purpose or goal for said drama. I felt my drama served a purpose, drove the story along, and I add a lot of fluffy and cute family moments. I feel like in real life, when you to your loved one is going through sometime, it feels like nonstop drama and bad news and like a dark cloud just follows you. I wanted to emulate that in real life. So Harry’s POV was often drab because HE was the one going through something horrific and it was all doom and gloom for him.

44) What is the last line you wrote?

“You never think I listen to your ramblings, but it’s kind of hard to block out, mate.”

51) From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing? (No downplaying yourself!)

Um... I’d say a 3. I think I have some good and unique plots for stories but sometimes I struggle on how to execute those on paper effectively. I struggle with descriptions, action, and showing rather than telling. But I do think I’m good at dialogue and capturing a character’s personality. So, 3.

62) Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

A lot! I have a Teddy/Victoire stalker story in the works that I’m excited about. I have (this is going to sound weird) but an outsider rom-com planned where Ron/Hermione breakup right before Hinny’s wedding and Hinny struggles to get them back together before the big day. I have a Potter family vacation fluff/comedy story planned. I have a game night one-shot planned. I have a short story about Luna’s wedding. So many that I want to write and don’t know which one to write first!!

76) Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try?

I’d say no. I’ve always tried to write my ideas down. Some I’ve never finished because inspiration peters off and some I plan on finishing once my newest big project is done.

82) Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less.

Harry goes through some shit, and Ginny is his soulmate.

85) Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

I don’t understand why people don’t ship Harry/Ginny more. I don’t understand the Harry/Daphne obsessions (like just why???) or the Harry/Hermione ship at all. I always see people asking for story recommendation and they specific say “no Harry/Ginny”. They are literally perfect for one another and they are soulmates.

88) If you could ask one other fanfic author three questions about their writing, writing process, or works, what would they be and who would you ask?

@breaniebree .

1.) How do you organize all your charts? Send me the ALL the charts. Because I don’t understand how you keep everything straight!

2.) How do you write so much? You’re like a little writing machine in a cute little package.

3.) Where do all the ideas come from? In a dream? Just thinking? Driving? Do you write everything out in your head like meeee? Can I have some of your writing mojo?

90) How do you process and deal with negative reviews?

I obsess over them. I analyze them. I may get bummed out and not write for a few days. If you don’t like what I write, then don’t read or review. It’s a hobby. I do this for free. I’m not asking you to critique me. Give me a nice review or ask me a question, but don’t be cruel or mean because you can hide behind a keyboard and be a bully to make yourself feel superior.

98) If you had to give up either snacks and drinks during writing sessions, or music, which would you find more difficult to say goodbye to and why?

Music. I grew up with three older brothers. My house was always rowdy and loud and obnoxious. I need it to be loud. I can’t stand the silence or focus when it’s silent. I need music to help me think and write. When I’m home alone, I always turn on the TV or music, because I can’t stand when it’s silent. I think I’d go insane.

[yeoldontknow]

Do you think that once i succeed at being able to budget correctly that I'll level up as an adult? (Oh and I'm rooting for you, future Doctor Kat ❤️❤️)

hey anon <3 tbh thats a really hard question to answer and theres actually a hell of a lot to unpack there. firstly theres the question of what it means to be an adult, and secondly theres a question of what are you hoping to achieve with your finances? i say that primarily because theres a generational gap in the notion of budgeting vs what the working class is actually being paid. being told to budget and plan correctly while were in the middle of late stage capitalism sometimes wont necessarily cut it. and being told to budget responsibly is often times the older generations response to 'pick yourself up by your boot straps and work' etc which doesnt take into account race, class, economics, or even the location where you live/work.

beyond that, the concept of being an adult or "adulting" is really heavy handed. im in my 30s and i still dont really know what im doing as an adult. i feel like if you have money to pay your rent, feed yourself, manage your bills, and possibly keep a pet or a car or even have a little to engage socially with friends/in your hobbies - youre doing just fine. and let me tell you, money struggles follow. its actually normal and more pervasive in this day and age for people at the age of 30 to have credit card debt, enormous student loan debt, or other forms of debt because, again, the cost of living has increased immensely without any raise to wages. i know this is probably a long answer for what you might expect to be a simple questions, but the notion of budgeting or being good at budgeting should NOT have any moral weight to your notion of being an adult. because honestly, being adult is insanely complex and difficult and varies from person to person.

as a general answer, yeah, budgeting is extremely important. please dont overspend or put yourself in reckless situations irresponsibly. but i dont think that makes you more or less of an adult, and i dont think there should be any moral attachment to how you manage your money. ive been through a lot in my life, and the people i view as actual adults are the people who are resourceful, wise, and self-aware. if youre concerned about leveling up, consider looking into bad habits (in this case, i imagine spending habits?), unhealthy attachments, and your boundaries. true maturity and adulthood comes from life lessons, and not all of them deal with money.

[bansheeoftheforest]

OC Masterlist

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Welcome to my OC masterlist! I have a lot of ocs! I hoard them like a goblin and I will never stop! SO!!! OCS!!!! So far we got two collections of OCS; The O’Jekylls, which is Dr. Jekyll’s fam, and my very own DND character who I turned into a Lodger! <3

All OCS can be found under the tag #Banshees OCS!

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               --Lodgers--

——————Humans——————

Cederic Beumont

Cederic Beumont is a French artist (and prostitute) turned mad scientist throughout multiple events happening in his early adulthood. He is the oldest twin out of him and his sister, Cassandra, and the two of them were raised by their single father in a small village in France. After the death of their father by the age of twenty, Cederic and his sister travel around Europe until they move to America, where they lived for five years. During those five years, Cederic and Cassandra-- previously inseparable-- have a falling out which ends in Cederic storming out and leaving Cassandra to run the hotel they had set up on the coast of Florida. The falling out, combined with a lot of other stressful and dramatic things happening around him, manages to make Cederic’s mental health crumble until he practically goes insane. Previously an artist, Cederic turns to science in hopes of being able to achieve something that would make him “more” than his sister, who always has been the “smarter” one out of the two of them, which ends up in him studying Frankenstein’s life like the Holy Bible. He gets obsessed with the study of lightning and he gets obsessed with the idea to one-up God, as he previously had been born and raised Catholic, and he feels like he would be able to do everything that Frankenstein failed to do (take care of Creature, own up to the responsibilities, keep the innocent safe, etc) despite having no proof of him being able to do everything differently.

With the help of his boyfriend, Wilhelm, and Wilhelm's biology studying friends, he manages to continue his experiments. He moves between calling himself a Fulminologic Necromancer and a Necromantic Fulminologist, depending on the people he surrounds himself with, as he studies lightning as a whole and applies the knowledge to necromancy. His early experiments involves reviving dead animals with the use of electricity, although he does dabble in alchemy and chemistry when it’s needed.

Around the time he is 30 years old, he hears the word upon the street about the Society For Arcane Sciences in London, England. His boyfriend helps him scrap in enough money for a one-way ticket to London on the promise that they will still hold contact, to which Cederic immediately agrees. He travels to London by ship and marvels over how fantastically dirty and gross the entire city is, there is slums everywhere! So many animals and mythical creatures!! The moment he is within the city walls, he manages to find Sergeant Enoch Brokenshire and pleads for him to show Cederic the way to the Society. Brokenshire is, of course, very put off by this hyper-energetic bastard he can barely hear over his (normally trained away) french accent, but Brokenshire does not get paid enough to care. He basically just grabs Cederic by the collar and drags him like a stray cat over to the Society and to Dr. Henry Jekyll’s office, to which he basically dumps him on the doorstep and leaves. As Jekyll practically collects scientists, and as they already have a necromancer in the Society, Jekyll welcomes Cederic with open arms and shows him around, unaware how Cederic... is an actual mad scientist, not just using that word as a moniker.

Cederic quickly becomes friends with Sinnett and Luckett, all three of them having a knack to blow things up and play with fire. Cederic also loves to harass Tanis, the local necromancer, as he loves that they practically study the same thing and did you know this and that and wouldn’t it be cool to blow up a corpse? You know Moreau might actually have been onto something with the animals and yadeyadeyada-- Tanis does not like Cederic. Cederic thinks that they are best friends.

Cederic joins the Society sometime before the events of TGS, however, immediately jumps all over both Jasper and Frankenstein like a yappy dog excited to have new friends. He is absolutely in love with Frankenstein, much like everyone else, but quickly has a change of heart as he feels she is a wimp, because he could do this and that so much better and why would you do x y and z when you could have done a b c instead. He has a massive ‘R.I.P to them but I’m different’ complex and feels like Frankenstein can’t own up to her work and her legendary image like she should. He thinks he can one-up her, and basically tries to snatch her stuff and studies when she isn’t looking. Creature would very much like to bonk him over the head with a frying pan.

Cederic also has a pet ghost cat-- or more or less spirit cat as she has never actually been alive-- that he has had since he was a baby. He named her Adelaide-Antoinette because he is french and extra like that, and the two of them are actually inseparable, as Adelaide is connected to Cederic through a bunch of magical hijinx. Adelaide can talk to Cederic, however, no one else can hear or see her, making most people think that Cederic is genuinely insane as he is not afraid to walk around talking to himself. The only one who knows about Adelaide is Maijabi, who saw her in one of his ghost mirrors one time, but he thinks its fun to see the other Lodgers thinking that Cederic is insane, so he doesn’t say anything.

Random Trivia: Cederic is originally my DND character, played in a specific type of campaign called Scion. It takes place in the real life world, and our campaign is set during the 1960′s if WW2 had never ended. Cederic and Cassandra were originally forced to flee by the outbreak of the war and the invasions of France. Scion is also based on mythologies, were the player characters (the Scions) are children of the ancient gods. Cassandra and Cederic are children of the egyptian god Bastet, ergo, the ghost cats.

Tags: #Banshees Cederic

Art of Cederic / Original Info dump on Lodger!Cederic

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——————Animals——————

Adelaide-Antoinette

Adelaide-Antoinette is a spirit and companion cat connected to Cederic. She has been by Cederic’s side for as long as he can remember and her, her sass, and her snobbishness were many of the core influences that shaped Cederic into the person he was before his mental breakdown he is today.

Adelaide is a Birman and lives up to the snobbish reputations of such breeds. When she is particularly feisty, she likes to sit on top of Cederic’s head and use him as her steed, and also loves to call him a peasant. She is also very territorial, and very protective of Cederic too. She is basically the epitome of “No one is allowed to bully him but me”. She is also very vocal and loves to have Cederic seem like he is talking to himself. Cederic has a knack to recite Hamlet and other Shakespeare plays to her, and while it’s fun for him, Adelaide wish she could bite his tongue off after the 10th recitation. After so many years, the recites might be up in the thousands.

Adelaide also did not like all the other creatures in the Society immediately, but quickly realized that it was either them or Cederic forever, to which she quickly began to force herself to warm up to them. Her favourite is Jasper’s unicorn, who most likely share her snobbishness, but a close second is Zosi and Griffin’s cat. When she is particularly mad at Cederic, as he tends to neglect her a little once he gets caught up in his work, she likes to hang around Maijabi as he is the only other living person who can see her. Cederic also uses her to spy on the others sometimes, as she can go through walls and can’t be seen.

Tags: -

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        --The O’Jekylls--

——————Humans——————

Collin O’Jekyll

Collin O’Jekyll is Henry Jekyll’s “paternal uncle” and also his make-shift father. Collin and Henry loved each other from day one and the two of them often spend most of their free time in the pastures with Collin’s horses. Collin is an artist, who dabbles in both writing and art, but mainly breeds and sells horses for income, despite not really needing it due to his inheritance. He has always been supportive of Henry’s scientific interests and was the one to take him out to all of the scientific plays that Henry watched as a child, as his parents were less than supportive of the boy’s interests.  While mainly breeding and raising horses, Collin also buys and takes care of every animal he can get his hands on. One of his oldest pets is a male calico Maine Coon named Paddington, who got dumped by his breeder for being male. All of Collin’s animals seem to hate everyone but him, and of course, Henry. Collin also bred and gifted Henry his own horse once he turned 15; a dapple grey Clydesdale named Mayhem, named after her fiery temper. Much like Paddington, she hates everyone but her owner.

Random Trivia: Collin has a very weak immune system and therefore always wears a scarf, no matter the season or weather. He also knows how to sword fight and taught Henry a few tricks before he left Scotland. He is mainly a very cheerful and optimistic guy but won’t hesitate to throw hands if you try to hurt those he loves.

Tags: #Banshees Collin, #Collin O’Jekyll

Art of Collin / Art of Collin and Paddington

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Douglas O’Jekyll

Douglas O’Jekyll is Henry’s “biological” father and Collin’s older brother, but dislikes his role as both father and brother. He is a policeman and known for his ruthlessness and hatred for those he deems have done wrong, and he also has a massive superiority complex. He has always disliked Collin greatly and the two of them have always had a rivalry between them, however, that rivalry got to it’s boiling point when Douglas and Collin were in an accident as kids, mainly caused by Collin unintentionally during a riding trip in the Highlands, which made Douglas earn some of his scars and bred the resentment between the two of them even more. Douglas has always been disapproving of Henry’s... Well, he has always been majorly disapproving with anything that comes to Henry. He dislikes Henry’s love for his uncle, his scientific interests, Henry’s friends, his wish to become a doctor... Douglas dislikes pretty much everything with Henry, which might have its grounds in Henry looking like and taking after a lot from his uncle. As Henry grows older, Douglas’ dislike for both him and Collin grows stronger, and Douglas starts getting outspoken of his hatred for Henry. He also gets physical every once in a while, which was one of the reasons for why Henry left Scotland completely despite Collin doing his best to protect him.

Random Trivia: His scars are either from the Accident, from his work as a policeman and also from many of Collin’s animals. He has a family pedant made out of emerald with a ‘J’ for Jekyll in it, as he is the first born and the heir of the family. He has always felt like Collin was the favourite with everything, both by their parents and by the fact that Douglas’ own son and wife likes Collin more than him, which just bred his resentment for his younger brother even more.

Tags: #Banshees Douglas, #Douglas O’Jekyll.

Digital art of Douglas / Traditional art of Douglas

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Abigail O’Jekyll (Née O’Haggins)

Abigail is Henry’s mother and Douglas’ wife. She comes from a long line of Scottish non-aristocratic nobles and she is the oldest out of six sisters, making her the main heir of the O’Haggins as she has no brothers. In her youth, she was very sought after by many bachelors, and met the O’Jekyll brothers during a ball hosted by her parents. She immediately took a liking to Collin and during the dances, they fell quite in love. However, as the first born, she was forced to marry Douglas instead due to pressuring from her parents who deemed Douglas more worthy than Collin, but she and Collin continued their relationship in secret. Both Douglas and Abigail knows that neither really loves the other all that much but they play their parts due to societal expectations, even if that doesn’t make Douglas any happier when the suspicion of Abigail’s and Collin’s relationships arise. Abigail is, too, not very supportive of Henry’s scientific interests due to all of its stigma and consequences that it can bear, not to mention that she is quite afraid of Douglas’ reactions to Henry’s continuous love for science, but she allows Henry to pursue non-harmful studies in secret to keep him happy, as his happiness is the most important thing for her. She does her best to be a good mother and succeeds in that, although everyone has their bad moments. Random Trivia: While Henry looks more like Douglas and Collin, Hyde takes after Abigail’s side of the family. She wears a locket with an ‘A’ on it with a picture of Collin and Henry inside, which needs a lock to be opened (mostly to keep Douglas from discovering the photo). While she is indifferent to most animals, she loves cats (that are well behaved, which rules out all of Collin’s cats) and she likes horses, although she will never, ever ride one ever again after she fell into a hay bail when Collin tried to get her to ride one of his horses. Tags: #Banshees Abigail, #Abigail O’Haggins.  Old Art of Abigail / Updated Art of Abigail

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——————Animals——————

Paddington

Paddington is one of Collin’s most beloved cats. He is a male, calico coated Maine Coon that got dumped by his breeder for being a male calico (therefore, sterile). He lived in the streets for a while until Collin found and adopted him, to which Paddington immediately became a little diva who hates everyone but Collin and Henry. He is the cause of some of Douglas’ scars and have torn more than one of Abigail’s dresses, but is as good as gold to Collin and Henry.

Tags: #Banshees Paddington

Art of Collin and Paddington / Written description of Paddington

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Mayhem

Mayhem is Henry’s own horse that Collin bred and helped Henry to raise. She is a dapple grey Clydesdale named after her fiery temper and knack for chaos, much like most animals that Collin has been responsible for. She is quite spoiled but very well behaved when needed to be, and she often thinks that she is the mother of those she likes, such as Henry, Paddington, Zosi and Collin. Once Henry left Scotland, she was one of the few things he took with him, and he still owns her to this day; allowing her to live her best, destruction-bringing life in London, striking terror in every stable boy in the entire city.

Tags: #Banshees Mayhem.

Written description of Mayhem

[myentertainmentthoughts]

My Little Pony - I watched all 9 seasons (and you should too)

Back in college I went from watching a YouTube video joking about My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic to actually watching the show for myself and realizing that it’s unironically fantastic. I can’t pinpoint an exact year for this, but I imagine it be roughly around 2012? Well, now that it’s 2021, I can finally write down my final thoughts on the show having finished it last year. I picked up where I had left off many years ago, and it’s definitely a come-full-circle feeling.

When people think of the MLP brand, especially as it regards MLP: Friendship is Magic, there’s usually only 2 associations that will pop into someone’s mind. Either its target audience of little girls, or worse - the internet phenomenon that was brony culture. Adult men in their 20s and 30s who tuned into the show and used the jokes within the writing & animation on 4chan and other internet boards. Of course there’s definitely more to the brony aspect of the fandom than meets the eye, and any negative stereotypes arising from this association are just that. Stereotypes.

But I think as cringey as the most extreme aspects of what I will refer to as “bronydom” are, I think that these 2 vastly different demographics really does touch on what makes MLP: Friendship is Magic so special. This show that was clearly geared for kids touches on so many universal themes (and does so shockingly well), that anyone can find appreciation for it. And the show deserves nothing less than that - the art style is appealing as all heck, the characters are extraordinarily charming, and the storylines are compelling. 

Of course, I will take the time to lay out that the show is at its strongest when looking at the personalities of the core cast of characters - or as they’re best known - The Mane Six. (Yes - that’s mane - not main, haha)

The main protagonist of the show is the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, who excels in academics and is exceptionally talented in magic. But she lacks socialization with her peers, and is sent by her mentor Princess Celestia to the town of Ponyville to make some friends. While there, she meets the rest of the gang -

Rainbow Dash, a brash and athletic pegasus who dreams to join Equestria’s most elite flyers - the Wonderbolts.

Applejack - a hardworking and steadfast earth pony who helps run her family’s farm - Sweet Apple Acres.

Rarity - a beautiful and fashion forward unicorn who runs her business, Carousel Boutique in Ponyville.

Fluttershy - the sweet and bashful pegasus who has a special talent for caring and connecting to all creatures big and small.

And Pinkie Pie - a spirited and party loving earth pony, whose biggest passion is to make those around her smile and laugh.

These are classic character archetypes, and while MLP: Friendship is Magic boasts solid writing, it cannot boast innovation on that front. But each of the characters do have enough individuality and depth that there are plenty of instances where they veer from their archetype qualities.

Most notably, these characters’ personalities are all flawed - something that is hugely relatable to everyone - children and adults alike.  Our flaws define us as much as our strengths. And accordingly, our flaws lead us into conflict. The show is surprisingly realistic about how much that plays into friendships and laying out the lessons to learn from that. While these lessons may be newer to the youngsters that the show is meant to target, they are lessons that should speak strongly to adults as well. After all, we never stop running into conflicts in our relationships, even as we grow older. It’s an achingly human quality that follows us throughout our life. So is it really that surprising when you see the adult demographic that enjoys this “little girls show”?

Furthermore, throughout the 9 year run time of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, these conflicts are explored from the show’s beginning to its end thoroughly, and while the cast still consistently must resolve conflicts in each episode, the core cast of characters do not remain the same. They each grow significantly and evolve into mentor and leadership roles. They all take steps to achieving their goals and dreams - together.

It’s the perfect formula to a long lasting IP. And while certain jokes and gags did get old in the later seasons of the show, and sometimes the writers were a little overzealous in creating character decisions made for arbitrary conflict - fundamentally the writing holds up to the very end. I believe that is specifically due to the poignant quality of the show’s theme: Friendship is not always the easiest to uphold, but the best friendships do make life so much richer and wonderful. Good friendships are worth the work of keeping strong and alive. We are better together than alone.

So as an adult, is it worth checking out this show, beyond the internet culture aspect to it? I would say that anyone who gives the show a legitimate chance will be shocked at how much there is to latch onto and get value out of. There are 9 seasons worth of pop culture references and homages, a gaggle of great side characters (in addition to the core cast), and surprisingly epic moments that had me comparing fight sequences in My Little Pony to fight sequences in shonen anime arcs, and the MCU. (I’m not kidding about that either - this show has insane lore and I recommend this YouTube video series on it: The Complete My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Timeline (2020) if you want to see the history of Equestria in chronological order. In addition to any epic story arcs, the world building in this show is actually quite massive.)

Now admittedly, the show did go through a couple of unnecessary overhaul arcs to keep it alive for longer (as all long running TV shows can be guilty of). But MLP is less egregious in its quality dip than a LOT of other TV content that I’ve consumed. The ending does wrap everything into a neat little bow that as a fan, I was pretty happy with, and I think newcomers into the franchise will be pleased as well.

Ultimately, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic IS something very special. But only can be benefited from, by those who are open minded to seriously consume it. Cheers to my wrapping the show up and giving the later seasons a fair chance. Though it’s outclassed by some other animated content, I would say few to none outclass it within its own genre. And few outclass it even within the confines of animated television as a whole.  Friendship forever. :)